06 social metabolism ecological distribution conflicts languages 1

7/27/2019 06 Social Metabolism Ecological Distribution Conflicts Languages 1

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Socialmetabolism,

ecological

distribution

conflicts,languages of

valuation Joan Martnez-AlierUniversitat Autnoma de Barcelona

The increased use of fossil fuels andminerals, and the human appropriation of theavailable biomass, cause increasing conflictson the access to environmental resourcesand services and on the distribution of theburdens of pollution. Such conflicts are notnew.

Therefore, movements of environmentaljustice or environmentalism of the poor,often appeal to non-monetary values such aslivelihood, territorial rights or sacredness ofthe land.

A few conflicts on the Human Appropriationof Net Primary Production (HANPP) in forestsand coastal areas are briefly analyzed in this

light.


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Environmentalism of the poor

Environmentalism

of the poor

Currents ofenvironmentalism

Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions

Thirty-five years after the start of the Chipko

movement in 1973 (described by R. Guha inThe Unqu iet Wood s),

twenty years after the death of Chico Mendes

in December 1988 in Brazil as the victim of atragedy of enclosures,

thirteen years after the death of Ken Saro-

Wiwa and his companions for defending the

Niger Delta and its populations against the

Shell company and the Nigerian government,

the debate on the environmentalism of the

poor is growing.


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The theory of the Environmentalism of the Poor

All this does not imply that poorpeople are always on the side of

conservation, which would be patently

untrue.

What it means is that in many conflicts

of resource extraction or pollution, the

local poor people (indigenous or not)

are often on the side of conservationnot so much because they are self-

conscious environmentalists but

because of theirlivelihood needs and

theircultural values.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Riley Dunlap vs R. Inglehart

Results from four large cross-national surveys

conducted in many nations with differing levels ofaverage income. Results showed that citizens of

poorer nations were equally if not more concerned

about the environment than citizens in wealthier

countries.

Coinciding with the thesis on the environmentalism

of the poor, Dunlap and York argue that Ingleharts

explanation of the growth of enviromentalism

because of a change towards post-materialist

values failed to recognize that environmental

problems are often a threat to material welfare.

For example, deforestation may threaten the livelihoods of people who

depend on forests for firewood, food sources, and medicinal products.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Currents of Environmentalism

A position paper for the World ConservationCongress in Barcelona of October 2008, notices

that the global environment and conservation

movement (epitomised by the membership of

IUCN) excludes many organizations dedicated toenvironmental justice, including the US

environmental justice movement, and many

others across the world

(for example OilWatch, Mines and Communities, the

International Rivers Network, the Mangrove Action Project

(MAP), and the World Forest Movement (wrm.org.uy) that uses

the slogan Tree Plantations are not Forests).

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Fights at the commodity frontiers

These movements combine livelihood, social,

economic and environmental issues, with

emphasis on issues of extraction and pollution.

They set their moral economy in opposition to

the logic of extraction of oil, minerals, wood oragrofuels at the commodity frontiers, defending

biodiversity and their own livelihood.

In many instances they draw on a sense of local

identity (indigenous rights and values such as thesacredness of the land) but they also connect

easily with the politics of the left. However, the

traditional left in southern countries still tends to

see environmentalism as a luxury of the rich.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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The GDP of the poorproposed by Gundimedia and Sukhdev

In National Income Accounts one could introduce

valuations of ecosystem and biodiversity losses either insatellite accounts (physical and monetary) or in adjusted

GDP accounts(Green Accounts). Neither method gives an

adequate representation.

The valuation of losses might be low compared to theeconomic gains from projects that destroy biodiversity.

However, which groups of people suffered most by such

losses?

Project Green Accounting for India: the authors found

that the most significant beneficiaries of forest biodiversity

and ecosystem services are the poor, and the predominant

impact of a loss or denial of these inputs is on the well-

being ofthe poor. The poverty of the beneficiaries makes

these losses more acute as a proportion of their livelihood

incomes than is the case for the people of India at large.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Methods for the study of Social Metabolism

MEFA materials and energy flows accounting

is a set of methods for describing andanalysing socio-economic metabolism.

It examines economies as systems that

reproduce themselves not only socially andculturally, but also physically through acontinuous exchange of energy and matter withtheir natural environments and with othersocio-economic systems. Eurostat now

publishes material flow accounts and the OECDwill publish them soon.

One reference: Marina Fischer-Kowalski and Helmut Haberl,eds., Socio-Ecological Transitions and Global Change, 2007

(preface by J. Martinez-Alier).

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Ecologically Unequal Trade

Physical imports and physical exportsmeasure all imported or exported commoditiesin tonnes.

Physical trade balance (PTB)equals physical imports minus physical exports.

Such accounts are relevant for historical andcurrent debates on ecologically unequal

exchange and the ecological debt.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Energy accounting

Energy flow accounting (EFA)

is an integral part of the analysis of social metabolism.Primary and final energy delivered are usually classifiedin the statistics according to source.

The idea of linking economic history to the use of energygoes back to Wilhelm Ostwald, and later to Leslie White

and other authors but it was only in the 1980s whenseveral histories of the use of energy in the economywere published.

The most interesting EFA indicator is that of

Energy Return on Energy Input (EROI).EROI is an indicator of energy efficiency, a useful statisticfor assessing the increasing costs of obtaining energy. Itis relevant when developing oil sands or heavy oil inAlberta or the Orinoco Delta, Venezuela, or for agro-fuels(with very low EROI).

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Virtual water

Water use should be added to the metabolic profiles in a

separate account.

There are historical and present conflicts on dams suchas in India the Narmada Bachao Andolan, also newconflicts in the North-East, and complaints against theinterlinking of the rivers. Also, conflicts on the use and

pollution of aquifers.

In Brazil there is an organized movement ofating idos po rbarragens. In 2005 a successful civic resistancemovement led by bishop Luiz Carpio stoppedmomentarily water transfer from the Sao Francisco river.

There are also conflicts on the dumping of waste intowater, and new debates on the energy and environmentalimpacts of new desalination projects.

There is a new discussion on virtual water (i.e. thewater cost of different products).

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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The HANPP

The HANPP is calculated in three steps. First,the potential net primary production (in thenatural ecosystems of a given region orcountry), NPP, is calculated. Then, the actualNPP (normally, less than potential NPP, because

of agricultural simplification and soil sealing) iscalculated.

The part of actual NPP used by humans andassociate beings (cattle, etc.) relative to

potential NPP is the HANPP, meant to be anindex of loss of biodiversity (because thehigher the HANPP, less biomass available forwild species).

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Marx and Malthus

Marx wrote about social metabolism but he was not

worried about crises of subsistence.

He attacked Malthus not only because Malthus believedin decreasing returns in agriculture but also becauseMalthus said that improving the situation of the poor wascounterproductive since they would have more children.

The importance ofpopulat ion growthin the increasedsocial metabolism is obvious. Paul Ehrlichs equation

I = PAT

could be applied historically, if there was an adequateindicator forT (technology).

A trend towards a decrease in the world population mightappear soon.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Varieties of Malthusianism

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions

MALTHUSIANISM

NEO-MALTHUSIANISM OF 1900

ANTI-MALTHUSIANISM

NEO-MALTHUSIANISM AFTER 1970

Population undergoes exponential growth unless checked by war and

pestilence, or by chastity and late marriages. Food grows less thanproportionately to the labour input, because of decreasing returns. Hence,

subsistence crises.

Human populations could regulate their own growth through contraception.

Womens freedom was required for this, and desirable for its own sake.

Poverty was explained by social inequality. Conscious procreation was

needed to prevent low wages, and pressure on natural resources. This was a

successful bottom-up movement in Europe and America against States

(which wanted more soldiers) and Churches

A doctrine and practice sponsored by international organizations and somegovernments. Population growth is seen as a main cause of poverty and

environmental degradation. Therefore States must introduce contraceptive

methods, even without womens prior consent.

The view that assumes that human population growth is no major threat to

the natural environment, and that it is even conducive to economic growthas Esther Boserup and other economists argued.


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Sources for the Neo-Malthusianism of 1900

The French neo-Malthusians Gabriel Giroud andSebastien Faure published books and pamphlets on

population and resources. Cf. J. Cohen, How manypeople can the Earth sup port? , Norton, New York, 1995.

NOTICE that at the time the discussion did not take intoaccount the biomass needed for wildlife, i.e. how largethe HANPP should be.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions

L. Gordon, Womans body, womans right. A social history of

birth control in America, Grossman, New York, 1976.

F.Ronsin, La grve des ventres. Propagande no-malthusienneet baisse de la natalit en France, 19-20 sicles, Aubier-Montagne, Paris, 1980.

E. Masjuan, La ecologa humana y el anarquismo ibrico: el

urbanismo orgnico o ecolgico, el neo-malthusianismo y elnaturismo social, Icaria, Barcelona, 2000.


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Ecological Distribution Conflicts

The statistics on energy use are relevant to explain someconflicts among humans. For instance, the need to gain access

to forests by poor people is explained by their need for fuel.There are historical and current conflicts on coal extraction(miners health, land subsidence, production of sulphur dioxide)and oil extraction (gas flaring, biodiversity loss).

At the global level, more fossil fuel extraction means more

carbon dioxide production, and a conflict on the distribution ofresponsibilities and damages from climate change. Increaseduse of energy leads also to conflicts on transport, such asthose created by oil spills.

Even wind energy provokes new conflicts in Europe because ofthe (post-materialist?) valuation of landscapes.

Other sources of energy give rise to more robust conflicts, aswith nuclear energy (uncertain risks of accident, disposal ofnuclear waste, military proliferation)

while agro-fuels are criticized because of their low EROI,

because they increase HANPP to the detriment of other species,and because of their virtual water content.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Material Flows and Conflicts

Similarlinks exist between increased MaterialFlows, classified into Biomass, Minerals forBuilding, Minerals for Metals, Fossil Fuels,and social conflicts.

There is no current inventory ofecological distribution conflicts in theworld, much less is there a historicalinventory.

However, clearhistorical trends appear(including trends in exports and imports) onthe material flows, possibly signallingconflicts. Questions on the absolute and

relative dematerialization of the economyma be answered em iricall .

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Three case studies of conflicts on the HANPP

The Chipko movement:a struggle on the HANPP using

different languages of valuation

The Tana Delta:who gets the HANPP? The threat

of sugar cane plantations in 2008

The loss of NPP by the

destruction of mangroves byshrimp farming:

cost-benefit analysis or the

language of environmental justice

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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The Unquiet Woods

The forests became state property in India under

colonial rule. The main technical advisers were Germanexperts.

Their policy was to maximize the commercial HANPP bygrowing uniform stands of trees as long as it waseconomic to do so, comparing the rate of growth of the

trees (multiplied by expected price, net of cutting costs)to the rate of interest.

Faustmann in 1849 introduced another factor, the rentone could get from the land for some years (as pastures,for instance) once the trees were cut, while waiting for

the next crop of trees. This additional factor would bea reason for a shorter rotation.

This was the training that German foresters had whenthey arrived in India with its rich tropical and diverseforests. However, the logic of multiple use could not be

totally ignored.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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The Unquiet Woods

Forests in India were used by the local populations fornon-timber products, they held much biodiversity, and

they also provided flood control and otherenvironm ental services (to use todays jargon).

The institutions of Joint Forest Management since thelate 1980s (partly the result of the Chipko movement), theolder institution of the Van Panchayat in Kumaunespecially after the revolt of 1920-21, have a longintellectual history.

Guha blamed German forestry science forsingle-mindedly imposing the language of forest economics andthe logic of chir plantations. In a more recent book hequotes from Dietrich Brandis himself, the Inspector

General of Forests between 1864 and 1883, that villageforests should be preserved and provide free of chargefirewood for home consumption or for sale by poorpeople with headloads, wood for the agriculturalimplements and carts, wood, bamboo and grass forthatching, flooring and fencing, leaves and branches formanure, and grazing except in areas closed for forest

regeneration

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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The subsidy from Nature (Kumaun 2006),

the GDP of the poor


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Conclusion

There is a common ground between Social

History, Economic History and Environmental

History, between Ecological Economics and

Political Ecology, between Sustainability Science

and Environmental Sociology.

It lies in the three-tier relation between the

increasing Social Metabolism of human

economies pushed by population and economic

growth, the resulting Ecological DistributionConflicts among human groups, and then the

different Languages of Valuation deployed

historically and at present by such groups when

they reaffirm their rights to use the

environmental services and products in dispute.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Conclusion

The metabolism of industrial societies requires increasing

amounts ofenergy and materials, and also increasedappropriation of the production of biomass. Hence, new

extractions arise at the commodity frontiers. These are often

bulk commodities but they can also be preciosities (gold,

diamonds, mahogany or shrimp).

One may study the Material Flows to test historical trendstowards dematerialization, or to follow the ups and downs of the

building industry. One may study the use of energy from the

different fossil fuels to see the trend in the world aggregate

production of carbon dioxide.

One may study the HANPP in a given territory and see whether it

really indicates historical trends towards loss of biodiversity.

However, another approach consists of studying the MEFA and

HANPP indicators, and theirlinks to historical or contemporary

environmental conflicts among groups of humans.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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The Niyamgiri hill, Orissa, threatened by

bauxite mining by Vedanta(photo Leah Temper, Jan. 06)


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Languages of Valuation

Such conflicts are expressed as conflicts over valuation,

either inside a single standard of value or across pluralvalue. It might be that an agreement is sought among

diverse interests by appealing to the common language of

economic valuation, trying to ascertain through extended

CBA whether the benefits from a project are large enough

to compensate for the losses, and keep a net gain on top.The requirement for such an exercise is commensurability

of values.

Social, cultural, economic, environmental aspects are all

measured in money. This is technically difficult to achievebut not impossible. More importantly, the money-

reductionism of CBA harms the social legitimacy of other

values.

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions


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Power

To conclude, we may write, shrimp exports [or copper or

bauxite mining] is a valuable item of world trade, and also,valuable ecosystems and valuable local cultures are

destroyed by shrimp farming [or copper or bauxite

mining]. The reduction of all goods and services to actual

or fictitious commodities can be recognized as one

perspective among several, legitimate as a reflection of realpower structures.

Who has then the power to simplify complexity, imposing

a particular standard and procedure of valuation? In

environmental conflicts, political power appears at twolevels: first, as the ability to impose a decision; second, as

the power to impose one particular decision-procedure and

a standard of valuation. How this power is exercised in

different societies in different moments of history is indeed

a worthwhile topic of study for social historians, and of

course for political ecologists

Environmentalism

of the poor


Methods to study

social

metabolism

Marx and Malthus

Ecological

distribution

conflicts

Conflicts and the

HANPP

Conclusions

06 social metabolism ecological distribution conflicts languages 1

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