The Green Economy in the global South: experiences, redistributions and resistance

Abstract

As multiple visions for a Green Economy seek to become real, so are green economic initiatives in the global South multiplying. These can offer integration into wealth-generating markets – as well as displacement, alienation, conflict and opportunities for ‘green washing’. The articles included in this collection bring together a multidisciplinary team of scholars and a range of case studies, from forestry governance to tourism to carbon finance, to provide nuanced analyses of Green Economy experiences in the global South – examining the opportunities they provide, the redistributions they entail and the kinds of resistance they face.

Keywords:

• climate change
• environmental policy
• global South
• livelihoods and sustainability
• poverty and inequality
• resources

Acknowledgements

Previous versions of the papers included in this collection were presented at the ‘Green Economy in the South’ conference, which was hosted by the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma, Tanzania, 8–10 July 2014. The conference was co-hosted by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape; the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM), University of Manchester; the International Institute for Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University; the Sustainability Platform, Copenhagen Business School (CBS); and the Future Agricultures Consortium. In particular, we would like to thank the other members of the organising committee for their invaluable work: Davis Mwamfupe, Abiud Kaswamila, Thabit Jacob, Mathew Bukhi and Wilhelm Kiwango (University of Dodoma); Emmanuel Sulle (PLAAS); Sarah Bracking (IDPM); Bram Büscher (University of Wageningen); Jim Igoe (University of Virginia); Baruani Mshale (CIFOR); and Christine Noe (University of Dar es Salaam).

Notes

1. Bailey and Caprotti, “The Green Economy”; Bauhardt, “Solutions to the Crisis?”; and Tienhaara, “Varieties of Green Capitalism.”

2. Brown et al., “Green Growth or Ecological Commodification.”

3. Faccer et al., “Interpreting the Green Economy.”

4. For example, the actor Harrison Ford, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVBw66t8a9Q; Prince Charles (UK), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boEDMVNAPk4; and journalist Tom Friendman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Li3O81uDs, all accessed July 29, 2015.

5. Brockington and Duffy, Capitalism and Conservation; Arsel and Büscher, “Nature^TM Inc”; and Büscher et al., Nature^TM Inc.

6. This imbalance has been raised before, though not fully settled. See, for example, Sidaway, “In other Worlds.”

7. But Death is careful to report the objections that Tienhaara raises to using such investments to dam and dredge rivers.

8. Wanner, “The New ‘Passive Revolution’ of the Green Economy.”

9. Connor, “Opportunity and Constraint.”

10. Shoreman-Ouimet and Kopnina, “Reconciling Ecological and Social Justice,” 324.

11. Castree, “Neoliberalizing Nature: Processes, Effects and Evaluations”; and Castree, “Neoliberalizing Nature: The Logics of De- and Re-regulation.”

Additional information

Funding

Funding that made the ‘Green Economy in the South’ conference possible was kindly provided by UNEP, the African Studies Association (UK) and the Sustainability Platform, Copenhagen Business School.