CO2lonialism and the “Unintended Consequences” of Commoditizing Climate Change: Geographies of Hope Amid a Sea of Oil Palms in the Northwest Ecuadorian Pacific Region
2012
Hazlewood, Julianne A.
Reduction of greenhouse gases as prescribed by the Kyoto Protocol encourages substituting fossil fuels with biofuels. Ecuador's engagement with such climate change policy frameworks and subsequent biofuel production plans have led to drastic landscape transformation. Since the implementation of the first large-scale oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantation in the Canton of San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas province in 1998, palm monoculture has replaced 22, 242 ha of Ecuador's coastal Chocó rainforest. The recent and rapid expansion of oil palm plantations has serious and detrimental socio-ecological repercussions for the local Afro-Ecuadorian and indigenous communities. This article highlights both the agro-ecological and cultural practices and the inter-ethnic networks through which these communities construct and sustain “geographies of hope” amid landscapes characterized by fallen forests, poisoned rivers, social conflicts, and a sea of oil palms. Drawing on the theoretical linkages between climate change, colonialism, and capitalism, this study investigates San Lorenzo as an agricultural frontier where “CO₂lonialism” is articulated through biofuel (oil palm) production. Expounding on the ecological debt of the Global North to the Global South, this article critically examines actions and discourses that bulldoze rainforests, livelihoods, and constructive discussions regarding the global warning of global warming.
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