Abstract:
“Green extractivism” refers to the way in which decarbonisation and the transition to green energy as part of the sustainable development policies of the Global North have increased the commodification of nature and expanded the extraction of minerals. Many of these minerals are located in the Global South, and within the territory of peasant and Indigenous communities. One example is the case of Chile, which has some of the largest reserves of lithium in the world; a mineral used for the production of batteries key to renewable energy technologies. In this dissertation, using a political ecology approach, I examine lithium mining in the Salar de Atacama (“the Salar”) in Chile, and the dynamics between the State, extractive companies, and Atacameña Indigenous communities. With the results obtained through a literature review and document analysis, I demonstrate how green extractivism perpetuates asymmetric local relations, and how this is related to the socio-environmental effects faced by Indigenous Atacameña communities due to the exploitation of lithium mining in their territories. Relying on an original analysis of legal and policy documents, I argue that green extractivism highlights the structural deficiencies of lithium mining regulation and Chile's neoextractivist system. These in turn contribute to the unequal and unfair distribution of the socioenvironmental costs of lithium exploitation in the Salar de Atacama. The dissertation shows that mining companies operating in the Salar benefit from the commodification of nature and transfer externalities to local communities to bear the costs of the green economy policies of the Global North. Nevertheless, I explain that the Atacameña Indigenous communities, despite being in an asymmetric relationship, have assumed an active role, through legal and political mechanisms, in defending their rights and demanding that companies and the State recognise their obligations to protect the Salar’s ecology. The dissertation concludes by contemplating possible political changes through a new constitution in Chile in the next few years and what this may mean for the dominance of green extractivism, especially for the Salar.
Citación recomendada (normas APA)
Sara Mejia Muñoz, "Green extractivism in Chile: The case of lithium mining in the Salar de Atacama", Atacama (Chile); Loa (Chile):-, 2021. Consultado en línea en la Biblioteca Digital de Bogotá (https://www.bibliotecadigitaldebogota.gov.co/resources/3711903/), el día 2025-08-10.
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