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Two sides of the same coin: increasing material extraction rates and social environmental conflicts in Mexico

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  • Darcy Tetreault

    (Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Unidad Académica en Estudios del Desarrollo)

Abstract

This article seeks to explain the multiplication of social environmental conflicts in Mexico as a consequence of expanding and intensifying extractive activities. It examines how the Mexican state has provided private and foreign capital greater access to the country’s natural resources in the transition from state-led import-substituting industrialization to export-oriented market-led development. This, it argues, has led to accelerating material extraction rates in the context of rising global demand for primary commodities; while the negative environmental and social impacts have in turn led to a growing number of conflicts involving the inhabitants of directly affected rural communities, who organize to resist. Based on standardized procedures for material flow analysis, it presents the results of an investigation into the domestic extraction rates of minerals, metal ores, biomass, and fossil fuels from Mexico, between 1990 and 2018. It finds that domestic extraction rates increased significantly during this period, with the exception of fossil fuels, which peaked in 2006, declining thereafter due to the exhaustion of the country’s most important oil reserves. The evolution of domestic extraction rates is juxtaposed with the emergence of related social environmental conflicts by drawing on multiple databases of conflicts around extractive activities in Mexico.

Suggested Citation

  • Darcy Tetreault, 2022. "Two sides of the same coin: increasing material extraction rates and social environmental conflicts in Mexico," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 14163-14183, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:24:y:2022:i:12:d:10.1007_s10668-021-02025-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-02025-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Víctor M. Toledo & Narciso Barrera-Bassols, 2017. "Political Agroecology in Mexico: A Path toward Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-13, February.
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    8. Daniela Russi & Ana C. Gonzalez-Martinez & José Carlos Silva-Macher & Stefan Giljum & Joan Martínez-Alier & Maria Cristina Vallejo, 2008. "Material Flows in Latin America," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 704-720, October.
    9. Stefan Giljum & Monika Dittrich & Mirko Lieber & Stephan Lutter, 2014. "Global Patterns of Material Flows and their Socio-Economic and Environmental Implications: A MFA Study on All Countries World-Wide from 1980 to 2009," Resources, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, March.
    10. Tetreault, Darcy, 2020. "The new extractivism in Mexico: Rent redistribution and resistance to mining and petroleum activities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. Sabine Bacouël-Jentjens & Grégory Levieuge & José Riascos & Camelia Turcu, 2023. "Sustainable development and the extractive industry. An assessment of the Mexican case," Working Papers 2023.17, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    2. Liu, Yang & Wu, Ailing & Wang, Jianda & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Dong, Xiucheng, 2024. "Green growth in the global south: How does metallic minerals affect GTFP enhancement?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

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