Land Matters. Agrofuels, Unequal Exchange, and Appropriation of Ecological Space Hermele ...

242 Pages·2017·10.42 MB·English

Land Matters
Agrofuels, Unequal Exchange, and Appropriation of Ecological Space
Hermele, Kenneth
2012
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Citation for published version (APA):
Hermele, K. (2012). Land Matters: Agrofuels, Unequal Exchange, and Appropriation of Ecological Space.
[Doctoral Thesis (monograph), Human Ecology]. Human Ecology Division, Lund University.
Total number of authors:
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LUND UNIVERSITY
PO Box 117
221 00 Lund
[phone]
LAND MATTERS

LAND MATTERS
Agrofuels, Unequal Exchange, and Appropriation
of Ecological Space

Kenneth Hermele
All electronic links confirmed in June 2012.
Copyright © Kenneth Hermele
Human Ecology Division, Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University
ISBN 978-91-7473-349-5
ISSN 1403-5022

Printed in Sweden on Lessebo Linné (Svanenmärkt)
by Media-Tryck, Lund University, 2012

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To the memory of my parents

Perla Hermele, Königsberg 1923 – Netanya 2002
Arthur Hermele, Berlin 1922 – Stockholm 1996

& to Ingrid, my love

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Table of Contents
The Argument: The Return of Malthus 9

PART I. LAND USE AND AGROFUELS 13
1. The Importance of Land 15
2. Land Use Scenarios for Agrofuels and Nine Billion People 35
3. Regulating Land Use for Agrofuels: A Case Study of Brazil 65

PART II. ECOLOGICALLY UNEQUAL EXCHANGE 107
4. Framing Unequal Exchange 109
5. The Importance of Measures 125
6. Measures and Interpretations of Ecologically Unequal Exchange 149

PART III. APPROPRIATION OF ECOLOGICAL SPACE 173
7. From Environmental Load Displacement to Land Grabbing 175
8. The Argument Revisited: The Return to the Land 191

References 217
Thanks 237

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Tables
1.1. Global land use 2009-2010 12
1.2. Socio-ecological metabolic regimes compared 31
2.1. Global potential of biomass for energy 2050 45
2.2. Current and future blending targets and mandates 47
2.3. Land area required to meet 10 % blending requirement by 2030 48
2.4. Ethanol potential and share of today’s global petrol use 48
2.5. What if? Share of global crop and pasture land areas to satisfy human diets
2010-2050 55
2.6. Differences in metabolic profiles c 2000 58
A.1. Land area required per 1,000 kcal of various foods 62
A.2 - A.6. Land area required for various diets and calorie intakes 62-63
3.1. Sugarcane cultivation and Brazil’s land area 87
3.2. Feedstock performance with direct land use change included 93
3.3. Biodiversity impact of land use change 96
4.1. Transport of bulk commodities c 1960 and c 2000 123
5.1. Conceptual differences between environmental and ecological economics 126
5.2. A comparison of measures of ecological exchange 147
6.1. Share of embodied HANPP in biomass trade 2000 153
6.2. Measuring ecologically unequal exchange 155
6.3. Ecological footprints: Rule and exception 2006 155
6.4. Water footprint. Top ten plus Sweden exporters and importers 1997-2001 156
6.5. Top five global exporters of key agricultural products 2001-2003 170
7.1. Appropriated ecological space in the South 183
7.2. Distribution of ecological loads caused 1961-2000 and suffered until 2100 185
7.3. Verified land grabs 2000-2010 188
8.1. Net imports of fossil fuels and the land areas needed to replace it 2007 193
8.2. Total use of fossil and nuclear energy and the land areas needed to replace it
2007 194
8.3. Three agro-regimes since 1945 195
8.4. Cropland expansion 1700-1980 207

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