New Books: The Political Economy of Global Warming The Terminal Crisis By Del Weston (27 Aug 2013)

The Political Economy of Global Warming

The Terminal Crisis

By Del Weston

Routledge – 2014 – 230 pages

Descriptions:

Humanity is facing an unprecedented global catastrophe as a result of global warming. This book examines the reasons why international agencies, together with national governments, are seemingly unable to provide real and binding solutions to the problems. The reasons presented relate to the existing dominant global economic structure of capitalism as well as the fact that global warming is too often seen as an isolated problem rather than one of a suite of exceptional, converging and accelerating crises arising from the global capitalist political economy.

This book adopts a political economy framework to address these issues. It accepts the science of global warming but challenges the predominant politics and economics of global warming. To illustrate the key issues involved, the book draws on South Africa – building on Samir Amin’s thesis that the country represents a microcosm of the global political economy. By taking a political economy approach, the book provides a clear explanation of the deep and pervasive problem of the denial which fails to acknowledge global warming as a systemic rather than a market problem. The book should be of interest to students and scholars researching climate change, environmental politics, environmental and ecological economics, development studies and political economics.

Contents:

1. Why the inaction on global warming? 
2. The state of the planet 
3. Global warming – evidence, causes and projections 
4. Kyoto and emissions trading schemes 
5. The global political economy and global warming 
6. Inequality, ecological debt and global warming 
7. The metabolic rift, development, de-peasantisation 
8. Africa, global warming and the future of the continent 
9. South Africa – a microcosm of the global political economy 
10. Alternatives 
11. Conclusion: Capitalism or the Planet?

For more information: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415811774/

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New Books: The Ecotourism-Extraction Nexus Political Economies and Rural Realities of (un)Comfortable Bedfellows Edited by Bram Büscher, Veronica Davidov (6 Aug 2013)

The Ecotourism-Extraction Nexus

Political Economies and Rural Realities of (un)Comfortable Bedfellows

Edited by Bram Büscher, Veronica Davidov

Routledge – 2013 – 284 pages

Descriptions:

Ecotourism and natural resource extraction may be seen as contradictory pursuits, yet in reality they often take place side by side, sometimes even supported by the same institutions. Existing academic and policy literatures generally overlook the phenomenon of ecotourism in areas concurrently affected by extraction industries, but such a scenario is in fact increasingly common in resource-rich developing nations.

This edited volume conceptualises and empirically analyses the ‘ecotourism-extraction nexus’ within the context of broader rural and livelihood changes in the places where these activities occur. The volume’s central premise is that these seemingly contradictory activities are empirically and conceptually more alike than often imagined, and that they share common ground in ethnographic lived experiences in rural settings and broader political economic structures of power and control.

The book offers theoretical reflections on why ecotourism and natural resource extraction are systematically decoupled, and epistemologically and analytically re-links them through ethnographic case studies drawing on research from around the world. It should be of interest to students and professionals engaged in the disciplines of geography, anthropology and development studies.

Contents:

Foreword Rosaleen Duffy 

1. Introduction: The ecotourism-extraction nexus Veronica Davidov and Bram Büscher
2. Conceptualising Lived Experiences within the Political Economy of the Ecotourism-Extraction Nexus Bram Büscher and Veronica Davidov 
3. Gems of Ankarana: The commodification and generification of Madagascar’s natural wonders Andrew Walsh 
4. Horticulture in Harmony with Wildlife: The awkward marriage of ecotourism and industrial floriculture in Naivasha, Kenya Megan Styles 
5. Between the Cattle and the Deep Blue Sea: The Janus face of the ecotourism-extraction nexus in Costa Rica Robert Fletcher
6. Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret? Exploring the discursive terrain and lived experience of the ecotourism/extraction nexus in southern Belize James Stinson 
7. Mining the Forest: Epical and novelesque boundaries along the Upper Bulolo River, Papua New Guinea Jamon Alex Halvaksz, II 
8. Ecological Tourism and Elite Minerals in Karelia: The Veps' experience with extraction, commodification and circulation of natural resources Veronica Davidov 
9. Crude Desires and ‘Green’ Initiatives: Indigenous development and oil extraction in Amazonian Ecuador Timothy J. Smith 
10. 'Greening' Dispossession: Mining nature through ecotourism in the Dominican Southwest Luisa Rollins 
11. Ecotourism and Extraction in Saami Lands: Contradictions and continuities Florence Revelin 
12. Questions About Local Sovereignty in the Context of the Ecotourism-Extraction Nexus in Northwest Ecuador: Post-neoliberal vignettes from Intag-Manduriaco's cloud forests Linda D’Amico 
13. ‘Ecotourism, not mining, in Palawan!’: Territorial narratives on the last frontier (Palawan, the Philippines) Elisabet Rasch 
14. Conclusion Wolfram Dressler

For more information: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415824897/

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