What Is Extractivism?

Extractivism refers to the processes, ideology, and effects of natural resource extraction. Under capitalist systems, extractivism tends to prioritise profit and economic growth over the well-being of communities and ecosystems, disproportionately affecting marginalised and Indigenous populations who bear the brunt of environmental harm.

by Robyn Lawrence

Understanding the Origins of Extractivism

Eduardo Galeano wrote of Latin America, ‘It is […] the region of open veins. From the discovery to the present day, everything has always been transmuted into European capital or, later, North American capital, and as such it has accumulated and accumulates in the distant centres of power’ [1]. When activists and scholars in Spanish-speaking Latin America coined ‘extractivism’ as ‘extractivismo’, they gave a name to the process, system, logic of this transmutation.

They were describing an already complex interplay of resource exploitation and ideology, of oppression and indigenous resistance –  A historical process that is still ongoing [2], a vast, faceless global project, and its local iterations which disrupted the daily lives of indigenous communities. As brutal, right-wing dictatorships dominated the continent at the behest of the United States, those who sought to resist these governments crafted the tools to understand the nature of their struggle.

The term captures not only the extraction of raw materials, the systems but also a logic of capitalism which enables such industries to exist in their current form. Extractivism is a critique of the assemblage of practices, logics, and relationships of exploitation that inform and rationalise destructive forms of economic organisation. It is a critique of the non-reciprocity of global organisation, and the violence this relationship inflicts on the Global South [3]. 

As a manifestation of global capitalism, extractivism is implicated in many of the most pressing, particularly ecological, injustices of this era [4]. This includes, but is not limited to: damage to the land through the contamination of water, exhaustion of life-sustaining resources, deforestation, the violations of rights through displacement, forced labour, and increasing social inequalities [5]. 

Present Manifestations of Extractivism 

Cobalt Mining in the DRC

The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has long been defined by extractivist industries. It is rich in minerals such as cobalt which are a key component of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, essential for the production of consumer devices such as smartphones and also electric cars. In 2022, the DRC accounted for more than two-thirds of the world’s cobalt reserves, and nearly half of the world’s cobalt production. In the DRC, cobalt mining is carried out by a combination of high-tech industrial mining firms, headquartered in the Global North or in China, and ‘artisanal miners’ who are not formally employed and mine for subsistence without regulatory protections or oversight [7]. 

The mining industry has transformed the landscape of the DRC, undermining its capacity to sustain the lives and livelihoods of the people who call its forests home. Swathes of rainforest have been felled, and airborne contaminants consign those around mines to respiratory illnesses and diminished life expectancy. Despite this, the extraction of cobalt shows no signs of waning as it remains one of the most sought after elements on the planet by governments and Big Tech in the Global North.

Lithium Mining in the ‘Lithium Triangle’

To the international market, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile comprise the ‘Lithium Triangle’, the nations which cumulatively contain approximately 47 million metric tonnes of lithium, the bulk of the world’s supply [8]. The lithium deposits are primarily located in the countries’ salt flats, which are areas mostly of indigenous settlement [9].

The process of lithium extraction in the ‘lithium triangle’ requires significant water input which has led to desertification of the surrounding regions [10]. The deprivation of water from these communities is likely to have a significant deleterious effect on their ability to continue their ways of life, including traditional farming practices and rituals. There is also a recognition within these communities that government/company – orchestrated environmental degradation is serving to undermine their land rights and belief systems [11].

The harms of these extractive processes are not only environmental. Many indigenous communities make their living through more sustainable utilisation of the salt flats such as small-scale salt harvesting and tourism, activities which are disrupted by the arrival of major lithium mining operations [12]. The same people face state violence for resisting this process of exploitation; in June 2023,  when hundreds of local protesters blockaded an access highway to the salt plains,, they were subjected to police and military violence, resulting in injuries to 96 people[13].

Conclusion

Capitalism organises global society around extractive logics and the fruits of extractive processes. One’s experience of these processes is sharply demarcated by one’s class and geography, as it sustains particular modes of life at the expense of others. In the case of lithium and cobalt, mining has undermined the ability of many indigenous communities to pursue their livelihoods and traditional modes of living. Extractivism fundamentally clashes with the values of respect, reciprocity, restoration, and concern for the future health of the planet centred by advocates of environmental justice [14]. Climate justice demands an alternative way of organising, a just distribution of resources and an end to the exploitation that largely characterises the current model [15].

References:

[1] Galeano, Eduardo, 1971, The Open Veins of Latin America, Monthly Review Press, 0-85345-990-3.
[2] Gudynas, Eduardo, 2021, Extractivisms: Politics, Economy and Ecology, Fernwood Publishing.
[3] Chagnon, C. W., Durante, F., Gills, B. K., Hagolani-Albov, S. E., Hokkanen, S., Kangasluoma, S. M. J., Vuola, M. P. S., 2022, From extractivism to global extractivism: the evolution of an organizing concept. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 49(4), https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2022.2069015
[4] Ye, Jingzhong, Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, Sergio Schneider, and Teodor Shanin, 2019, The Incursions of Extractivism: Moving from Dispersed Places to Global Capitalism. Journal of Peasant Studies 47 (1). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1559834.
[5] Warnecke-Berger, H., Burchardt, H. J., & Dietz, K., 2023, The failure of (neo-)extractivism in Latin America – explanations and future challenges. Third World Quarterly, 44(8), https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2023.2203380
[6] Chagnon et al, Extractivism to Global Extractivism
[7] Gross, Terry, 2023 How ‘modern-day slavery’ in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy, NPR, https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara, accessed on 22/06/2024.
[8] Seefeldt, J., 2020, ‘Lessons from the Lithium Triangle: Considering Policy Explanations for the Variation in Lithium Industry Development in the “Lithium Triangle” Countries of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, Politics Policy 48 https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1111/polp.12365
[9] Ibid
[10] UNCTAD., 2020, Developing Countries Pay Environmental Cost of Electric Car Batteries, https://unctad.org/news/developing-countries-pay-environmental-cost-electric-car-batteries.
[11] Babidge, S., and Bolados, P., 2018, Neoextractivism and Indigenous Water Ritual in Salar de Atacama, Chile, Latin American Perspectives 45 (5)
[12] Klein, Naomi, 2014, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, Simon and Schuster, 978-1451697384