Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores the political economy of balsa extractivism in the Ecuadorean Amazonia for the benefit of windmill construction enterprises in China and Europe in the process of “green” energy transition.

Paper Abstract:

Balsa (ochroma pyramidale), is a type of timber that is mostly produced in Ecuadorian Amazonia. In fact, Ecuador is the world’s largest balsa producer and it has been so for decades. Apparently the

demand for balsa has skyrocketed over the past few years, and illegal balsa trade is -indirectly -responsible for some of the Amazon’s illegal deforestation. The – unlikely – reason is green energy: balsa is the core material used in the construction of wind turbin-blades, and since wind-farms have multiplied impressively all over the globe in the quest for green energy solutions, so has the demand for balsa, which is -ironically – bringing about deforestation in the Amazonia. Of course, extractivism is not a new phenomenon in the Ecuadorian Amazonia. Today it is the turn of balsa to become the “brown gold” of Amazonia’s eternal El Dorado in order to produce the West’s green energy. At the same time, local communities all over the globe also increasingly oppose the installation of wind-farms, the “final product” of the global balsa supply chain. Drawing from already existing literature on the windmills’ installation, I intend to move ‘backwards’ to see the process of extraction, combine findings with previous research on windfarms and thus overall provide a more thorough and complete understanding of the issue, contributing to the literature on green energy, its contradictions, and its lived experience; adding to the genealogy of extractivism, in the Amazonia

exploring how this case study adds/ challenges/ contradicts/ furthers what we already know.