Format/Structure

Panel session. 10-15 minute presentations, followed by Q&A.

Long Abstract

Across several world regions, attempts to justify deforestation and associated land use changes on (often, counter-intuitive) “sustainability” grounds are increasingly common. From renewable energy developments, to biomass inputs and “efficient” charcoal harvesting, to monocultures for Hevea brasiliensis (natural rubber) or other synthetic-alternatives, to palm oil or other tree-crop commodity ventures justified on the basis of "value-added" carbon sequestration, efforts at greening deforestation are in some contexts now an almost everyday occurrence. Notwithstanding important debates about asymmetrical capacities to define and delimit exactly what constitutes a “forest” or forest area, it is simply the case empirically that indigenous forests are increasingly being converted to alternative land uses, ostensibly to achieve sustainability benefits. At times, this is once again combined with various forms of carbon offsetting, biodiversity offsetting, or landscape banking arrangements, in which forests “replaced” in one region may be “re-placed” elsewhere, potentially with ominous livelihood or socio-ecological impacts.

In this session, we thus welcome papers advancing one or more case studies of “green deforestation” from a political ecology perspective. Throughout, we will harness approaches to relational comparison in political ecology, collectively identifying both resonances and dissonances in the socio-ecological impacts of green deforestation across national and world-regional contexts. Relevant foci for paper contributions might therefore include one or more of the following:

• Case studies of “green transition”-induced deforestation and land use/cover change

• Agro-extractivism and green extractivism interfaces

• Consequences of emerging regulatory frameworks, such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)

• Governance constellations for green deforestation: connections with militarization, securitization, state formation, and (counter-)insurgency processes

• Articulations between intersectional inequalities and land use change impacts

• Carbon forestry and plantation tree-crop cultivation interactions

• Trade-offs between renewable energy developments and forest/biodiversity conservation

• Variable livelihood impacts of-, and local responses to-, green deforestation

This Panel has 4 pending paper proposals.
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