Ecologically unequal exchange

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Ecologically or ecological unequal exchange is a concept from ecological economics that builds from the notion of unequal exchange. It considers the inequities hidden in the monetary value of trade flows not only in terms of wages, and quantities of labor but also regarding materials, energy and environmental degradation.[1][2][3][4] As labor is also a form of energy, unequal exchange of embodied labor can even be considered a subset of the wider phenomenon of ecologically unequal exchange.[5] There is an uneven utilization of the environment at the global level not only due to the uneven distribution of resources, but also to shift the environmental burden. The consumption and capital accumulation of core countries are based on environmental degradation and extraction in periphery countries. Sustainability analysis and solutions with a production-based perspective in core countries may thus keep increase unsustainability at the global level.[6] The current configuration of global production networks that leads to this asymmetric trade patterns has evolved historically with colonialism.[7] Whereas ecological unequal exchange is a concept developed in academia, the concept of ecological debt is used in an activism context of environmental justice.[8][9] The latter defines the accumulation of this unequal exchange through history.[10]

  1. ^ "Ecologically unequal exchange | Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade". Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  2. ^ Rice, James (2007-03-01). "Ecological Unequal Exchange: International Trade and Uneven Utilization of Environmental Space in the World System". Social Forces. 85 (3): 1369–1392. doi:10.1353/sof.2007.0054. ISSN 0037-7732. S2CID 154478672.
  3. ^ Rice, James (2007). "Ecological Unequal Exchange: Consumption, Equity, and Unsustainable Structural Relationships within the Global Economy". International Journal of Comparative Sociology. 48 (1): 43–72. doi:10.1177/0020715207072159. S2CID 154332267.
  4. ^ Hornborg, Alf (1998-04-01). "Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange: articulating world system theory and ecological economics". Ecological Economics. 25 (1): 127–136. Bibcode:1998EcoEc..25..127H. doi:10.1016/S0921-8009(97)00100-6. ISSN 0921-8009.
  5. ^ Pérez-Sánchez, L.; Velasco-Fernández, R.; Giampietro M. (2021-02-01). "The international division of labor and embodied working time in trade for the US, the EU and China". Ecological Economics. 180: 106909. Bibcode:2021EcoEc.18006909P. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106909. ISSN 0921-8009.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Hornborg, Alf (2009-05-20). "Zero-Sum World: Challenges in Conceptualizing Environmental Load Displacement and Ecologically Unequal Exchange in the World-System". International Journal of Comparative Sociology. 50 (3–4): 237–262. doi:10.1177/0020715209105141. S2CID 153599311.
  7. ^ Infante-Amate, Juan; Krausmann, Fridolin (2019-02-01). "Trade, Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Colonial Legacy: The Case of France and its Former Colonies (1962–2015)". Ecological Economics. 156: 98–109. Bibcode:2019EcoEc.156...98I. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.09.013. ISSN 0921-8009. S2CID 158456067.
  8. ^ Roberts, J. Timmons; Parks, Bradley C. (2009-05-20). "Ecologically Unequal Exchange, Ecological Debt, and Climate Justice: The History and Implications of Three Related Ideas for a New Social Movement". International Journal of Comparative Sociology. 50 (3–4): 385–409. doi:10.1177/0020715209105147. S2CID 143911217.
  9. ^ Hornborg, Alf; Martinez-Alier, Joan (2016-12-01). "Ecologically unequal exchange and ecological debt". Journal of Political Ecology. 23 (1): 328–333. doi:10.2458/v23i1.20220. ISSN 1073-0451.
  10. ^ "Ecological debt". Retrieved 2021-02-05.