Hanne Svarstad

This textbook introduces political ecology as an interdisciplinary approach to critically examine land and environmental issues. Drawing on discourse and narrative analysis, Marxist political economy and insights from natural science, the book points at similarities, differences and inter-connections between environmental governance in the global North and South. A wide range of carefully curated case studies are presented, with a particular focus on Africa and Norway. Key themes of power, justice and environmental sustainability run through all chapters. The authors challenge established views and leading discourses and present research findings that may surprise readers. Chapters cover topics including wildlife conservation, climate change and conflicts, land grabbing, the effects of population growth on the environment, jihadism in the African Sahel, bioprospecting, feminist political ecology, and struggles around carbon mitigation within a fossil fuel-based economy. This introductory text provides tools and examples for both undergraduate and postgraduate students to better understand on-going struggles about some of the world’s most urgent challenges.

Over hele verden pågår det konflikter om bruk og vern av miljø og naturressurser. Politisk økologi er en tverrfaglig forskningstradisjon for studier av årsaker til slike konflikter, der det spesielt legges vekt på å studere maktforhold.2. utgave av «Politisk økologi» er oppdatert og har mye nyskrevet tekst. Et nytt kapittel handler om norske klimasatsinger i det globale Sør. Begge forfatterne har omkring 30 års erfaring med forskning om miljø og samfunn i Afrika og Norge. De bruker eksempler fra sin egen forskning for å demonstrere hvordan politisk økologi kan forstås og anvendes. Sagt om «Politisk økologi»:Boken er praktisk og politisk, provokerende og præcis. Benjaminsen og Svarstad demonstrerer, at sandhedens modsætning ikke er falskhed, men forsimpling, og forklarer, hvorledes politisk økologi giver os analytiske instrumenter til at forstå klodens mest akutte og komplekse problemer. Bogens mange eksempler på sammenhænge mellem miljø, mennesker, og magt understreger, at dette er ikke blot «de andres problem»; det gælder os alle. PROFESSOR CHRISTIAN LUND, KØBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET

Environmental issues have become increasingly prominent in local struggles, national debates, and international policies. In response, scholars are paying more attention to conventional politics and to more broadly defined relations of power and difference in the interactions between human groups and their biophysical environments. Such issues are at the heart of the relatively new interdisciplinary field of political ecology, forged at the intersection of political economy and cultural ecology. This volume provides a toolkit of vital concepts and a set of research models and analytic frameworks for researchers at all levels. The two opening chapters trace rich traditions of thought and practice that inform current approaches to political ecology. They point to the entangled relationship between humans, politics, economies, and environments at the dawn of the twenty-first century and address challenges that scholars face in navigating the blurring boundaries among relevant fields of enquiry. The twelve case studies that follow demonstrate ways that culture and politics serve to mediate human-environmental relationships in specific ecological and geographical contexts. Taken together, they describe uses of and conflicts over resources including land, water, soil, trees, biodiversity, money, knowledge, and information; they exemplify wide-ranging ecological settings including deserts, coasts, rainforests, high mountains, and modern cities; and they explore sites located around the world, from Canada to Tonga and cyberspace.