Summary of Regions in Development
Niels Kramer
The summary consists of the following articles:
Latin America: Natural Resources and Environment
Bebbington, D. H. et al. (2018) ‘The infrastructure-extractives-resource governance complex
in the Pan-Amazon: roll backs and contestations’, European Review of Latin American and
Caribbean Studies, 106: 183-208.
Schleicher, J. (2018) ‘The environmental and social impacts of protected areas and
conservation concessions in South America’, Current Opinion in Environmental
Sustainability, 32: 1-3.
Latin America: Population and Demography
International Monetary Fund (2018) ‘Chapter 1 Long-term trends in Latin America’, Growing
Pains: Is Latin America Prepared for Population Aging?, IMF-Western Hemisphere
Department, Washington DC, pp. 11-58.
Asia: Population and Demography
West, J. (2018) ‘Solving Asia’s Demographic Dilemmas’ in J. West. Asian Century... on a
Knifeedge: A 360 Degree Analysis of Asia's Recent Economic Development. Singapore:
Palgrave Macmillan. Ch. 7.
Asia: Industrialisation and Trade
Yeung, H.W.C. (2017) Rethinking the East Asian developmental state in its historical context:
Finance, geopolitics and bureaucracy, Area Development and Policy, 2:1, 1-23.
Asia Natural Recources and Environment
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (2018) Key environment issues,
trends and challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. Meeting notes.
https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/CED5_1E_0.pdf
Hu, M.C. et al. (2016) ‘Transformation toward an eco-city: lessons from three Asian cities’
Journal of Cleaner Production 123: 77-87
Africa: Industrialisation and Trade
Sylvie Ayimpam (2015) Informal Trade, Cross Border Networks and Contraband of Asian
Textiles from Brazzaville to Kinshasa, Journal of Borderlands Studies, 30:3, 395-403.
Africa: Population and Demography
Canning, D., Raja, S., and Yazbeck, A.S. (eds.) (2015) ‘The State of demographics in
SubSaharan Africa’ in Africa's Demographic Transition: Dividend or Disaster? Washington,
DC: World Bank and Agence Française de Développement, Chapter 1. pp. 43-69.
Africa: Natural recourses and environment
Wily, Liz Alden (2011) "‘The Law is to Blame’: The Vulnerable Status of Common Property
Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa." Development and change 42.3: 733-757
,Latin America: Natural Resources and Environment
The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance complex in the
Pan-Amazon: RollBacks and Contestations
Roll Back and contestation: a framework for analysis
From the late 1970s and into the 1980s and 1990s, newly organised Amazonian groups -
supported by transnational activist networks as well as national activists during a period of
relative democratic opening - demanded and won greater accountability and protections
from IFIs and the private sector, as well as increased national recognition of their territorial
claims, albeit more in some countries than others.
Series of high profile socio-environmental conflicts and transnational activism, created a
political opportunity to push states, International Financial Institutions and private companies
to take serious accusations of serious human rights violations, deforestation and the
destruction of fragile and biodiverse environments.
Grassroots groups and civil society, and their allies in government, made some progress
towards a social and environmental policy framework that enhanced protections of human
rights and the environment.
Currently, there is a sense that not only are these hard-fought for gains once again under
risk, but also that the political opportunity structures that had opened and helped make such
gains possible in the first place are also now closing across the region.
Across the region, a combination of legislative initiatives and presidential decrees are
beginning to open up protected areas to the exploration and extraction of mineral and
hydrocarbons, restrict the creation of new indigenous territories, reform environmental
licensing procedures, restrict consultation processes and allow for the fast-tracking of
projects considered to be of strategic national interest.
Beginning in 2012, in a context of some commodity price decline and significant slowdown in
new investment in resource extraction, community leaders, NGO staff, and environmental
and conservation funders have noted a concerted effort by state and private sector actors to
rework, dilute and in some cases eliminate social and environmental safeguards related to
large-scale development investments. These efforts, pursued by both progressive and more
conservative governments alike, also seek to relax restrictions around activities that may be
conducted in protected areas - be they indigenous territories or conservation areas.
Patterns of investment in Amazonia and their drivers
Agribusiness, dominated by soy, oil palm and beef production, together with energy
development (hydropower) and mineral and hydrocarbons extraction drive the economy of
Amazonia. These activities are characterized by their scope of production by their scope of
production, export-oriented focus and significant levels of (often coordinated) investment
from both private and state sources.
Despite political scandals, large-scale investments in access infrastructure. Agribusiness
and extraction remains intact.
Andes-Amazon economies have followed a similar model but one in which mining and
hydrocarbons figure more prominently. The integration of these economies into new global
markets, especially China, have provided new sources of financial capital with important
implications for how projects are funded and implemented.
, Access infrastructure, specifically highways and waterways, together with hydroelectric
power plants, constitute the priority infrastructure projects in Amazonia. In the case of
highways and waterways, they form part of multi-modal transport systems designed to move
large quantities of commodities over great distances to ports for export. Again, mineral, grain
and beef exports to Asia drive access infrastructure investment.
A series of priority corridors, hubs and projects were identified with many of the projects
recycled versions of earlier proposals.
Energy security, in particular via hydroelectric power generation, has been a particularly
important driver of infrastructure investment across the Amazon basin.
Changes in sources of financing and the mechanisms used to finance infrastructure
development in the Brazilian Amazon respond to the emergence of new global actors,
national politics and scandals, and pressures from the private special interest groups to
resume infrastructure investments.
National legislative reforms and the creation of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and new
funding mechanisms are also central to the advancement of the Amazon Infrastructure
Agenda.
The influence of China in Brazil (see article for more information)
While corruption is mostly about capturing rents associated with resource extraction and
infrastructure development, it has, arguably, also helped further drive investment as it
creates incentives to expand public investment quickly. (multiple corruption scandals)
Poor experiences during earlier periods of infrastructure development and resource
extraction in Brazil have generated a broad literature documenting forest loss linked to
highway construction, mining, and infrastructure. Research on dam construction and
hydroelectric plants points to harmful impacts that extend well beyond the footprint of the
project and the cascading effects for forrests, rivers and tributaries, and local populations.
The packages of investments being proposed and pursued frequently overlap with protected
areas, specifically legally recognized indigenous territories and teriitories under
consolidation.
The rollback of regulatory frameworks
Governments throughout the Amazon basin have responded to declining international prices
and weak investment by further deregulation of mining and hydrocarbons sectors and
increasing output. The move to create conditions that are more favourable for private foreign
investors, including non-traditional investors, includes legislative and executive manoeuvres
to create new sub-soil markets by opening up previously restricted areas for investment in
exploratory activity.
Increased investment in energy and transport infrastructure, especially infrastructure related
to bulk transport systems of agricultural commodities.
Behind the raft of proposed legislative and normative changes has been the powerful
Ruralist Lobby now organized as the Frente Parlamentar Mista da Agropecuaria. The
Ruralist Lobby is a major force in Brazil’s national politics and its influence in the National
Congress. The rise of the Ruralist Lobby reflects the increasing political power of the
agribusiness sector and the networks of economic and political power of the agribusiness
sector and the networks of economic and political interests and relationships that sustain the
Amazon Infrastructure Agenda. The Ruralist Lobby has changed legislation regulating the
granting of public lands to private farmers and reduced farmer environmental obligations on
holdings of up to 1500 hectares in the Amazon.
The Ruralist Lobby together with extractive industry have sought to alter the protected status
of Indigenous Territories and traditional peoples’ lands in order to facilitate infrastructure
Niels Kramer
The summary consists of the following articles:
Latin America: Natural Resources and Environment
Bebbington, D. H. et al. (2018) ‘The infrastructure-extractives-resource governance complex
in the Pan-Amazon: roll backs and contestations’, European Review of Latin American and
Caribbean Studies, 106: 183-208.
Schleicher, J. (2018) ‘The environmental and social impacts of protected areas and
conservation concessions in South America’, Current Opinion in Environmental
Sustainability, 32: 1-3.
Latin America: Population and Demography
International Monetary Fund (2018) ‘Chapter 1 Long-term trends in Latin America’, Growing
Pains: Is Latin America Prepared for Population Aging?, IMF-Western Hemisphere
Department, Washington DC, pp. 11-58.
Asia: Population and Demography
West, J. (2018) ‘Solving Asia’s Demographic Dilemmas’ in J. West. Asian Century... on a
Knifeedge: A 360 Degree Analysis of Asia's Recent Economic Development. Singapore:
Palgrave Macmillan. Ch. 7.
Asia: Industrialisation and Trade
Yeung, H.W.C. (2017) Rethinking the East Asian developmental state in its historical context:
Finance, geopolitics and bureaucracy, Area Development and Policy, 2:1, 1-23.
Asia Natural Recources and Environment
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (2018) Key environment issues,
trends and challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. Meeting notes.
https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/CED5_1E_0.pdf
Hu, M.C. et al. (2016) ‘Transformation toward an eco-city: lessons from three Asian cities’
Journal of Cleaner Production 123: 77-87
Africa: Industrialisation and Trade
Sylvie Ayimpam (2015) Informal Trade, Cross Border Networks and Contraband of Asian
Textiles from Brazzaville to Kinshasa, Journal of Borderlands Studies, 30:3, 395-403.
Africa: Population and Demography
Canning, D., Raja, S., and Yazbeck, A.S. (eds.) (2015) ‘The State of demographics in
SubSaharan Africa’ in Africa's Demographic Transition: Dividend or Disaster? Washington,
DC: World Bank and Agence Française de Développement, Chapter 1. pp. 43-69.
Africa: Natural recourses and environment
Wily, Liz Alden (2011) "‘The Law is to Blame’: The Vulnerable Status of Common Property
Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa." Development and change 42.3: 733-757
,Latin America: Natural Resources and Environment
The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance complex in the
Pan-Amazon: RollBacks and Contestations
Roll Back and contestation: a framework for analysis
From the late 1970s and into the 1980s and 1990s, newly organised Amazonian groups -
supported by transnational activist networks as well as national activists during a period of
relative democratic opening - demanded and won greater accountability and protections
from IFIs and the private sector, as well as increased national recognition of their territorial
claims, albeit more in some countries than others.
Series of high profile socio-environmental conflicts and transnational activism, created a
political opportunity to push states, International Financial Institutions and private companies
to take serious accusations of serious human rights violations, deforestation and the
destruction of fragile and biodiverse environments.
Grassroots groups and civil society, and their allies in government, made some progress
towards a social and environmental policy framework that enhanced protections of human
rights and the environment.
Currently, there is a sense that not only are these hard-fought for gains once again under
risk, but also that the political opportunity structures that had opened and helped make such
gains possible in the first place are also now closing across the region.
Across the region, a combination of legislative initiatives and presidential decrees are
beginning to open up protected areas to the exploration and extraction of mineral and
hydrocarbons, restrict the creation of new indigenous territories, reform environmental
licensing procedures, restrict consultation processes and allow for the fast-tracking of
projects considered to be of strategic national interest.
Beginning in 2012, in a context of some commodity price decline and significant slowdown in
new investment in resource extraction, community leaders, NGO staff, and environmental
and conservation funders have noted a concerted effort by state and private sector actors to
rework, dilute and in some cases eliminate social and environmental safeguards related to
large-scale development investments. These efforts, pursued by both progressive and more
conservative governments alike, also seek to relax restrictions around activities that may be
conducted in protected areas - be they indigenous territories or conservation areas.
Patterns of investment in Amazonia and their drivers
Agribusiness, dominated by soy, oil palm and beef production, together with energy
development (hydropower) and mineral and hydrocarbons extraction drive the economy of
Amazonia. These activities are characterized by their scope of production by their scope of
production, export-oriented focus and significant levels of (often coordinated) investment
from both private and state sources.
Despite political scandals, large-scale investments in access infrastructure. Agribusiness
and extraction remains intact.
Andes-Amazon economies have followed a similar model but one in which mining and
hydrocarbons figure more prominently. The integration of these economies into new global
markets, especially China, have provided new sources of financial capital with important
implications for how projects are funded and implemented.
, Access infrastructure, specifically highways and waterways, together with hydroelectric
power plants, constitute the priority infrastructure projects in Amazonia. In the case of
highways and waterways, they form part of multi-modal transport systems designed to move
large quantities of commodities over great distances to ports for export. Again, mineral, grain
and beef exports to Asia drive access infrastructure investment.
A series of priority corridors, hubs and projects were identified with many of the projects
recycled versions of earlier proposals.
Energy security, in particular via hydroelectric power generation, has been a particularly
important driver of infrastructure investment across the Amazon basin.
Changes in sources of financing and the mechanisms used to finance infrastructure
development in the Brazilian Amazon respond to the emergence of new global actors,
national politics and scandals, and pressures from the private special interest groups to
resume infrastructure investments.
National legislative reforms and the creation of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and new
funding mechanisms are also central to the advancement of the Amazon Infrastructure
Agenda.
The influence of China in Brazil (see article for more information)
While corruption is mostly about capturing rents associated with resource extraction and
infrastructure development, it has, arguably, also helped further drive investment as it
creates incentives to expand public investment quickly. (multiple corruption scandals)
Poor experiences during earlier periods of infrastructure development and resource
extraction in Brazil have generated a broad literature documenting forest loss linked to
highway construction, mining, and infrastructure. Research on dam construction and
hydroelectric plants points to harmful impacts that extend well beyond the footprint of the
project and the cascading effects for forrests, rivers and tributaries, and local populations.
The packages of investments being proposed and pursued frequently overlap with protected
areas, specifically legally recognized indigenous territories and teriitories under
consolidation.
The rollback of regulatory frameworks
Governments throughout the Amazon basin have responded to declining international prices
and weak investment by further deregulation of mining and hydrocarbons sectors and
increasing output. The move to create conditions that are more favourable for private foreign
investors, including non-traditional investors, includes legislative and executive manoeuvres
to create new sub-soil markets by opening up previously restricted areas for investment in
exploratory activity.
Increased investment in energy and transport infrastructure, especially infrastructure related
to bulk transport systems of agricultural commodities.
Behind the raft of proposed legislative and normative changes has been the powerful
Ruralist Lobby now organized as the Frente Parlamentar Mista da Agropecuaria. The
Ruralist Lobby is a major force in Brazil’s national politics and its influence in the National
Congress. The rise of the Ruralist Lobby reflects the increasing political power of the
agribusiness sector and the networks of economic and political power of the agribusiness
sector and the networks of economic and political interests and relationships that sustain the
Amazon Infrastructure Agenda. The Ruralist Lobby has changed legislation regulating the
granting of public lands to private farmers and reduced farmer environmental obligations on
holdings of up to 1500 hectares in the Amazon.
The Ruralist Lobby together with extractive industry have sought to alter the protected status
of Indigenous Territories and traditional peoples’ lands in order to facilitate infrastructure
