Cutting nature to fit : Urbanization, neoliberalism and biodiversity offsetting in England
Apostolopoulou, Evangelia (University of Cambridge. Department of Geography)
Adams, William M. (University of Cambridge. Department of Geography)

Date:	2019
Abstract:	In this paper, by drawing on primary empirical data obtained through 62 interviews in seven case studies we seek to offer a Marxist historical-geographical analysis of biodiversity offsetting policy in England, and its emergence in the context of the global economic crisis, and government aspirations for large-scale urban development projects. By paying attention to the interplay between offsetting, urbanization and the neoliberal reconstruction of conservation, we aim to extend the focus of the neoliberal conservation literature from the role of offsets as ecological 'commodities' to the way offsetting is used to support the production of space(s), place(s) and nature(s) in line with contemporary patterns of capitalist urban growth. In particular, we show how offsetting operationalized new ideas about nature as a stock of biodiversity, how it streamlined planning to support extended urbanization, how it foreclosed public debate about controversial urban development projects, and how it reterritorialized nature-society relationships. We also give a central role to social contestation against the implementation of offsetting in England, drawing attention to its class character and highlighting the potential for a new emancipatory politics that would encompass a 'right to nature' as a key element of struggles for the 'right to the city'.
Grants:	European Commission 622631
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Economic crisis ; Extended urbanization ; Neoliberal conservation ; Offsetting ; Right to nature ; Right to the city ; Urban political ecology
Published in:	Geoforum, Vol. 98 (January 2019) , p. 214-225, ISSN 1872-9398

DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.05.013

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