Resource frontiers in central Chile: territorial transformation and tensions in times of water crisis

Beatriz Bustos Gallardo, Javiera Larraín Suckel, Valentina Valenzuela Albornoz, Valentina Foigelman and Vanessa Quinteros Salazar

Chapter 7 in Commodity Chains under Pressure, 2025, pp 143-163 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter provides empirical evidence upon which to base discussions of the territorial transformations that environmental shocks – in this case, drought – bring to agricultural export economies, turning them into resource frontiers. To do so, we present the case of the O’Higgins region of Chile. There, the combination of a 15-year drought and a privatisation programme for water rights has reconfigured land uses and created competition between agriculture and renewable energy. We use the concept of the resource frontier to explain the process and outcomes. The answer given in this chapter to one of the questions posed in this book is that these land conflicts have so far had little impact on the export-oriented commodity chains. This is because these chains are prioritised, while small farmers and local production are excluded from these markets and forced to either convert to renewable energy or sell their land.

Keywords: Resource frontiers; Agricultural evolution; Water crisis; Renewable energy; Chile (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035355297
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035355303.00018 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24272_7

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().