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Commodity Frontiers
Concept
The search for materials to supply the countries at the centre of the global economy has already extended into the most remote corners of the world. To some extent this is due to resource scarcity as the most accessible deposits have been exhausted. Since we are very near the Hubbert peak in oil extraction (with about half of known reserves already having been extracted) the search for oil has expanded to pristine territories such as the Amazon, and under the world‘s oceans deep into the sea bed. These commodity frontiers are sometimes inhabited by indigenous peoples who have conserved biodiversity. In South America, some of these peoples have not been previously contacted by the outside world.
The commodity frontiers for metals are places where the ores are rich, however distant they are from the centres of consumption. Mining companies move into new territories looking for old or new metals or other materials (coal, gas, uranium). At other times, the commodity frontiers‖ are situated in new territories suitable for their climate conditions for crops or other materials for the production of inputs for global economic centres. Sugarcane, tea, coffee, and soybean plantations are examples of commodity frontiers, as are tree plantations for rubber or cellulose, or oil palm plantations for biodiesel. ―Land grabbing‖ comes from the expansion of the frontiers of extraction.
Land Grabbing
Used in earlier times, the notion of land grabbing has had mainly political connotations, referring to the aggressive taking of land, often by military force, for the expansion of territorial holdings or broadening of power. More recently however the term has been applied to the global rush of corporations or countries to buy up or lease farmland abroad in order to secure basic food and / or water supplies or simply for profit speculation.
The report by GRAIN, Seized: The 2008 land grab for food and financial security, issued in October of that year documents land grabbing activities, citing the seriousness of threats to local communities across the globe: Today’s food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab. On the one hand, food insecure governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production. On the other hand, food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result, fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated. If left unchecked, this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in numerous places around the world.
The CEECEC case study, Let Them Eat Sugar highlights land grabbing moves in Kenya‘s Tana Delta, where the government of Qatar hopes to lease an area of 30 000 ha in exchange for a loan to build a 3.4 billion dollar port in Lamu. The government of Qatar would provide the technical know-how and the technology for the agriculture project and all the produce, probably fruits and vegetables, would be shipped back to Qatar. Another project under development for the area involves the leasing of land at 1$ a hectare to a Canadian company, Bedford Fuels, that plans to plant jatropha for biodiesel in a $300 million project.
Advancing Frontiers
The advance of commodity frontiers is driven by economic growth and population growth. However, even without these sources of growth, there would be need for fresh supplies of fossil fuels, metals and biomass. This is because when energy is spent it cannot be recycled (see Entropy), and because materials can only ever be recycled to a limited extent.