¿Qué es el neo-extractivismo?

Since the mid-90s, Latin American countries have intensified the extraction of raw materials, leading to increased exports. The demand has grown in traditional industrialized countries and especially in China. Left-wing governments take advantage of the situation to control resource exploitation and finance development programs.

The increase in material extraction led to the neoextractivism model, providing more access to education and improvements in the healthcare system. Extreme poverty rates in affected countries decreased by 50%. However, this model has negative impacts on the environment, society, and politics, increasing state dependence on the international market and imposed prices.

Intensive exploitation of raw materials like mining and hydrocarbons damages Latin American ecosystems, leading to deforestation for soy and livestock farming, biodiversity decline, water, air, and soil pollution. Climate change affects the region's inhabitants, causing displacement, loss of livelihoods, health issues, and marginalization of critics of the neoextractivism model.

Critics of the economic model are labeled as enemies of social change, leading to the marginalization of environmental and human rights activists. Centralized power weakens local participation and democratic rights, as national parliaments lose influence. The increasing central power exploits rivalries between majority and minority interests, with responsibility extending beyond Latin America to Northern and emerging countries like China.