This open access book focuses on the meanings agendas as well as the local and global
implications of bioeconomy and bioenergy policies in and across South America Asia and Europe.
It explores how a transition away from a fossil and towards a bio-based economic order alters
reinforces and challenges socio-ecological inequalities. The volume presents a historically
informed and empirically rich discussion of bioeconomy developments with a particular focus on
bio-based energy. A series of conceptual discussions and case studies with a multidisciplinary
background in the social sciences illuminate how the deployment of biomass sources from the
agricultural and forestry sectors affect societal changes concerning knowledge production land
and labour relations political participation and international trade. How can a global
perspective on socio-ecological inequalities contribute to a complex and critical understanding
of bioeconomy? Who participates in the negotiation of specific bioeconomy policies and who does
not? Who determines the agenda? To what extent does the bioeconomy affect existing
socio-ecological inequalities in rural areas? What are the implications of the bioeconomy for
existing relations of extraction and inequalities across regions? The volume is an invitation
to reflect upon these questions and more at a time when the need for an ecological and
socially just transition away from a carbon intensive economy is becoming increasingly
pressing.
