The Impact of BRI Discourses on Critical Mineral Extraction and Environmental Harm in the Global South

• In Event: Green Criminology VI: International and Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

The global transition from carbon-dependent economies and the rise of critical mineral extraction have led to rapid transformations in environmental governance, pollution, and dispossession in the Global South. China has emerged as a crucial player in shaping the new international economic and political order, mainly through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), expanding its influence and investments in global sustainable development. This study utilizes critical discourse analysis to examine the official rhetoric employed by China and the countries of the Lithium Triangle and West Africa to justify the rapid expansion of critical minerals mining. It assesses their effects on environmental policy and regulation enforcement in the Global South. The study examines how environmental harm, extractive development, and neoliberal green transition are framed in China and host countries by examining governmental documents, policy papers, media reports, and official press releases in Spanish, English, and Chinese. The paper provides a comparative analysis of discursive formation between China and Global South countries to understand how social control measures, national histories, (post-)coloniality, and center-peripheral relations shape the framing and understanding of Chinese investments in the region's extractive sector, offering insights into the changing dynamics of global resource exploitation and ecological disorganization.

Authors

• KuoRay Mao, Colorado State University

• Emilia Ravetta, Colorado State University

• Raymond Appiah, University of Utah