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- Title
ASPECTS OF ECOLOGICAL MARGINALIZATION AND ALTERNATIVE LOCAL RESPONSES IN RURAL GREECE.
- Authors
Petropoulou, Eugenia A.
- Abstract
The conditions under which people live in rural areas, the ways in which resources are utilized and the prospects for conservation in the future are all in pa rt influenced by the fundam ental characteristics of national governments, European Union policies for economic and sectoral development, as well as processes such as globalization. Using an ecological marginalization perspective, this paper illustrates the consequences of proliferating intensive agriculture ‘alliances among European Union policies, the Greek state, and Greek domestic producers. Since many natural resources - soil, water, biodiversity — are already entrenched in industrial agricultural production systems, the author extrapolates from the patterns of production that make use of these natural resources to bolster the argument that Greek state policies, the timing of the country's accession to the European Comm unity in 1981, and local land use practices will particularly affect the potential consequences of future agricultural development. Even though the impacts ofintensive agriculture vary by region a nd some rural areas have benefited from this development, the analysis suggests that rural people, communities a nd citizens ofperi-urban territories all bear the costs of the industrial agriculture production system both in terms o f social, health and environmental impacts. A core reason, this paper argues, is that the 'alliances o f intensive industrial agriculture are reinforcing processes a nd structures that increase pressure on the ecological integrity o fru ral areas leading to environmental degradation and the marginalization-abandonment o f agriculture. Finally, the paper traces the cases o f Alternative Agro-Food Networks (AAENs) in Greece that promote socio-economic sustainability a nd health to local producers and consumers as an alternative to the current intensive agro-industrial fo o d system which supports ecological marginalization.
- Publication
Socijalna Ekologija, 2016, Vol 25, Issue 1, p121
- ISSN
1330-0113
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.17234/SocEkol.25.1.8