Bioeconomy’s rise masks colonial land grabs and corporate capture of renewable resource commons
Original framing: “The bioeconomy is gaining ground worldwide, report shows” — Phys.org
Indigenous knowledge systems, such as the Anishinaabe *Giiwedin* (Good Living) or the Māori concept of *whenua* (land as ancestor), treat ecosystems as kin, not commodities. These frameworks reject the bioeconomy’s anthropocentric approach, instead centering relationality and reciprocity. For instance, the Mapuche in Chile have resisted pine and eucalyptus plantations—key bioeconomy feedstocks—by reclaiming ancestral lands and reviving *pewma* (communal forests). The omission of such practices erases the very models that could make the bioeconomy equitable, instead reinforcing a colonial mindset where 'experts' dictate how nature should be used.
The bioeconomy’s ascent is not a neutral transition but a replay of colonial and corporate power dynamics, where 'renewable' resources become the new frontier for enclosure.
The framing obscures how Indigenous land stewardship, historical land grabs, and financial speculation are the real drivers of its expansion, while marginalising the very communities who hold the keys to regenerative alternatives. Cross-cultural examples—from the Ifugao’s terraces to the Mapuche’s resistance—demonstrate that bioeconomies *could* be built on reciprocity, but only if they reject the extractivist logics of growth and control. The trickster reveals the absurdity of treating life as a commodity while claiming to 'save' it, while scientific and historical lenses expose the systemic patterns that make such narratives inevitable. The path forward lies in dismantling these structures: repatriating land, reforming finance, and centering marginalised knowledge as the foundation for a bioeconomy that serves life, not profit.