Theorizing the Concept of Environmental Exploitation : A Critical Analysis

This paper critically examines the undertheorized concept of environmental exploitation. In the environmental literature the term is rarely defined and poorly understood and thus represents a lacunae in our current understanding of the environment. To correct this flaw, this paper considers the history of the term in legal, economic and political thought and critiques the concept through an examination of its ‘mirror' images of environmental conservation and preservation. It further examines various casestudies of environmental exploitation to comprehend how environmental exploitation has, and continues, to operate. Lastly, it proposes a working definition of the concept as a starting point for a robust debate on better understanding current environmental exploitation