Chemical pollution in social science scholarship is often described as invisible, inversed, normalized, imperceptible, unacknowledged, and unspectacular. This short communication explores conditions of visibility of chemical contamination. Drawing on Barry (2017) and Babri et al. (2022), these conditions are conceptualized as events of first and second order. This paper aims to explore events of toxic chemical pollution and how visibility is achieved during these events, taking the chemical contamination of PFAS (per- and polyfluoralkyl substances) in Germany as a case. The chemical group of around 10,000 per- and polyfluoralkyl substances, known as PFAS, is widely used in various applications. PFAS are persistent and can be found ubiquitously in the environment; however, there exist several hotspots. Drawing on first research results, the paper will outline initial analytics to explore the (in)visibility of toxic events and the chemical geographies involved. Toxic events exist in a continuum, ranging from anticipation and risk calculation to total surprise and ignorance. They are not predetermined to become toxic events; an occurrence might be significant on a local scale while remaining a "non-event" on a larger scale. Different trajectories have to intersect to transform a first-order event into a second-order event with broader reach and vibrancy. Still, the PFAS case demonstrates that toxic events are finite.
Escalating climate change in South Africa threatens ecosystems, livelihoods, and socio-economic stability through rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and increasingly extreme weather. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, which cover nearly 10% of the country's land area, offer a promising framework for climate adaptation by combining biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and community engagement. This study investigates how South Africa's 10 biosphere reserves demonstrate organizational adaptive capacity across three dimensions: governance effectiveness, social capital, and access to financial, human, and technical resources. Using a mixed-methods approach, in-cluding a cross-sectional online survey of reserve experts and document analysis, the research assesses the integration of climate change into governance structures, the strength of stakeholder networks, and the extent of resource mobilization. Results reveal significant variation among reserves: Some, such as the Gouritz Cluster and Vhembe, have embedded climate considerations into management frameworks and secured funding through international partnerships, while others struggle with limited budgets, weak local engagement, and inconsistent application of UNESCO's zonation model. Social capital emerges as a critical enabler of adaptation, but challenges persist in communication and collaboration with local communities. The findings highlight the potential of biosphere reserves as "living laboratories" for climate adaptation while underscoring persistent gaps in resource distribution and governance. Strengthening formal policy support, diversifying funding, and deepening community engagement are recommended to enhance adaptive capacity. South Africa's biosphere reserves thus provide valuable lessons for integrating conservation and development in climate-vulnerable regions.
The Brazilian Amazon is a region deeply influenced by historical development dynamics and resource extraction. In it, rural producers (RPs) are often held responsible for the increasing deforestation of the biome. This article explores the intricate relationship between national and global discourses and narratives of RPs in Novo Progresso (NP), an emblematic municipality located along the BR-163 highway on the agricultural frontier in the Brazilian Amazon. The study seeks to answer the question: How do RPs' historical and present positioning and narratives shape land use and management on the agricultural frontier in NP? To comprehensively understand these dynamics, the research incorporates the RPs' narratives within the historical context of local, national, and international discourses that contribute to land-related decision-making, migration, displacement, and socio-environmental issues, including widespread deforestation. The article situates the RPs in three historical trends: the construction of BR-163, the onset of external pressure, and the current advance of the agricultural frontier. Through biographical interviews, the study connects the RPs' narratives with national and international developmental discourses in and for the region, providing insights into how RPs perceive the socio-environmental dynamics in NP. The results present various discourses that have impacted biographies and local land dynamics, further developing socio-environmental issues. In addition, the position of the RPs in the region and their biographies contribute to the discussion on determining how to deal with the region's socio-environmental issues.
Since the late 1990s, various Latin American countries have held constitutional processes as mechanisms for channeling social conflicts, in which food systems and rural territories stood out as relevant topics. In Chile, the neoliberal agrarian policy of largely uncontrolled agricultural intensification that used to receive broad-based international praise is facing increasing criticism due to its negative impact on the stability of ecosystems and society. This growing dissatisfaction led food systems and agrarian policy to become a focal point of debate in the Chilean constitutional process starting in 2020. In this context, our research seeks to analyze the actors and positions taken on food systems and rural territories in this process, as well as their underlying power structures, which resulted in the constitutional proposal's rejection in a plebiscite held in 2022. To this end, we review the Constitutional Convention debates and four political campaigns for the plebiscite. We assume that the reasons for the constitutional proposal's rejection are not to be primarily found in the constitutional commission debate on agri-food systems. Rather, they are a consequence of communication strategies mobilizing values and meaning among many inhabitants of rural territories by targeting their identity. By connecting the theory of agri-food geographies and critical rural studies, we consider that these strategies relate to the emergence of new right-wing populisms opposed to political proposals seeking solutions to the current socio-ecological crisis.
This paper shows how different actors and issues in the food system redefine not just who makes our food but also what food means to us at a societal level, extending earlier frameworks that define food as a commodity, a right, and a common good. The analysis starts by tracing foundational concepts to understand food and power in the making, including patterns of concentration, global food regimes, empire, and corporate power. It then reviews acts of resistance. Polanyi's double movement is introduced, alongside conventional and alternative food system models and social movements, to interpret resistance. The paper reveals significant power asymmetries and lock-ins and shows how neoliberalism can resist or respond to calls for change and find ways for food as commodity to reassert itself. The final part of the paper considers the land-food-climate nexus, including metabolic food politics, and calls for an additional more-than-human perspective to be developed to interpret these latest geographies of food and power. This new framing is essential because it is not only about who makes and remakes our food, or even our society, but more fundamentally the sustainable future of our planet.
