Bioeconomy: Narratives, Challenges, and Implications for Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

This article examines the concept of the bioeconomy through a bibliometric meta-analysis and a general review of the specialized literature. Two main interpretations of the concept are identified: one associated with the school of ecological economics, and another, more recent, linked to bio-businesses (biotechnology, bioenergy, bio-inputs, etc.). After outlining the characteristics and differences of both narratives, the article reviews some of the most widely recognized definitions of the second interpretation to identify the main narratives promoting the bioeconomy, along with their scope, challenges, contradictions, and implications, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. The article concludes that the emphasis on bio-businesses within the bioeconomy, as currently framed, is unlikely to alter existing technological dependencies and, even less so, the ecologically unequal terms of trade that have historically characterized the region. For these and other reasons, the bioeconomy is revealed as functional to reinforcing uneven socio-spatial capital accumulation processes, while at the same time being unable to foster changes oriented toward advancing scenarios of systemic transition or transformation—despite its dominant narrative repeatedly stressing the urgency of action in the face of the worsening planetary crisis.