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Open Access Rural bioeconomies in Europe: Socio-ecological conflicts, marginalized people and practices

This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY licence.

Bioeconomy policies claim to contribute to socio-ecological transformations and decreasing rural-urban inequalities. Based on examples of four bioeconomies in rural Europe, we argue that contrary to these claims, such policies to date have not de-escalated existing social conflicts but instead have often further contributed to polarization tendencies. To live up to those proclaimed goals, bioeconomy research and policy need to deprioritize economic growth and turn to more comprehensive considerations of socio-ecological contexts and the integration of the local population and alternative practices.

Keywords: decoupling; green growth; rural development; social change; sustainability transitions

Document Type: Discussion

Publication date: July 28, 2023

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