Minería transnacional, producción del territorio y planificación : el caso de la extracción carbonífera en el departamento del Cesar, Colombia (1970-2019)

Transnational mining adapts to the needs of the current economic system, which demands more and more minerals and energy. The mining sector is part of contemporary extractivism, which exploits common resources worldwide, leading to complex reconfigurations. This thesis focuses on the case of the Department of Cesar in northeastern Colombia, home to coal mines that account for more than half of the country's production, making it the sixth-largest exporter in the world. The premise of the research is that transnational mining connects extraction sites with global dynamics, resulting in radical socio-spatial readjustments that impact the ordering, planning, and management of the territory. Therefore, the study concentrated on the territorialization of extractivism and its historical and geographical connections, analyzing the implications for the territory and examining the transformations and context of extractive activity. Impacts of coal mining development and discrepancies between economic policies and territorial planning were identified. The research highlights the role of urbanization as a determining factor in regulating the conditions of social reproduction and in externalizing effects that enable mining expansion. Furthermore, changes were observed in the studied area that underscore the need for a transition towards a post-extractivist model in line with the urgency of the global socio-environmental crisis.