The ecological crisis and the logic of capital: structural contradictions and pathways forward

Introduction This study investigates the dialectical relationship between contemporary ecological degradation and the structural imperatives of capital accumulation, situating the Pacific region as a critical historical and analytical site. It argues that environmental transformations across Pacific oceanic systems, island territories, and coastal communities are not isolated governance failures but historically produced outcomes of capitalism’s internal contradictions as they unfold over time.Materials and methods The research employs a historical–dialectical methodology, drawing on comparative diachronic analysis of three key empirical cases: (1) climate destabilization in Pacific Island nations, (2) marine ecosystem simplification resulting from industrial fishing regimes, and (3) extractive enclave economies in Papua New Guinea. Primary and secondary historical sources, political–economic analyses, and environmental histories are synthesized to trace the relationship between capital accumulation and ecological transformation.Results The analysis demonstrates that capital’s requirements for continuous valorization systematically erode ecological reproduction across Pacific contexts. Climate vulnerability, marine degradation, and extractive dependency emerge as historically interconnected processes rather than discrete environmental crises, revealing how capitalist expansion restructures socioecological systems in ways that intensify environmental instability and community precarity.Conclusion The study concludes by assessing possible historical trajectories, including reformist ecological adaptations within capitalism, degrowth-oriented transformations, and alternative socioecological arrangements rooted in Pacific Indigenous knowledge systems. These Indigenous practices, marked by historical resilience, offer viable pathways for reimagining ecological sustainability beyond the dominant logic of capital accumulation.