21^st Eco-gen Ambassador Program- Free Topic Report, January 2019

A theme Topic in the last term introduced me to Environmental Justice. Taking on from there I have realized that environmental justice activism is an important aspect of our global society, as more and more communities are refusing to allow the destruction and contamination of their land, water, soil and air. In this regard, I came across a great initiative ‘The Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas)’, an inventory of social conflicts around environmental issues. It is funded by two successive European research projects, through a collective effort of scientists and activists. It records the failures and successes of the worldwide movement for environmental justice by documenting a collection of cases of communities struggling for environmental justice around the world.

Please visit the weblink below for the map

https://ejatlas.org/ 

The project being run at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, has collected and categorised about 2500 ecological distribution conflicts,  thus playing an important role in redefining and promoting sustainability.

 

Ten most critical categories of environmental distribution conflicts facing the world today are listed in order of most-catalogued cases in the EJAtlas.

 

Land grabbing (600+ conflicts)

Palm oil is an ingredient in nearly 50% of packaged products. Palm oil production has lead to land-grabbing surge for plantations, which threatens communities. These plantations often branded as ‘green deserts’ replace food crops, deprive farmers from their land, increase slave labour, cause environmental destruction like deforestation, water pollution, infertile soil and fires. Activism has led to temporary suspensions of further expansion of such plantations in Honduras, Colombia, México, Indonesia and Myanmar.

 

Renewable energy conflicts (31 wind; 326 water infrastructure conflicts)

Renewable energy is a need of the day, but Hydel power projects like Narmada Dam in India and mega wind projects in Mexico, Kenya and India are triggering conflicts. Methane emissions and cost overruns in such projects are a cause of concern especially in the Himalayas, Amazon basin, Balkans and Africa. In response, some rural communities are creating cooperative wind energy models to fight the injustice of large-scale projects and promote small scale localized energy projects.

 

Mining Conflicts (270 conflicts)

Mega-mining expansion in Latin America and Western Africa has been done for bauxite or iron in Guinea, gold in Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ghana. These projects aided by modern technology have also introduced highly polluting chemicals and massive amounts of water in these regions. Strong resistance in Latin America and Africa is strong is accompanied by the affected communities developing new sustainable local initiatives.

 

Fuel Industry conflicts (178 conflicts)

The fossil fuel industry has caused contamination of fresh water supplies, devastation of marine systems, seismic activity and global warming. This led to a Blockadia movement connecting various struggles to highlight global and local threats posed by oil, coal and gas extraction. Massive oppositions have resulted in moratoria on off-shore drilling, litigation over continued oil exploration, bans on fracking, the removal of gas pipelines, and the halting of oil and gas operations.

 

Waste/Trash economy (126 conflicts)

GAIA, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives unites communities resisting incinerators. The Basel Action Network tries to halt the flow of hazardous waste like e-waste from being shipped from high-consumption countries to the Global South. The Global Alliance of Waste Pickers defends the informal recycling sector in more than 28 countries. In Delhi, middle class residents and informal recyclers joined together to oppose the privatisation of waste management and the resulting introduction of incineration. Many such alliances are working towards protecting the health and livelihoods of those living near waste sites.

 

Sand Mafias (82 conflicts)

Booming building industry, land expansion and mining of ilmenite or zircon at beaches has lead to illegal sand mining due to the surge in demand for sand. From beach sand mining in the South to riverbed sand mining in the Himalayas, hundreds, including activists and investigative journalists, have been killed in India by the sand mafia,.

 

Fishing Industry Conflicts (77 conflicts)

Industrialisation of fishing has caused stock collapses and extinctions of various species as also affected the livelihood of small-scale fishing communities. The World Forum of Fisher People and World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers aim to stop fisheries injustices, such as intensive fish farms in Turkey and Chile, big port projects in India and polluting industries in Ecuador.

 

Conflicts in China (76 conflicts)

China has witnessed large-scale and widespread protests against incinerators, wastewater issues, coal-fired power plants, as also the highly flammable petrochemical Paraxylene, used to make plastic and polyester. Protests in Xiamen in 2007 stopped the construction of a plant. Protests spread to other parts of the country through a new a-political mass mobilisation movement.

 

Nuclear power conflicts (57 conflicts)

Nuclear power is associated with risks illustrated by accidents in Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011). An activist lost his life at the fast breeder reactors in Creys-Malville in France. Kalkar (Germany) and Monju (Japan) also imposed serious risks. These were stopped but struggles is ongoing at other places, such as Kalpakkam in India. Accidents and activism has succeeded in slowing down the nuclear industry, leading to phase outs in many countries.

 

Pesticide related Conflicts (23 conflicts)

Despite the harmful impact of pesticides on the environment and human health and the whole environment, its use in farming is increasing - especially in developing countries. As the irreversible impact and health hazards caused by these toxins is being understood, people are demanding justice.

In Argentina the use of glyphosate in soybean cultivation is being disputed. In Asia, Latin America and Africa, the use of a nematicide to kill worms threatening banana plantations is being fought. These remain uphill battles.

 

Conclusion

The case studies and database provided by the EJAtlas highlight the conflicts, support their legitimacy and provide evidence to support the environmental justice movement. The EJAtlas demonstrates that united in groups and networks, the global population is fighting for social environmental and economic sustainability, by expressing grievances, aspirations and political demands.

 

Reference and Sources:

https://theconversation.com/tracking-the-battles-for-environmental-justice-here-are-the-worlds-top-10-97616