International Environmental Justice : Competing Claims and Perspectives 9781906799403, 9781906799175

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

ADVANCED TOPICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SERIES

SERIES EDITOR Grady Hanrahan John Stauffer Endowed Chair of Analytical Chemistry California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks, California, USA This series of high-level reference works provides a comprehensive look at key subjects in the field of environmental science. The aim is to describe cutting-edge topics covering the full spectrum of physical, chemical, biological and sociological aspects of this important discipline. Each book is a vital technical resource for scientists and researchers in academia, industry and government-related bodies who have an interest in the environment and its future sustainability.

Published titles Modelling of Pollutants in Complex Environmental Systems, Volume I Edited by Grady Hanrahan Modelling of Pollutants in Complex Environmental Systems, Volume II Edited by Grady Hanrahan Practical Environmental Statistics and Data Analysis Edited by Yue Rong Comprehensive Environmental Mass Spectrometry Edited by Albert T. Lebedev International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives Edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland

Forthcoming titles Biofuels in Practice: Technological, Socio-economical and Sustainability Perspectives Edited by Luc Van Ginneken and Luc Pelkmans

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

Edited by

Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland

Published in 2012 by ILM Publications Oak Court Business Centre, Sandridge Park, Porters Wood, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 6PH, UK 6635 West Happy Valley Road, Suite 104, #505, Glendale, AZ 85310, USA www.ilmpublications.com Copyright # 2012 ILM Publications ILM Publications is a trading division of International Labmate Limited All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the publisher. Requests to the publisher should be addressed to ILM Publications, Oak Court Business Centre, Sandridge Park, Porters Wood, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 6PH, UK, or emailed to [email protected]. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks but, for reasons of style and consistency, the TM and 1 symbols have not been used. Product or corporate names are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences of their use. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data International environmental justice : competing claims and perspectives /edited by Frederick Gordon and Gregory Freeland. p. cm. – (Advanced topics in environmental science series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-906799-17-5 1. Environmental justice–International cooperation. 2. Environmental protection–International cooperation. 3. Environmental policy–International cooperation. I. Gordon, Frederick D., 1967- II. Freeland, Gregory, 1946GE220.I67 2012 363.7–dc23 2012014855 Commissioning Editor: Lindsey Langston Cover Designer: Paul Russen Typeset by Keytec Typesetting Ltd, Dorset, UK Printed and bound in the UK by Biddles, part of the MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King’s Lynn

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Editors

ix

The Contributors

xi

Foreword

xiii

Acknowledgements

xv

Chapter 1 Introduction: An Understanding of Environmental Justice Claims Gregory K. Freeland and Frederick D. Gordon 1.1 Introduction 1.2 International focus and terminology used 1.3 Domestic perspective 1.4 The advent of the modern environmental movement 1.5 Emergence of the environmental justice movement 1.6 Government response to environmental justice 1.7 Environmental justice into the 21st century 1.8 Aligning environmental justice and the EJM 1.9 International environmental justice 1.10 Framework Endnotes References Chapter 2 Achieving Environmental Justice in the USA: A Grassroots Perspective from California’s Central Coast Cameron Y. Yee and Beatriz H. Garcia 2.1 A grassroots view of environmental justice in the United States 2.2 Environmental justice and the Central Coast: an analysis of environmental justice in two Central Coast counties 2.3 South Oxnard: developing an expanding grassroots agenda for environmental justice 2.4 Conclusion: in California’s Central Coast and the United States, immigrants are playing a key role in defining and addressing the expanding environmental justice agenda References

1 1 2 3 3 4 6 7 8 10 13 17 18 21

21 24 25

31 31

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Chapter 3 Pipeline to Environmental Justice: The Anti-Liquid Natural Gas Movement in Malibu and Oxnard, California Gregory K. Freeland 3.1 Broken Hill Proprietary Billiton’s LNG plans 3.2 OLNGM organisers and organisation strategy 3.3 2003–2007: cycle of the anti-LNG movement 3.4 OLNGM strategy overview 3.5 Summary Endnotes References Chapter 4 Tulum, Mexico: A Case Study Modelling Collaboration for Access to Clean Water for Indigenous Peoples Dawn Alexandra Murray, Barbara Savage and Gail Kvistad 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Ocean currents and plastic 4.3 Ecology of the area 4.4 History of the people 4.5 Development in Tulum 4.6 Environmental justice issues 4.7 Forces affecting indigenous people 4.8 How to engage and inspire youth 4.9 Collaboration References Chapter 5 Petroleum Extraction, Indigenous People and Environmental Injustice in the Ecuadorian Amazon Flora Lu 5.1 ‘The devil’s excrement’ 5.2 Petroleum extraction from an international environmental justice perspective 5.3 A tale of three villages 5.4 The Oriente and the Huaorani 5.5 Part one: Oryx’s seismic exploration 5.6 Part two: return to normalcy? 5.7 Part three: living along the oil road in Gareno 5.8 Conclusions Acknowledgements Endnote References

33 35 37 40 46 47 49 50 53

53 55 58 60 61 62 62 63 66 67 71 71 73 74 75 76 82 84 90 92 92 93

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Chapter 6 Towards Environmental Equity in Nepalese Community Forestry Krishna K. Shrestha 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Environmental equity in community forestry 6.3 Community forestry in Nepal 6.4 Research methods 6.5 Results 6.6 Discussion 6.7 Conclusion: towards environmental equity in Nepalese CF Endnotes References

97 98 100 102 103 107 109 110 111

Chapter 7

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Lesotho: A Peculiar Case of Environmental Justice Frederick D. Gordon 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Environmental justice 7.3 International environmental justice 7.4 Neofunctional theory 7.5 Lesotho–South African relations 7.6 Understanding traditional ways of life 7.7 Lesotho Highlands Water Project 7.8 International environmental justice and the LHWP 7.9 Conclusion Endnotes References

Chapter 8 Forgotten Voices: Indigenous Rights and Justice in Environmental Politics Martin Adamian 8.1 The development of international law 8.2 International environmental law 8.3 Indigenous rights in international law 8.4 The rights of peoples to self-determination 8.5 Cultural integrity 8.6 Biological and ecological integrity 8.7 Adequacy of international law and indigenous rights 8.8 Collective rights 8.9 Conclusion Endnotes References

97

115 116 116 117 118 119 120 124 125 126 126 129 130 132 133 137 139 139 140 141 142 143 146

Epilogue

149

Index

151

THE EDITORS

Gregory K. Freeland is Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at California Lutheran University. His professional interests are social movements, culture and politics in the United States and the Caribbean region. He teaches classes on Latin American/Caribbean politics, music and the Civil Rights Movement, and Social Movements. Among his recent projects is a Faculty Fellowship funded by the Randolph and Flora Haynes Foundation to study civic engagement (redistricting) in Ventura County, California. He has written on Caribbean environmental sustainability (‘Preparedness for rain during sunny weather’ in Caribbean Development Review, 2007), music and social movements (‘We’re a winner: music and the black power movement’ in Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural, and Political Protest, 2009) and the immigrant rights movement (‘Negotiating place, space, and borders: the new sanctuary movement’ in Latino Studies, 2010). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California Santa Barbara. Frederick D. Gordon is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbus State University. He heads the Environmental Policy Track in the MPA programme and has written extensively on water policy domestically and internationally. His book Freshwater Resources and Interstate Cooperation Strategies to Mitigate an Environmental Risk (SUNY Press, 2008) has been reviewed in notable places such as the University of Denver Water Law Review and the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka. He holds a Masters Degree in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Southern California.

THE CONTRIBUTORS

Martin Adamian Department of Political Science California State University Los Angeles Los Angeles, California, USA

Beatriz H. Garcia Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) Ventura, California, USA

Gail Kvistad Independent scholar and documentary filmmaker

Flora Lu Department of Latin American and Latino Studies University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, California, USA

Dawn Alexandra Osborn Core Faculty, Bachelor of Arts Antioch University Santa Barbara, California, USA

Barbara Savage President and Founder of the Tribal Trust Foundation and Core Faculty, Bachelor of Arts Antioch University Santa Barbara, California, USA

Krishna K. Shrestha Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of New South Wales New South Wales, Australia

Cameron Y. Yee Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) Ventura, California, USA

FOREWORD

Environmental injustice has become a global phenomenon. Whether exposure to hazards from resource extraction, production functions or benign mismanagement of the ecosystem, disadvantaged communities remain in a vulnerable state in many countries around the world. The risk exposures these communities experience from environmental hazards are much more than just a legal failure. They are also human rights and governance issues. The right of every individual to live a healthy and productive life is challenged by environmental hazards. Similarly challenged are the basic protections afforded citizens through ‘governance of the commons’. Moreover, once hazards are in the mediums that transmit them, the very life-sustaining functions that individuals must perform put them at risk of exposure to life-threatening toxins. It is almost impossible to protect oneself from environmental hazards because individuals have virtually no control over the quality of the air they breathe, the food they eat or the water they drink. As individuals, we are almost completely dependent on governments, corporations and others members of society to protect us from these hazards. Consequently, everyone experiences risk from the pollution and environmental degradation that threatens our planet. This risk, however, is not equally distributed. As scholars in this book illustrate, ‘historically marginalised [and disadvantaged] . . . communities’ have been forced to bear a disproportionate share of the burden associated with environmental degradation. Individuals in these communities also live closer to the margin of survival and are less able to cushion themselves from environmental hazards. The inappropriate management of ecosystem resources (i.e. fresh water, soil conservation or climate stability) also spawns disparities in exposure to environmental hazards that are facilitated by the absence of governance mechanisms for enforcing human rights conventions. As the authors point out, this represents ‘a significant gap between procedural and substantive application of international law’. Consequently, universal human rights provided for in specific treaties and declarations are limited as tools for mitigating environmental injustice. International collaboration is emerging as a helpful augmentation for bridging the gap between procedural and substantive application of international law. ‘Unity and community’ responses at the domestic level exemplify the success that can be achieved through collaboration. The unity and capacity of residents to generate financial and informational resources have proven to be effective mechanisms for keeping environmental hazards out of their community. Similarly, the activism and

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politics that often emerge in communities impacted most by these hazards have resulted in widespread awareness, participation and success that transcend environmental injustice. Each of these responses is a collaborative model for giving voice to marginalised and disadvantaged communities at the international level. By forging ‘sophisticated links’ with environmental organisations, human rights activists, scholars and other progressive groups, indigenous populations are beginning to develop voices to express their concerns. Their efforts represent the beginning praxis for international unity and community, which is essential for advancing environmental justice in a global context. As the authors point out, the efforts of these marginalised and disadvantaged communities to develop voices to express their concerns ‘should serve as a reminder that people must be vigilant to safeguard their basic liberties’. The vibrant social movements discussed in this book epitomise the global voices that are emerging around the world to fight for environmental justice. Marginalised and disadvantaged communities are being empowered to fight for a healthy environment and equitable access to natural resources. By reporting on these efforts to build unity and community, the authors are helping to develop theoretical contours for achieving international environmental justice. Transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries, this book is a major resource for scholars, practitioners, policy makers, activists and business leaders who want to know more about the multifaceted nature of international environmental injustice. It extends the theory of environmental justice, commonly used in domestic settings, by expanding discussions of injustices in this area to the global level. Efforts put forth are commendable and represent significant new scholarship in the areas of social justice, governance and human rights. Harvey L. White Director, Diversity and Public Service Initiative Graduate School of Public and International Affairs University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is a collaborative effort of independent research and endeavours to cast light on an existing but increasingly developing subject. However, I would like to thank many people who helped to create this book. First and foremost, Gregory who approached me with the idea back in 2009. At that point, it was just an idea, but with planning and the assistance of Grady Hanrahan, the editor of the series, steps were developed to create a meaningful contribution to environmental justice literature. I would also like to extend thanks to Bryce Linden and Madeliene Moore, who researched and reviewed my chapter, as well as all of the contributors who diligently researched and offered new perspectives about the environmental justice claims and challenges. This book was also inspired by Gregory’s sister, Altheria Nan Freeland, who was a supportive and early leader of the environmental justice movement as it evolved out of the environmental injustice conditions in North Carolina. In 1982, residents of rural Warren County protested a decision by the state of North Carolina to create a dump to hold 60 000 tons of toxic soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The protest and legal challenges raised by the citizens of the poor, rural, majorityblack county were among the earliest organised actions of what came to be known as the national environmental justice movement. Nan Freeland was at the core of that struggle, and it is through individuals like her that the environmental justice movement has become an influential group and one that will continue to be a vehicle for popular struggles for environmental health, safety and equality. Additional thanks are extended to Dave Morse for looking over Gregory’s manuscripts and making useful suggestions on tightening up the message and delivery. Gregory and I would like to extend special thanks to the editor, Lindsey Langston, for her indispensable guidance and counsel and express thanks to family and friends for their guidance and support throughout the development of this book. Frederick D. Gordon

CHAPTER

1

Introduction: An Understanding of Environmental Justice Claims Gregory K. Freeland and Frederick D. Gordon

1.1

INTRODUCTION

This book is an endeavour to bridge competing perspectives about an issue central to basic human rights. Environmental justice is a theme that seeks to correct numerous injustices placed on people who have been exploited and have not had substantive backing by the rule of law to improve their living conditions. This work presents several domestic and international cases which offer insight about the gaps and measures involved in securing people’s basic rights. The environment is a central theme for all societies. Yet, natural resources have been over-consumed and exploited by the wealthy at the same time as they have been denied to many impoverished people. Today, many people find themselves exposed to toxins and poor air quality. This, in turn, has diminished their quality of life. In other cases people have been stripped of their traditional livelihoods and often have had to relocate to squalid and crowded cities. These are uncomfortable developments and there is significant concern for the future as global population is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2030.1 Anyone could be susceptible to poor environmental conditions. However, the reality is that minority groups including African-Americans and indigenous groups have borne the brunt of many of these environmental externalities. One need not look far to understand this phenomenon. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spilled nearly 5 million barrels of oil. Untold and unmeasured damage compounds this already beleaguered ecosystem. The corridor from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, also known as cancer alley, is home to 200 petrochemical plants and produces 25% of all petrochemicals in the United States.2 Many of the inhabitants, a large number of whom are from ethnic minority and lowincome groups, are caught in a vicious catch 22. Many people work for the refineries but, at the same time, are exposed to unhealthy work conditions. Yet, economic pressures have limited people’s options to change their work situation. In 2007 alone, International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

the petroleum industry contributed over 70 billion dollars to the Louisiana economy, and bankrolled 14% of their budget (Cart, 2010). The 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident also reveals the tension between human development and ecosystem management. Commoner (1992) suggests that the basic environmental conflict is between the ecosphere and technosphere. Simply put, man’s callous nature and drive to develop economically has resulted in limited environmental protection. His suggestion that there is no ‘free lunch’ in terms of environmental degradation explicitly highlights the built-in risks of maintaining and securing nuclear energy. Two events (Fukushima and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) in less than a year permanently altered the lives of thousands of people.

1.2

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS AND TERMINOLOGY USED

Yet, despite recent environmental tragedies, international safeguards to the environment have existed for more than 40 years. In the Stockholm Conference of 1972 nation states pledged to balance economic development and the environment (Scott, 2010). By 1987, the Brundtland Commission generated a new environmental policy goal. That commission set forth new guidelines in terms of sustainability. This approach was a distinct separation from past international practices because it looked to the future: protect natural resources today so future generations will have the same opportunity tomorrow. One clue to meet future needs will be to ensure that there is a positive sum relationship between state and society. This entails transparent governments where people’s rights are protected both procedurally and substantively. Environmental justice is a critical dimension of this process because it reflects the absolute goals of achieving a sustainable environment which addresses both primary and secondary concerns (human and general environment). Dowie’s (2009) position that environmental protection must safeguard basic human rights is central to the overall environmental justice focus. Yet, for many, this is a complex and uncomfortable approach because it casts light on the fact that responsible and democratic governments have not always met up to their responsibilities to protect these basic rights. Our focus is to offer a critical perspective that advances the idea that environmental management and human rights are inherently interrelated and whatever happens to one will soon happen to the other. This book is distinguished from other works in that it seeks to offer a basis of understanding about environmental justice from both domestic and international perspectives. It should be noted that the term ‘domestic’ reflects US environmental policy. However, in the international case studies, the term refers to local concerns of that particular country. The case studies offered in the book are but a glimpse of the number of people and groups which have been unfairly exposed to unreasonable environmental conditions. We hope that this study will serve as an impetus for even more scholarly work to be conducted. Yet the issue is quite clear. Environmental justice encompasses the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, class or colour, with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environ-

INTRODUCTION: AN UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CLAIMS

3

mental laws, regulations and policies that fight penetration by entities that negatively impact their lifestyles. Much of this book’s discourse involves international legal principles designed to safeguard and reduce the plight of affected groups. However, it is also important to understand that the term ‘indigenous peoples’ is referred to by various authors in this volume. As a general rule, ‘indigenous peoples’ corresponds to the international legal protection extended towards groups, which was recognised by nation states in the 1980s.3

1.3

DOMESTIC PERSPECTIVE

The description of environmental justice is most often used by environmental activists, observers and supporters. Responsible environmental politics and policies exist, but they need to be implemented with people’s health borne in mind. In particular, average working-class and minority populations are most vulnerable to environmental externalities. People need clean air to raise healthy children. Too often this is not the case where vulnerable minority populations are exposed to toxic-dump sites. This includes waste generated by manufacturing plants and high-pressure gas pipelines erected near schools and churches. Environmental justice claims stipulate that the burden of hazardous waste and polluting energy facilities have been unevenly borne by communities with lower socioeconomic status, marginalised political representation and populated by people of colour.4 However, environmental justice is not all about preventing toxic-waste dumps from being built in communities or stopping a high-pressure liquid natural gas pipeline from being constructed in minority and low-income areas. It reflects the threat of economic development from encroaching upon and interfering with people’s traditional ways of life. Forests have been felled for natural resources. In some cases forests on indigenous ancestral lands have been cleared to build hydroelectric plants. Environmental justice claims seek to stop such practices as well as prevent the use of dangerous chemicals to speed the growth of agricultural-import crops.

1.4

THE ADVENT OF THE MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

The modern environmental movement is often linked to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring which depicted the dangerous ecosystem impact of using DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) for domestic use. Her ground-breaking study would soon be paralleled by Secretary of the Interior Udall’s The Quiet Crisis in 1963 (Webber, 2002). Similarly, organised community activism began and was inspired by cases such as Scenic Hudson v. Consolidated Edison. In 1963, Consolidated Edison planned to build the world’s largest pumped storage hydroelectric plant in the face of Storm King Mountain in New York State’s Hudson River Valley. This case, based on the aesthetic, recreational and conservation interest in the area, went to appellate court and the US District Court of Appeals ruled in favour of Scenic Hudson. The opposing stake-

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holders reached a settlement in December 1980 when Consolidated Edison agreed to end plans for Storm King Mountain, as well as reducing fish kills at power plants along the Hudson River and establishing a protected Hudson River ecosystem. In July 1981, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission social movement approved Consolidated Edison’s relinquishment of the Storm King licence.5 According to Philip Shabecoff (1993), the Scenic Hudson case spawned a generation of litigation-oriented environmental organisations, such as the Environmental Defense Fund. This case also influenced state regulation of the environment, spawned the first national environmental policy and provided impetus for the National Environment Policy Act of 1969.6 The National Environmental Policy Act encouraged productive harmony between humankind and the environment, and promoted efforts to prevent or eliminate damage to the environment. The act also was designed to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the United States. The act was significant because it contained a new measure called the Environmental Impact Statement. This was central emerging environmental policy because it required a basic cost benefit analysis on the environment to be conducted before any work could be started. It is often said that the 1970s were the Golden Age of Environmental Policy. The period between 1970 and 1980 was when the majority of environmental legislation occurred. The 1970s were particularly paramount because focus shifted from destruction of the environment to the impact of environmental pollution on human health. Environmental organisations mobilised citizen awareness of, and opposition to, the health consequences of chemical waste sites and the dangers of industrial pollution. This phase is exemplified by the founding of Earth Day (1970). An environmentally damaging 1969 oil spill in the ocean off Santa Barbara, California (Santa Barbara Channel) fuelled this shift and the late US Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin), inspired by an emerging public consciousness of air and water pollution, founded Earth Day in 1970. In September 1969, Senator Nelson catapulted environmental protection onto the national political stage.7 He also recruited former US Congressman Pete McCloskey (R-California) to co-chair the teach-in project. On 22 April 1970, millions of Americans gathered in the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate in healthyenvironment advocacy rallies. These rallies focused on diverse environmental areas, including: oil spills, polluting factories, toxic-dump sites and the loss of wilderness areas. College students proved very active in these first Earth Day events.8

1.5

EMERGENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT

The environmental action and organising continued through the 1980s, 1990s and into the 21st century. Besides commonalities on issues such as environmental sustainability and human health, these early efforts lacked focus on minority and low-income communities. Additionally, movement activists were comprised largely of whites and the term ‘environmental justice’ was largely absent from the environmental discourse.

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In the early 1980s, environmental justice became widely recognised as minority and low-income neighbourhoods fought to keep environmental hazards out of their communities and away from their families. Multi-racial coalitions fought against pollution and toxic-dump sites near minority communities, and researchers began analysing and documenting environmental injustices around the country and found that minorities and the poor were, in fact, more frequently living near environmental hazards than their middle-class and wealthy white counterparts. In a 1987 study, which employed the use of zip codes, The United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (1987) found that 37.6% of all landfills in the United States were in or near predominantly African-American neighbourhoods. Moreover, when compared with whites, African-Americans were found to be two to three times more likely to live near a hazardous landfill (see also: Bullard, 1983; US General Accounting Office, 1983). The study showed race, more so than class or wealth, was the most significant variable when examining areas where toxic-waste sites were located. The more African-American or more Hispanic the neighbourhood, the more likely it is that a hazardous waste facility will be located nearby (Mohai and Bryant, 1992; Russell, 1989). The exploitation of minority and poor communities as sites for dumping toxic chemicals and waste, construction of polluting industries, and building of gas pipelines existed for decades before attention was brought to this problem by a new generation of environmental activists. The beginning of the environmental justice movement (EJM) is historically traced to Warren County, North Carolina, which saw one of the first cases of environmental justice in the United States and set the stage for other environmental justice cases. Shocco, a rural town in Warren County that was 75% African-American, and beset by poverty, was chosen by the State of North Carolina as a PCB (polychlorinated-biphenyl) landfill. The landfill was dug in 1982 by the State of North Carolina as a place to dump soil contaminated as the result of an illegal PCB dumping incident. Between June 1978 and August 1978, over 30 000 gallons of waste-transformer oil, contaminated with PCBs, were illegally discharged on roadsides in 14 North Carolina counties.9 In 1979, the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 selected rural, poor and mostly black Warren County as the site for the landfill to dump the collected PCB waste. Residents feared that their groundwater would be contaminated by PCBs, so local leaders marshalled protests against the construction of the landfill. Their protests drew the support of civil rights groups nationwide and focused national attention on the reality of institutionalised environmental racism. In his landmark book Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality, Dr Robert D. Bullard (1990) linked the social justice and environmental movements into the EJM by highlighting southern African-Americans’ environmental activism and the southern civil rights movement. Dr Bullard (2008: 1–2) declares that what started out as local and often isolated community-based struggles against toxics and ‘convenient’ facility siting, near poor neighbourhoods of colour, in particular, grew into a multi-issue, multi-ethnic and multi-regional movement. After three lawsuits, multiple public hearings and several scientific studies, Warren County commissioners finally reached a compromise with the state govern-

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

ment in 1982. In addition, Governor Jim Hunt promised that the landfill would not expand and that Warren County would not become a toxic-waste county. Additionally, the events in Warren County sparked a national inquiry into issues of environmental equity. In 1983, water was discovered under the landfill, revealing a contamination crisis in Warren County. In 2003, the State of North Carolina implemented a remediation programme to actively destroy the PCBs. Also, in 1983, the United States General Accounting Office released a report entitled ‘Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and their Correlation with Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities’, finding that AfricanAmerican communities in eight southern states were disproportionately burdened by the placement of landfills.

1.6

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Much like the environmental movement, the EJM drove political change leading to recognition and favourable policies drafted by economic entities and government policy makers. Unrelenting advocacy and pressure from activists and their supporters proved vital to the triggering of this political change. In terms of domestic environmental justice and government responses the most important national legislation occurred when President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order (EO) 12898 into law on 11 February 1994. EO 12898 states that to the greatest extent practicable, and permitted by law, the EPA and other federal agencies make achieving environmental justice part of their mission by identifying and addressing disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programmes, policies and activities on minority populations in the United States and its territories and possessions, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.10 The EJM was strengthened by EO 12898 and activists felt the Federal government had taken a positive and supportive role that would lead to implementation of rules and procedures that protected minority and low-income areas from environmentally unhealthy industries, dumps and overall pollution to the greatest extent possible. Prior to EO 12898, a national campaign was launched in 1990 that paved the way to the enactment of 12898 and the formation of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC). In January 1990, the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources sponsored a symposium on race, location and the attendant coincidence of environmental hazards. This Symposium, ‘Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards’, addressed environmental justice issues and spawned a book, edited by Bunyan Bryant and Paul Mohai (Bryant and Mohai, 1992), entitled: Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards: A Time for Discourse, which compared 15 studies, analysing the relationship between environmental hazards, on the one hand, and income and race on the other. This Symposium also led to the formation of the Michigan Coalition which formed an advisory group to the EPA and dialogued with the agency on developing EPA environmental justice guidelines. These consultations assisted in the establishment of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, which

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administers environmental justice grant programmes and oversees environmental justice projects. The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit met in October 1991 and attendees came from a majority of the US states, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Marshall Islands. This Summit formed a key milestone in defining environmental justice. It shifted the EJM focus to include public health, land use, housing, resource allocation and community empowerment, and established the EJM as a full-blown multi-ethnic movement. The push to widen political opportunities for the EJM was furthered by the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (NEEJ), which staged demonstrations in 1991 at the EPA. This advocacy was successful in achieving its goal. In 1994, the combination of demonstrations, conferences and literature combined to encourage President Clinton to issue the Executive Order EO 12898. This order enabled the federal government to conduct investigations to substantiate environmental justice claims. George H.W. Bush’s Administration’s (1989–1993) stance toward environmental justice issues was tepid, but the Clean Air Act was renewed during his Administration and the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice established. Bill Clinton’s Administration (1993–2001), especially Vice-President Al Gore, strongly endorsed environmental justice issues and insisted that environmental justice was a force to be dealt with in a way that would achieve positive results. The EJM became more organised and mobilised as the 21st century dawned.

1.7

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

The last two decades of the 20th century were halcyon years for the EJM as they promulgated their cause in the public and governmental arenas. Those successes, however, wrought the inevitable backlash from forces arrayed against environmental justice causes. The EJM is organised locally so they have been able to overcome the most serious opposition on a consistent basis, which would have been much more difficult had they been configured nationally and had they been national in focus visa`-vis public-policy issues. As this book demonstrates, organising locally can result in local victories such as local authorities nixing a toxic-dump plan and, internationally, such as preventing multinational industries from locating on local lands. Conversely, local EJM activists have forged connections with EJM activists and organisations beyond their national borders. Politically, under the Republican George W. Bush Administration (2001–2009) conservative forces compelled the EPA to moderate its environmental justice efforts, by policy changes, such as, de-emphasising minority and low-income populations and emphasising the concept of environmental justice for everyone. The EPA drafted an Environmental Justice Strategic Plan (June 2005) which proposed eliminating the focus on race and class, or the explicit identification of minority and low-income communities, as being central to its environmental justice programmes and decision-making. The EPA argued that focusing on low-income and

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

minority communities was too narrow and that environmental justice should apply to all communities regardless of race and income. Fierce resistance and passionate protest forced the EPA to drop the plan. The EJM has seen the political opportunities and sympathies to its cause slightly increase with the Barack Obama Administration (2009–present). One positive sign that emerged was a gathering of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice which pressed for re-establishing the intent of EO 12898, noted earlier in this chapter. The Obama Administration in December 2010 hosted the first White House Forum on Environmental Justice, which was a high-level meeting that included four Cabinet Secretaries and representatives from several agencies.

1.8

ALIGNING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE EJM

Aligning international economic policies and community organising sensibilities into environmental justice concerns yields effective results that highlight the importance of community members collaborating to improve and protect the quality of their environment. Environmental injustices continue worldwide and often remain invisible except for the efforts of environmental justice activists and scholars. Since issuance of EO 12898 in 1994, substantial progress has been made. A chasm remains, however, between current federal initiatives and areas of need, as evidenced by the plethora of grassroots organisations necessary to safeguard vulnerable communities from environmental injustices as the chapters in this book attest. Additionally, great inconsistencies in implementation of environmental justice initiatives exist across multiple agencies and even within a single agency across multiple regions. This book shows the need for more interagency coordination and more effective and actionable communication with environmental justice organisations. Much political activism and useful coordination has taken place between such organisations and state and local governments. However, there has been less political ideological cooperation in the 21st century than in the last two decades of the 20th century, which jeopardises this sort of useful coordination. Formation of Earth Day and the commendation of environmental concerns, at that time, saw widespread public-policy and citizen support for the environmental movement. Democrat and Republican Congressmen chaired the first Earth Day gathering. Conversely, environmental justice often divides along politically ideological grounds. Some environmental justice opponents are uncomfortable with separating particular groups, such as racial and socioeconomic, from the overall populace for what they believe to be ‘special treatment’. Moreover, scholars critical of environmental justice feel that it has not developed into a serious academic discipline, and is beset with problems defining what environmental justice means. Criticisms of environmental justice generally focus on a lack of definition and a narrow distributive component. With respect to the former, critics’ problems with environmental justice as a scholarly concept, and definitive methodology, are rooted in environmental justice’s association with community activism and

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the activist resolutions that flow from environmental justice meetings, forums and conferences. One of the most widely cited critics, Christopher Foreman (1998: 20), asserts that environmental justice scholars lack methodology in the form of risk assessment and, in general, accuses environmental justice advocates of exploiting the ‘collective fear’ of populations worried about unsafe levels of pollutants and toxins. Furthermore, Foreman (1998: 17) declares that the EJM is driven by ‘toxic terror’ about hazardous waste sites that pose little risk. While Foreman grants that environmental justice activism has led to a presidential Executive Order, numerous local political victories, and management reforms at EPA, structurally and ideologically environmental justice activism has failed to generate a focused policy agenda. In addition, Foreman argues that the EJM rejects the need for environmental priorities and trade-offs, politically inconvenient facts about environmental-health risks and the limits of an environmental approach to social justice. He, instead, advocates for a defined set of priorities starting with the most important instead of a plethora of issues and causes that typically flow from the EJM. Foreman also maintains that because the costs of causes raised by the EJM rest with the government and corporate entities responsible for environmental injustices, impacted low-income and minority communities have diminished incentives to economise on removal or clean-up costs, and will consequently be hurt economically because the costs will be shifted to them in terms of higher rates for energy, gas, taxes and other consumer services produced by the perpetuators of the environmental injustices. While these entities can shift the costs of toxic clean-ups and relocation costs to consumers the question remains of where the fairness in sharing the burden of environmental injustices resides. Beyond arguments for equal distribution of costs and government policies, fairness suggests that a heavy burden of costs should be borne by the communities benefitting the most from environmental exploitation of others. Joining this critical line of thinking are Walter Block and Roy Whitehead Jr, who find that since environmental pollution devalues land in particular areas it is more likely that environmental injustices reflect the fact that this land is cheaper for poor groups residing there so they bring environmental injustices upon themselves, or in other words, the residents make a choice between a cheap dwelling with few environmental amenities and an expensive one with many (Block and Whitehead, 1999: 65). Critics such as Foreman, Block and Whitehead do not capture the complexities, nuances or variations of environmental justice or of the EJM. Blaming lack of definitional concreteness and unequal distribution of blame and resources on poor and minority communities is misdirected and inappropriate. David Schlosberg (2004: 533) explains that justice is a concept with multiple integrated meanings and that overlapping circles of concern and complex equalities involve interconnected forms of reasoning and judgement. And, as the chapters in this book show, different types of environmental injustice relate to different situations from the local to the international. This means that environmental justice concepts and strategies cannot and should not be circumscribed by a static definition or approach. David Schlosberg (2007) analyses several definitions of environmental justice associated with the EJM worldwide and delineates four major ideas woven into them:

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

(1) the equitable distribution of environmental risks and benefits; (2) fair and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making; (3) recognition of community ways of life, local knowledge and cultural differences; and (4) the capability of communities and individuals to function and flourish in society. With Schlosberg’s findings, the EJM is undergirded with a sound response to critics of definitional weakness in environmental justice and it serves as a strong addition to the 17 principles enumerated by the Environmental Leadership Summit.11 It is not just the distributional patterns themselves, but the consequences of the inequalities resulting from distributional patterns. Communities impacted negatively by environmental injustice are more vulnerable to pollution, suffer more from toxicwaste emissions, and are politically and economically marginalised, making it more difficult for their interests to be considered in political and economic decisions. Environmental justice, which is a movement that began in the United States, has received attention at the international level. Though more focused on international human rights law, it neatly corresponds with many of the claims and concerns which resonate at the domestic level. Environmental justice claims have been noticed and it is through political activism such as protests and lobbying that grievous claims can be addressed. In sum, the EJM has been useful in aiding marginalised minorities and low-income residents in asserting their displeasure with their polluted communities and in fuelling their resistance to the unjust practices of government–industrial complexes.

1.9

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

International environmental justice, like its domestic counterpart, seeks to protect vulnerable groups and individuals from unforeseen and unreasonable exposure to environmental degradation. However, it is somewhat different from the United States EJM. Domestic environmental justice concerns developed as a further demand for federal regulation on industrial activity. In essence, as the Golden Age of Environmental Policy started, attention slowly shifted from resource degradation and depletion to its potential harmful impact on humans. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 was the first law to supplant an end-of-pipe approach and offer a ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach, tracking the development, disbursement and removal of toxic chemicals (Kubasek and Silverman, 2002). The 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (otherwise known as Superfund) further committed federal assistance towards environmental causes. This law offered governmental assistance towards the clean-up of abandoned brownstone and even extended liability to anyone connected with the ownership or transport of a toxic substance. It was through this forum that uncomfortable trends emerged in terms of environmental justice. Cleanup is linked to groundwater contamination levels. However, many toxic sites in poor, minority neighbourhoods have had difficulty being placed on the necessary National Priority List, which is necessary before any remedial federal assistance can occur. Much criticism is warranted in understanding the uneven patterns of environmental degradation and its impact on poor African-American, and other low-income,

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groups. The legal burden of proof is one of the major impediments towards proving an environmental justice case. According to Title VI of the 1964 Act, no person shall be intentionally discriminated based upon race, colour, creed and religion. However, intent requires a very high level of proof. Environmental justice cases are often characterised as proving a disparate social impact. This measure shows groups may be disproportionately negatively impacted by pollution but cannot prove intent, which the court argued was necessary for proving a civil rights violation as rendered in the 2002 Sandoval decision (Naguib and Brulle, 2005). The evaluation of international environmental justice claims is less clear. In the United States, one must prove intent. While this is a high legal barrier, it is discernible. However, international law is viewed as soft law which makes it very difficult to enforce if there is a rule breaker. Further, in many poor developing countries the rule of law is lacking both procedurally and substantively. This means people do not have adequate recourse to address their grievances. In other words, many developing countries function under a form of corporatism where the government in power placates the interests that have helped it achieve power (Thomson, 2004). Too often the underrepresented and disenfranchised poor bear the brunt of these political configurations. Options, which are severely limited, include some variant of refugee status; flight, internal displacement or acceptance of altered livelihoods. Boyd (2010) suggests that the tightest chains that bind us are those that we place upon ourselves. He states that we have bound ourselves with war and poverty by accepting the claims of those who say that war and poverty are inevitable. This paradox reflects international environmental justice concerns. On the one hand, we have definitive laws to protect individuals and groups as noted through the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On the other hand, in 2010, nearly 1 billion people lack access to improved sources of water, and 2.6 billion lack even a simple improved latrine (Johnston, 2011). Gordon (2008) suggests that current international legal parameters cast serious doubt on whether the Millennium Development Goals can halve global poverty by 2015. Johnston (2011: 12) extends analysis to explain such concerns. She states human rights abuse occurs because it is socially, culturally and legally acceptable to protect the health of some people, while knowingly placing other humans at risk. Thus, women and children, and racial, ethnic and other powerless groups, experience a contradictory application of occupational, health and safety regulations, and of environmental protection measures. This is in direct conflict with Boyd and others who see legal positivism as the benchmark of international human rights law. However, that is where much of the controversy lies. International human rights law and its modern applications extend to the protection of individuals and groups. More specifically international human rights law is connected to a series of conventions. The Universal Declaration of Rights or the International Bill of Rights (1948) has been seen as the most prominent international exposure to protecting basic rights of individuals and groups. Grounded in the aftermath of the Holocaust experience, it sets forth a platform of basic rights (Scott, 2010: 211). Scott further distinguishes human rights law by coining its central developments in terms of generation of rights. She states that international human rights law is

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

centred on four waves of rights. Economic and political rights are inherently linked to the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and were in place by the 1960s. The third generation of rights surfaced in the 1980s. This generation addressed the individual and their right to feel secure in their natural environment. Self-determination was soon extended to indigenous groups (fourth generation) by the late 1980s thereby rounding out the generational rights (Scott, 2010: 230–231). Dowie (2009) suggests developed-country culpability and accountability is a clue as to why it took so long for indigenous rights to be recognised at the international level. Many developed countries did not want to be forced to pay some form of colonial compensation for their past activities. Ultimately, international human rights law extends two ways. (1) It protects the rights of groups as seen through numerous conventions and treaties. (2) It also protects the rights of individuals and is often classified as international humanitarian law. Individuals are guaranteed basic protection during times of war. Scott (2010: 243) sees it as a set of rules that seek humanitarian reasons to limit the effects of armed conflict. It protects persons who have not taken part, or are no longer participating, in the hostilities, and restricts the means and methods of warfare. However, even with such development and legal safeguards, there is a gap between procedural and substantive application of international legal norms. Ultimately such measures must be addressed at the state level. Democratic transparency, strong state–society relations, political advocacy and strong international governmental organisational support are but a few concepts that must be applied if international environmental justice claims are to be addressed. Diamond (1999) suggests that keys to protecting any group lie with the concept of a liberal democracy. He postulates that a transparent society must afford free election, multiple candidates, a free press and recognition of due process. International humanitarian law sets the platform for such rights but there is no guarantee that such measures can be reinforced. International environmental law is a little less ambiguous. It is a codified field that is primarily a product of the post-Second World War years. Two of the legal documents central to the evolution of international environmental law are called declarations. These are viewed as non-binding statements of agreed principles and intent. A few of the critical declarations related directly to environmental justice claims reflect both the third and fourth generations of rights concerns. The Stockholm Declaration of 1972 was one of three non-binding instruments adopted by the first Conference on the Human Development. Principle 21 of the Stockholm Conference stipulates (Scott, 2010: 263): States have in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

The 1992 Rio Conference produced Agenda 21 which provides a global framework for environmental and developmental policies. The Rio Declaration is a

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statement of 27 environmental principles including Principle 7 which features the common but differentiated responsibility to the environment. This principle highlights that, despite differing levels of industrialisation, all countries are responsible for environmental stewardship (Scott, 2010: 263). International environmental justice claims are also anchored to the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992). International environmental justice claims are inherently tied to basic ecosystem resources and functions such as fresh water, soil conservation and climate stability. International environmental law is probably well known regarding stratospheric concerns. A treaty to combat ozone depletion was founded on the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) and the Montreal Protocol on the Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) (Scott, 2010: 263). Greenhouse gas reductions have been more problematic because of nonpoint source pollution concerns, which in turn make it more complicated to create a single, uniform policy to combat emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. International environmental justice and the application of international law are tightly intertwined. International law has been most effective when nation states have been able to identify a concern and offer viable solutions to mitigate the risk. However, the issue is more problematic in terms of human rights. There are significant safety provisions afforded in the Universal Declaration of Rights and within specific treaties and declarations. However, international law is not enforceable and it is very difficult to punish the rule breaker. Hence, many people and groups remain in a vulnerable state despite having protection under international legal norms.

1.10 FRAMEWORK Notwithstanding the numerous challenges and concerns, the studies in this book assume an empowering perspective that individuals and groups can change their conditions and have a right to enjoy a healthy life. Some cases suggest activism. Governmental responses to environmental justice issues have been lagging. In turn, local activists have stimulated government and private industry responses. This reflects the core principles of the EJM which are activism, mobilisation and impact. In general, scholars find that environmental justice and its activists were influential in shaping the environmental consciousness of groups of people and individuals, and, consequently, the direction of the EJM. Statements regarding environmental activism and policies are based on the contributors’ work with activists and interaction with governments and community members worldwide. Major environmental decisions that blunted or reversed environmental injustices are directly traceable to the activity of one or more environmentally connected groups and/or individuals. Once roadblocks to political and economic opposition were minimised or removed, environmental justice gained momentum due to the weight of more organised group and individual protests against injustice. The contents of this book span academic disciplines including geography, sociology and political science which illumine understanding of environmental justice

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

and the EJM. This book details in-depth, peer-reviewed scholarly research that encompasses a wide range of disciplines that lend clarity, coherence and unity to the EJM and enable strong collaboration and rich interaction among environmental organisations and key stakeholders which forges a shining path toward the achievement of greater social and environmental justice for historically marginalised people of colour in poor communities. In addition, this book captures the complexities and variations within environmental justice. It presents a diversity of approaches, issues and value perspectives without obscuring the broad environmental-theme objective. The chapters are juxtaposed in a way that maintains congruency with the theme. This book also portrays ways in which the EJM has become globalised. Environmental justice, from the global perspectives elucidated in this book, forms a broad and international prism through which to examine the EJM. Although the EJM began in the United States, it has emerged as an international movement that is interconnected in philosophical, strategic and economic ways. The United States, for example, contributes to expanding the amount of environmental injustice that occurs in less developed countries by funding oil exploration in indigenous spiritual areas. While state and local governments publically acknowledge indigenous rights, they often conflict when state-sanctioned development priorities in hydropower and forest eradication are approved by government authorities. International connections come into play when resolutions of claims of injustice over ancestral land and resource rights are aided by cross-national connections.

1.10.1

Theory

In many policy areas, numerous theories are applied to explain different types of social behaviour. Similarly, environmental justice cases can also be explained from numerous theoretical perspectives. Collective action is an operative phrase. It means that individuals and/or groups come together to seek redress on how negative environmental conditions have impacted them. This book shares several case studies, all of which reflect a common theme that it is essential for group formation, development and strategy to occur if there is to be any serious consideration in improvement in the quality of their lives. In the case of Nepal, common forestry principles or managing-up principles are applied from the local level. This means that change must begin at the local level. At the other end of the spectrum, our contributing authors also explain environmental justice claims through historical and class structure interpretations as with the case of Tulum, Mexico. However, we believe this endeavour must extend beyond merely explaining international environmental justice claims. We are interested in offering cogent policy solutions. Therefore, we have emphasised international legal theory to offer a clear guideline to what is necessary to secure peoples’ and individuals’ basic rights. Neofunctional theory or regional integration is offered as a counter response towards meeting economic encroachment challenges. Change can occur, but indigenous, local and affected individuals must be able to advocate for themselves.

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1.10.2

15

Book sequence

The book is presented in a way that leads the reader to understand a sequence of challenges and opportunities embodied within environmental justice. In Chapter 2, Cameron Y. Yee and Beatriz H. Garcia examine the context for environmental justice in the United States, specifically analysing local environmental justice issues facing communities of California’s Central Coast and how this work both supports and expands the national environmental justice agenda. They detail the California Central Coast where immigrants arrived in the 1940s to harvest fruit. The problem arose because these migrants understood very little of US law and practices. They explain environmental justice from a grassroots perspective. Chapter 3, by co-editor Gregory Freeland, offers insight into abuse of the chemical industry. His chapter examines a local community environmental movement organised to prevent liquid natural gas (LNG) projects from being constructed off the California coastline near Malibu and Oxnard. The project design included construction of a gas pipeline through a working-class minority community in Oxnard. The exclusive upper-class Malibu community was also impacted by the proposed LNG facility, which would be off their coastline, thereby obstructing their view of the ocean and subjecting them to the risk of leaking LNG. He uses the local community change framework and collective action principles to augment environmental justice claims. In an effort to combine domestic and international perspectives, Chapter 4 by Dawn Alexandra Osborn, Barbara Savage and Gail Kvistad views environmental justice concerns in Tulum, Mexico. They address this region because the ancient Mayan culture is being threatened due to pollution. They use class structure and historical precedent to gain insight into the plight of indigenous people who are subjected to severe coastal pollution. Economic development and tourism have placed this once pristine location at risk. Freshwater is of major concern; Tulum water is drawn from the Yucatan aquifer or karstic aquifer which is characterised by an extensive network of subaqueous caves – a system particularly sensitive to contamination. Environmental justice issues are often overlooked when indigenous cultures are involved and their traditional ways of life can be compromised when money-making efforts, such as development, take priority locally. The authors of Chapter 4 believe their research will lead to better measures to safeguard the sacred Mayan water supply and protect the rights and practices of indigenous groups. In Chapter 5, Flora Lu researches the indigenous Mapuche leaders in Chile who have forged sophisticated links with environmental organisations, human rights activists, scholars and other indigenous groups in their claims for respect of their ancestral land (Carruthers and Rodriguez, 2009). She addresses petroleum extraction, indigenous people and environmental injustice in the Ecuadorian Amazon. She applies an environmental treaty formulation model to highlight her case. Hearing their stories, and tracing the effects of petroleum operations on indigenous social relations, household economics and settlement patterns at the household and community levels, over time, provides a more complete view of the true costs of oil extraction.

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

In Chapter 6, Krishna K. Shrestha examines the perceptions of environmental equity in Nepal by analysing the views of various stakeholders. Her study, which applies common forestry principles, addresses the following questions: 1.

2.

What are the perceptions of environmental equity among stakeholders? a. Are the ‘poor’ given a real opportunity to voice their opinions in the decision-making processes (i.e. voice effects)? b. What are the roles of decision-making organisations, and are they neutral, trustworthy and accountable to the people (i.e. dignitary effects)? c. Do decision-making processes and the distribution of benefits give priority to the poor (i.e. priority)? What are the reasons and implications of the particular ways of decision-making and the distribution of benefits in community forestry?

In Chapter 7, co-editor Frederick Gordon considers one of the most glaring concerns within environmental justice, which is the removal of people from their ancestry homes. His research addresses the rights of the Sotho people and offers insight into why economic integration is not the answer for protecting traditional ways of life. His chapter explores these concerns by examining the social and political, and environmental implications behind the construction of the Lesotho Highlands Project, the largest dam project in Africa. This case study reveals the high social costs of dam construction and posits that international environmental legal safeguards have been inadequate to safeguard the rights of indigenous communities. In essence, there is a deep gap between procedural and substantive application of international environmental law. He uses international legal norms and neofunctional theory as a platform to explain the Lesotho Highland Water Project. Finally, in Chapter 8, Martin Adamian discusses the position of indigenous groups in relation to global warming. As he states, indigenous people have been described as canaries in the coal mine. As a result of their traditional lifestyles, living close to the land makes them particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation. Just as the canary might signal a build-up of dangerous gas that could threaten the oxygen supply of the miners, the failure to protect the global environment threatens the integrity of indigenous communities, but also the health and safety of us all. Therefore, it is important to recognise that these issues must be adequately addressed, not just to protect some isolated group of natives with outdated means of subsistence, but to protect the ecological integrity of all people. For example, Arctic human populations are threatened by the long-distance transport of biological substances. With the Arctic as an important sink and the dependence of indigenous populations on traditional diets, these people are exposed unduly to chemicals that accumulate in the food chain. But this is an early warning to others of the effects of these chemicals, especially those that are bio-accumulative, persistent and toxic. Further, if Europe and other industrialised states are responsible for the burden of such chemicals, this raises issues of equity and responsibility. Ultimately, we believe that International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives offers contributions towards an area that has only been studied compartmentally. Environmental justice in the United States is linked to the

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advent of the overall environmental movement. As the movement developed so did the greater claim of linking environmental degradation to unhealthy living conditions. Many minority and low-income groups have been unduly exposed to high levels of toxins, which significantly affected people’s lives in terms of quality and expectancy. The domestic case studies, as well as the ones mentioned in the introduction, should serve as a reminder that people must be vigilant to safeguard their basic liberties. Environmental justice claims are similar at the international level. However, it can be even more daunting. There is a significant gap between procedural and substantive application of international law. Perhaps both scholars and policy makers need to see individual and affected groups as part of the environment and not some external force attached to it. Dowie comments that one problem facing anti-poverty advocates is the way poverty is quantified. Personal income is the benchmark. It seems impossible for economists to understand that people living in the complete absence of money can be far wealthier than their close neighbours who live at the edge of the local and global economy. Indigenous people earning zero dollars per year, but with balanced protein-rich diets, clean water, protection from the elements and traditional medicines are better off than those working in foul polluted environments (Dowie, 2009: 168). It might be impractical to avoid the global economy, but it is unforgivable to deny people the right to enjoy a healthy environment.

ENDNOTES 1.

Statistics available at www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf. Accessed March 2012. 2. SoLa: Louisiana Water Stories, Bullfrog Films, 2010. 3. International law since the end of the Second World War focused on the rights of individuals, but that has changed with the extension of international legal protection towards groups as well. 4. See researchers who have found that the disproportionate burden of waste is solely associated with income, like Szasz (1994) and others who find that low-income groups and minorities are disproportionately affected by environmentally unhealthy burdens, such as Pellow (2004); Faber and Krieg (2001); and Downy et al. (2008). 5. See Senator and Mrs Whitney N. Seymour Jr. Papers: Records Relating to the Storm King Case, 1962– 1978, Marist College Archives and Special Collections, Poughkeepsie, New York. http://library. marist.edu/archives/seymourPapers/seymour.xml. Accessed March 2012. 6. National Environmental Policy Act 1969. The purposes of this Act are: To declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the nation; and to establish a Council on Environmental Quality. This Act became law on 1 January 1970 (Public Law 91–190), 42 U.S.C. 4321 and 4331–4335, Section 2. 7. Senator Gaylord Nelson announced a ‘national teach-in on the crisis of the environment’ and read to the United States Senate two of the first major notices to appear in the press about his proposal. In Congressional Record, Proceedings and Debate, 91st Congress. V. 115. 8 October 1969. 8. Earth Day and environmental activist actions during this time influenced creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (1970) and the passage of the Clean Air (1970), Clean Water (1972) and Endangered Species Acts (1973). 9. PCBs are highly toxic man-made chemicals used in coolants, lubricants and in electrical insulation. 10. Federal Register page and date: 59 FR 7629; 16 February 1994.

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11. The Principles of Environmental Justice, adopted at the First People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991, include: the right to be free from ecological destruction; public policy . . . based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias; the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of land and renewable resources; universal protection from nuclear testing, extraction, production and disposal of toxic/hazardous wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water and food (Proceedings of the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on 24–27 October 1991).

REFERENCES Block, W. and Whitehead, R. (1999). The unintended consequences of environmental justice. Forensic Science International. 100: 57–67. Boyd, J.K. (2010). 2048 Humanity’s Agreement To Live Together: The International Movement for Enforceable Human Rights. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA. Bryant, B. and Mohai, P. (1992). Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards: A Time for Discourse. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Bullard, R.D. (1983). Solid waste sites and the black Houston community. Sociological Inquiry. 53 (Spring): 273–288. Bullard, R.D. (1990). Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Bullard, R.D. (2008). Environmental Justice in the 21st Century. Environmental Justice Resource Center, Atlanta, GA. Available at: www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3132626?uid¼3738032 &uid¼2129&uid¼2&uid¼70&uid¼4&sid¼47698735818297. Accessed March 2012. Carruthers, D. and Rodriguez, P. (2009). Mapuche protest, environmental conflict and social movement linkage in Chile. Third World Quarterly. 30, 4: 743–760. Cart, J. (2010). Louisiana’s love hate relationship with the oil industry. The Los Angeles Times. 15 September. Commoner, B. (1992). Making Peace with the Planet. The New Press, New York, NY. Diamond, L. (1999). Developing Democracy Toward Consolidation. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. Dowie, M. (2009). Conservation Refugees: The Hundred Year Conflict between Global Conservation and Native Peoples. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Downy, L., Dubois, S. and Hawkins, B. (2008). Environmental inequality in metropolitan America. Organization Environment. 21, 3: 270–294. Faber, D. and Krieg, E. (2001). Unequal Exposure to Ecological Hazards: Environmental Injustices in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Produced by the Philanthropy and Environmental Justice Research Project, Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Foreman Jr, C. (1998). The Promise and Peril of Environmental Justice. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC. Gordon, F.D. (2008). Freshwater Resources and Interstate Cooperation Strategies to Mitigate an Environmental Risk. SUNY Press, Albany, NY. Johnston, B.R. (2011). Life and Death Matters: Human Rights, Environment, and Social Justice. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA. Kubasek, N. and Silverman, G. (2002). Environmental Law, 4th edition. Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Mohai, P. and Bryant, B. (1992). Race, poverty, and the environment. EPA Journal. 18 (March/April): 1–8. Naguib, D. and Brulle, R.J. (2005). Power Justice and the Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Pellow, D. (2004). Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Russell, D. (1989). Environmental racism. The Amicus Journal. 11 (Spring): 22–32.

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Schlosberg, D. (2004). Reconceiving environmental justice: global movements and political theories. Environmental Politics. 13, 3: 517–540. Schlosberg, D. (2007). Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Scott, S.V. (2010). International Law in World Politics, 2nd edition. Lynne Rienner Press, Boulder, CO. Shabecoff, P. (1993). A Fierce Green Fire: The American Environmental Movement. Hill and Wang Publishers, New York, NY. Szasz, A. (1994). Ecopopulism: Toxic Waste and the Movement for Environmental Justice. University of Minnesota Press, MN. Thomson, A. (2004). An Introduction to African Politics, 2nd edition. Routledge, London. United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. (1987). Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States. United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, New York, NY. US General Accounting Office. (1983). Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and their Correlation with Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Webber, D.J. (2002). Outstanding Environmentalists of Congress. US Capitol Historical Society, Washington, DC.

CHAPTER

2

Achieving Environmental Justice in the USA: A Grassroots Perspective from California’s Central Coast Cameron Y. Yee and Beatriz H. Garcia The environmental justice movement in the United States arose from communities of colour and low-income communities in the 1990s working to improve environmental and health inequities. Rooted in community organising, these place-based efforts have added up to shape a broad national environmental justice agenda. This chapter examines the context for environmental justice in the United States, specifically analysing local environmental justice issues facing communities of California’s Central Coast and how this work both supports and expands the national environmental justice agenda. First we review environmental justice in the United States and the role of immigrants. Next, we analyse environmental justice in the Central Coast Counties of Ventura and Santa Barbara to show how immigrants are in many of the communities facing environmental justice issues. Then we specifically look at the environmental justice issues facing one specific community of South Oxnard and examine how some of the issues that the community faces are part of the expanding environmental justice agenda, with a particular emphasis on how immigrants are a vital grassroots force to address environmental justice.

2.1

A GRASSROOTS VIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE UNITED STATES

The spark of environmental justice in the United States came in 1987 when the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice released the landmark study Toxic Waste and Race that first related the location of environmental hazards, in this case hazardous-waste facilities, to low-income communities and communities of colour. Many consider this the first environmental justice analysis because it linked race and income to the location of these facilities. International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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Soon after, in 1991, community leaders from across the country met at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit and established the principles of environmental justice. At this landmark gathering, the acknowledgement of years of attacks from corporations and other polluting sources on the health and well being of low-income communities and communities of colour were documented in the proactive set of principles. Continued affirmation of environmental justice occurred three years later when President Clinton issued Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice, incorporating it as an aspect that needed to be assessed in all federal policy. More recently evidence of this broadening agenda comes from environmental justice being addressed as a key concern in the implementation of the historic California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32). Even more revealing was that the state ballot initiative to suspend this act, sponsored by two oil companies in the November 2010 California election, was stopped, with environmental justice organisations leading the effort. As the movement has blossomed, the environmental justice agenda has grown to embrace issues such as climate change, improving access to public transportation, securing more affordable housing, and developing local green economy training and job programmes. Environmental justice has been embraced by communities including immigrant communities of California’s Central Coast for several reasons. •

•

•

People of colour lead and speak for the environmental justice movement – The mainstream environmental movement was primarily led by white people and did not address social and racial justice issues. One of the strengths of the environmental justice movement is the multi-ethnic and multi-generational leadership, including many from immigrant communities. The environmental justice movement is a grassroots movement – The issues that environmental justice addresses come directly out of the struggles of communities to improve their well being. As a result environment justice has expanded beyond fighting pollution to address multiple issues such as transportation access, affordable housing, food security and job development from a community perspective. Environmental justice promotes equity – Environmental justice espouses that we all have the right to live, work and play in a healthy community. However, government and corporate actions have threatened the well being of communities of colour with disproportionate risks and impacts. Environmental justice is important in developing a community voice that can build power to analyse and remedy inequities.

Communities of the Central Coast of California, like those in the rest of the United States fighting for environmental justice, are similarly experiencing a steady increase in the number of immigrants who live here, often making up the majority of residents in these neighbourhoods. Many of the immigrants have been displaced because of economic and political forces in their home countries beyond their control. The rise in California’s industrialised agriculture economy signalled a rise in the immigrant population of the Central Coast Region. In the 1940s and 50s, the US

ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE USA: A GRASSROOTS PERSPECTIVE

23

Bracero Program brought thousands of immigrant workers to toil in the citrus and avocado industry of the Central Coast. Many of those immigrant workers stayed on in the area and were able to secure work in the agricultural industry after the programmes ended, eventually creating a pathway for other immigrant workers to make their way to this area. During this time, most immigrants were men and it was not until the mid1970s through the 1980s that women and children began to join them. These immigrants usually arrived into communities surrounded by other immigrant families who worked side-by-side in the citrus and avocado orchards and the growing berry industry of the area. Due to free trade policies such as NAFTA in the 1990s, Mexico’s rural farmer families were displaced from their rural farms and towns due to their inability to compete with agricultural corporations and the lower market price for their crops. These forces pushed whole families to move from their historical farming lands to areas where they could find work. The Central Coast California was a popular destination because of the booming agricultural industry whose diversity of crops offered year-round work on farms, in packing houses and in agricultural transportation. The growth in population on the Central Coast also created growth in other industries such as tourism which, in turn, has created a burgeoning service sector economy that requires more and more low-wage workers to maintain it. New immigrants are not only entering the agricultural industry but now make up the majority of workers in the hotels and restaurants throughout the Central Coast region. Upon arrival, most immigrants enter existing immigrant neighbourhoods on the Central Coast. Most of the communities that they are entering are already marginalised and have little access to information or knowledge about community decisions, and are often disconnected from decision-making processes. These areas are concentrated in older communities where the housing stock is older, less expensive and more accessible to low-wage earners and their families. Therefore, we see large immigrant communities in areas surrounded by polluting sources such as pesticide-heavy agriculture (strawberry and sod farms) as in Oxnard and Santa Maria or surrounded by other polluting industries, such as South Oxnard (metal smelting, power plants) and West Ventura (oil extraction). It is important to note that many newer immigrants entering the Central Coast workforce are from rural areas in their home countries where access to education and information is limited which, in turn, creates an added dimension to the issues facing the immigrant communities of the region. In the last 10 years, the Central Coast has seen a large influx of migrant workers from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Many of these new immigrants are members of the Mixtec indigenous community. Few of them are fluent in Spanish and most use their indigenous dialect to communicate. Many of these families are being exposed to, or moving into, neighbourhoods that are in close proximity to toxic sites and polluting sources, as in the case of South Oxnard where a large portion of this community resides. Most of these families work in the booming berry industry of the Central Coast, often moving along the coast between Oxnard and Santa Maria. Strawberry, raspberry and blueberry are some of the most pesticideintensive crops in the agricultural industry. These workers are often exposed to toxics and other pollutants on the job as well as in their own neighbourhoods.

24

2.2

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE CENTRAL COAST: AN ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN TWO CENTRAL COAST COUNTIES

The Central Coast of California is made up of the six counties with a common coastline and thriving farms connecting this region. Currently these mostly rural and suburban counties are making the shift in demographics to a majority of people of colour like the rest of the state. Our analysis focuses on the sub-region of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties where about half (49%) of the population are people of colour and two-fifths of the population are Latino (US Census Bureau, 2010). To assess environmental justice, we analyse the distribution of environmental hazards in relation to people of colour, the poor, children in schools, and immigrants in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, a sub-region of the Central Coast. The environmental hazards analysed in this section harm communities and their health in a number of ways. The most obvious one is that they pollute the air, water and soil in the community. The closer to such pollution sources people live, work or go to school, the greater their exposure to pollutants. This, in turn, increases the risks to their health. Impacts from such risks include chest pain, wheezing, coughing and sneezing and longer term impacts such as asthma and cancer. The real and perceived pollution associated with industrial hazards such as power plants and chemical companies can also serve as a physical barrier in a community. The sight of emissions from smoke stacks, the stench of a foul odour, or the out-ofscale size of a facility can deter a community from outdoor physical activity such as playing, walking and cycling. Such land uses can also prevent certain businesses from locating in an area and encourage the neglect of a community. To analyse the proximity of environmental hazards to different communities we use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to perform a buffer analysis to calculate what percentage of different demographic groups live closer to hazards (those within 0.5 mile (0.8 km) and those between 0.5 and 1.5 miles (2.4 km)), or further from these facilities (further than 1.5 miles). For environmental hazards, we use 2008 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) 2008 data which are from a US Environmental Protection Agency database of facilities that manage, dispose, recycle or treat certain chemicals and are required to self-report the quantity of chemicals each year. These data contain 34 sites that we use in our analysis (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2008). In addition we use Community Health Air Pollution Information System (CHAPIS) from 2001 supplied by the California Air Resources Board (2001) that comes from their air emissions modelling programme. The data that we use are for stationary sources of pollution from large industries and small businesses that emit the majority of smog farming emissions and/or are large sources of toxic air pollutants and contain 83 sites used in our analysis. The socioeconomic data come from the 2000 United States Census Data made available by the US Census Bureau at the analysis level of block group. We use the 2000 Census data because of the smaller geographic area of analysis this allows us. The socioeconomic school data are from the 2007–08 year and are released by the California Department of Education and made available by the Ed-data Partnership.

ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE USA: A GRASSROOTS PERSPECTIVE

25

We use these data for such demographic categories as students of colour, income by way of qualifying for the free and reduced lunch programme, and immigrants via participation in the English learners programme. Tables 2.1 and 2.2 summarise our analysis for the sub-region of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. People of colour are more likely to live closer to environmental hazards as over half of the people living within 0.5 mile of an environmental hazard are people of colour (56% for TRI facilities and 57% for CHAPIS facilities). The further we move away from environmental hazards the lower the percentage of people of colour in the populations. About one-third of the population living further than 1.5 miles from an environmental hazard are people of colour. Latinos and African Americans are twice as likely to live within 0.5 mile of a CHAPIS facility than they are to live more than 1.5 miles away. Asian and Pacific Islanders are just slightly more likely to live within 0.5 mile of a CHAPIS or TRI facility. The poor are 1.5 times more likely to live within 0.5 mile of a CHAPIS or TRI facility than they are to live more than 1.5 miles away. As we observed with people of colour, the further away from environmental hazards, the smaller the percentage of the population that is poor. The poor make up almost a quarter of the population (23%) that is within 0.5 mile of these facilities while that number decreases to less than one-fifth when looking at a distance greater than 1.5 miles (16% for TRI facilities and 18% for CHAPIS facilities). Immigrants are twice as likely to live within 0.5 mile of a CHAPIS facility and 1.5 times more likely to live within 0.5 mile of a TRI facility than they are to live further than 1.5 miles away. About a quarter of the population within 0.5 mile of these environmental hazards are immigrants, while that percentage decreases to 17% for TRI facilities and 12% for CHAPIS facilities when looking at the percentage of population further than 1.5 miles away (see Figure 2.1). Fourteen of the 19 schools within 0.5 mile of CHAPIS facilities, and 9 of the 12 schools within 0.5 mile of TRI facilities have a predominantly Latino student population. Over a third of the students are enrolled in the English learner programme with well over half of the student population qualifying for the free and reduced lunch programme. Even though few schools are located near TRI facilities, those that are have a student population that is 75% youth of colour, 36% enrolled in the English learner programme and over half qualifying for the free and reduced lunch programme. With CHAPIS facilities we see a greater disparity within 0.5 mile as 84% of the student population are youth of colour with 34% enrolled in the English learner programme and 61% of the student population qualifying for the free and reduced lunch programme.

2.3

SOUTH OXNARD: DEVELOPING AN EXPANDING GRASSROOTS AGENDA FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

South Oxnard is a community within Oxnard, the largest city in the Central Coast region covering 25 square miles of land with a population of close to 200 000 (California Department of Finance, 2010). Seventy per cent of the population in

Within a half mile (0.8 km) of a TRI From 0.5 mile (0.8 km) to 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of a TRI More than 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away from a TRI Total

TRI

56

50

35

43

304 124

616 575

1 152 541

% people of colour

231 842

Population

19

16

23

23

21

17

22

28

% % of immigrants population with income 150% of federal poverty line and below

Table 2.1: Who lives near TRI facilities in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

207 801

136 345

65 422

6034

Number of children in public schools

60

54

71

74

% students of colour in public schools

25

21

32

36

43

39

51

55

% of students % qualifying for the free and participating in the English reduced lunch programme learners programme

26 INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

Within a half mile (0.8 km) From 0.5 mile (0.8 km) to 1.5 miles (2.4 km) More than 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away Total

CHAPIS

57

47

37

43

266 118

660 168

1 152 541

% people of colour

226 255

Population

20

18

21

23

% of population with income 150% of federal poverty line and below

21

12

42

23

% immigrants

207 801

147 532

45 196

15 073

Number of children in public schools

Table 2.2: Who lives near CHAPIS facilities in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

60

53

74

84

% students of colour in public schools

25

22

31

34

43

39

53

61

% of students % qualifying for the free and participating in the English reduced lunch programme learners programme

ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE USA: A GRASSROOTS PERSPECTIVE

27

28

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

Figure 2.1: Immigrants and environmental hazards in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

# - # -# - #

-

--

--

-

Santa Barbara County

--

-

-

#

-Ventura County

-#

- -- ####Legend # 2008 US EPA TRI facilities - 2001 Air Resources Board CHAPIS Data Percent immigrants, 2000 Census data Less than 18% 18% to 35% 36% to 73%

--

#- # -

-

- -# #--

-

-# -- # - - - --##-## -#--#--

# #- # ###-

-- # -### #-

#South Oxnard 30

15

0

30 kilometres

Oxnard is Latino and 38% of residents are immigrants (US Census Bureau, 2010). The city was founded in 1903 and its location on fertile land and on the coast played an important role in its development. Typical of the Central Coast cities on the Pacific, it is bordered by both farmland and beaches. The city is also situated between two US naval bases and the Port of Hueneme, the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Oxnard’s challenge is to balance maintaining open space, preserving the fragile coastal ecosystem, protecting agricultural land and ensuring the viability of communities. The demographic make-up of South Oxnard is that of an immigrant community of colour. •

• • •

With a population of 48 000 people, over 80% are people of colour with 68% being Latino, 13% being Asian Pacific Islander and 3% being black (US Census Bureau, 2000). Immigrants make up 45% of residents (US Census Bureau, 2000). One third of the population (32%) has an income that is 150% or below the federal poverty line (US Census Bureau, 2000). The 12 public schools in South Oxnard have 12 683 students with students of colour making up 95% of these and almost half of students (47%) participating in the English learners programme (California Department of Education, 2008).

With 4% of the population of the Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties sub-region, South Oxnard is twice as likely to have an environmental hazard in the community

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ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE USA: A GRASSROOTS PERSPECTIVE

Table 2.3: Demographics of South Oxnard from the 2000 Census. Population

47 797

% of % of % of % of % of % of population population population population population population that is black that are that is that is that is 150% or immigrants Asian/ white Hispanic below the Pacific federal Islander poverty line 32

68

14

13

3

45

Table 2.4: Other characteristics of South Oxnard. Number of public schools

12

Number of students in public schools

% of students enrolled in the English learners programme

% of students qualifying for the free and reduced lunch programs

% of students that is youth of colour

Number of TRI facilities

Number of CHAPIS facilities

12 683

47

71

95

3

6

than the rest of the sub-region. The community contains 9% of TRI sites and 7.3% of the CHAPIS sites in the region. To further understand how environmental justice is impacting communities in the United States, we analyse key issues of the environmental justice agenda in South Oxnard (see Tables 2.3 and 2.4 for demographics and other characteristics of South Oxnard).

2.3.1

Developing a green economy

South Oxnard holds an important stake in the emerging green economy. South Oxnard remains burdened with the old energy model of building coastal power plants that needed ocean water to be used for ‘once-through cooling’ of the plant. Because of this, two power plants are located in Oxnard and a third peaker plant has been proposed in the city. In addition to the Ormond Beach Power Plant located in South Oxnard, a proposed liquid national gas (LNG) platform to meet natural gas needs has put additional pollution pressures on South Oxnard. Almost half of households in South Oxnard are renter occupied (45%), which is higher than for the city (43%) and for Ventura County (32%). Oxnard has one of the highest housing densities in the County and Oxnard has a population density twice as high as neighbouring Camarillo and 1.4 times that of Ventura. Yet because South Oxnard is a denser area with many apartments, the community uses one quarter to one third less water and energy resources than high-end single-family detached housing (City of Oxnard, 2009; US Department of Energy, 2009). By embracing the move

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

towards greater energy and water efficiency and to renewable energy, South Oxnard stands to gain improved air quality and the eventual possibility of no longer living in the shadows of power plants.

2.3.2

Affordable and safe housing

Like most communities, housing affordability is an important issue. Of the workforce in Oxnard, 1 out of 10 work in agriculture occupations (US Census Bureau, 2010). Because South Oxnard borders agricultural land, many farm workers live in South Oxnard. The community is the site of several farm worker housing complexes including Villa Cesar Chavez. Increasing affordable housing, especially farm worker housing is a unique part of the environmental justice agenda for South Oxnard.

2.3.3

Transportation access and safety

Many residents express the need for better public transportation and increasing funding for bus operations is a priority. South Oxnard has a higher percentage of households owning zero or 1 vehicle (39%) than Oxnard (37%) and Ventura County (33%) (US Census Bureau, 2000). Residents use public transit to get to work at the same rate as Oxnard and the rest of the county (1.1%) (US Census Bureau, 2000). This results from certain parts of South Oxnard having poor access to the bus. Four bus routes cross South Oxnard, although not all of the community has good transit access. For example, the Cypress neighbourhood in the south-east part of the community where Villa Cesar Chavez is located has been trying to get a bus stop closer to where they live as they currently have to walk almost a mile to the closest stop. Improving local streets and roads to make it easier to cycle and walk is a priority as Oxnard is more dangerous to cycle or walk in, especially for children going to school. Oxnard has a higher rate of cycling and pedestrian injuries and deaths per capita than the County and averages 3 bike and pedestrian deaths per year and 160 injuries (California Highway Patrol, 2004–2006).

2.3.4

A healthy learning environment: food access and health issues

While 71% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch in South Oxnard, none of the local schools have farm-to-school programmes even though many of the parents of students work in the fields and the city is surrounded by agriculture (California Department of Education, 2008). Oxnard has an obesity/overweight rate of 35% which is much higher than the county rate of 26% for Ventura County and the California rate of 28% (California Center for Public Health Advocacy, 2004: 2). Parents and students are beginning the effort to improve school lunches by supporting a farm-to-school programme where local farms would supply vegetables and fruits for meals as a way to improve the overall learning environment in schools for students.

ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE USA: A GRASSROOTS PERSPECTIVE

2.3.5

31

Access to public spaces and open space and preserving farm land

In South Oxnard industrial land use has threatened the ability of the community to access open space and recreational opportunities. A key component of the developing agenda for environmental justice in South Oxnard has been preserving the Ormond Beach coastal wetlands as open space, building the Gateway Park to the Ormond Beach wetlands to improve coastal access and recreational opportunities, all while recognising the need to maintain the surrounding agricultural areas.

2.3.6

Political representation and civic engagement

Even though Oxnard is a majority Latino city, representation of Latino officials lags behind on elected boards. While most school boards have up to half of the board Latino, the Oxnard City Council currently has only one Latino. Increasing voter turnout of Latinos as well as more Latino candidates running will be vital to increasing opportunities to address environmental justice in South Oxnard.

2.4

CONCLUSION: IN CALIFORNIA’S CENTRAL COAST AND THE UNITED STATES, IMMIGRANTS ARE PLAYING A KEY ROLE IN DEFINING AND ADDRESSING THE EXPANDING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AGENDA

The multi-issue environmental justice agenda allows communities to organise a broad range of people to work together on issues that matter for their city, county and region. Immigrant communities are tackling a broad environmental justice agenda including improving environmental health, promoting a healthier school learning environment, increasing safety to cycle and walk, increasing access to parks and open space, and ensuring that people are civically engaged and voting. In this context, communities such as South Oxnard who are moving forward this agenda will certainly be leaders not only for their community but for all of society.

REFERENCES California Air Resources Board. (2001). CHAPIS. Available at: www.arb.ca.gov/gismo2/chapis_ v01_6_1_04/. Accessed March 2012. California Center for Public Health Advocacy. (2004). Overweight Children in California Counties & Communities. Available at: www.publichealthadvocacy.org/county/Kern_Fact_Sheet.pdf. Accessed May 2012. California Department of Education. (2008). Education Data Partnership. Available at: www. ed-data.k12.ca.us/welcome.asp?. Accessed March 2012. California Department of Finance. (2010). Table 2: E-4 Population Estimates for Cities, Counties and State, 2001–2010. Available at: www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/. Accessed March 2012.

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California Highway Patrol. (2004). Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System. Available at: www.chp.ca.gov/switrs/. Accessed March 2012. City of Oxnard. (2009). City of Oxnard Housing Element January 1, 2006–June 30, 2014. Available at: http://developmentservices.cityofoxnard.org/Uploads/Planning/draft_2030_general_plan_cd/ 13%20Draft%202006-2014%20Housing%20Element%20%28Chap%208%20of%20General %20Plan%29/Housing%20Element%202006-2014.pdf. Accessed March 2012. US Census Bureau. (2000). Census 2000. Available at: www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html. Accessed March 2012. US Census Bureau. (2010). American Community Survey. Available at: http://factfinder2.census.gov/ bkmk/navigation/1.0/en/d_program:ACS. Accessed March 2012. US Department of Energy. (2009). 2008 Buildings Energy Data Book. 2–7. US Environmental Protection Agency. (2008). Toxics Release Inventory. Available at: www.epa.gov/ triexplorer/. Accessed March 2012.

CHAPTER

3

Pipeline to Environmental Justice: The Anti-Liquid Natural Gas Movement in Malibu and Oxnard, California Gregory K. Freeland Where are the safest places to erect a liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal and build a pipeline to transport gas to onshore locations? The answer appears complex, but until the 1990s most government officials and energy corporate executives believed that the place should be in or near low-income and/or minority communities. This answer is based on the fact that a significant number of chemical factories, toxic-waste sites and oil company plants operate in low-income and/or minority communities. Challenges to these location decisions arose from an increasingly organised response by members of negatively impacted communities who rallied around the banner of environmental justice. In addition, scholars such as Robert Bullard (1993) and Daniel Faber (1998), investigated and published studies revealing a pattern of constructing environmentally unhealthy and potentially dangerous facilities in poor and/or minority communities. Environmental justice encompasses the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, class or colour, with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies designed to contest penetration by entities, such as corporate energy interests, that negatively impact their lifestyles.1 The environmental justice movement raised issues of racism and inequality, charging that the working poor and people of colour typically pay the highest price for environmental pollution as industrial facilities and toxicwaste dumps are often built in poor and minority neighbourhoods (Szasa, 1994: 75). This chapter examines a local community environmental movement organised to prevent LNG projects from being constructed off the California coastline near Malibu and Oxnard. The project design included construction of a gas pipeline through a working-class minority community in Oxnard. The exclusive upper-class Malibu community was also impacted by the proposed LNG facility, which would be off their coastline, thereby obstructing their view of the ocean and subjecting them to the risk of leaking LNG.

International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

These two distinct communities worked separately and together to contest the proposed LNG projects. An Australian mining corporation, Broken Hill Proprietary Billiton (BHPB), proposed to build an LNG terminal and Crystal Energy, in Houston, Texas, proposed to turn an inactive oil platform into an LNG terminal. The projects spawned a 4-year community-led and organised protest to prevent it from happening. For the purposes of this study the action to prevent implementation of these projects is considered to be a social movement. Environmental justice has been linked to social movements by scholars, such as Dorceta Taylor, who developed an environmental justice paradigm that analyses the relationship between ideologies and institutions that inspire the environmental justice movement (Taylor, 2000). Taylor notes that the success of the environmental justice movement rests with its alignment of environmental paradigm with the civil rights paradigm in a way that facilitates building coalitions between environmental, labour and minority concerns. These and other activists were active players in forming the coalition that sustained and propelled the anti-LNG movement in Oxnard and Malibu. Despite its small geographical size and 4-year life span the anti-LNG action shares significant characteristics with what a social movement is considered to be. For the purposes of this study Oxnard is included in the naming of this movement, which is referred to as the Oxnard anti-LNG Movement (OLNGM). Even though Malibu was a major ally and part of the geographically impacted LNG terminal coast, Oxnard activists did most of the organising, conduct of demonstrations, participation in public hearings and mobilising of area residents to oppose construction of the LNG terminals. Oxnard was more focused and mobilised since it had more at stake than Malibu in terms of public safety and health issues, because the pipeline to transport the gas was scheduled for construction through a minority community, comprising mainly Latinos in South Oxnard. The OLNGM fits Sidney Tarrow’s definition of a political movement as processes of collective challenges, which are based on common purposes and social solidarities carried out in sustained interaction with elites, opponents and authorities (Tarrow, 1996). Moreover, OLNGM is viewed primarily as a movement characterised by influences from cultural, religious, social and economic realms, and is connected in ideological ways with the broad environmental movement, especially the justice component of environmentalism. The OLNGM, which called for community members to unite and organise around a sense of community pride and health, provides a concrete model of mobilisation practices that capitalised on openings in the political system. This study illustrates how a proposed environmental injustice galvanised an increased sense of togetherness among community members, which resulted in collective action. An environmental justice framework advanced by Robert Bullard meshes with what the OLNGM wanted to represent. Bullard emphasises the prevention of environmental threats before they occur and the OLNGM made the potential of an LNG terminal/pipeline disaster part of the centrepiece of their mobilisation strategy. Two of the Bullard tenets include: the principle that all individuals have a right to be protected from environmental degradation; and shifting the burden of proof to polluters and

PIPELINE TO ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: THE ANTI-LIQUID NATURAL GAS MOVEMENT

35

dischargers who do harm, who discriminate or who do not give equal protection to racial and ethnic minorities are key elements of the anti-LNG movement.2 When the OLNGM is referred to in this study it encompasses all of the anti-LNG activists, groups and organisations, whether acting as a collective, in small groupings or individually. The common denominator for this multiple inclusion is preventing the BHPB and Crystal Energy projects from being built. Mobilisation based on the idea of being subjected to an environmental injustice sustained a movement like the OLNGM. Mobilisation techniques incorporated cultural components as well as religious and family values to sustain motivation. Religious exhortations were used to begin several public rallies and family values were embedded in literature describing how the release of vapours and other pollutants would have a negative effect on children. OLNGM activists informed community members of their environmental situation and prospects for the future, while community members, in turn, incorporated the messages from the OLNGM activists into their everyday lives by attending meetings and rallies, signing petitions and donating funds.

3.1

BROKEN HILL PROPRIETARY BILLITON’S LNG PLANS

BHPB’s window of opportunity to build a profitable LNG facility off the Southern California coast was created by an ongoing energy crisis in the state but was closed by anti-LNG organisers through superior community organising and mobilisation structures. During 2000–2005 an energy crisis gripped California which drove up electricity rates, traumatised the system and triggered major regional power outages. A majority of California’s electric-generation plants are fuelled by natural gas and the state produces only about 15% of the gas it uses. California receives 85% of its natural gas from Canada, the Rocky Mountain and Southwestern states through an interconnected interstate pipeline system.3 On 14 August 2003, BHPB announced its intent to apply for a licence to build an LNG import terminal off the California Coast, near the Ventura and Los Angeles County Line. It announced that it would file applications with the United States Coast Guard4 and United States Maritime Administration (MARAD)5 along with the California State Lands Commission (CSLC). CSLC manages the land beneath the Pacific Ocean from the high tide line to the 3-mile line, and it certifies final Environmental Impact Report, or EIP. BHPB filed a formal application on 3 September 2003 with an absolute submission deadline of 27 January 2004. BHPB sought a deepwater port licence for the right to operate the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) in United States coastal waters. Port licences are issued by the US Coast Guard and MARAD. BHPB also pressed for a land lease from the CSLC for the right to construct an underwater pipeline to deliver the natural gas to the state gas pipeline system. BHPB’s processing terminal, named Cabrillo Port, was to be a gravity-based LNG re-gasification facility located 14 miles off the coastline. Process-wise, LNG would be brought in by supertankers from Australia and offloaded at Cabrillo Port. The LNG would be re-gasified, a process that converts chilled sludge-like natural gas

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(this condition allows for easier and efficient shipment across the ocean) back to a gaseous state (vapour) at conversion terminals, like Cabrillo Port. BHPB gas would then be transported to shore through a new BHPB high-pressure gas pipeline that would wind through Oxnard, eventually hooking up to existing natural gas pipelines. The US Coast Guard approved Cabrillo Port’s application in January 2004. A complementary project to BHPB’s was proposed by Crystal Energy Company to convert an oil platform, Platform Grace, offshore from Oxnard and Malibu for use as an LNG tanker terminal (Clearwater Port). Clearwater Port filed an application on 28 January 2004, for an LNG receiving terminal on a converted existing offshore oil drilling platform 12.6 miles off the coast.6 This proposed receiving terminal would also be a re-gasification facility that would include a mooring facility. Subsequent public and private discussions about needing alternative energy sources and lessening dependence on oil led to meetings between corporate officials, such as those at BHPB, and government officials, such as California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Governor Schwarzenegger met with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, BHPB Chairman Don Argus and senior BHPB managers in June 2004 and four of the governor’s top officials, including Chairperson of the California State Energy Commission, Joe Desmond, and Secretary of the state’s Environmental Protection Agency, Terry Tamminen, travelled to Australia in July 2004 to tour natural gas facilities and discuss the California LNG project with BHPB officials (Herdt, 2005). California’s energy crisis led to requests by community members, environmental organisations and some government officials, for energy conservation, but this did not influence the governor’s desire to follow through with supporting an LNG facility, and he stated that: I think we still need LNG as time goes on, because we’re really running short of fuel for these power plants . . . my personal preference is Oxnard . . . where you build it out approximately 11 or 12 miles off the shore, would probably be the safest one for California. (Herdt, 2005)

LNG, which is a finite fossil fuel, in terms of supply, emits carbon dioxide when burned, and it is estimated the Cabrillo Port would be responsible for 25 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year from extraction through combustion.7 It was estimated the Cabrillo Port would produce approximately 200 tons of air pollution per year.8 In addition to problems with pollution and potential accidents due to earthquakes, Oxnard residents and Malibu denizens, in particular, objected to the facility as they regarded it as a potential eyesore and generally disliked the idea of having an LNG facility off their beaches. In the first days after BHPB’s LNG terminal plans were officially announced, support was strong and political opportunities were extensive within the governor’s office and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). BHPB hired lobbyists and advocacy support groups to facilitate terminal plans. For example, one LNG advocacy group, Californians for Clean, Affordable, Safe Energy (Cal-CASE), which was formed by the California Manufacturers and Technology Association and the Califor-

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nia Chamber of Commerce, expanded public awareness and support for the LNG project. Cal-CASE argued that California needed to augment its access to natural gas, and ‘LNG provides the best avenue to do it’ (CMTA, 2004). Expecting some resistance to the proposed project from environmental activists and supporters, BHPB committed large sums of money to lobbying and advertising efforts.

3.2

OLNGM ORGANISERS AND ORGANISATION STRATEGY

The OLNGM campaign was a broad-based campaign that included local and national environmental organisations, diverse religious groups, local university and high school students, and non-profit community advocacy groups. This anti-LNG campaign involved two diverse communities, one wealthy, famous and white, the other, poor, unknown and minority, working together to solve an environmental justice problem. While the poor, minority community had more at stake because there would have been a pipeline running through their neighbourhood in addition to the offshore LNG terminal, this unlikely collaboration and coalition highlights how these entities can work together when the stakes hit a regional level and/or crosscut communities. With the application of the environmental justice approach the OLNGM connected political goals and environmental desires of activists, and forged them into a unified force for environmental and social justice. The sense of a strong community connection working for a safe environment was a strong frame utilised by OLNGM activists to gain support from the general population. With environmental justice gaining momentum over the last few years more environmental activists and community organisers have pressed for this commentary in their awareness raising, framing strategies and community mobilisation. OLNGM required organisation and resources for successful collective action. Tasks that were listed by the organisers of the LNG movement exemplify the resources that proved valuable for community action. Tasks included printing flyers for turnout training, transportation plans, media plans, poster designs, a phone-bank plan and neighbourhood walking plans. Furthermore, there was a faith strategy that called for church announcements and table displays at churches. Active participation took numerous forms, such as attending rallies, writing letters, signing petitions, marching, and testimonies before commissions, councils and boards. All, or a combination of, the above tasks are crucial to mobilise active participants. Scholars, such as Paul Lichtermann (1996), found community participation based on pre-existing racial and community ties that are already located within the larger community. This was partially true for the Oxnard–Malibu situation, but eventually these groups, such as Latino Catholics and Malibu surfers, mingled together as a larger community that transcended the ties Lichtermann identifies. These community members were more tied to their community interests than to an ideological base of environmental sustainability and global warming such as the green movement activists, although numerous anti-LNG activists did belong to groups, such as the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Center, with an overarching ideological component to their commitments. OLNGM leaders were influenced by their commun-

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ity connection and the community responded to them based on this connection. The OLNGM did connect in ideological ways with the broad environmental justice movement, because it shares a belief in protection of the environment from harmful pollutants and destruction of natural flora and fauna.

3.2.1

The OLNGM frame

OLNGM leaders framed the anti-LNG issue in terms of a need for community environmental health and safety. Establishing a framework to align environmental justice movements, such as the OLNGM, is critical to mobilising people and resources. Framing the OLNGM by adopting a ‘keep the community environmentally safe’ theme fits well with mobilisation strategy directed toward common community interests, and effective framing forms the core of capturing political opportunities. According to political opportunity scholars such as David Snow, social movement organisers must demarcate the world in which they are acting (Snow et al., 1986: 465). Community safety comprehensively delineated OLNGM’s frame of reference because it encompassed environmental safety, children’s health and national security. For example, an announcement that a dangerous high-capacity gas pipeline will run through Oxnard, past schools, churches and farmland, stirred a sufficient number of individuals intimately associated with one or all of these entities. Another communique´ would say that Cabrillo Port and the LNG tankers are environmental hazards because discharged chemicals and sewage would impair ocean water quality and harm marine life, which would galvanise environmentalists concerned with healthy ecosystems.9 Another area within the safety framework argued that a terminal would be a terrorist target and poses too many safety risks, in addition to national security risks. Diverse groups, such as environmental, labour, religious and political groups, came together under the ‘safety’ umbrella as organised and sometimes loosely based coalitions. OLNGM garnered success with the message frame, because it was expressed in a non-technical, uncomplicated way that their targeted audiences, supporters and activists could understand and retain.

3.2.2

OLNGM organising

Political opportunities on the local level widened early and quickly for anti-LNG activists and at a slower pace to the state level, but over time these activists were operating extensively at both levels. Oxnard and Malibu city councils passed resolutions in opposition to the LNG facilities. For example, the Malibu City Council approved a resolution strongly opposing both the Cabrillo Port and the Crystal Energy Plant in May 2004, and the Oxnard City Council voted in July 2004 to oppose the project. This type of political support soothes the hesitancy of potential supporters concerned that their activism is in some way anti-establishment, in violation of city political rally rules and closed to hearing complaints from community members. OLNGM activists were able to translate this into increased community participation and enhanced political access.

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Key players in the OLNGM, including the California Coastal Protection Network (CCPN), Saviers Road Design Team and Sierra Club, agitated to move Oxnard and Malibu community members into a more environmentally conscious direction and urged closer collaboration between them. Increased awareness fuelled formation of numerous single-issue local groups focused on preventing the LNG facilities from development off their coastline and the subsequent pipeline construction. A Malibu resident, for example, formed a group in particular opposition to Crystal Energy’s proposal. The group, Citizens Against Crystal Energy (CACE), informed people of the hazards of the proposed terminal through letter-writing campaigns and meetings with community leaders. CACE criticised Crystal Energy for desiring to locate the terminal on an old, unstable platform prone to breakdown and terrorism, and for opening the door to further oil exploration off the coast. There was also an Oxnard-dominated coalition, both loose and tightly knit, that included, Latino Environment Group, Ministerial Association, Centro MUJER, local high schools (Oxnard, Pacifica), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), which were part of the No LNG Community Coalition. These groups, among others, became involved at various times over the 4-year anti-LNG project period. High school students also involved themselves in the OLNGM. One student, 16-year-old Erica Fernandez, worked with organisations such as the Sierra Club and Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), to mobilise youths in protests and public meetings. Fernandez helped organise weekly protests at the BHPB Oxnard offices, marched through potentially LNG-impacted neighbourhoods, contacted media and drew more than 250 high school students to a rally. Fernandez, who spoke at rallies and public hearings, felt strongly about her commitment to the anti-LNG action and declared (personal interview, 15 February 2011): There are many issues that seem bigger than life and going against the richest mining corporation was one. However, it took a united community to make of this issue an opportunity to find their voices and the power to decide what comes to the community. United for this important cause we showed this corporation and the world that a united community is more important than money.

Some activists participated in several groups, including Lupe Anguiano (78 years old) who belonged to or volunteered for Pacific Environment, Ventura County Latinos Against BHP Billiton’s Cabrillo Port Project, No LNG Community Alliance and Ratepayers for Affordable Clean Energy. Anguiano’s community-group affiliations spanned ideological, cultural and community interests and exemplified the intertwining of individuals, groups and communities in the OLNGM coalition. This multiorganisational coalition worked particularly well to improve the frame from which residents, particularly the minority and low-income South Oxnard denizens, viewed themselves as victims of environmentally unhealthy actions by corporations and government officials. These coalition players infused community members with the type of power necessary to prevent unhealthy, potentially dangerous facilities from being constructed in their communities.

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Several government officials, mainly local and state, were sensitive to environmental justice concerns, including Maricela Morales, Mayor of Port Hueneme during the anti-LNG period. She explained how she consistently stressed the environmental justice impact at public press conferences and a meeting with two of the three CSLC commissioners (personal interview, 25 February 2011). When minority and/or lowincome communities are involved the environmental justice frame is a crucial component of the overall emphasis on safety and health factors in mobilising community power.

3.3

2003–2007: CYCLE OF THE ANTI-LNG MOVEMENT

2003–2007 marked the cycle of the anti-LNG movement. A few days after BHPB announced their plans, op-ed pieces, notices in environmental newsletters and similar posts came to the fore, and similar posts by anti-LNG activists were printed. Activists who monitor LNG projects, and general pro-environmental sustainability groups, roundly criticised the BHPB proposal by warning of the potential for major accidents, terrorist attacks and earthquakes. CCPN was among the first organisations to heighten public awareness of the proposed BHPB project. By mid-2004 knowledge of the impending LNG proposals was more widespread and loosely connected individuals and groups actively sparked interest in becoming anti-LNG sensitive. The Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club, for instance, stepped up organising in the Fall 2004 by increasing its informing of community members of LNG dangers through monthly meetings at the Oxnard Public Library, setting up information tables at farmers’ markets, and doing door-to-door canvassing. Significant OLNGM gains and LNG industry losses occurred following the November 2004 release of the 1200-page Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Statements of LNG terminals and pipelines as a ‘safe energy source’ frame constructed by the LNG industry showed signs of unravelling, while the ‘keep the community environmentally safe’ frame orientation of the OLNGM strengthened. This EIR, published by the consulting firm Ecology and Environment, Inc., which had been hired by the US Coast Guard and CSLC, was generally LNG positive and concluded that a catastrophic accident or a terrorist action at the proposed site would do no harm onshore. The report concluded that even in the worst circumstances, an ignited vapour cloud would span an area of 1.6 miles around the terminal, less than company scientists had assumed, and the chance of that occurring would be less than 1 in 1 million (Chawkins, 2004a). Regarding earthquake danger, the draft EIR found that although there are seismic faults in the region, sophisticated engineering techniques should keep the terminal and pipelines safe. Representatives from the CSLC and the Coast Guard held two public hearings in Oxnard on 30 November 2004. Dozens of attendees either attacked or praised the proposed LNG terminals. One opponent, Oxnard resident Irma Lopez, criticised the location of the terminal off the coast of the working-class city as a breach of ‘environmental justice’, and told the panel that ‘With any data open to interpretation, I hope you err on the side of caution’ (Chawkins, 2004b). Critics drew attention to a

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1977 Oxnard study conducted by the US Coast Guard and Federal Bureau of Mines, in which scientists forecast that an LNG accident would produce a 30-mile-wide blanket of flame and an ignitable vapour cloud that would drift inland for 30 miles and thereby risk 70 000 lives. Several speakers alluded to another study of a proposed LNG facility on Oxnard’s shoreline. This study depicted an accident that could produce a 60-mile-wide cloud of flame. A supporter of the project, Ron Koopman a physicist linked with BHPB found the 1977 study to be invalid and said it should be relegated to history since scientific models used in 1977 were very primitive compared to 2004 models (Chawkins, 2004b). The CSLC also inclined towards allowing the projects to proceed based on the EIR. CSLC’s position was that the risk analyses contained in the 2004 EIR were different from the 1977 because the study conducted that year was for an on-land gas plant, whereas the 2004 EIR report dealt with a platform that would float 14 miles offshore. Also in November of 2004, BHPB bolstered an existing PR campaign through an aggressive marketing strategy to support the proposed LNG project. BHPB mailed thousands of glossy brochures to Ventura County residents that touted natural gas as a clean fuel and a solution to decreasing domestic gas supplies.10 The ocean bluecoloured brochures list several local people who praised the proposed facility, known as Cabrillo Port (Moore, 2004). The OLNGM went into 2005 with the 2004 EIR response added to their strategy of rallies, attending meetings, and overall raising community awareness. In addition, community input at the EIR public hearings yielded results for the anti-LNG activists after the EPA suspended the environmental review process for the BHPB project. Complaints had arisen that the analysis was based on flawed and incomplete data. In February 2005 the EPA gave BHPB a list of 120 or more questions that they wanted answers to before a permit could be processed. One OLNGM event in 2005 lent strong momentum to their movement. Beginning on 14 May the Sierra Club conducted an Earth Week march and demonstration to protest the LNG terminal. An estimated 300 people joined hands along one of the proposed pipeline routes in protest against the tankers, terminals and high-pressure gas pipelines. This event was ideal for the OLNGM community movement and attracted mass media coverage. The rally was intense and employed a ‘terminate LNG’ photomessage booth where community members had their photos taken while holding a message that read ‘Governor, Please Terminate LNG’ next to a cardboard cut-out of Governor Schwarzenegger, which the Sierra Club later delivered to Sacramento. Several other rallies were held in opposition to the LNG facilities in 2005. Over 100 people gathered in Oxnard’s Plaza Park on 24 September 2005 for a rally organised by a coalition of anti-LNG groups and activists, including the Sierra Club members, high school students, the League of United Latin American Citizens, CAUSE, the Saviers Road Design Team, SIEU, local politicians and other organisations.11 Most of the speakers attacked the environmental dangers and the unjust location of the facilities in a working-class community. They criticised BHPB and Crystal Energy for proposing the construction of high-pressure gas lines through poor, predominantly Latino neighbourhoods and the pollution that would be generated

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from ships linking up to the LNG terminals. Port Hueneme City Councilwoman Maricela Morales noted that two mobile home parks, housing numerous children, were both along the proposed pipeline route. Moreover, Oxnard School Board member, Dennis O’Leary, explained that the proposed high-pressure gas lines could intersect at a corner in front of Oxnard’s St John’s Hospital (Laetz, 2005). Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) voiced her opposition to the terminal because of her concerns about pollution, possible terrorist attacks and underwater earthquake dangers. A second study of the Cabrillo Port released in March 2006 revealed that the terminal would adversely impact the coast and residents with increased smog levels and the risk of flash fires near city limits. In April about 400 people congregated at Malibu High School for BHPB’s environmental hearing where BHPB president Renee Klimszak’s opening statements were booed. The litigation–research–lobbying arm of the OLNGM became increasingly active in 2006 by implementing strategies in three key areas: (1) Advocating legislation that would halt LNG plans for the coast; (2) Fundraising for research and legal work to stall state and federal permits for the LNG terminals and pipelines; and (3) Lobbying local, state and national policy makers to support anti-LNG policies. In terms of advocacy, for instance, on 3 August 2006, the Environmental Defense Center, whose research and attorney staffers were retained by CCPN to find problems with BHPB LNG terminal’s environmental impact reporting, issued a ‘comment letter’ on behalf of CCPN criticising the EPA’s proposed emission-control permit for Cabrillo Port. The letter asserted that the Cabrillo Port project would negatively affect air quality in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties and would create the largest smogproducing polluter in Ventura County. The letter also charged that the EPA’s decision to exempt Cabrillo Port from air quality requirements arose from political pressure by BHPB.12 CCPN coordinated the legal and technical expert comments that were presented to the Coast Guard, CSLC and the California Coastal Commission (CCC), in addition to maintaining a website devoted to halting the project.13 The Malibu constituent of the OLNGM brought influential and well-known names to the fore in the anti-LNG movement. On 26 October 2006, for example, approximately 175 surfers who paddled out off Malibu to protest plans to build the LNG terminal were joined by Hollywood movie stars, such as Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Daryl Hannah, Ryan Seacrest and Jane Seymour, in what was referred to as a Day of Action and fundraising to fight the terminal. Brosnan served as a major player in the movement by attending, organising, fundraising and speaking for anti-LNG causes. The 26 October fundraiser attempted to counter the millions in lobbying funds that BHPB was spending to push the project through the commissions. In addition to the financial resources that this group of celebrities brought to bear in the movement, there was intangible value in the amount of publicity they brought to the cause and their privileged access to high-level political players, especially in Sacramento.

3.3.1

2007 – OLNGM winds up for the finale

The final Environmental Impact Statement/EIR for the Cabrillo Port LNG deepwater port licence application was released by the CSLC, MARAD and the US Coast Guard

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on 16 March 2007. This revised report demonstrated that the Cabrillo Port would cause numerous and significant negative impacts to public safety, air quality, marine wildlife and views. This 3000-page EIR addressed 1400 public objections by attorneys and community members on the project’s impact on air quality and planned water use. The report also dealt with 120 questions raised by the Coast Guard in 2005 maintaining that BHPB had supplied inadequate evaluative data on the project’s safety and pollution impacts. This favourable EIR draft and upcoming LNG certification meetings created a tremendous opportunity for OLNGM which they effectively exploited. The organisation stepped up mobilisation, lobbying and outreach efforts, while opportunities for construction of LNG facilities withered. Two significant actions took place in early 2007 that increased OLNGM objectives vis-a`-vis BHPB plans. First, in late February OLNGM activists, including Susan Jordan (Director of CCPN) and Carmen Ramirez (Coordinator of ‘No LNG’ Community Alliance), met with legislators and CSLC commissioners in Sacramento; and second, Beatriz Garcia (Community Organiser at CAUSE) moved from San Diego to Oxnard in February and immersed herself in the movement by using her community organiser skills to mobilise anti-LNG community members. Garcia was especially effective in mobilising significant minority community members. These events mobilised the community to seize the initiative in April to influence the Coast Guard, CSLC and CCC with regard to their certification and permit processes. Beatriz Garcia emerged as an important player in OLNGM, because her community organising formula served as a vital catalyst when anti-LNG actions needed ‘tactical propellant’ to maximise and sustain their effectiveness over the upcoming weeks. Garcia embedded her mobilisation strategy in her organisational strategy. Garcia first held one-on-one meetings with community members to determine their interests and, according to her, 80% of them mentioned LNG as a major concern (personal interview, 25 February 2011). This percentage indicates the success that OLNGM accomplished with outreach, rallies, op-ed pieces and meeting initiatives during 2003–2007. This number stands in stark contrast to that reported by Trevor Smith (Chair of Los Padres Chapter LNG Task Force), who found after visiting approximately 500 homes in an LNG pipeline target neighbourhood in Oxnard that 95% of the people approached either never thought about LNG, didn’t hear much about it, or did not realise that it could affect their neighbourhood (Wiebe, 2005). From February to April, Garcia took the lead in organising what she referred to as ‘team leaders’ to employ lessons from turnout training and bring any number of people from their respective religious, labour, school and other communities of common interest and/or geographical circulation to meetings, rallies and other antiLNG actions. Some brought 5, some brought 20, and some more or fewer, which generated a significant number of attendees. An organising meeting on 14 March 2007 focused on community strategy and turnout training in Oxnard. Participants were apprised of what had happened to date with the OLNGM and what would transpire between 14 March and the next CSLC meeting. The week of 18–24 March involved spreading the word about the CSLC meeting and getting people to commit to being there. On 24 March neighbourhood walks were held to outreach to communities closest to the pipeline, including Nyeland

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Acres in North Oxnard and mobile home parks in South Oxnard. The week of 25–31 March started with church teams making announcements and signing people up after church on the 25th and continued with phone banking on the 27th and 29th. Church announcements to sign people up after church were continued on 1 April, and 3 April saw the final organising meeting. The 4 April Coast Guard Public Hearing was targeted as a meeting to attend and 5 and 6 April were selected for phone banking sessions. The final church team announcements were made on 8 April. Garcia noted that 250 people were trained on how to do turnout over an eight-week period (Wiebe, 2005). Garcia found that in training and training outcomes, people using their already existing networks were very effective in bringing people to rallies, demonstrations and public hearings, and this was a sustainable effort throughout the OLNGM. For example, one person living in affordable housing would bring others in affordable housing and a high school student would bring their fellow high school students. A study by David Tindall found that people are most likely to continue participating if they have network ties within the movement that provide them with information about movement events and issues and encourage identification with the movement, and that only minimal ideological support was necessary to maintain moderate risk activism, such as signing petitions, attending meetings or participating in information campaigns (Tindall, 2002). While Garcia succeeded in mobilising the Oxnard community, especially the working-class Latinos, in Malibu, anti-LNG rallies continued, such as the rally staged at the Malibu Pier on 10 March that included participants such as the Sierra Club, CCPN, the Environmental Defense Center and Pierce Brosnan among others. Susan Jordan was particularly active in the community and noted that the Brosnans contacted her in 2005 for a briefing on the situation after which they became actively involved and heightened public awareness of the LNG project (personal email interview, 21 March 2011). In addition Jordan was instrumental in organising the legal and lobbying components of the OLNGM. Through her organisation, CCPN, she hired the Environmental Defense attorneys to serve as experts on the legitimacy of BHPB claims of environmental safety and protection.

3.3.2

The showdown – the three crucial LNG Certification meetings in April 2007

Three crucial April meetings determined the fate of BHPB’s LNG project and set the tempo for Crystal Energy’s proposal and subsequent LNG proposals. The meetings were held on 4 April (the US Coast Guard), 9 April (CSLC) and on 12 April (CCC). OLNGM activists and leaders sat ready with testimonies and community turnout. The Coast Guard hearing in Oxnard was not a decision-making meeting, but the CSLC and CCC meetings were the critical meetings where yes/no votes would determine whether or not the LNG projects would proceed. These April meetings were important and required organisational skills to circumvent disorganised community testimonies or overwhelming numbers of speakers who would overlap in several areas of presenta-

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tion. Organisers picked out strategic presenters who represented a diverse set of concerns, from environmental justice to toxic pollution. More than 500 people attended the 9 April CSLC meeting on whether to allow a high-pressure pipeline to cross state tidelands from offshore ships. The CSLC included California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, state Controller John Chiang and Governor Schwarzenegger’s Director of Finance Anne Sheehan. CSLC was tasked to determine if Cabrillo Port was consistent with California’s coastal plan and consistent with the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act. For the 9 April CSLC hearing, organisers met outside to go over details before the hearing speakers arrived. Ten busloads of participants from throughout the county were bussed in and put on blue no/LNG tee shirts (with ‘terminate the terminal’ written on them). A Native American Chumash blessing was given to people waiting for the programme to begin. Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) spoke to the gathering, and a roll call of organisations and neighbourhoods was given. In addition, elected officials were recognised, a speaker from the Sierra Club introduced, and comment cards distributed. Following these preliminaries people filled the hearing room to capacity. Elected officials and religious leaders had led the public into the meeting room. The remainder of the thousands (estimates ranged from 2000 to 3000) of participants remained outside and were given regular meeting updates from messengers going in and out of the meetings. In recognition of the power of numbers, OLNGM organisers ensured that meeting room curtains were opened so commissioners could see the crowd through the windows. Only select persons from the anti-LNG groups and the community could testify before the CSLC. Erica Fernandez spoke on behalf of high school youth, Linda Krop, Chief Counsel Environmental Defense Center represented CCPN and Pierce Brosnan, actor/environmental activist, represented Jean Michel Cousteau. Representatives from Heal the Bay, Sierra Club, Earth Alert, SEIU 721 and the Community Environmental Council gave other testimony. Several speakers represented themselves or their neighbourhoods. The Mayors of Malibu, Oxnard and Port Hueneme were joined in testimony by State Assembly members, City Council members and Board of Supervisor members. Testimony endorsing BHPB came from the Australian ConsulateGeneral, Oxnard Chamber of Commerce and BHPB Air Quality, but BHPB supporters were vastly outnumbered by opponents to BHPB’s LNG plans. After a 12-hour meeting CSLC voted 2–1 to not certify the final EIR and to deny the 30-year lease sought by BHPB to construct an LNG terminal off the Oxnard/ Malibu coast. California State Controller and CSLC member John Chiang stated that ‘While BHP has certainly made great efforts to reduce the impact of the project’s emissions, I have strong environmental and environmental justice concerns’ (Singer, 2007). The CCC met on 12 April in Santa Barbara to determine if BHPB’s project was consistent with California’s coastal plan and the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act. Many of the estimated 500 attendees were also present at the CSLC meeting five days prior. BHPB President Renee Klimczak also attended the 8-hour CCC meeting, but declined to testify. Conversely, 40 anti-BHPB testifiers included Pierce Brosnan and Erica Fernandez, among others. The testimonial discourse was skewed towards

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the potential health and environmental risks. After 8 hours of testimony the CCC voted 12–0 to deny BHPB’s terminal project application. The CCC and CSLC votes effectively ended plans for LNG facilities off the Malibu–Oxnard coast. Under federal law, the governor of a state that is connected by pipeline to offshore energy facilities has final say as to whether a permit should be granted. Governor Schwarzenegger, in a letter dated 18 May 2007, informed the Maritime Administrator for the US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration that pursuant to the Deepwater Port Act, he was disapproving BHPB application for the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Gas Deepwater Port, based on his review of the Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIRJEIS) mandated by state and federal law.14 The governor cited the project’s significant and unmitigated impacts on California’s air quality and marine life as reasons for his decision.15 MARAD denied BHPB’s application for a deepwater port licence for Cabrillo Port on 5 June 2007, at which time the EPA closed its files for Cabrillo Port air and water permits. Environmental justice, health, and sustainability issues expressed through community meetings and testimonials worked effectively in mobilising community participants to send anti-LNG messages to BHPB, Crystal Energy, county commissioners and government officials who earlier had supported the LNG terminals.

3.4

OLNGM STRATEGY OVERVIEW

OLNGM seized public policy/political opportunities, employed effective mobilisation strategies and crafted a compelling movement platform to successfully challenge proposed LNG facilities that would negatively impact environmental sustainability and environmental justice. The anti-LNG action effectively tailored the issue in a way that mobilised a diverse group of community members, such as working-class Latinos from Oxnard, professional whites from Malibu and students from local high schools and colleges. Bill Terry, an African-American OLNGM activist from Oxnard, summarised the collaborative nature of the movement by noting, ‘some Oxnard residents went to a Malibu Beach rally and some Malibu residents came to Oxnard events’ (personal interview, 25 February 2011). OLNGM activists organised the movement around the potential dangers that result from earthquakes, terrorist attacks, toxic emissions and harmful impacts on sea life. Meetings, flyers, social networking sites and media coverage all lent strong momentum to Oxnard’s and Malibu’s community organising efforts. According to OLNGM activist Gloria Roman, she would ‘take posters, flyers, wore anti-LNG buttons and talk to people about the project wherever she went . . . stood on the corner from BHPB tower offices with anti-LNG signs on dozens of occasions’ (personal interview, 25 February 2011). Meetings were held at libraries, community centres and restaurants. OLNGM activists went to City Council meetings, the State Assembly and Commission offices. Political office holders also participated in anti-LNG actions by attending rallies, making speeches and by availing themselves to media outlets. The Mayors of Oxnard, Malibu and Port Hueneme were especially active in those ways. Maricela Morales,

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Mayor of Port Hueneme during the anti-LNG period, stated that she welcomed the opportunity to use her role to publicly stand in opposition to the project and always stressed the environmental justice area, because ‘environmental justice was not getting enough attention’ (personal interview, 25 February 2011). In the same interview, Morales noted that most were speaking of hazards to the community, but she specified who comprised the community at press conferences and declared that the proposed LNG pipeline would transverse a 70% minority community. OLNGM used a two-pronged approach. First, they employed formal litigation lobbying techniques of organisations such as CCPN and the Environmental Defense Center. Second, they utilised more informal rallies and organised public meetings such as those conducted by CAUSE and Ventura County Latinos Against BHP. Relative to the lobbying techniques mentioned above, Susan Jordan explained that CCPN coordinated all the legal and technical expert comments presented to the Coast Guard, CSLC and CCC, and hired Environmental Defense attorneys, who carried out all the research (personal interview, 21 March 2011). On the non-technical side, Beatriz Garcia brought community organising professionalism to the latter part of the movement, which included organising the comments by everyday community members. This two-pronged strategy fits a social movement as defined by Sidney Tarrow, in that it sustained itself by multiple campaigns and multiple episodes of collective action within a single campaign (Tarrow, 1998: 4). In terms of the targeted political system and BHPB, OLNGM severely limited BHPB’s ability to capitalise on the opportunities they had. In short, OLNGM forced BHPB out of their preferred ‘game plan’. By forcing BHPB into their ‘game plan’, OLNGM pressed forward with their fight for environmental injustice, sustainability and health. The OLNGM significantly affected the public policy/political environments of Oxnard and Malibu and enabled anti-LNG activists to achieve their objectives. The overall build-up of OLNGM, between 2003 and 2007, in terms of recruiting new activists, accumulating more resources, improving strategies and refining movement message frames, reveals how a movement evolves from a small number of individuals and organisations into larger effective instruments of social, political and economic influence.

3.5

SUMMARY

While overall environmental sustainability and health issues comprise important elements of this study, it also shows significant interfaces between the energy industry and local communities regarding environmental justice issues. Since environmental justice seeks to prevent or minimise disproportionally high and adverse health and environmental effects on underrepresented and low-income populations, it forms a significant component of the movements of the OLNGM. Preservation of the rights of individuals and overall communities to a healthy environment undergirds environmental justice concern and attention. Existing literature in the field, official documents and

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interviews illustrate that much work remains to be done to ensure environmental justice. It was only at the close of the 20th century that these academic studies and environmental activists began taking seriously the ravages of social and environmental injustice produced by companies such as BHPB and Crystal Energy, and the relative lack of attention given to it by impacted communities. Economically important developments, including the proposed BHPB terminal project, confront national, state and local governments and commissions with competing demands for cooperation with these industries and effective representation for their constituents in wealthy, middle-class and poor communities. The Oxnard–Malibu community movement demonstrates how organised mobilisation puts community members in a better position to negotiate, mediate or create policies that swing the political pendulum toward environmental justice that resists company propensities to develop and maintain environmentally dangerous projects in poor and underserved communities. This study reinforces the argument that sustained group meetings, competent political organising and a degree of cultural mobilisation forge a deeper sense of togetherness and strengthened collective action. OLNGM crafted a local version of a national and/or international movement in that it incorporated movement characteristics, such as mobilisation strategies, resource development, event framing and political opportunity. This study also shows how movements can be very effective at the local level. Linking the Malibu–Oxnard movement to regional or national antiLNG movements or to environmental justice generally, could have weakened effectiveness. This investigation has dealt with issues of environmental injustice politics of governmental entities and energy companies to a significant degree and has addressed questions such as: 1. 2.

3.

If the energy industry is engaged in some environmental self-regulation, to what degree is it responsive to impacted communities? What effect do environmental pressure groups and community members have on political officials/public policy makers and commissions in responding to environmental justice issues? What efforts are being made to reduce population vulnerability to environmental injustice vis-a`-vis current and future environmental threats?

The path to the answers moves through community organising and action, which act to fill the void left by governmental unresponsiveness to energy companies that fail to follow even their publicly stated environmental policies. From the perspective of local citizenry, OLNGM demonstrated that communitybased movements centred on environmental justice issues can lead to community engagement and bolster their negotiating positions with government leadership and the energy industry, among other industries, and could propel effective environmental policies into their neighbourhoods in increasing measure. Traversing the rugged environmental justice terrain is difficult, but several successes in the denial of plans to build environmentally unsafe facilities by mobilising of community members have increased their capacity to do so.

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ENDNOTES 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8. 9.

This definition is a compilation of numerous definitions of environmental justice. See the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s definition in EPA (1998). Also see Schlosberg (2007) and Bullard (2005: 42). For example, 80% of all Latinos lived in the 437 counties that failed to meet at least one of the ambient air quality standards (Bullard, 2005: 34). Also, The United Church of Christ conducted a study in 1987 using Zip Codes to show that 37.6 of landfills in the United States were in or near predominately African American neighbourhoods, and compared to whites African Americans were two to three times more likely to live near a hazardous landfill. For excellent maps of the California natural gas pipelines, see California Energy Commission: www.energy.ca.gov/maps/infrastructure/and www.energy.ca.gov/maps/infrastructure/Natural_Gas_Pipelines.pdf. Accessed March 2012. The US Coast Guard has authority over construction and siting of offshore LNG facilities and oversees preparation of environmental impact statements that investigate the potential impact of the facilities. This is a requirement by the National Environmental Policy Act and Deepwater Port Act of 1974. The environmental review and analysis must be completed within 356 days of the published Notice of Intent. The Deepwater Port Act was amended in 2002 to expand the Secretary of Transportation’s authority to include authority to issue licences for offshore natural gas terminals, and the Maritime Administration (MARAD), by designation from the Secretary of Transportation, is the lead federal agency for licensing offshore LNG terminals. MARAD works with the US Coast Guard and state and local governments. Following the conclusion of the application’s environmental review process, MARAD makes the final decision to accept or deny approval of the application. The Clearwater Port process extended beyond BHPB’s process, but once BHPB was denied Clearwater Port lost some interest in proceeding with its application. The Clearwater Port (Crystal Energy was taken over by NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. before the licensing process was completed) project faced public meetings on 3 and 4 October 2007, with the public comment period ending 18 October 2007. The regulatory timeline for the application process was suspended on 23 October 2007 to allow Clearwater Port to gather more data until October 2008, at which time Clearwater requested that California, the US Coast Guard and MARAD suspend work on the joint Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Statement. The CSLC issued a formal notice on 10 March 2010 terminating Clearwater Port’s application for General Lease-Right of Way Use permit. MARAD terminated Clearwater Port’s application for a deepwater port licence on 7 May 2010 since it had not received any additional information since late 2008 from NorthernStar (formerly Crystal Energy). One reason is the Environmental Defense Center submitted a long list of objections and Clearwater did not respond to 416 data gaps as required by the CSLC. See www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg522/cg5225/dwp.asp for the Federal Docket for Clearwater Port (Docket Number USCG-2007-28676). This was the official end to the proposals for offshore LNG developments off the Oxnard and Malibu coast unless companies try again. One of the principal greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide. Although carbon dioxide does not trap heat as effectively as other greenhouse gases (making it a less potent greenhouse gas), the sheer volume of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere is very high, particularly from the burning of fossil fuels. In fact, according to the Energy Information Administration, in its December 2009 report ‘Emissions of Greenhouse Gases’ in the United States, 81.3% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2008 came from energy-related carbon dioxide. (See www.naturalgas.org/environment/naturalgas.asp. Accessed March 2012.) See Heede (2006: 18). In addition, in July 2005, the EPA issued a letter announcing that the Cabrillo Port LNG project would be exempt from requirements of the Clean Air Act. A form letter that was given to community members to sign and send to legislators is a way that captured two or three aspects of the safety frame. The letter read: I am a mother and the Oxnard/Port Hueneme is a great place to raise a family and I want to make sure that my community continues to be a safe and healthy place. I oppose the Cabrillo Port LNG facility because it will damage our environment and increase human health problems, like asthma and lung disease especially among

50

10.

11.

12.

13. 14. 15.

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young children and seniors. If built, the LNG facility will spew over 200 tons of smog producing pollutants into the air. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a natural gas extracted and ‘supercooled’ to 260 degrees F to a liquid form. It is then shipped overseas and imported to coastal terminals. (Taken from example of form letter provided by an anti-LNG organiser.) In filings with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, BHPB spent about $1.8 million on lobbying efforts in 2005. According to the reports BHPB lobbied the legislature on Senate and Assembly bills and lobbied the CSLC, California Coastal Commission, Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission, and Air Resources Board. See Lascher (2006). This anti-LNG rally came a week after Pacific Environment (based in San Francisco) sent out 25 000 anti-LNG mailers to voters along the coast between Santa Barbara and Santa Monica. Pacific Environment spokesman Rory Cox said the mailing was sent to progressive leaning households along the coast to inform them of the issue and to ask them to call the governor’s office to express their displeasure. ‘Environmental Groups Challenge Proposed Air Permit for Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project’. California Coastal Protection Network and Environmental Defense Center comment letter. Santa Barbara, CA. 3 August 2006, p. 1. Personal email communication from Susan Jordan, Director of California Coastal Protection Network. March 21, 2011. The combination of an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act results in a Joint Environmental Impact Statement (EIR). Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s letter to Sean Connaughton, Maritime Administrator, US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, Washington, DC. Docket No. USCG-2004-16877, 18 May 2007.

REFERENCES Bullard, R. (1993). Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots. South End Press, Boston, MA. Bullard, R. (2005). The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution. Sierra Club, San Francisco, CA. CMTA. (2004). Californians for clean affordable safe energy launches education effort about benefits of increased natural gas supplies. CMTA Coalition News. 19 November. Available at: www.cmta.net/coalition_event.php?coalition_event_id¼3. Accessed March 2012. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). (1998). Guidance for incorporating environmental justice. In: EPA Compliance Analysis. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Faber, D. (1998). The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Movements in the United States. Guilford Press, New York, NY. Heede, R. (2006). LNG Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions for the Cabrillo Deepwater Port: Natural Gas from Australia to California. Report Commissioned by the Environmental Defense Center, Santa Barbara, CA. Lichtermann, P. (1996). The Search for Political Community: American Activists Reinventing Commitment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Schlosberg, D. (2007). Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Snow, D., Burke Rochford, E., Worden, S. and Benford, R. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation. American Sociological Review. 51: 464–481. Szasa, A. (1994). EcoPopulism: Toxic Waste and the Movement for Environmental Justice. University of Minnesota Press, MN. Tarrow, S. (1996). States and opportunities: the political structuring of social movements. In: McAdam, D. and Zald, M. (Eds). Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements. Cambridge University Press, pp. 41–61.

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Tarrow, S. (1998). Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Taylor, D. (2000). The rise of the environmental justice paradigm: injustice framing and the social construction of environmental discourses. American Behavioral Scientist. 43, 4: 508–580. Tindall, D. (2002). Social networks, identification, and participation in an environmental movement: low-medium cost activism within the British Columbia Wilderness Preservation Movement. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. 39, 4: 413–452. United Church of Christ. (1987). Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States. United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, New York, NY.

Newspaper articles Chawkins, S. (2004a). LNG plan jeered, cheered in Oxnard. Los Angeles Times. 1 December. Chawkins, S. (2004b). LNG port isn’t peril to land, report says. Los Angeles Times. 6 November. Herdt, T. (2005). Governor wants LNG site off Oxnard. Ventura County Star. 24 June. Laetz, H. (2005). Congresswoman announces LNG oppostion. Malibu Times. 25 September. Lascher, B. (2006). More than $1.8m spent on lobbying blitz. Pacific Coast Business Times. 21 February. Moore, S. (2004). Marketing blitz touts LNG port proposal: BHP Billiton seeks support for facility off county’s coast. Ventura County Star. 28 November. Singer, M. (2007). Cabrillo port runs out of gas. Ventura County Reporter. 12 April. Wiebe, S. (2005). Activists ready ranks against LNG. Ventura County Reporter. 12 May.

Interviews Fernandez, Erica. Personal interview. 15 February 2011. Garcia, Beatriz. Personal interview. 21 February 2011. Jordan, Susan. Personal email interview. 21 March 2011. Morales, Maricela. Personal interview. 25 February 2011. Roman, Gloria. Personal interview. 25 February 2011. Terry, Bill. Personal interview. 25 February 2011.

CHAPTER

4

Tulum, Mexico: A Case Study Modelling Collaboration for Access to Clean Water for Indigenous Peoples Dawn Alexandra Murray, Barbara Savage and Gail Kvistad

4.1

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, we discuss our developing project to work with indigenous people, focusing on school aged children, in Tulum, Mexico. We present techniques to honour and respect indigenous peoples and cultures under the guidance of the Tribal Trust Foundation, while co-creating ecological monitoring programmes, access to clean water and clean-up programmes. Our aim is to foster development and participation for indigenous, community-based sustainable environmental programmes and deepen our sense of relatedness with our natural and social worlds.

Case study The ancient Maya knew what we are now learning from the current environmental, social and economic crises. We are all connected. The ancient Maya coexisted intimately with the natural world and recognised that everything is sacred, particularly water. The core goal of our project is to keep the voices of the Ancestors alive and find the way back to living in harmony with the natural world. Due to non-traditional influences and the basic need to survive in a modern world, many ancient and complex cultures are in danger of disappearing forever – the Maya culture of Tulum is no exception. We chose to work in Tulum, Mexico, a place of ancient Maya culture and ruins, because of the recurring environmental threat due to pollution that exists in this area of the world. We also chose this site because of our personal connections with the indigenous peoples whose coastline and beaches are being littered with refuse as a International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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result of prevailing ocean currents. The sole source of fresh water in the Yucata´n is from a karstic aquifer that is characterised by an extensive network of subaqueous caves – a system particularly sensitive to contamination. In addition, rapid development in the area, primarily due to tourism, could deleteriously affect the fresh water supply by increasing pollution from outdoor showers and toilets. Tulum is located on the eastern side of Mexico along the Caribbean coast south of the large tourist cities Cancun and Playa del Carmen. It is composed of three areas: the main town known as the Pueblo, the Ecological Zone encompassing the Tulum Maya Ruins and the Coastal Beach Zone. The Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve is a 1.5 million-acre protected UNESCO World Heritage site located in the Coastal Beach Zone. It is one of the best-preserved coastal sites and the largest protected area in the state of Quintana Roo. It is also one of the most polluted areas as a result of hurricanes and ocean currents carrying in oceanic debris. The currents in this area are complex and vary seasonally. The Caribbean Sea is a semi-enclosed sea adjacent to the landmasses of Central and South America. In total, the Caribbean Sea spans over 3500 km of longitude and about 2500 km of latitude (Andrade and Barton, 2000 cited in Gyory et al., 2008a). The Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are separated by the closely spaced chain of islands, banks and sills of the Antilles Islands Arc. The islands of Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico are collectively known as the Greater Antilles, while the smaller islands from Guadaloupe south to Grenada are known as the Lesser Antilles. These islands act as a sieve for the inflow of Atlantic water (Murphy et al., 1999; Andrade and Barton, 2000, cited in Gyory et al., 2008a). Historically, the hurricanes to hit the peninsula have been: Gilbert, Sept. 1988; Roxanne, Oct. 1995; Dolly, Aug. 1996; Isidore, Sept. 2002; Emily, July 2005; Wilma, Oct. 2005; Dean, Aug. 2007. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center – a division of the National Weather Service – reported that the Atlantic Basin was expected to see an above-normal hurricane season in 2011, according to the seasonal outlook. Across the entire Atlantic Basin for the 6-month season, which began 1 June 2011, NOAA predicted the following ranges: 12 to 18 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 6 to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher). Each of these ranges has a 70% likelihood, and indicates that activity will exceed the seasonal average of 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes (NOAA, 2011). NOAA reports that in 2011, there were 1 tropical depression, 12 named tropical storms and 7 hurricanes in the north-eastern Atlantic. The largest, Hurricane Rina, was a typical October major hurricane that formed in the western Caribbean Sea and moved toward the Yucata´n Peninsula but weakened significantly prior to landfall at the end of October (Blake, 2012). Short and tall tropical jungles are the predominant natural vegetation types of the Yucata´n Peninsula. The boundaries between northern Guatemala (El Pete´n), Mexico (Campeche and Quintana Roo) and western Belize are still occupied by the largest continuous tracts of tropical rainforest in Central America. However, these forests, like many around the world, are suffering extensive deforestation. Current threats to Sian Ka’an primarily involve the rapid growth of tourism along the eastern coast of the Yucata´n. Mega-resorts and major highways are bringing

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increasingly more people to the area. This development reduces native habitats, increases local demand for water and natural resources, increases effluent and pollutants, potentially alters the hydrology of the area and generally increases the number and impact of tourists to the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve (Hausman, 2009). Freshwater resources within the reserve may be impacted by contamination and/or salinisation due to excessive water withdrawal (Hausman, 2009). Tulum is the town through which most tourists travel to see Sian Ka’an. The Sian Ka’an Biosphere is in need of major sustainable infrastructure to preserve the reefs, the land and the ocean habitats, and keep it clean. Prevailing ocean currents cause a collection of rubbish to accumulate on shore, regularly threatening the health of indigenous peoples and their access to clean water. Our aim is to facilitate existing programmes, such as CESiaK and to help ensure that the people of Tulum and the indigenous cultures living on ancestral lands that depend on natural water sources have access to clean water. Our programme involves encouraging local school children and indigenous organisations to create a lasting monitoring/clean-up system to keep this area clean and to ensure access to clean fresh water. We will engage local (indigenous and nonindigenous) school children in dialogue about the current challenges and ask them to think about solutions as we co-create a programme. The case study will serve as a model for sustainability in sensitive tropical ecosystems while honouring indigenous people. Savage and Murray are collaborating through the Tribal Trust Foundation to preserve the Maya culture and to address environmental justice issues affecting these indigenous people. Our projects will honour the Maya who traditionally live and work in harmony with the environment. Our scouting trip in April 2012 confirmed our commitment to supporting the Maya children of Tulum and collaborating with the Centro Ecolo´gico Akumal to provide a curriculum, teacher training and funding to transport Maya families to the beach and also to research the availability of seeds from their ‘tree of life’. Kvistad is developing a separate project which focuses on education in local schools and taking students to the beach to clean it up.

4.2

OCEAN CURRENTS AND PLASTIC

The equatorial Atlantic is a complex region dominated by the presence of large-scale westward currents and eastward counter currents. There are several extensive studies of this region one can reference for details (GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Programme), Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE), the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE), the Seasonal Equatorial Atlantic (SEQUAL) programme and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE)). The surface currents across the Atlantic Basin span over 3000 miles from east to west, accumulating rubbish and debris from dumping and run-off while traversing this long distance. Much media attention focuses on the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ between Hawai’i and California and the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) supports national and international efforts to research, prevent and reduce the impacts of marine debris. Much of the debris found in the ocean is small bits of floating plastic not easily

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seen from a boat. The MDP serves as a centralised capability within NOAA, coordinating and supporting activities within NOAA and with other federal agencies, as well as using partnerships to support projects carried out by state and local agencies, tribes, non-governmental organisations, academia and industry (NOAA, 2012). Recently, more articles have been published on marine debris in the Atlantic Ocean, focusing on ingestion in Atlantic species of sea turtles and seabirds or on nearshore trawls for plastic particles. Compared to the North Pacific Ocean, not enough research has been conducted or published on marine debris in the high-seas Atlantic Ocean. There have been anecdotal reports and some studies of debris concentrations, most notably Sea Education Association’s work in the western North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea (Law et al., 2010). A 22-year study revealed an area of the ocean north of the Caribbean full of plastic garbage. During 61 000 sweeps of the North Atlantic nearly 65 000 bits of plastic debris that originated on land were recovered. The maximum density of pieces of plastic was an astonishing 200 000 pieces per square kilometre. Once there, plastics remain in the ocean year after year. Dr Karen Lavender Law of the Sea Education Association described the plastic garbage retrieved far from land: ‘bottle caps, shotgun shells, crates, toothbrushes, a boxer’s mouthpiece and myriad unidentifiable chunks floated by, gently pulsating with the ocean’s currents.’ Since the plastic pieces were often small, about one centimetre across, she explained that ‘many marine organisms are consuming these plastics and we know this has a bad effect on seabirds in particular’ (Dagger, 2010). Law et al., 2010 recently presented a time series of plastic content at the surface of the western North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea from 1986 to 2008 showing more than 60% of 6136 surface plankton net tows collected buoyant plastic pieces, typically millimetres in size. The highest concentration of plastic debris was observed in subtropical latitudes and associated with the observed large-scale convergence in surface currents predicted by Ekman dynamics. Plastic marine pollution is a major environmental concern so it is imperative to consider the origin of the ocean water in the Caribbean Sea to understand the source of seawater and pollution hitting the Tulum shores. Water masses entering the Caribbean Sea originate in the North Atlantic and the South Atlantic Oceans. Water masses can be identified by their unique temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen content. This unique signature shows source water for the Caribbean Sea is from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean via the North Equatorial, North Brazil and Guiana Currents. The Guiana Current enters the Caribbean along the northern coast of South America. The current is significantly influenced by freshwater discharges from the Amazon and Orinoco rivers (Morrison and Smith, 1990, cited in Gyory et al., 2008a). Caribbean Surface Water is relatively fresh, with salinity values of ,35.5, and has potential temperature of about 28 8C (Gyory et al., 2008a). The Caribbean Sea is semi-enclosed and bordered by landmasses of Central and South America and chains of islands, including Cuba, Jamaica and the smaller island chain of the Lesser Antilles. These islands, sills and banks separate the Caribbean from the Atlantic Ocean and influence the circulation patterns, impeding the flow of deep water and narrowing the flow of surface water (Gyory et al., 2008a) (Figure 4.1).

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The North Equatorial Current (NEC) in the North Atlantic from about 7 8N to about 20 8N is fortified by the Atlantic trade wind belt, and is a broad westward flowing current that forms the southern limb of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. The current originates from the north-western coast of Africa, where it is fed mainly by the cooler waters flowing from the north-east Atlantic. As the NEC travels across the open ocean, it is joined by waters originating south of the equator, thus entraining waters from the Southern Atlantic into the Northern Atlantic. In the open ocean, the NEC is broad and generally identifiable north of 10 8N and has a westward mean velocity between 10 and 15 cm s–1 : Its peak velocity value of 15 cm s–1 is prevalent in boreal summer (July/August), with a weakening to 10–12 cm s–1 during spring and autumn. Most of the NEC waters flow north-west and feed the Guiana Current and the Caribbean Current. When the NEC approaches the shelf region of the Americas, its interaction with bottom topography and accompanying western boundary currents produce a complicated, seasonally variable flow regime, both laterally and vertically, that is still the source of continued investigations (Gyory et al., 2008a). The historical hydrographic surveys (Gordon, 1967, cited in Gyory et al., 2008a; Wust, 1964), along with observations and models (Johns et al., 2002, cited in Gyory et al., 2008a), indicate that water flows into the Caribbean Sea mostly through the Grenada, St Vincent and St Lucia Passages in the south-east. The water then continues westward as the Caribbean Current, the main surface circulation in the Caribbean Sea (Gordon, 1967; Roemmich, 1981, cited in Gyory et al., 2008a; Wust, 1964). The strongest flow in the Caribbean is found across the southern third of the sea and belongs to the Caribbean Current (Gordon, 1967; Kinder, 1983 in Gyory et al., 2008a).

Figure 4.1: The Caribbean Current (represented by the Mariano Global Surface Velocity Analysis (MGSVA)) transports significant amounts of water north-westward through the Caribbean Sea and into the Gulf of Mexico, via the Yucata´n Channel. The source water for the Caribbean Current is from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean via the North Equatorial, North Brazil, and Guiana Currents. Reproduced, with permission, from Gyory et al. (2008a). 90°W

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In this area, the highest surface velocities can reach 70 cm s1 along the coasts of Venezuela and the Netherland Antilles. There are also strong (60 cm s1 ) currents along the Panamanian and Colombian coasts. The flow turns sharply westward as it crosses the Cayman Basin, and it enters the Gulf of Mexico as a narrow boundary current that hugs the Yucata´n Peninsula (Fratantoni, 2001, cited in Gyory et al., 2008a). This Yucata´n Current flows into the Gulf of Mexico through the Yucata´n Channel. It eventually separates and becomes the Loop Current. The Loop Current then becomes the Florida Current as it exits the Gulf of Mexico through the Straits of Florida (Molinari and Morrison, 1988, cited in Gyory et al., 2008c). The passage connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico is known as the Yucata´n Channel or the Straits of Yucata´n, although technically it is neither long enough to be a channel nor narrow enough to be a strait (Ochoa et al., 2001, cited in Gyory et al., 2008b). Through this small passage flows the Yucata´n Current. It provides most of the inflow into the Gulf of Mexico, since inflows through the Florida Straits are small and episodic (Brooks and Niiler, 1977; Lee and Mayer, 1977; Ochoa et al., 2001, cited in Gyory et al., 2008b). The clockwise flow that extends northward into the Gulf of Mexico and joins the Yucata´n Current and the Florida Current is known as the Loop Current (Hofmann and Worley, 1986, cited in Gyory et al., 2008c). Near-surface velocities approach 80 cm s1 in the Yucata´n Current (Coats, 1992, cited in Gyory et al., 2008c) and have been reported as high as 150 cm s1 (at 300 m) (Nowlin and McLellan, 1967, cited in Gyory et al., 2008c). The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during 2010 has unfortunately shown how important it is to understand not just ocean currents, but weather, wind, temperature and species migration patterns in the ocean environment. The long-term effects of the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem are still unknown but scientists will be studying it for many years.

4.3

ECOLOGY OF THE AREA

Among the most important natural wonders of the state of Yucata´n are the cenotes, or sinkholes. It is estimated that there are more than 6000, although only 2400 are registered. The Motul dictionary, a dictionary of Maya hieroglyphics, defines dzonot as ‘abysmal and deep’. The conquering Spaniards translated dzonot as cenote. Cenotes are a place where the ceiling of an underlying cave collapsed. The rubble pile of a collapse typically contains very little soil. The basins of some cenotes might be filled with small rocks but others look like a normal pond. Specialised plants that grow in these basins obtain nutrients from fallen decomposed leaves and plant roots split the rock to tap the cave water below (LocoGringo, 2003). The Yucata´n Peninsula is a porous limestone shelf with no visible rivers and very limited surface water. Where lakes and swamps are present, the water is marshy and not palatable for drinking. Due to subterranean drainage, all the freshwater rivers are underground. Porous caverns and caves occur where the fresh water collects forming the cenotes or water sinkholes. Cenotes are pools of natural fresh water. They are

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unique in the world and were once the only resource for fresh, sweet water in the local Yucatecan jungle. Cenotes comprise geological cavities, which vary according to their morphology, and the deposits of crystalline minerals dissolved in the water, which played a leading role in the development of the Maya culture. Access to fresh water was imperative for the civilisation to prosper. The water that gathers in these subterranean cenotes is a crystal clear turquoise colour at a very pleasant temperature of 78 8F (25.5 8C). The stalactites and stalagmites that form inside the cenotes are true natural works of art. In many, holes in the ceiling allow the sunlight to filter in. The cenotes of Yucata´n are considered a natural treasure that should be protected so that man does not destroy these fragile ecosystems that took millions of years to form (Yucatan Today, 2008). There are four different types of cenotes – those that are completely underground, those that are semi-underground, those that are at land level like a lake or pond and those that are open wells. Some are now open to tourism for swimming and cave diving (Yucatan Today, 2008). Thirteen of the longest 20 underwater caves in the world are located in Quintana Roo near Tulum (Gulden, 2009). Each cenote within the system has a variety of freshwater fish species, reptiles, amphibians, plant life, mammals and birds, some of which are endemic to the area. An important ecological issue for the people and the habitats in Tulum is that the Yucata´n Peninsula lies within the Atlantic Hurricane Belt, which lasts from 1 June to 30 November. Since the whole of the Yucata´n Peninsula is unconfined, flat lying, and of carbonate, limestone and dolomite composition, the power of the rain and seas can do tremendous damage to the area. Lowland coastal areas are often evacuated. According to the National Hurricane Center, this area is at risk for storm surge – the sudden onshore rush of seawater caused by the high winds associated with a landfalling cyclone. During hurricane season, NOAA monitors all the weather patterns and swells, which can take up to a week to cross the Atlantic Ocean after they leave the coast of Africa (NOAA, 2011). Strong storms called ‘nortes’ can quickly descend on the Yucata´n Peninsula at any time of year. Although these storms hit with heavy rains and high winds, they tend to be short-lived, clearing after about an hour. To assess the threat of development on the water quality and subaqueous cave locations, two different methods of study were used: (1) analysing water quality samples to assess current water quality in wells and cenotes near Tulum; and (2) utilising Geospatial Analysis to characterise the current level of development and the location of known subterranean rivers in the area. Future development will have longterm repercussions on the surrounding environment. Water quality results showed that nitrate contamination is within acceptable limits according to Mexican water standards. These results would likely be very different if the samples had been taken during a different time of year (i.e. the dry season) when nitrate contamination is more concentrated. Chloride and sodium concentrations are well above Mexican water standards; the water supply that the city of Tulum relies upon is already experiencing salinisation. It is likely that higher future withdrawals from this water source will be increasingly more saline, which may necessitate a different freshwater source for the city. Mapping of the known subaqueous caves shows that the vast majority of the network (81%) is overlaid by forest and is therefore less likely to be contaminated

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from the surface. Future development according to the urban development plan (UDP) of Tulum will occur above a substantial area of subterranean caves. In order to protect water quality, the UDP should be altered to take cave locations into consideration, high-impact development should be resituated and land above the cave systems should be zoned for limited, if any, development (Hausman, 2009).

4.4

HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE

One of the ancient world’s great cultures, the Maya civilisation, was the first indigenous people of the Americas to develop a written language thus enabling them to record their cultural history. Revered for the accuracy of their calendar with its influences based on moon phases and astrology, their end of the phase predictions for 2012 have captured the interest of popular culture in the 21st century. The Maya have long been appreciated for their sophisticated numerical system, specifically the inclusion and use of the number zero. This pre-Columbian culture created one of the first significant calendar systems based on a 260-day ritual cycle made up of five cycles combined to comprise a Long Count with a 365-day solar calendar. Astronomy figured prominently in the development of their systems and great attention was paid to the constellations and movement of the moon and planets visible to the naked eye. The stars were charted and proved immensely valuable in the development of the Maya civilisations and facilitated movement, enriching trade between communities (Fash, 1993; Harrison et al., 1999; Schele and Freidel, 1992; Tate, 1992). The Maya rulers were believed to be direct descendants of a pantheon of gods and offerings were made with sacrifices of royal blood through bloodletting or sacrifice of captives with royal blood. The soul is thought to travel to the underworld after death to be tested and tricked. The Maya believe in the existence of different realms of the universe consisting of multiple levels of the world above earth and the underworld below, positioned within the four directions north, south, east and west. The advancement of the Maya was facilitated by the cenotes. Maya believed the underworld could be accessed through the cenote freshwater caves and sink holes (Fash, 1993; Harrison et al., 1999; Schele and Freidel, 1992; Tate, 1992). The Maya Temple of Tulum, City of Dawn, was built to honour Zama the god of sunrise, the high-walled city holds a promontory position on the cliff tops overlooking the sea, ideal for a lookout and launch/landing spot. There is a sandy cove and natural canoe launching site. If approaching from the sea one can see that the ruin walls line up perfectly with the rock formations and beach spot creating a guide map to those who know how to read the cliffs. El Castillo the major structure has a shrine that signals the break in the reef. There are five narrow gateways, two to the north, two to the south and one to the west near the northern side of the wall above a freshwater cenote. The cenotes provided transportation for trade routes and inland canoes could travel as far as Guatemala. This coastal trading town flourished during The ‘Classic Maya’ period from 600 to 800 AD. Tulum came to prominence in the ‘Post Classic’ period 1250–1519 AD, when it served as the main land and seaport for the Maya city of Coba. Its major trading partner was Teotihucan near Mexico City. Coba was the

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meeting point of the Yucata´n Maya from other regions enabling trade and mixing of artistic energies to culminate in heights of artistic achievement. In 1843, John Lloyd Stephens discovered obsidian was one of the major goods traded, along with feathers, copper, salt and leather. Evidence supports that the Tulum Maya were influenced by Olmec in the 10th century and were later introduced to the god Kukulakan, a deity who is still worshipped by Maya in Tulum today (Fash, 1993; Harrison et al., 1999; Schele and Freidel, 1992; Tate, 1992). Today Tulum is the third most visited archeological site in Mexico. Fortunately, the growth and development along the Coastal Beach Zone from Sian Ka’an has been contained to a minimum as a result of efforts made by the Ejido of Pino Suares. In the 1980s the indigenous Maya of Tulum gathered together to restore ‘Environmental Justice’ by bringing suit in court against the rich, landed family of Monterey Mexico who owned the coastal property in Tulum. The disputed land has no clear title, as of 2011, which has inhibited tourism development along the corridor and ultimately protected species and water supplies that could have otherwise been exhausted. The Ejido has claims to the Tulum Coastal Beach Zone and have sold ‘temporary’ titles to immigrants from all over the world while the case plays out in the courts. Tulum does not have planned community infrastructure for electricity and water treatment facilities along the Coastal Beach Zone. However, the people who have chosen to establish homes and businesses along the beach corridor have brought with them the ingenuity and spirit reminiscent of the ancient Maya. They have brought the skills to establish alternative energy technologies evident in the solar powered generators and wind turbines visible on the properties of these Ejido title land businesses. The Tulum Pueblo was settled near the highway and the Archeological Zone is also geographically separated from the Coastal Beach Zone, which has contributed to the delay in infrastructural development (Fash, 1993; Harrison et al., 1999; Schele and Freidel, 1992; Tate, 1992).

4.5

DEVELOPMENT IN TULUM

Today, tourism is one of the most important economic activities in the world. Mexico is a premier location in Latin America for tourism and within the top ten worldwide locations to exceed 20 million international visitors annually. The national tourism sector topped 6 billion USD in 2004, which contributed 30% of the total foreign currency generated from tourism activities in Mexico (Lutz et al., 2000). Recently, the Maya Riviera has exhibited faster growth in new tourism ventures than Cancun. Approximately 76 000 hotel rooms (nearly 20% of the hotel infrastructure in the entire country of Mexico) have been built in the state of Quintana Roo and growth is only continuing to increase. Hotel rooms along the Maya Riviera have taken only seven years to reach the same capacity as it took Cancun 25 years to build (Meacham, 2007). Tourism in Quintana Roo accounts for 90.2% of the Gross State Income (INEGI, 2002, cited in Hausman, 2009). Given that it is such an important part of the state’s economy, it is not surprising that the federal, state and local governments have encouraged growth. Specifically, the state finished paving the road from Cancun to

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Tulum four years ago, which allows for easier transportation to this region by visitors. Development is rapidly occurring along the Maya Riviera in the Yucata´n Peninsula, Mexico with little regard to environmental regulations, and the health of the people and habitats.

4.6

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ISSUES

The rapid growth of the tourism industry and failure to follow proper planning for towns and cities are jeopardising the natural resources. Deforestation, lack of sewage treatment, management of solid waste, human living conditions, over-subdivision in jungle lands, are just some examples. There are groups working mainly with the tourism sector to help reduce the environmental footprint of hotels, to create guides to good environmental practices, construction and operation of lodging facilities (ASK, MARTI) (Amigos de Sian Ka’an, 2011). In 2008, Tulum ceded from the Municipality of Solidaridad and formed the new Municipality of Tulum. The city government released a UDP to the public in late 2006 (Tampieri, 2006, cited in Hausman, 2009). Several groups, including governmental bodies, citizens and local organisations, opposed this plan. The plan was withdrawn for further revision, in part to address concerns over future freshwater resources in the area. Fresh water must be considered when planning for future development since the sole source of fresh water in the Yucata´n is from cenotes, systems particularly sensitive to contamination since the rocks are porous and the overlying soil very thin, which allows precipitation to quickly filter into the aquifer, which is usually not more than 30 metres below the surface (Escolero Fuentes, 2007). Extreme weather events flush surface pollutants into the underwater sinkholes (Escolero Fuentes, 2007). Natural contamination could be salinisation of the aquifer due to over-withdrawal of fresh water. Anthropogenic contamination includes nitrate, pesticide, herbicide and trace metal contamination caused by human activities.

4.7

FORCES AFFECTING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Power and self-interest of government, corporations, cruise ships and corrupt individuals have all had a negative impact on the indigenous population of the area and are of great concern. As they struggle to survive, the Maya community has had to adapt to their rapidly changing environment. They have augmented their existence with fishing, agriculture and tourism. With change, traditions are lost and ancient knowledge forgotten. From our experience working on similar projects with indigenous peoples, we believe there is hope for cultural preservation and conservation of the environment with an education initiative. We believe that Maya traditional practices must be honoured and re-established into educational programmes for the youth to learn about biodiversity and the importance of taking the sacred responsibility for protecting indigenous land and waters.

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HOW TO ENGAGE AND INSPIRE YOUTH

There is wisdom in the languages, art, stories and songs of the tribal people who weave the fabric of our being-ness, those who once lived freely in nature and who need our help to preserve the precious pieces of their cultures. We may live more fully by listening, feeling and belonging to the stories of the indigenous people of the world. Our goal is to also engage the imagination of the local (indigenous and nonindigenous) school children in our project with inspiring dialogue about the problems and asking them to think about solutions while we develop a programme. Students will likely have ideas that we would not come up with on our own and take independent action as well. Indigenous traditions offer solutions for long-term, multicultural sustainability of the environment, medicinal innovations from natural sources, and psychological and social revelations. This untapped knowledge is of enormous benefit to all of humankind. Our programme will help support a shared intention of empowering the indigenous children to be a part of the conservation strategies to save the Maya environment by engaging them in activities that contribute to their understanding and appreciation for the importance of preserving and protecting the land and the waters. The programme will also offer indigenous children an opportunity to connect with the Elders in their community. Through guided dialogue and storytelling, Elders will share their heritage and the changes in their environment that have occurred during their lifetimes. We hope to reinforce the indigenous connection to the water and biodiversity while providing a solution to environmentally based pollutants that occur as a result of the yearly hurricane season and prevailing ocean currents. Increased visibility of Maya traditional practices is part of our strategy to effect positive environmental outcomes and foster cultural collaboration. Our goals are to: (1) inform the public and tourists about the coastal habitats and water resources in the area; (2) directly involve students (5th–12th grade), indigenous leaders and other volunteers in the field; and (3) collect and archive data that can be analysed to detect ecological changes over time. We want to develop protocols, collection techniques and species lists, and verify the students’ ability to identify, catalogue and ecologically monitor the area. With limited preliminary training (a classroom exercise and a video demonstration), students can collect data in the field. We will establish protocols for sites to be used for school groups collaborating with all local organisations, including but not limited to indigenous groups, Amigos de Sian Ka’an, CESiaK, Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, Tulum Naturalmente, Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy. Murray has experience developing, designing, testing and training teachers and the general public on, ecological monitoring programmes that were used by NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary programme on the west coast of the US (LiMPETS, 2010). We will use that expertise to create a solution oriented, culturally relevant and approved program for Tulum.

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When gathering information about indigenous cultures, it is imperative to respect/heed their goals and needs for a successful collaboration. Following are questions we will ask the Maya of Tulum: 1. Have international human rights movements for indigenous peoples affected your community? If so, how? If not, why? 2. Do you have control of your land? If not, what is the main obstacle? 3. Is it easier or harder, as an Elder, to preserve your culture for future generations compared to your parents’ generation? 4. How are you connected physically, culturally and spiritually to the land as indigenous people? 5. Do the youth of your community feel the same connection? If so, how? If not, why? 6. Are you aware of any changes in your environment that are affecting your way of life? 7. Have any water- and land-based cultural traditions changed due to a change in the environment? 8. What are the most traditional values that you teach your children? What traditional values are intact in your community? Are there values being lost due to nonindigenous people’s actions? 9. What is the most important challenge you face as an Elder and Keeper of Tradition? What can be done to help empower your culture? 10. Do you have a representative who speaks for the community? Is this person also a medicine person? 11. Would you be receptive to representatives and/or friends of the Tribal Trust Foundation (an NGO dedicated to helping preserve the living arts of indigenous peoples) helping you heal the land and waters? Thank you so much for answering these questions! I hope to meet you and support you in your efforts to preserve your culture.

Existing projects for the development of environmental consciousness and justice include environmental education as a means to encourage local understanding and support for the conservation of the Sian Ka’an Reserve. Over 750 local students learn in the field about their surrounding environment in addition to working on projects for its conservation (CESiaK, 2011). Additional projects involve seasonal work with authorised organisations, such as on a sea turtle protection project that monitors populations during summer nesting times. There are two working native plant nurseries, one dedicated exclusively to coastal dune species (unique in the area), and both with the goal of reforestation of native ecosystems. An internship programme is geared toward students and recent graduates in conservation-related fields from both Mexican and international universities who have an interest in ongoing projects. CESiaK’s ecotours focus on appreciation for the natural environment and strive to provide an informative introduction to the reserve (CESiaK, 2011). The Ecological Center employs advanced systems of alternative energy, such as solar arrays and wind generators and is committed to ecologically sound operating systems. They have developed wetland waste treatment systems that recycle grey water and treat all black water. Waste water flows through the septic system and

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sculpted wetland garden, the effluent then flows through drip irrigation to nourish these young seedlings. Reducing consumption of precious water, the composting toilets produce natural fertiliser while providing the user with fabulous views over the spectacular inland lagoon (CESiaK, 2011). A rainwater collection system is utilised for all guest water needs, other than drinking. This is particularly beneficial as the rain that reaches this area is some of the purest in the world. CESiaK serves as an example of clean energy usage and a higher environmental consciousness for the Caribbean coast. Most of the hotels in the area now advertise themselves as ‘dedicated to ecological sustainability, [with] 24-hour electricity provided by wind and solar power’ (Coco Tulum, 2011). We hope to partner with CESiaK and other organisations by offering resources to achieve the objectives of their environmental education programmes, including increase awareness of conservation, present elements for sustainable development, balancing human activities and environmental conservation, participate in research programmes in the reserve, including sea turtle monitoring, restoration of coastal dunes, bird migratory patterns and land use. Our programme includes activities in environmental awareness, including giving talks to the approximately 700 students enrolled in six elementary schools in Tulum. CESiaK has a programme aimed at students aged 8 to 12 held once a month in each of the schools. The talks are entertaining and describe the main ecosystems of the region, living creatures found in them, and their importance and conservation action. Students also visit the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve and help to clean beaches. They discuss the waste on the beach, its origin and the importance of ocean currents. They work with students to perform refuse collection which is classified into different types: plastic, glass, fabric, health and medical products, among others. They also sponsor a children’s painting contest to promote the preservation and conservation of marine turtles and the environment in conjunction with the Casa de la Cultura de Tulum, exhibiting the work and presenting the prizes to the winning participants. CESiaK is actively involved in the coordination and development of the Festival of the Sea Turtles in the community of Tulum. The primary objective of this festival is to promote conservation and protection of marine turtles that nest on the coasts of Quintana Roo. So far, there have been six summer courses in conjunction with the Casa de Cultura de Tulum, which promotes preservation of the culture of the region and participates in events and festivals (CESiaK, 2011). The courses include educational, recreational and artistic activities, all related to the environment, conservation and cultural activities. We will be participating and assisting in the development of these existing programmes. Beach and ocean clean-ups are a great way to raise awareness and to collect data on abundance and trends of debris on shorelines seasonally and yearly. However, beach clean-ups will not solve the problem of rubbish accumulation in Tulum. At many locations around the world, the cleared plastic from the coast is relocated to dumpsites where it still contaminates water and soil or even finds its way back to the ocean during hurricanes/flooding. The plastic pollution problem is severe, so we will combine well-run clean-ups, educational programmes on how to reduce the use of single-use disposable plastics, and examine policies around

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ocean dumping in the Atlantic Ocean with the goal of reducing plastic. Ireland, Eritrea, Rwanda, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Taiwan and other countries have banned or taxed plastic bags. Bans on polystyrene, plastic water bottles and plastic bags are being implemented by communities around the world. At the international level, the United Nations Environment Programme is calling for a worldwide ban on plastic bags. The plastic pollution crisis can be seen in oceanic and terrestrial habitats (Wabnitz and Nichols, 2010). We will support the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s goal of ‘‘‘4 Rs’’ of sustainable living: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ (PlasticPollutionCoalition.org).

4.9

COLLABORATION

We will be working under the guidance of, and with, the Tribal Trust Foundation. The Tribal Trust Foundation is an organisation dedicated to helping preserve the living arts of indigenous people. By partnering with local organisations with experience and existing relationships, we will facilitate our research and help sustain joint initiatives. We will create a strategy for developing a grassroots sustainable initiative that empowers the indigenous people to help them preserve their living arts, land and culture, while helping them to reconnect with their environment. Our mission is to offer resources – marine science information, film, and educational awareness, and monitor clean-up techniques. We expect to engage college students to volunteer on this project with us. They will help us assess the starting point and baseline level of children’s knowledge and natural state of affairs in this area, so that after one to two weeks we can re-assess and demonstrate learning. A future goal will be to develop this study and translate it into other languages, including the Maya language, and for the hearing-impaired. We are solidifying partnerships with groups in Tulum, connecting with schools, community leaders and indigenous peoples. Modelling some philosophies of educator Zoe Weil, we hope to inspire team work and community building in our projects, practising being conscious choice makers, ‘a generation of solutionaries’ who can cope with the challenges of our changing, imperiled world. Weil emphasises the need for an education system that provides people with the knowledge, tools and motivation to change our economic system, not adapt themselves to it. She created the first Master of Education and Certificate Programme in Humane Education in the US, covering the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental preservation and animal protection (Weil, 2011). We will listen to the children of the area, listen to the leaders, the teachers and indigenous groups and ask them what they think about the environmental issues, what they would like to learn about, if there is anything they want to change and empower them. Today, the pre-Columbian Maya culture is in transition and at risk due to the destructive impact of development on their environment. However, the Maya of Tulum have an advantage. There is a collective effort to clean up the sacred waters and protect the environment. Our project will facilitate a unified effort to educate and inspire future generations to restore a sense of the sacred to the environment. As

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we recognise that the cenotes of Yucata´n are a natural treasure that should be protected, we need to recognise the ancient Maya of Tulum’s culture as a living treasure as well. Their culture offers the world a deep connection to place. Protecting the environment that is key to their heritage is of benefit to Maya communities and the world.

REFERENCES Amigos de Sian Ka’an. (2011). Amigos de Sian Ka’an. Available at: www.amigosdesiankaan.org/. Accessed March 2012. Andrade, C.A. and Barton, E.D. (2000). Eddy development and motion in the Caribbean Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research. 105: 26191–26201. Blake, E. (2012). Tropical Cyclone Report. NOAA. Available at: www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/ AL182011_Rina.pdf. Accessed March 2012. Brooks, I.H. and Niiler, P.P. (1977). Energetics of the Florida current. Journal of Marine Research. 35: 163–191. CESiaK. (2011). CESiaK. Available at: http://cesiak.org/. Accessed March 2012. Coats, D.A. (1992). The loop current. In: Milliman, J.D. and Imamura, E. (Eds). The Physical Oceanography of the U.S. Atlantic and Eastern Gulf of Mexico. US Department of the Interior, Mineral Management Service, Atlantic OCS Region, Herndon, VA, Chapter 6. Coco Tulum. (2011). Coco Tulum. Available at: www.cocotulum.com/index.html. Accessed March 2012. Dagger, C. (2010). Yahoo! Contributor Network (25 February). The North Atlantic Sea: Vast Plastic Garbage Dump. Available at: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-north-atlantic-sea-vast-plasticgarbage-dump-5540489.html?cat¼15. Accessed March 2012. Escolero Fuentes, O. (2007). The hydrology of the Yucatan Peninsula. In: Holliday, L., Marin, L. and Vaux, H. (Eds). Sustainable Management of Groundwater in Mexico: Proceedings of a Workshop. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, pp. 62–68. Available online at: http:// books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id¼11875. Accessed March 2012. Fash, W.L. (1993). Scribes, Warriors and Kings: The City of Copan and the Ancient Maya. Thames & Hudson, London. Fratantoni, D.M. (2001). North Atlantic surface circulation during the 1990s observed with satellitetracked drifters. Journal of Geophysical Research. 106: 22067–22093. Gordon, A.L. (1967). Circulation of the Caribbean Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research. 72: 6207– 6223. Gulden, R. (2009). World’s Longest Underwater Caves. Available at: www.caverbob.com. Accessed March 2012. Gyory, J., Mariano, A.J. and Ryan, E.H. (2008a). The Caribbean Current. Ocean Surface Currents. Available at: http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/caribbean/. Accessed March 2012. Gyory, J., Mariano, A.J. and Ryan, E.H. (2008b). The Yucatan Current. Ocean Surface Currents. Available at: http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/caribbean/yucatan.html. Accessed March 2012. Gyory, J., Mariano, A.J. and Ryan, E.H. (2008c). The Loop Current. Ocean Surface Currents. Available at: http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/caribbean/loop-current.html. Accessed March 2012. Harrison, P., Renfrew, C. and Sabloff, J.A. (1999). The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City. Thames & Hudson, London. Hausman, H. (2009). Responsible Development in Tulum, Mexico: Considering Water Quality and

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Subaqueous Cave Locations. Master’s Thesis, Environmental Management, Nicholas School of the Environment of Duke University. Hofmann, E.E. and Worley, S.J. (1986). An investigation of the circulation of the Gulf of Mexico, Journal of Geophysical Research. 91(C12): 14221–14236. INEGI (Instituto Natcional de Estadistica, Geografia e Informatica). (2002). Anuario Estadistico del Estado de Quintana Roo. 1st edition. Aguascalientes, Mexico. Johns, W.E., Townsend, T.L., Fratantoni, D.M. and Wilson, W.D. (2002). On the Atlantic inflow to the Caribbean Sea. Deep-Sea Research Part I. 49: 211–243. Kinder, T.H. (1983). Shallow currents in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico as observed with satellite-tracked drifters. Bulletin of Marine Science. 33: 239–246. Law, K., Moret-Ferguson, S., Maximenko, N., Proskurowski, G., Peacock, E., Hafner, J. and Reddy, C. (2010). Plastic accumulation in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. Science Express. 19 August. Lee, T.N. and Mayer, D.A. (1977). Low frequency current variability and spinoff eddies on the shelf off southeast Florida. Journal of Marine Research. 35: 193–220. LiMPETS. (2010). Long-term Monitoring and Experiential Training for Teachers. Available at: http:// limpetsmonitoring.org/. Accessed March 2012. LocoGringo. (2003). LocoGringo. Available at: www.locogringo.com/past_spotlights/dec2003.cfm. Accessed March 2012. Lutz, W., Prieto, L. and Sanderson, W. (2000). Population, Development, and Environment on the Yucata´n Peninsula: From Ancient Maya to 2030. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria. Meacham, S. (2007). Freshwater resources in the Yucatan Peninsula. In: Holliday, L., Marin, L. and Vaux, H. (Eds). Sustainable Management of Groundwater in Mexico: Proceedings of a Workshop. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, pp. 6–12. Available online at: http:// books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id¼11875. Accessed March 2012. Molinari, R.L. and Morrison, J. (1988). The separation of the Yucatan Current from the Campeche Bank and the intrusion of the Loop Current into the Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Geophysical Research. 93: 10645–10654. Morrison, J.M. and Smith, O.P. (1990). Geostrophic transport variability along the Aves Ridge in the eastern Caribbean Sea during 1985–1986. Journal of Geophysical Research. 95: 699–710. Murphy, S.J., Hurlburt, H.E. and O’Brien, J.J. (1999). The connectivity of eddy variability in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research. 104: 1431–1453. NOAA. (2011). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Available at: www.nhc.noaa.gov/. Accessed March 2012. NOAA. (2012). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Available at: http://marinedebris. noaa.gov/info/patch.html. Accessed March 2012. Nowlin Jr, W.D. and McLellan, H.J. (1967). A characterization of the Gulf of Mexico Waters in winter. Journal of Marine Research. 25: 29–59. Ochoa, J., Sheinbaum, H., Badan, A., Candela, J. and Wilson, D. (2001). Geostrophy via potential vorticity inversion in the Yucatan Channel. Journal of Marine Research. 59: 725–747. Roemmich, D. (1981). Circulation in the Caribbean Sea: a well-resolved inverse problem. Journal of Geophysical Research. 86: 7993–8005. Schele, L. and Freidel, D. (1992). A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, NY. Tampieri, A. (2006). Multi-objective Optimization of Land Use Patterns in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve Catchment, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Master’s Thesis, Technical University of Denmark. Tate, C.E. (1992). Yachilan: The Design of a Maya Ceremonial City. University of Texas Press, TX. Wabnitz, C. and Nichols, W.J. (2010). Editorial: plastic pollution: an ocean emergency. Marine Turtle Newsletter. 1: 1–429. Weil, Z. (2011). About Zoe Weil. Available at: http://zoeweil.com/. Accessed March 2012.

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Wust, G. (1964). Stratification and Circulation in the Antillean-Caribbean Basins. Columbia University Press, Palisades, NY. Yucatan Today. (2008). Yucutan Today. Available at: http://yucatantoday.com/en/topics/cenotes-underwater-sinkholes. Accessed March 2012.

CHAPTER

5

Petroleum Extraction, Indigenous People and Environmental Injustice in the Ecuadorian Amazon Flora Lu

5.1

‘THE DEVIL’S EXCREMENT’

An explosion on April 20, 2010 aboard the Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig working on a well for the oil company British Petroleum one mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, led to the largest oil spill in American history. After a series of failed efforts to plug the leak, BP said on July 15 that it had capped the well, at least temporarily, marking the first time in 86 days that oil was not gushing into the gulf. The precise volume of oil that leaked – the well had been estimated to be flowing at a rate of 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day – remains unknown (New York Times, 29 July 2010). As many as 546 million gallons of oil have spilled into the Niger Delta over the last five decades, or nearly 11 million gallons a year, a team of experts for the Nigerian government and international and local environmental groups concluded in a 2006 report (A. Nossiter, 16 June 2010). Shell, the largest operator in the Delta, doubled its oil spillage from 2007 to 2008, then doubled it again from 2008 to 2009. Although Shell operates in 100 countries, 40 percent of all its oil spills happen in Nigeria (A. Ejikeme, 4 June 2010). By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 dumped an estimated 10.8 million gallons of oil into the waters off Alaska. Nigeria’s environmental disaster is an equivalent of an Exxon Valdez every year for 50 years. In the 1960s, Texaco began oil extraction in Ecuador. It operated more than 300 oil wells for the better part of three decades in a vast swath of Ecuador’s northern Amazon region. In the landmark court case, Aguinda v. Chevron (who acquired Texaco in 2001), the plaintiffs’ brief states: ‘It [Texaco] deliberately dumped many billions of gallons of waste byproduct from oil drilling directly into the rivers and streams of the rainforest covering an area the size of Rhode Island. It gouged more than 900 unlined waste pits out of the

International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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jungle floor – pits which to this day leach toxic waste into soils and groundwater. It burned hundreds of millions of cubic feet of gas and waste oil into the atmosphere, poisoning the air and creating ‘‘black rain’’ which inundated the area during tropical thunderstorms’ (B. Herbert, 4 June 2010).

Famously referred to by OPEC-cofounder Juan Pablo Perez Alfonso as the ‘devil’s excrement’, oil – and the social and ecological cost of our dependence on it – is making headlines around the world. Coverage of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico dominated news in the United States for months, and the Niger Delta case is the subject of a book entitled The Curse of the Black Gold (Watts, 2008). I focus here on the situation of petroleum extraction, environment and society in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a country with approximately 6.51 billion proven barrels of reserves in January 2011, the third largest reserves in South America after Venezuela and Brazil (Solano, 2012), and where petroleum accounts for nearly half of national export revenues. Much of the discussion of the impacts of petroleum exploration in the Ecuadorian Amazon has been situated at the regional level and focused upon the pernicious environmental effects of exploration and extraction, including oil spills, soil and water contamination, and deforestation (e.g. Kimerling, 1991a, 1991b, 1993, 1996; Miller, 2003; Sandoval, 1992; Sawyer, 2004a, 2004b). Scholars and the popular media have also, rightly, addressed the tragic linkages between petroleum-related environmental degradation and increased disease incidence among neighbouring populations (CESR, 1994; Hurtig and San Sebastia´n, 2002; San Sebastia´n and Hurtig, 2004). Meanwhile, others have focused on indigenous social movements and the political struggles that surround petroleum in the region (Sawyer, 2004b). What the BP, Shell and Chevron cases have in common is their visceral impact due to the scale of the impacts of oil, both temporal scale (i.e. the length of time the Niger Delta has contended with spills and contamination) and spatial scale (i.e. the extent of the BP spill along the Gulf Coast, a phenomenon obviously related to the months the oil was gushing). In the Ecuadorian Amazon, the Chevron case has become synonymous with the impact of oil companies in that part of the world, and the decades of destruction and lives curtailed is very similar to the case of Nigeria. The case however is backward looking, focused on the sub-par extraction practices and blatant disregard for life exhibited by Texaco in the decades preceding the end of its operation in 1992. However, in Ecuador’s north-eastern region, there are other stories to tell of populations in the relatively early stages of grappling with the myriad challenges that life in a concession entails. Hearing their stories, and tracing the effects of petroleum operations on indigenous social relations, household economics and settlement patterns at the household and community levels over time may be less graphic and the impacts less dramatic, but it helps to fill in the other spatial, social and temporal scales of analysis that provide a more comprehensive view. Local people do not have to be mired in spilled crude to be profoundly impacted by the processes surrounding the extraction of the ‘devil’s excrement’.

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PETROLEUM EXTRACTION FROM AN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE

This chapter approaches the process of petroleum extraction and the concomitant impacts on local communities as an environmental justice (EJ) issue. Borne out of landmark struggles in the US South in the 1980s of poor, often rural communities of colour against large corporations and unresponsive government agencies, the EJ movement condemned the disproportionate burden of environmental degradation on the basis of race and class. The concept of EJ holds that every individual – regardless of race, ethnicity or class – has a right to a clean and safe environment (conceptualised broadly as the places where people live, work and play). The movement is not just about the amelioration of environmental degradation, but also includes broader social justice issues, such as economic and cultural liberation for all people of colour (Roberts, 2007: 288). This connection between environmental quality and human equality is seen in the fact that states with greater inequalities in power distribution and which are more highly segregated have less stringent environmental policies and higher levels of environmental stress and contamination (Agyeman et al., 2002). Additionally, environmental burdens disproportionately plague certain sectors of society: the poor and people of colour. These economic and social disparities are rooted in hundreds of years of economic and political inequalities, whether conscious or unconscious, intended or unintended. Such burdens include disparities in the siting of polluting industries, waste facilities or other locally unwanted land uses; the lack of access to decision-making and policy-making processes; and the uneven enforcement of environmental laws and regulations (Bullard, 1994; Faber, 1998; Sandweiss, 1998). While the movement began and has been situated in the US, increasingly the ‘environmental justice frame is being applied internationally, including struggles against oil and mining firms, free trade, and environmental treaty formulation’ (Roberts, 2007: 287). Many of these international struggles have involved indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities and displaced populations (e.g. climate refugees). The case of oil is especially stark, directly pitting small indigenous societies against giant oil companies in some of the world’s most remote and environmentally sensitive ecosystems. In Ecuador, as is the case throughout the world, indigenous peoples are least responsible for the pollutants, benefit least from the consumption that drives this increasing inequality, and are at the greatest risk of petroleum-related threats to their physical and cultural survival. Such disproportionate burden and distributional inequality speak to the relevance of an EJ perspective. While clearly acknowledging the larger political economy of environmental degradation, an EJ approach places great importance on voices of people experiencing injustice firsthand. These accounts promote an understanding of ‘the way in which individuals in disenfranchised communities experience . . . social and structural constraints’ (Cole and Foster, 2001: 12). They are a window into the social relations and processes that underlie distributive outcomes, allowing for a clearer view of the many dimensions of power struggles, the relationships of actors in these struggles, and the role of supra-local actors in structuring these relationships. These power dynamics do not just play out between local and supra-local actors, but within local communities themselves, which

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are not harmonious, homogeneous wholes but contested collectivities with their own tensions and histories (Agrawal and Gibson, 2001).

5.3

A TALE OF THREE VILLAGES

This chapter is the product of study spanning 14 years among Huaorani households in the northern part of the Ecuadorian Amazon, or Oriente as it is locally known. Huaorani territory, unlike the territories of other indigenous groups in the Oriente such as the Cofa´n (see Cepek, 2008), have only recently been opened to oil extraction, in part due to the longstanding hostility expressed by the Huaorani to outsiders (Beckerman et al., 2009). It is a place to watch the ripple effects in the wake of oil extraction, perhaps not the dramatic instances that grab headlines of gushing pipelines or cancer clusters, but the myriad ways in which oil extraction influences the daily lives of indigenous people, especially how they relate to each other and with their surroundings. In this chapter, I present the story of three villages – Quehueiri-ono, Huentaro and Gareno – with the latter two fission (splitting of one village into two or more) villages from the first, which was itself split off in the late 1980s from another village, Dayuno. In 1997, the residents of Quehueiri-ono and Huentaro received their first taste of oil extraction when Oryx Energy Company began seismic exploration in the region. I trace the unfolding of the events until 2009, at which point many members of these two communities had moved to Gareno, a village a few hours by car from Tena and along an oil road. What led Huaorani families, with their strong hunting and subsistence orientation (Holt et al., 2004) to voluntarily leave the lush forest and clean waters of the Shiripuno River region and relocate close to the operations of then Perenco, the French oil company, and now Petroamazonas, a subsidiary of the national oil company Petroecuador? I begin with the first oil activities these residents living along the Shiripuno River had experienced: the seismic exploration of the zone by Oryx Energy Company in the late 1990s. Through methods such as participant observation, dietary recall interviews, and post-hunt interviews, I demonstrate how Oryx’s actions in Huaorani territory served to undermine food-sharing practices, the traditional basis of Huaorani social networks and subsistence risk mitigation. Inter-household food transfer, or sharing, is an important behaviour for both the social and physical survival of the Huaorani, reaffirming social bonds and smoothing the variability in resource acquisition common among this hunting-oriented indigenous population. During the era of oil company food provisioning in Quehueiri-ono and Huentaro, inter-household visits declined (as they usually centre on food sharing) and the social life of the village became more subdued. Due to employment opportunities with the company and food provisioning, the intra-household contributions of traditional food providers (mothers, fathers and other households) fell dramatically. The importance of sharing and reciprocity as both manifestations of sociality and means to mitigate subsistence risk was demonstrated by the ostensible return to previous patterns of visiting and sharing once the company left. However, Oryx’s legacy in Quehueiri-ono was to sow discord in the community as inequality, divisiveness between the two main kin groups,

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disparities in access to resources and services, and perceived wrongs were engendered by oil company policies and actions. This resulted in community fissioning, as families moved or stayed depending on their assessment of trade-offs and opportunities: some (mostly Enomengas) remained in Quehueiri-ono to engage in eco- and ethnotourism, others (mostly Irumengas) moved closer to town, and a couple of families rejected both and continued to live deep in the forest. As illustrated by these Huaorani populations, oil extraction exacerbates existing tensions, encourages outward-seeking behaviour and exposes internal variability in terms of access, aspirations and trade-offs.

5.4

THE ORIENTE AND THE HUAORANI

This study is situated in north-eastern Ecuador, part of what is often referred to as the Upper Amazon Basin. The topography of the region is low and undulating to slightly hilly between the broad, swampy floodplains of the region’s main rivers, spanning an elevation of 200 to 600 metres. The annual temperature averages 25 8C with extremes of 15 8C and 38 8C. The annual rainfall is 2425–3145 mm, with an average humidity of 88% (Herrera-Macbryde and Neill, 1997). The Ecuadorian Amazon is characterised by high levels of biological diversity, with an exceptional concentration of endemic species experiencing rapid habitat loss (Myers et al., 2000). For example, in Yasuni National Park, a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve corresponding to traditional Huaorani territory, scientists have characterised the ecological richness there as ‘hyperdiverse’ with peak records for amphibians, birds, mammals and tree communities ‘probably unmatched by any other park in the world in total number of species’ (Finer et al., 2009; Marx, 2010: 1171). Since the 1990s, north-eastern Ecuador has experienced the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon basin (FAO, 2005). The Oriente is also remarkably culturally diverse, home to the lowland Kichwa, Shuar, Achuar, Cofa´n, Siona, Secoya, Huaorani and mestizo groups. These populations vary in population size, linguistic affiliation, history of contact, and diversity of economic activities (Holt et al., 2004). The Huaorani are considered the least ‘assimilated’ and integrated into the market economy of Ecuador’s indigenous peoples (Lu, 2007). The Huaorani (also spelled Waorani or Waodani; the singular and adjectival form is Huao or Wao) are interfluvial lowland tropical rainforest horticulturalist/foragers. Formerly called Aucas (a Kichwa term meaning ‘savages’), at the time of first peaceful contact in 1958, the Huaorani were the only human inhabitants of a region about the size of New Jersey (,20 000 km2 ), bounded on the north by the Napo River and on the south by the Curaray River (Yost, 1992) and corresponding to the present day provinces of Napo, Pastaza and Orellana. Only about 500 people controlled this immense territory, giving a population density of approximately 0.025 persons/km2 (Beckerman et al., 2009). Beckerman et al. (2009) estimate the present day Huaorani population at approximately 2000 individuals but Almeida and Proan˜o (2008) put that number closer to 3000 people. Currently they are distributed among approximately five dozen communities in Huaorani Territory (6786 km2 ) and Yasuni National Park (6797 km2 ). Some of these villages lie alongside roads and others are more distant

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with landing strips, many along navigable rivers. The total number of villages changes often as a result of abandonment, fissioning and creation, and reflect the traditional Huaorani semi-sedentary settlement pattern. Pre-contact Huaorani lived in small, extended kin groups, called nanicaboiri, which were largely autonomous. Before sustained contact, the Huaorani were semi-nomadic, moving every three to four months and returning to the same locations cyclically (Larrick et al., 1979: 163). Nowadays, most communities comprise nuclear families living in a nucleated settlement pattern, characterised by dwellings centred on a school and perhaps a landing strip. Extended kin tend not to live under the same roof, settlements are more densely populated and permanent, and non- or distantly related-kin now live in relatively close proximity (Rival, 2002). The language of the Huaorani, Huaoterero, is considered a linguistic isolate, without identifiable links with the recognised language families. Among the 2550 languages spoken by 1.2 billion people in more than 70 countries studied by the Summer Institute of Linguistics, no congeners for the Huaorani language have been found. For instance, in two of the study villages of Quehueiri-ono and Huentaro, there are no monolingual Spanish speakers, about 20% of the population of 137 people speak only Huaoterero, and 80% are bilingual with Spanish, although Spanish ability is rudimentary for many. The preferred marriage arrangement was bilateral cross cousin, with uxorilocal residence the norm. Both polygyny (usually sororal) and polyandry (always fraternal) occurred (Beckerman et al., 2009). The political structure of the Huaorani was historically non-hierarchical and decentralised, with no established authority beyond individual persuasion or coercion (Robarchek and Robarchek, 1998). The Huaorani can be described as having an egalitarian social structure: there are no chiefs or headmen born into positions of power, gender roles were flexible and both genders equally valued, and one person could not impose his or her will upon another (Yost, 1981). Huaorani subsistence is based on manioc slash-and-mulch agriculture, with the starchy tuber consumed many times a day as a premasticated drink called tepae. Plantain, corn, peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), peanut and sweet potato are also important cultigens. While the bulk of the carbohydrates in the diet come from domestic crops, protein is acquired through hunting (especially of peccaries, woolly monkeys and toucans using blowguns for arboreal game, spears for terrestrial animals and, increasingly, shotguns for both) and fishing (mostly with plant-derived poisons, nets and, occasionally, dynamite) (Yost, 1992). Wild fruits, nuts and tubers are foraged from the forest and provide important nutrients and supplements. While the Huaorani still depend largely on subsistence hunting, fishing, gathering and small-scale agriculture, they also now interact regularly with markets and urban centres.

5.5

PART ONE: ORYX’S SEISMIC EXPLORATION

The pulsing of helicopter blades begins as a distant hum, but soon becomes deafening. The helicopter is now directly overhead, hovering over the forest clearing and landing slowly and deliberately. Women have gathered on the soccer field, and they watch

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expectantly as from the helicopter’s metal belly emerge white plastic bags full of rice, sugar, tuna, lard, drink mix, and other processed foods. These are the rations they receive as part of a community agreement with the petroleum company Oryx. Some of the women are not present in the village, deciding earlier that day to work in their gardens or go fishing, and they return to find their rations usurped by other households. Upset, these women feel cheated but do not have much recourse as conflictresolution mechanisms in Huaorani society are lacking. This encourages ‘sit and wait’ behaviours, where women forsake subsistence activities outside the village and instead spend time waiting for the arrival of the helicopter. These events took place in 1997, following a 4-year increase in global oil prices driven by rapidly increasing Asian consumption. I examine the effects of two specific initiatives of Oryx Petroleum Company’s ‘community development’ programme – food provisioning and company wage labour opportunities – on networks of food sharing and reciprocity in the Huaorani communities of Huentaro and Quehueiri-ono. By employing Huaorani men to work away from the village as part of mobile crews undertaking seismic exploration, Oryx caused the absence of the indigenous households’ main provisioners of hunted foods and, as described above, disincentives existed for women to procure their own food from the forest and rivers rather than waiting for their company food rations. The nature of these rations – identical in composition and synchronously distributed – runs counter to the conditions in which food acquisition would foster sharing patterns as a means to reduce subsistence risk. Since the 1967 discovery of oil in the region, Petroecuador, the state oil company, has developed this resource through a process in which it solicits bids and leases drilling rights to oil concession units, or blocks, generally 200 000 hectares each. Once the concessions are sold to a company, the company has the rights to all oil production within concession boundaries. In return, Ecuador receives bonuses, rentals, royalties and taxes. As a result of Ecuador’s seventh exploration bid round in 1994, Oryx Energy Company received concessionary rights to 200 000 hectares, delimited as Block 21. From January to April 1996, the first phase of seismic exploration was undertaken in the north-west corner of the block, located near Kichwa communities along the Napo River. The second phase of exploration, undertaken in the first six months of 1997, involved seismic work in the southern portion of the block and almost entirely within the Huaorani reserve. This phase involved exploration along nine seismic lines with a total of 368.2 km. About every 50–100 metres along these lines, holes were drilled 15–20 metres below the ground, filled with 2 kg of explosives, and detonated (Oryx, 1997). By monitoring the movement of resulting sound waves through the ground, company geologists tried to detect potential oil reserves far beneath the earth’s surface. Besides the explosions, there were other environmental impacts involved in this exploratory phase. For example, as all access to seismic lines was conducted with helicopters, 48–50 heliports were constructed, each about 30 by 30 metres, resulting in a total of 45 000 m2 being cleared. Although more than 600 000 hectares of Huaorani lands are protected under the communal legal title they were granted by the state in 1990, they do not control subsoil resource and mineral rights – all of which are the property of the Ecuadorian

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state. According to the terms of their land title, they are not permitted to receive royalties from oil exploration and extraction, to obstruct oil development on their land, or to carry out extraction themselves (Rival, 1998: 10). On the ground, however, the reality has been quite different, with the Huaorani responding to the expanding oil frontier by invading and looting oil camps located on their hunting grounds: North American and European oil companies, which have worked south of the Napo River since the late 1970s, have resigned themselves to the fact that native forest dwellers form an integral part of their industrial environment. They treat Huaorani villages as additional camps to be serviced and provisioned in the exact same way as any other working site. By delivering food and equipment to villages whenever they operate within Huaorani territory, companies hope to avoid the looting of their forest camps and the occupation of their well sites. During the seismic survey programs of 1989 and 1990, I saw helicopters fly weekly to every village and deliver what was usually given to oil workers: rations of food, pots, axes, gardening tools, tents, medicine, and so forth. (Rival, 2002: 168)

During fieldwork in 1996–1997 in the Huaorani villages of Huentaro and Quehueiri-ono, I witnessed the same patterns of oil company provisioning documented by Rival – presented as ‘community development’ – undertaken by Oryx Energy Company during seismic exploration (Lu, 1999). In order to enter and work in Huaorani territory, Oryx signed an accord with Huaorani federation ONHAE on 14 January 1997, specifying the terms and conditions for completion of the seismic exploration programme. As part of the community development component to their Environmental Management Plan for Block 21, Oryx tried to increase the likelihood of smooth operations by agreeing to provide certain benefits to the Huaorani, including office equipment for the Huaorani federation office, air transport of delegates to the Huaorani congress held in March 1997, food provisions, employment opportunities and school supplies. Two of the most important measures for the purpose of this study were: (1) Oryx agreed to hire residents (men) of the Huaorani reserve as workers during seismic exploration (a few as ‘community relations’ people – some of whose job descriptions included policing their own people to avoid theft – but most as macheteros clearing seismic lines); and (2) Oryx would implement a food drop programme in which bags of supplies would be delivered by helicopter to the affected villages (Oryx, 1997). Practically all able-bodied men in the villages agreed to work for the oil company.

5.5.1

Sharing among the Huaorani

For the Huaorani of Quehueiri-ono and Huentaro, data were collected on dietary intake and sharing patterns pre-oil exploration (1996), during petroleum exploration (1997), and post-exploration (2001). Among the avid hunters of the Huaorani of these villages, sharing was found to be a way to cope with the vicissitudes of this subsistence activity. In a study of Huaorani hunting encompassing 92 post-hunt interviews, I found that hunting is an endeavour characterised by extremely variable rates of return (Lu, 1999). Of the 92 hunts analysed, 23 were unsuccessful, with hunters returning empty-

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handed. The mean caloric return from a hunt was 8277 calories, with a standard deviation of 13 753 calories. Moreover, inter-hunter success is asynchronous because men usually use different trails and hunt alone (in 68% of recorded hunts men were not accompanied by other men). Furthermore, this asynchrony results from differing hunting aptitudes. The individual mean hunting returns of men over age 20 ranged from 0.12 to 4.16 kg hr1 : Without culturally valued practices of inter-household food transfers, or sharing, the fact that hunters have different skill levels in harvesting game, use different areas of the forest and are all subject to failed hunting excursions would impose a high likelihood of shortfall on the family’s consumption of meat, the most valued food in the diet. Among the Huaorani, more variable resources are shared more, a finding congruent with a risk mitigation perspective (Lu, 1999). Although hunted foods (game, fish) represent 16% of total food consumed, they represent 53% of total interhousehold exchanges and are exchanged significantly more than other types of food (p , 0.0001). According to Hames (1990), in order to smooth out the variability in acquisition rates, large animals should be shared the most, followed by, in descending order, small game, fish, gathered foods and gardened foods, a pattern he found among the Yanomamo. I calculated the proportion of the number of times that each of these food types was the product of inter-household exchange over the number of times it was eaten. Large game was shared 58% of the time, followed by small game, fish, gathered foods and gardened foods. Large game was shared almost 10 times more frequently than gardened foods. Among the Huaorani, the inter-household transfer of food is biased toward foods of high variance in acquisition, such as hunted foods. Within the category of hunted foods, large animals, the most variable items, were shared the most often. For the Huaorani, then, sharing is a cultural value through which people emphasise generosity and giving as a means of maintaining kinship and friendships, but it is also a means of dealing with the subsistence risk of living in a rainforest environment.

5.5.2

Dietary intake: food categories

In light of these ‘traditional’ sharing patterns among the Huaorani, I turn to a discussion of changes in dietary patterns and inter-household transfers during the period of seismic exploration. Figure 5.1 shows the contributions of five different food categories to the Huaorani diet before and during Oryx’s presence near Quehueiri-ono. The categories are: hunted and fished, gardened, gathered, purchased and raised. Purchased food comprises processed and manufactured edible items that are bought, sold and (in the case of Oryx) donated, and ‘raised’, refers to small stock and domestic animals (e.g. eggs and the chickens). One way to understand Oryx’s influence on the Huaorani diet is to examine changes in three food categories – hunted, gardened and purchased – and note the frequency (percentage of days sampled) with which a particular category of food was consumed. During oil exploration, the consumption of hunted and fished foods dropped from 22.3% (111 observations) of the Huaorani diet to 8.8% (30 observations). In particular, the capture of peccaries and monkeys dropped dramatically after

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Figure 5.1: Food categories as percentage of Huaorani diet pre-Oryx and during Oryx. Pre-Oryx

During Oryx

70 60

Percentage

50 40 30 20 10 0

Hunted and fished

Gardened

Gathered

Purchased

opportunities for petroleum wage labour took many male heads of household away from their families; these prized animals are not easily captured by women and children, most of whom are not proficient in the use of a shotgun. The dietary contribution of birds and rodents did not drop as drastically. Birds are ubiquitous (an exception being the larger guans and currasows which are easily overhunted), so boys with blowguns can hunt them with some effectiveness. Women can kill rodents (such as agoutis and pacas) during opportunistic garden hunts. In comparison to peccaries and monkeys, birds and rodents are plentiful and can be found closer to the village, are less dangerous to hunt, and can be killed easily with weapons other than shotguns. The consumption of gardened foods also dropped during food provisioning, but not as precipitously as that of hunted foods. The contribution of the chacra (garden plot) declined from pre-Oryx levels of 62.6% (311 observations) to 31.9% (109 observations). Manioc and plantains provided the bulk of the pre-Oryx Huaorani diet and almost all of the carbohydrates, but the consumption of these gardened foods was cut in half as the consumption of company-donated rice increased. As Oryx cut seismic lines, Huaorani women and children were eating fewer bananas, pineapples and papayas. While this could be a simple matter of substituting purchased foods for gardened foods, it may also be attributable to the fact that gardens were neglected while nearly all of the able-bodied men – who typically assist in clearing and weeding – were away working for the company and potentially because of the ‘sit and wait’ behaviours described earlier. The consumption of purchased foods replaced other categories among the Huaorani, rising to almost 9 times pre-Oryx levels, from 7.4% (37 observations) to 59.1% (202 observations). Purchased items included, but were not limited to, rice, noodles, canned tuna, drink mix, oatmeal, sugar, flour and coffee, food

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items delivered to the community as part of the helicopter-delivered rations1 but also obtained through Huaorani visits to the oil camps.

5.5.3

Dietary intake: food providers

Not only did the types of foods consumed change during seismic exploration, but so did the providers of that food (Figure 5.2). Before seismic exploration and the entrance of Oryx, the bulk of the diet (58.4%; 297 observations) was provided by female heads of household, and over 92% (274 observations) of this food came from the garden. The male head of household provided 13.1% (65 observations) of the diet, which is important because the food types he provided complemented those of his wife. The majority (67.7%; 44 observations) of the male pre-Oryx contribution involved proteinrich hunted or fished foods, while gathered foods comprised 15.4% (10 observations) of his overall contribution, while, for female heads of household, gathered foods comprised 5.1% (15 observations) of the overall contribution. This may reflect the ease of collecting forest foods while out hunting. The pre-Oryx purchased foods were mostly supplied by men, who earned money by selling meat, live animals, handicrafts or crops, and who decided when to go on purchasing expeditions at the nearest market. Sharing and exchange between related households reaffirms kinship ties and represents an important source of food. Of the food surveyed, 15.9% (79 observations) Figure 5.2: Percentage of diet provided by different sources as a function of oil company presence. Pre-Oryx

Oryx

70 60

Percentage of diet

50 40 30 20 10 0

Father

Mother

Son

Daughter Provider

Other household

Flora

Oil company

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was provided to households by other households. Like many other hunter–gatherer populations, the majority of food shared by the Huaorani is meat (51.9%; 41 observations). Surprisingly, horticultural food is widely shared as well (31.65%; 25 observations), perhaps to assist families whose gardens are not producing at the time. The food provided by ‘Flora’ refers to that provided by the author during fieldwork and was composed of purchased foods such as rice, tuna and cookies. The contributions of all the usual providers changed dramatically when Oryx began to operate in the area. The amount of food provided by fathers dropped by more than two-thirds percentage-wise (65 observations to 10 observations), and the percentage of the diet provided by mothers was nearly cut in half (from 297 to 110 observations). As families were allocated identical individual rations by the oil company, the amount of sharing between relatives (i.e. the percentage of the diet coming from other households) fell to one-third of the pre-Oryx level (79 to 19 observations). The oil company came into this part of Huaorani territory and usurped the roles of traditional food providers – fathers, mothers and other kin. In a short period, Oryx went from having no role in food provisioning to supplying over half of the total Huaorani diet. Under the guise of ‘community development’, the oil company’s wage labour and food drop programmes disrupted normal Huaorani family dynamics, gender roles and livelihoods, undermining the independence and reciprocity that is the basis for their food security and sovereignty.

5.5.4

Inter-household sharing before and after community development

As families were allocated their rations by the oil company, the amount of sharing between households decreased from 18% to 6%. If the sole function of sharing is the reaffirmation of kin ties and sociality, it could be expected that food rations would be shared as well. A risk theory of sharing, by contrast, predicts that the food provided by Oryx would not be exchanged between households. The oil company food drop programme, in which white bags containing identical allotments of items such as rice, sugar, tuna, lard and drink mix were helicoptered in from time to time essentially eliminated variability in the acquisition of food. All households received exactly the same varieties of food, in the same quantities, and at the same time. The inter-forager correlation of food acquisition was equal to one, and there was no risk mitigation benefit in sharing. Oryx’s food donations, apart from being composed of items appealing in terms of their taste (i.e. salty, fatty, sugary) and prestige (i.e. food of the city), required no time or effort to acquire. As visits to other households usually centre on food sharing, the social life in the village became more subdued during this period.

5.6

PART TWO: RETURN TO NORMALCY?

Oryx did not find commercially viable amounts of oil in this area of Huaorani territory. In the beginning of 2001, a period not characterised by petroleum exploitation activities, I returned to the same Huaorani villages and found that social and

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economic patterns were similar to those witnessed before seismic exploration. Interhousehold transfers were once again prevalent. In the input–output household diaries, residents were asked if they had received any item from another household that day and if they had shared with other households that day. Fully 41.7% of participants and 43.4% of household-days witnessed such receiving and giving, respectively. Approximately 95% of the items transferred between households were food, indicating the predominantly subsistence-oriented nature of inter-household resource transfers. In terms of diet, the hunting orientation of the Huaorani was clear: of 1112 householddays of dietary checklists, 69% of the days witnessed the consumption of meat from hunted animals, whereas domestic or purchased meat was consumed on only 4% of the days (unfortunately, the dietary data from this time do not allow for a further breakdown of intake of purchased vs. non-purchased foods). Data from time allocation found that visiting other households is a common social activity, encompassing approximately 11% of the diurnal time budget of Huaorani informants, indicating the prevalence of this activity that centres on the exchange of food. However, despite the return to patterns of sharing seen before seismic exploration, Oryx’s presence caused fissures and factions to become exacerbated in the community. The main fault line of tension was between two kin groups, the ‘upriver’ Huaorani versus the ‘downriver’ Huaorani, codified in their Ecuadorian ID cards as their last names of Irumenga and Enomenga, respectively. Before Oryx’s entrance into the community, Quehueiri-ono was composed of four main factions: upriver Huaorani, downriver Huaorani, the family of Owe, and families related to both upriver and downriver Huaorani. By the end of 1996, when I was conducting dissertation fieldwork, there were 18 households. One year later, at the end of 1997, there were 10 families in Quehueiri-ono. The presence of Oryx inflamed already existing tensions between the two clans. The Irumengas, as the name implied, went upriver to a community called Huentaro. It was founded around 1993 by a couple, a ‘downriver’ man married to an ‘upriver’ woman. The man had strained relations with his fellow Enomengas, however, mostly due to unpaid debts and theft. This couple split off from Quehueiri-ono after the death of their 13-year-old daughter (death attributed to sorcery by the Shuar). Huentaro’s founding family lived in that village, located about a two to three hour hike from Quehueiri-ono, mostly on their own for many years, and it was not until after the experience with Oryx that many more families came to join them. Oryx, like all oil companies operating in indigenous territories in the Oriente, sought to expedite their dealings with Huaorani villages by identifying and operating via a community representative, or leader, despite the fact that Huaorani culture is highly egalitarian and leadership tends to be situational and temporary. They found that ‘leader’ in Moi Enomenga, the subject of multiple articles by the journalist Joe Kane (1993, 1994, 1995), who was at the time working with the tourism agency Tropic to bring ecotourism to Quehueiri-ono. Moi, with his international fame, bilingual skills and positioning in the community, went on Oryx’s payroll as one of the people doing relaciones comunitarias for the company. This meant that benefits from the oil company were manoeuvred, directed and hoarded to Moi’s kin and allies, to the detriment to the Irumengas. This led to hostility and resentment; one informant said that Moi was taking much of the money given to Quehueiri-ono in the name of the

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community but for himself. As time passed, the remaining Irumengas went upriver to join residents of Huentaro, and by the end of 1997, there were around seven families living there. On the other hand, some Enomengas, as their name implies, went downriver to live in a settlement near a logging concession they themselves contracted (Nenquepare). And a few families went to a place called Gareno, the subject of the next section. The families still remaining by the school in Quehueiri-ono tended to be those who had enough relations with both factions to live in the village but were not closely related enough to move with the Irumengas and Enomengas when they split. To summarise, the presence of Oryx had substantial immediate and lingering effects among these Huaorani households. Data collected previous to, during and after seismic exploration point to changes in dietary intake, providers of food and prevalence of sharing between households. In addition, it was the first demonstration for many of these residents of the spoils involved in oil-sponsored ‘community development’, including badly wanted wage labour opportunities and free food. Of course, there were multiple levels of access to these benefits; for instance, certain men (like Moi) would be offered physically easy tasks as a community relations officer, for example, while others would wield a machete all day. These disparities ran counter to the Huaorani values; fed on existing social tensions in these villages that, since missionary contact, were filled with distantly related and non-kin; and in the absence of good conflict-resolution mechanisms, resulted in fissioning and household mobility.

5.7

PART THREE: LIVING ALONG THE OIL ROAD IN GARENO

Gareno is a community of 16 households (two Kichwa and the rest Huaorani) living along an oil road a few hours’ drive from Tena. Between the period of 1997 and 2001, at least three or four Huaorani households formerly residing in Quehueiri-ono and Huentaro moved westward and founded Gareno (Figure 5.3). In 2003, most of the families in Huentaro left, leaving only one extended household (a man, his two wives, their children and one son-in-law). When asked why they left Huentaro, one woman said that there was conflict with the family who remained; the final straw came over the use and location of the shortwave radio. In August of 2002, the then-Huaorani federation OHNAE held a congreso during which Pedro Enqueri, one of the dirigentes (leaders), called people to come move to Gareno so that with a critical mass, ‘Perenco would come and give us things’. According to informants who chose to stay in the Shiripuno River communities, Gareno drew some Huaorani like a magnet, with visions of petroleum company handouts, employment and bounty. Residents who stayed in Huentaro said, ‘They left because they wanted to live by the road. They live badly there, because they have problems with the oil company . . . every so often there is a strike, because they want the company to give them food and they don’t. They want the company to give them everything in Gareno.’ And give it did: the French oil company Perenco has provided infrastructure, goods and services to Gareno (and other indigenous communities in Block 21), from a covered playground (cancha cubierta; used for soccer, volleyball and basketball), medical centre and school house, to medicines, school supplies and piped water. Since

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Figure 5.3: Map of Huaorani study communities. ca Co

ECUADOR

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their arrival in the early 2000s, Perenco spent anywhere from US $3000 to US $11 000 a year on ‘community and education projects’ in Gareno. And every week, on Fridays, the oil company sent a truck to take Gareno residents to the local market, or feria, about 12 km away. All this would dissipate under the administration of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who expelled Perenco for failure to meet its tax obligations. Perenco, unlike other international oil companies operating in Ecuador (e.g. Repsol, Petrobras), did not accommodate the escalating demands of Correa’s government for control and revenue sharing and threatened to shut off its facilities in 2007 when Rafael Correa raised taxes (Mapstone, 2009). Perenco abandoned its facilities in summer 2009, and Petroamazonas, a subsidiary of Ecuador’s state-owned oil company Petroecuador, took over crude production. According to the residents of Gareno, under Petroamazonas, truck transport to market is one of the few Perenco-era benefits that they still receive.

5.7.1

The feria: oil company-facilitated market access

Every Friday the oil company Perenco supplies transport for Gareno residents to go to the feria, an outdoor market on the banks of the Napo River. We gather at the road at 7:30 in the morning and wait to be brought there on the back of the camioneta, like cattle. The Huaorani bring various things to sell, from smoked meat to live caymans to large land snails. At the market, they wander up and down a dusty road with about 25 stalls selling food, clothes, shoes, toiletries and gasoline. One man sold lukewarm fish from the back of his truck. The vendors tend to be mestizos while the customers are indigenous, and the latter are treated with condescension and disdain. The Huaorani

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buy ice cream, bread and balls of popcorn in obscene neon colours. The prices of staples such as rice, sugar and canned foods are about 25–50% higher than in Quito. Huaorani women report buying things such as tomatoes, onions, rice, noodles, seasonings (e.g. sugar, salt), cooking oil, canned tuna, soap, matches and candles. The men mostly buy alcohol, from the only permanent building in the locale, a shack with a small deck lined with plastic chairs. And they come back to the village in the last camioneta of the day, drunk. Reports abound of domestic abuse, of women with their eyes swollen shut, of wives who try to avoid being home Friday or Saturday, staying with other family until their husbands sober up.

5.7.2

Roads, markets and trade-offs

In interviews conducted in 2001, people weighed the pros and cons of roads and markets. The pros centre around the ease of transport: ‘with roads and cars that can carry us, we don’t have to walk as much and carry game, which is tiring and makes the body ache. With the market closer, you can go to buy and sell more times.’ With road access, one can leave quickly in an emergency, sell crafts and products, and facilitate more tourism. On the other hand, there are many drawbacks as well: roads interfere with animal movement and the noise drives animals away; roads bring in loggers and colonists who use up resources; and roads increase the possibility of contact with thieves and guerrillas (FARC, from Colombia). With the road, girls, women and spouses leave, while diseases, rubbish and pollution enter. Given the trade-offs, most of the Huaorani feel it is better to have the intact forest rather than a road, since the forest is ‘important for the future, for all, not just for now’. But the ambivalence is also clear, as many said they would accept roads and markets ‘if they don’t affect us’. Neither community studied in 2001, however, was in close proximity to a road, so in 2009, we revisited this topic and asked residents of Quehueiri-ono and Gareno what they saw as the advantages and disadvantages of roads and markets (Tables 5.1 and 5.2, respectively). Their responses are summarised below, with each line representing one respondent. While 40% of respondents in Quehueiri-ono perceived no advantages to being near a road and having easier market access, only 10% of Gareno informants felt the same way. While residents in the former community cited business and consumer benefits to roads and markets, those in Gareno gave other reasons as well, including ease of evacuation in case of a medical emergency and better educational opportunities. Respondents in both communities named similar ecological, health and social disadvantages of roads and markets, from defaunation, contamination and noise to theft, alcoholism and ‘damaging’ of people. In light of these stated problems and concerns, why did these Huaorani families leave the verdant forests of the Shiripuno River region to live in Gareno? While some informants back in Huentaro and Quehueiri-ono cite oil company handouts as a monocausal explanation, residents in Gareno spoke about their ancestral ties to the land on which the community sits and desire to defend it against intrusion: ‘Here it is the land of my father, Tagae . . . He came with Monca, Dabo, Gome, Pego – five founders. It was back during the time when they didn’t wear clothes.’ The return of the Irumengas to Gareno made sense in light of the pre-contact practice of returning to

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Table 5.1: Quehueiri-ono responses to advantages and disadvantages to the road and market. Advantages

Disadvantages

Can sell handicrafts None None None Markets good, not roads Markets so don’t have to leave, none for roads Can move for business Business None Mobility easier Can buy things

Damages forest, don’t want roads or markets nearby Contamination; better that the forest is clean Animals leave, there is no food Robbers, ‘damaged’ people die, there are accidents — Can’t maintain forest More problems, more foreign people People forget culture Poverty Difficulty communicating Contamination

Table 5.2: Gareno responses to advantages and disadvantages to the road and market. Advantages

Disadvantages

Buy and sell things, road and market important Can get out in case of emergency, wants to be neither far nor near road Can sell products easily, road is important Know of products to sell, road important in case someone needs to leave for sickness Easier to sell products, go to town, good for studies For people to visit, to buy from market

There is nothing bad about them

None Different foods Can sell local products Buy and sell products, studies for the kids

A lot of ruckus, less tranquility Alcoholism, if not careful land will be empty People are thieves

Liquor, need forest where children can grow Where there is a road, throw rubbish, better not to have one Better to live in forest with animals Forest is sick Destroys health Drink is bad, road came with problems

former settlement areas cyclically, as some of the Gareno residents lived in the same region in their youth, before they moved to Dayuno and eventually to Quehueiri-ono and Huentaro. While this cyclical mobility is not new, what has changed is the presence of these multinational corporations and the associated services and infrastructures they bring. In addition to having better access to markets and escaping social conflicts in previous residences, residents in Gareno emphasise the importance

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of the educational opportunities for their children, namely the presence of a high school. A majority of the community, 68%, over the age of 6 has some primary education, 24% of the community has some secondary education, 4% has no formal education and 4% has gone to technical school. One question asked was if their last residence was better or worse than their current community. In Gareno, 66% of people said living in Gareno is better. Reasons included that it is calmer, the work is good, and the road provides ease of transport. Seventeen per cent of people said it was the same and another 17% of people said it was worse because there are fewer animals and unclean water. In Quehueiri-ono, 69% of respondents said that Quehueiri-ono is better than previous communities, 31% said that it was the same and one person had lived in Quehueiri-ono his whole life. Reasons for why Quehueiri-ono is better included that there are better trails, it is calmer, there is a school, and that there are fewer mosquitoes. Gareno residents recognise the environmental costs they pay by living along the oil road. Chlorine from the petroleum activities has killed plant and riverine life; the river is so dirty that people drink rainwater instead. Plantain and manioc crops have suffered, and the noise from the traffic scares fauna away. One woman said that back in Quehueiri-ono, ‘We used to eat meat, chicha, chocula, plantains, oritos . . . in contrast here, here they are lacking. We have to search; when there is not manioc and plantains, we have to buy rice and sardines so that we can eat. Here there is not a lot of game – you have to bring it from far away.’ In Gareno, all interviewees replied that there was pollution in the community and that it included refuse, petroleum, water pollution, and air polluted with chemicals. ‘Before, all the fish in the river died, all of them. In 2006, the company [Perenco] dumped chloro (chlorine), dirty water, into the Gareno River and we didn’t know at the time what happened. When we protested to the company, they gave us four generators.’ In Quehueiri-ono 6 of 10 respondents said that there was no pollution in the community. Of the four that said there was, responses included that there was pollution from having no bathrooms and that there was rubbish and plastic bottles. Ten people in Gareno and 11 in Quehueiri-ono were interviewed about ecological topics. When asked about hunting, 90% of respondents in Gareno said they use firearms but only 30% still use blowguns. In Quehueiri-ono 81% of people responded that they use a gun and 36% said they use a blowgun as well. In both communities, hunting is conducted two to four times a month for a duration of four to eight hours per excursion. When asked about prey which are difficult to find, in Gareno people named spider monkeys, collared peccaries, tapirs, agoutis, woolly monkeys, howler monkeys and deer. In response to the question, ‘Are there a lot of animals now?’, the current president of Gareno said, ‘Here there are few, it is more difficult in this community, petroleum extraction is very noisy and there is a large population in the community’. When asked if he missed Huentaro, he said, ‘Yes, because there were many fish . . . animals, and it was good as there was a salt lick where all the birds would come.’ Eighty per cent of respondents in Gareno answered that there is not an abundance of animals because of the noise, the road and high human population density. In contrast, in Quehueiri-ono 90% of respondents answered that there are many animals due to the lack of petroleum exploitation and a road.

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5.7.3

Household economics: comparison of Quehueiri-ono and Gareno

In 2009, a project co-led by the author collected 843 household-days (314 from Quehueiri-ono and 529 from Gareno) of a budget study of inputs, outputs and dietary intake. How do these household economic data vary from a community deep in the forest with an ecotourism project (Quehueiri-ono) versus a community along an oil road (Gareno)? Figure 5.4 shows the results of various inputs into a household (from ‘food gotten from the forest’ to ‘rental income’, meaning rental of a canoe or other possession rather than of a home) and outputs from a household (from ‘buy food and drink’ to ‘travel costs’), by frequency. The categories that stand out are that Quehueiriono households report selling handicrafts over three times more often (20.1% to 6.6%; not surprising given their access to tourists), and Gareno households report buying food and drink four times more often (25% versus 6.1%; a reflection of the ease of their market access and, perhaps, the relative scarcity of natural resources). Interestingly, given the previous discussion of the Oryx case study, Gareno households report receiving things from other households more often than families in Quehueiri-ono (8.1% versus 5.4%) and they report giving or sharing things with other households on 19.8% of the sampled household-days, compared to 4.5% for Quehueiri-ono. During the time of the study, Gareno residents were not receiving oil company food aid, but instead found themselves with a paucity of game locally and expensive prices at the

Figure 5.4: Input/output household results for Quehueiri-ono and Gareno in 2009. Quehueiri-ono

Gareno

F Se ood ll Percentage of household days sampled ag fro ric m ul the t Se Sell ura for ll fo l p est do re ro m st du W Se esti ani ct or k ll c a ma ou h tsi C Bu and nim l de om sin ic al G I ift e ra n o fro N ter- f th mun ss s fts e h m on o c ity ale no -fo use om w s n- od ho m or co f ld un k m ore s it m st ha y un r ri i e n Bu Re ty msou g Bu y nt emrce Bu y h foo al i be y ou d a nco r Bu goo seh nd me y ds old dri n c f Bu loth or b goo k y ing usi ds pe o ne G rs r s iv Bu ona sho s e/ s e h M ar B y m l ite s in eo u e m ga d Pa th y f ic s ,P y er or ine re wa ho fa sta ge us rm m s eh an os G for old En fo iv wo te r h e a rk rta o g in us ift m eh Tr ent old av co el st co s sts

60% 50%

40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Input or output

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Figure 5.5: Dietary checklist results for Quehueiri-ono and Gareno in 2009. Quehueiri-ono

Gareno

90%

Percentage of household days eaten

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

Fo re st Ri gam ve e r M fi Pl an sh ai io nt c Po a ta V Ch ins to e ic /sw ge h ee tab a t p les ot a Co to I Fo ns rn re ec s ts D om t nu Pu es Fr ts rc tic ui ha m ts se ea d t m Ch ic D eat ke ai O n e ry th g e g Le r eg s gu gs m es N Ric oo e Pu dl r G cha Br es ra se ea in d d , n Ca oat uts nn me ed al Co f is ok h i D Can es rin d k y A mi lc x oh o So l da

0%

Food type

feria. Additionally, Gareno residents report higher frequencies of buying medicine, buying items for personal use and agricultural purposes, and working outside the community. Figure 5.5 shows the results of a dietary checklist study, which ascertained whether households did or did not consume food in various categories that day. Quehueiri-ono residents ate forest game a higher percentage of days studied, 46.5% versus 31.4% for Gareno residents. Gareno residents reported eating rice, noodles, bread and candy more often, but also more canned fish and river fish. They also reported higher frequencies of eating manioc and plantains. Differences in food intake were not as stark as expected; clearly Quehueiri-ono residents also have access to purchased foods via ecotourism activities. The main contrast was the incidence of consumption of forest game, a culturally highly valued food for the Huaorani (Holt et al., 2004).

5.8

CONCLUSIONS

The Huaorani case study of oil development is an example of many decades of sporadic, violent confrontation between these indigenous people and outsiders, but only relatively recent sustained oil company presence and negotiation in Huaorani territory. Conoco’s entrance into Huaorani territory in the early 1990s and leasing of Block 16 was a watershed moment in this new era (Hall, 1992). This case provides insights into the process of extraction which are qualitatively different from, say, the

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50 years of anguish in the Niger Delta, the recent upheaval of fishermen and other resource-dependent household livelihoods in the Gulf Coast at the hands of British Petroleum, or even the situation of other indigenous groups in Ecuador who were devastated by oil companies such as Texaco (now Chevron) decades ago. In this case study of three Huaorani villages, I document the impact of oil company policies and influence during the early stages of extraction. In addition to provisioning wage labour and building roads, these impacts include community ‘development’ programmes such as food drops and market transport. Some key findings include: •

•

•

Oil company programmes and influence can have undesirable social repercussions such as undermining sharing patterns and reciprocity. Understanding interhousehold food transfers as a means of coping with subsistence risk can help explain why in Quehueiri-ono people shared less during Oryx’s period of influence but in Gareno they currently share more. In the former, the oil company provided identical food provisions concurrently to households while, in the latter case, during the study period people were not being provided with food and faced game scarcity and high prices for purchased food. The experience of oil extraction for these Huaorani families appears to magnify tendencies and dynamics that people already had or were experiencing, such as intra-community tensions which boiled over in light of conflict over the distribution of oil company benefits. Oil creates community inequality, dissention, and even fissioning as some members of the villages are elevated over others. Data presented here from three villages demonstrate intra- and inter-community variability, rejecting assumptions that communities are harmonious and uniform. For example, there are substantial intra-ethnic differences in people’s trade-offs and aspirations. Some individuals refuse to live along an oil road, such as one informant who said, ‘I cannot accept damage like the oil company, with the road, illnesses, oil, chemicals, rotten air, contaminated rivers, cars that kill animals’. Others decide that the disadvantages are outweighed by advantages. People recognise the trade-offs of various actions, and while they may not have incredible foresight, they try to weigh the varied costs and benefits of different opportunities. In the case of Gareno, people see that the ecological conditions are worse than their previous settlements, but the fact that they have a historical connection to that location is meaningful, as is the virtue of getting away from problematic individuals. Some Huaorani value the ability to have market access, and many want better educational services for their children. And these calculations change over time – certain families who moved deeper into the forest by leaving Quehueiri-ono to live in Huentaro, later left Huentaro to live in Gareno.

These complex factors and forces contrast with the often two-dimensional coverage of oil-related issues in the media, where massive spills and other catastrophes take centre stage. Some environmental injustices, however, are more blatant than others. The importance of understanding the wide range of impacts of extraction on indigenous people requires the development and application of an EJ framework poised to illuminate these dynamics in a nuanced, rigorous and compelling manner.

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The growing scholarship on international EJ issues needs to take seriously local experiences, undertake fine-grained study using a variety of methodological approaches and trace struggles longitudinally. Finally, as the EJ movement recognises, the oppression and injustices felt by one region are caused by multi-scalar dynamics, reflecting the actions of transnational corporations and the globalised flows of capital, labour and pollution. The sociopolitical, economic, ecological and cultural changes wrought by oil extraction in Ecuador implicate the United States. In 2009, Ecuador sent 182 000 barrels of crude oil a day to the United States and was their 13th largest supplier worldwide. The Ecuadorian government has zoned approximately 65% of its Amazon region for oil activities, an estimated 52 000 km2 : Concession blocks overlap the ancestral or titled lands of 10 indigenous groups (Finer et al., 2009). Across the Western Amazon (including parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil), around 180 oil and gas blocks cover approximately 688 000 km2 of forest (Finer et al., 2008). The application of an EJ frame illuminates unequal environmental exposures due to transnational and global inequalities while recognising the agency, diversity and complexity of local communities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (SBR-9603008 and BCS-0822967), the Inter-American Foundation Field Research Grant, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sigma Xi, and the National Institutes of Health (R01-HD38777–01). I am indebted to my Ecuadorian collaborators Ana On˜a, Kati ´ lvarez, Alicia Ruı´z, EcoCiencia, CEPAR, the team of field researchers (especially A ´ lvarez, Citlali Doljanin and David Hidrobo), and especially Gladis Aguirre, Eliecer A the participating indigenous communities of Huentaro, Quehueiri-ono and Gareno. I am also grateful to Paul Leslie, Dick Bilsborrow, Steve Walsh, Bruce Winterhalder, Jason Bremner, Clark Gray, Brian Frizzelle, Nickie Irvine, Bill Durham, Constanza Ocampo Raeder, Gaby Valdivia and Caitlin Doughty. I recognise support from the Carolina Population Center, the Department of Anthropology and the Curriculum in Ecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at UCSC, and the Division of Social Sciences at UCSC. Thank you to the members of the Translational and Local Dynamics in the Andes (TILDA) Research Cluster at UCSC for their comments on an earlier version of this chapter. Finally, I give my sincere thanks to my husband, Simon Barrett.

ENDNOTE 1.

The food provided by the oil company was inferior to the normal diet; the rations were composed of processed and refined foods, mostly cheaper carbohydrates and little protein (5 lb of white rice but only 12 oz of canned tuna). Moreover, at each ration distribution, a family would receive 5 lb of white sugar and 4.5 lb of salt.

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REFERENCES Agrawal, A. and Gibson, C.C. (2001). Communities and the Environment: Ethnicity, Gender, and the State in Community-Based Conservation. Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, NJ. Agyeman, J., Bullard, R.D. and Evans, B. (2002). Exploring the nexus: bringing together sustainability, environmental justice and equity. Space and Polity. 6, 1: 77–90. Almeida, A. and Proan˜o, J. (2008). Tigre, Aguila y Waorani, Una Sola Selva, Una Sola Lucha: Deuda Ecologica de las Transnacionales Petroleras con el Pueblo Waorani y el Parque Nacional Yasunı´. Accio´n Ecolo´gica, Quito, Ecuador. Beckerman, S., Erickson, P.I., Yost, J., Regalado, J., Jaramillo, L., Sparks, C., Irumenga, M. and Long, K. (2009). Life histories, blood revenge, and reproductive success among the Waorani of Ecuador. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106: 8134–8139. Bullard, R.D. (1994). Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, CA. CESR (Center for Economic and Social Rights). (1994). Rights Violations in the Ecuadorian Amazon: The Human Consequences of Oil Development. CESR, New York, NY. Cepek, M. (2008). Essential commitments: identity and the politics of Cofa´n conservation. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 13, 1: 196–222. Cole, L.W. and Foster, S.R. (2001). From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. New York University Press, New York, NY. Ejikeme, A. (2010). The oil spills we don’t hear about. New York Times. 4 June. Available at: www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/opinion/05iht-edejikeme.html?ref¼royal-dutch-shell-plc. Accessed March 2012. Faber, D. (1998). The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States. Guilford, New York, NY. Finer, M., Jenkins, C.N., Pimm, S.L., Keane, B. and Ross, C. (2008). Oil and gas projects in the Western Amazon: threats to wilderness, biodiversity and indigenous peoples. PLoS ONE. 3, 8: e2932. Finer, M., Vijay, V., Ponce, F., Jenkins, C.N. and Kahn, T.R. (2009). Ecuador’s Yasunı´ Biosphere Reserve: a brief modern history and conservation challenges. Environmental Research Letters. 4: 1–15. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). (2005). State of the World’s Forests, 2005. FAO, Rome. Hall, S.E.A. (1992). Conoco’s ‘Green’ Oil Strategy. Case N9–392–133. Harvard Business School, Boston, MA. Hames, R. (1990). Sharing among the Yanomamo, Part I, The effects of risk. In: Cashden, E. (Ed). Risk and Uncertainty in Tribal and Peasant Economies. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, pp. 89– 106. Herbert, B. (2010). Disaster in the Amazon. New York Times. 4 June. Available at: www.nytimes.com/ 2010/06/05/opinion/05herbert.html?ref¼Ecuador. Accessed March 2012. Herrera-Macbryde, O. and Neill, D. (1997). Yasuni National Park and Waorani Ethnic Reserve, Ecuador. In: Heywood, V.H., Davis, S.D., Herrera-MacBryde, O., Villa-Lobos, J. and Hamilton, A.C. (Eds). Centres of Plant Diversity: A Guide and Strategy for Their Conservation, Volume 3: The Americas. IUCN Publications Unit, Cambridge, pp. 344–348. Holt, F.L., Bilsborrow, R.E. and On˜a, A.I. (2004). Demography, Household Economics, and Land and Resource Use of Five Indigenous Populations in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon: A Summary of Ethnographic Research. Occasional Paper. Carolina Population Center. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. Hurtig, A.-K. and San Sebastia´n, M. (2002). Geographical differences in cancer incidence in the Amazon basin of Ecuador in relation to residence near oil fields. International Journal of Epidemiology. 31: 1021–1027. Kane, J. (1993). With spears from all sides. The New Yorker. 27 September, pp. 54–79. Kane, J. (1994). Moi goes to Washington. The New Yorker. 2 May, pp. 74–81. Kane, J. (1995). Savages. Knopf, New York, NY.

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Kimerling, J. (1991a). Amazon Crude. Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC. Kimerling, J. (1991b). Disregarding environmental law: petroleum development in protected natural areas and indigenous homelands in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Hastings International and Comparative Law Review. 14: 840–903. Kimerling, J. (1993). Crudo Amazo´nico. Abda Yala, Quito. Kimerling, J. (1996). Oil, lawlessness and indigenous struggles in Ecuador’s Oriente. In: Collinson, H. (Ed). Green Guerillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Latin America Bureau, London, pp. 61–73. Larrick, J.W., Yost, J.A., Kaplan, J.E., King, G. and Mayhall, J. (1979). Patterns of health and disease among the Waorani Indians of Eastern Ecuador. Medical Anthropology. 3, 2:147–189. Lu, F. (1999). Changes in Subsistence Patterns and Resource Use of the Huaorani Indians in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Ph.D. Dissertation. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. Lu, F. (2007). Integration into the market among indigenous peoples: a cross-cultural perspective from the Ecuadorian Amazon. Current Anthropology. 48, 4: 593–602. Mapstone, N. (2009). France’s Perenco oil company leaves Ecuador amid tax dispute. Americas Quarterly. 24 July 2009. Available at: http://americasquarterly.org/perenco-ecuador-correa. Accessed March 2012. Marx, E. (2010). The fight for Yasuni. Science. 330: 1170–1171. Miller, T.C. (2003). The hunt for black gold leaves a stain on Ecuador. Los Angeles Times, 30 November. Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B. and Kent, J. (2000). Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature. 403: 853–858. New York Times. (2010). Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Available at: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/ reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_spills/gulf_of_mexico_2010/index.html. Accessed March 2012. Nossiter, A. (2010). Far from Gulf, a spill scourge 5 decades old. New York Times. 16 June. Available at: www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/world/africa/17nigeria.html?ref¼royal-dutch-shell-plc. Accessed March 2012. Oryx. (1997). Estudio de Impacto Ambiental Para las Operaciones Sismicas de 1997 en el Bloque 21 Oryx, Ecuador. Preparado para la Subsecretaria de Proteccio´n Ambiental, Ministerio de Energia y Minas por Komex International, Ltd. Rival, L.M. (1998). Right to a way of life. Resurgence. 189 (July/August). Rival, L.M. (2002). Trekking Through History: The Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador. Columbia University Press, New York, NY. Robarchek, C.A. and Robarchek, C. (1998). Waorani: The Contexts of Violence and War. Harcourt Brace, Fort Worth, TX. Roberts, J.T. (2007). Globalizing environmental justice. In: Sandler, R. and Pezzullo, P.C. (Eds). Environmental Justice and Environmentalism: The Social Justice Challenge to the Environmental Movement. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 285–307. San Sebastia´n, M. and Hurtig, A.K. (2004). Oil exploitation in the Amazon basin of Ecuador: a public health emergency. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 15, 3: 205–11. Sandoval, F. (1992). Petro´leo y medio ambiente en la Amazonı´a Ecuatoriana. In: Tierra Viva (Ed). Amazonia Presente y. . .?. Abda Yala-ILDIS, Quito, pp. 147–189. Sandweiss, S. (1998). The social construction of environmental justice. In: Camacho, D.E. (Ed). Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class, and the Environment. Duke University Press, Durham, NC, pp. 31–57. Sawyer, S. (2004a). Crude properties: the sublime and slime of oil operations in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In: Verdery, K. and Humphrey, C. (Eds). Property in Question: Value Transformation in the Global Economy. Berg Publishers, Oxford, pp. 85–111. Sawyer, S. (2004b). Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador. Duke University Press, Durham, NC. Solano, G. (2012). Public spending fuels Ecuador leader’s popularity. ABC News. 25 January.

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Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/public-spending-fuels-ecuadorleaders-popularity-15439841 .TyTn-yMTLV0. Accessed March 2012. Watts, M. (2008). The Curse of the Black Gold. With Ed Kashi (photographer). Powerhouse Press, New York, NY. Yost, J.A. (1981). Twenty years of contact: the mechanisms of change in Wao (‘Auca’) culture. In: Whitten, N. (Ed). Cultural Transformations and Ethnicity in Modern Ecuador. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, pp. 677–704. Yost, J.A. (1992). People of the forest: The Waorani. In: Acosta-Solis, M. (Ed). Ecuador in the Shadow of Volcanoes. Ediciones Libri Mundi, Quito, pp. 95–115.

CHAPTER

6

Towards Environmental Equity in Nepalese Community Forestry Krishna K. Shrestha

6.1

INTRODUCTION

In a global movement promoting justice, democracy and sustainability, the role of local communities is being recognised as the centrepiece of natural resource management policy reforms around the world. Community forestry (CF) is now a preferred approach to equitable forest management (Colfer, 2005; Dressler et al., 2010) where planning and management activities, at least in theory, are instigated, controlled and conducted at the local community level (Li, 2002). CF is particularly popular in rural settings in developing countries (see Sunderlin, 2006) and Nepalese CF is recognised as a world leader (Kanel, 2005; Mahanty et al., 2006). Local community participation in forest management was highlighted in the seminal publication Forestry for Local Community Development (FAO, 1978) which was affirmed by the 1992 Earth Summit and reaffirmed by the 2003 World Summit in Johannesburg. Community resource management is also supported by the United Nations (WRI, 2005). Forests owned or managed by communities occupy more than 25% of the forest estates in developing countries, a figure which is expected to double by 2015 (Bull and White, 2002). CF is a popular response to the many examples of the failed top-down management of forest resources (Larson and Ribot, 2004; Li, 2002; Pulhin and Dressler, 2009). Empirical evidence supports using local groups to manage forest resources effectively (Bhattacharya et al., 2010; Dressler et al., 2010; Ostrom, 1990) with CF now considered as a vehicle to promote progressive social change and meaningful participation in conservation (e.g. Agarwal, 2009; Sikor, 2006). Supporters of CF argue that its benefits are manifold, ranging from improved plan development through to implementation (Mahanty et al., 2006; McDermott, 2009) together with the harnessing of local agency and knowledge for making and implementing contextsensitive plans (Li, 2002) to enhance equitable processes (Shrestha and McManus, International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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2007) and improve sustainable outcomes (Mahanty et al., 2006; WRI, 2005). Equity is now considered to be one of the fundamental principles of community involvement in forest management (Colfer, 2005) and a legitimate basis for community-based resource management (Li, 2002). There is a growing body of literature on equity in CF, which mainly focuses on the distribution of benefits and costs (see Mahanty et al., 2006; Dhakal and Masuda, 2009; Dressler et al., 2010; Shrestha and McManus, 2008) and correspondingly less literature on the process of decision-making in CF. Nepal is one of the pioneer countries to have instituted CF (Kanel, 2005) where equity is particularly important in alleviating poverty. Literature on Nepalese CF analyses a range of equity issues (e.g. Adhikari and Lovett, 2006; Iversen et al., 2006; Mahanty et al., 2006; Ojha, 2008; Pandit and Bevilacqua, 2011; Thoms, 2008) where some analysts have argued that CF has exacerbated the already harsh livelihoods of women and poor households (Malla et al., 2003; Shrestha and McManus, 2008; Timsina, 2003). A limited number of studies claim that the wealthy and higher castes capture the decision-making and implementation processes leading to more inequitable processes (Shrestha and McManus, 2008). This chapter examines the perceptions of environmental equity in Nepalese CF by analysing the views of various stakeholders. It will attempt to answer the following questions: .

1.

2.

What are the perceptions of environmental equity among stakeholders? a. Are the ‘poor’1 given a real opportunity to voice their opinions in the decision-making processes (i.e. voice effects)? b. What are the roles of decision-making organisations, and are they neutral, trustworthy and accountable to the people (i.e. dignitary effects)? c. Do decision-making processes and the distribution of benefits give priority to the poor (i.e. priority)? What are the reasons and implications of the particular ways of decision-making and the distribution of benefits in CF?

The chapter begins by reviewing the concept of environmental equity, followed by a brief analysis of CF policy in Nepal and an outline of the research method. The result section then presents the materials derived from the semi-structured interviews with the multiple-level stakeholders. The final section brings to bear the research findings on the concept of environmental equity, including the underlying reasons and implications of environmental inequity in Nepalese CF.

6.2

ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY IN COMMUNITY FORESTRY

A central issue in the environmental equity debate is the disproportionate exposure of the poor, women and minorities to high levels of environmental risk (Agyeman and Evans, 2004; ESRC GEC Programme, 2001; Lkeme, 2003; Ringquist, 1998) which has led to equity being narrowly understood in terms of distributional consequences of decisions (Dobson, 1998). Its scope, however, has been widened to include environmental, geographic and social equity (Bullard and Johnson, 2000; Dobson, 1998).

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Fisher (1989) argues that equity involves getting a fair share, not necessarily an equal share, while Messerschmidt (1981) believes that equity should be defined differently in the case of hierarchical societies where unequal outcomes are not necessarily seen as inequitable. The important point here is that an equitable system should not further disadvantage the poor (Gilmour and Fisher, 1991). Environmental equity is a normative concept and generally refers to ‘fairness’ in processes of decision-making (procedural equity) and distribution of outcomes (distributional equity) (see Dobson, 1998; Paavola and Adger, 2002). These two elements of fairness are interconnected. According to Lind and Earley (1992), the fairness in decisions concerns the ‘voice effects’, which suggests that a procedure is fair only when people are given the opportunity to voice their opinions. Furthermore, if procedures are seen to be fair, it is more likely that the outcomes will also be perceived to be fair (Deutsch, 2000; Lind and Earley, 1992). In this sense procedural equity is considered more as a pervasive concern than a concern for fair outcomes per se (i.e. distributive equity). Fairness of procedures also refers to the ‘dignitary effects’, which propose that the processes are fair only when people evaluate procedures based on the trust, neutrality and standing of the organisation responsible for developing and implementing a decision (Deutsch, 2000). Perceptions of procedural fairness are important as they influence how the community evaluates the decisions made by government authorities and others (Deutsch, 2000). Theories of justice are important to understand equity issues as justice can be interpreted as a rationale for equity. Justice is the indifferent (but often equal) treatment of different people. It generally attends to the questions associated with distribution of goods and services. One of the most influential contributions in the theory of justice is given by Rawls (1971: 303): All social primary goods – liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of self-respect – are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any or all of these goods is to the advantage of the least favored.

Following Rawls, inequalities should be tolerated only if people will work for the advantage of the least well-off. The need-based distribution was also highlighted by Galston (1986), who argued that basic needs of goods and services are to be fulfilled on the basis of needs, but the opportunities are to be allocated through a competition, in which all have a fair chance to participate. On the other hand, some writers opposed distribution according to the need, but argued that to do justice is to distribute in accordance with ability and hard work (Taylor, 1988). Walzer (1983) asserted that the road to an egalitarian society not only depends on equal opportunity and equality of outcomes, but on the equality of conditions or circumstances which influence the opportunities and the outcomes. He argued: ‘[an] equal start is also important in addition to [an] open road . . . today’s inequalities of opportunities derive from yesterday’s victories and defeats’ (Walzer, 1983: 144). Justice is also interpreted on the basis of entitlement (Nozick, 1974; Sen, 1999). In the theories of justice, the concepts of equity and equality are central. Equality broadly refers to the same (i.e. equal) in size, amount, value and number, of the matter

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under consideration, while equity refers to fairness. Theorists suggest that equality and equity carry different ideas and are related differently in different situations. Parfit (1991) claims that equality and priority are distinct ideas, the fundamental difference between them being that equality is relational in terms of how each person’s level compared with the level of other people, whereas priority (i.e. equity) is not. These two concepts occupy different places in the moral thinking (Norman, 1999). Equity is generally considered as superior to equality. Parfit (1991: 19), who formulated the ‘Priority View’, argues that, ‘Benefiting people matters more, the worse off these people are’. He adds, ‘Equality is the default: what we should aim for when we cannot justify distributing unequally’ (Parfit, 1991: 15). While Parfit has not argued for or against priority or equality, he implies that priority is a more useful concept than equality. The explicit emphasis on priority comes from Raz (1986), who stated that ‘egalitarian principles often lead to waste’ (Raz, 1986: 227). He argued in favour of priority based on the argument of ‘concern’ (Raz, 1986: 240): [W]hat makes us care about various inequalities is not the inequality but the concern identified by the underlying principle. It is the hunger of the hungry, the need of the needy, the suffering of the ill, and so on. The fact that they are worse off in the relevant respect than their neighbors is relevant. But it is relevant not as an independent evil of inequality. Its relevance is in showing that their hunger is greater, their need more pressing, their suffering more hurtful, and therefore our concern for the hungry, the needy, the suffering, and not our concern for equality, makes us give them the priority.

Following the priority view of equity, fair processes and outcomes would require affirmative action where the poor, women and other disadvantaged groups have greater access to and influence over the way decisions are made and implemented so as to provide for greater benefits. In the context of Nepalese CF, this discrimination is important because the poor, women and other disadvantaged groups are socially, economically and politically worse off than other groups. Hence environmental equity can be analysed by using three key criteria: (1) voice effects; (2) dignitary effects; and (3) priority (see Figure 6.1).

6.3

COMMUNITY FORESTRY IN NEPAL

Nepal2 is a small, landlocked country located between India and China. It has the world’s highest mountains (including Mt Everest), is the birthplace of Buddha and a world leader in CF. CF policy emerged in Nepal in the 1970s after the failure of previous forest policy to halt deforestation and give recognition to the need for effective forest policies based on local needs and indigenous systems. This policy change represents a paradigm shift from state centralised control (top-down) to user decentralised control (bottom-up) (Gilmour and Fisher, 1991). In 1976 the National Forestry Plan introduced a new policy to hand over responsibilities for forest protection and management to local political bodies. The externally supported plantation and protection-focused forest policy, which had received little support from local

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Figure 6.1: A framework for analysing the perceptions of environmental equity in CF. Environmental Equity in Community Forestry

1. Voice effects

2. Dignitary effects

3. Priority

Perceptions of procedural equity

Decision-making process gives people opportunities to voice their opinions

Decision-making organisations are neutral, trustworthy and accountable to people

Decision-making process and distribution of benefit gives priority to the poor

Perceptions of distributional equity

communities (Gilmour and Fisher, 1991), was to change in 1989 when the Nepalese government, with the help of donors, prepared and implemented a Master Plan for the Forestry Sector (MPFS). This plan elevated the needs and participation of local people to a higher priority. The plan aims to combine environmental objectives of protecting land and resources with social and economic objectives of social justice and poverty alleviation. The aims and programmes explicitly focus on the basic needs of forest users and have prioritised the needs of forest-dependent poor people. To achieve these aims, the policy contains explicit statements, namely (HMGN, 1989: 14): • • • •

handing over of all accessible hill forests to the communities to the extent that they are able and willing to manage them; to entrust the users with the task of protecting and managing the forests. The users to receive all of the income; retraining the entire staff of the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation for their new role as advisors; priority will be given to poor communities, or to the poor in a community (p. 10).

In 1993 the Forest Act was revised and new regulations were introduced in 1995 to provide a legal framework for the implementation of CF. The policy provided the Forest Users Groups (FUGs3 ) with 100% ownership of forest products. The entire staff of the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MFSC) was retrained. In 1998, the Forest Act was amended to require FUGs to submit annual reports to the District Forest Office (DFO4 ) describing the condition of the forest and the status of the fund. The amendment also empowered the DFO to penalise the FUG Committee (FUGC 5 ). In 2001, the government drafted a Forest Bill with the principal purpose of generating revenues. The Bill, however, was not approved by the parliament

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following significant public opposition. Despite increasing tensions, CF in Nepal is, nevertheless, considered a success with over 14 389 FUGs involved in managing about 1.2 million ha of forests with benefits flowing to more than 1.6 million households (CPFD, 2008). The overarching vision of Nepalese CF policy is to actively involve all forest users in the process of decision-making so that the implementation of decisions is effective and responsive to the needs and interests of the users. A high degree of scepticism, however, exists to the government’s commitment to fully implement this forest management paradigm as envisaged by the new policy (Gilmour and Fisher, 1991; Ojha, 2008; Shrestha and McManus, 2005; Thoms, 2008). This scepticism was further reinforced because policies were widely perceived to have been developed by senior bureaucrats and politicians with little public input (Ojha, 2008). Elite domination in the distribution of benefits and costs of CF has been documented (e.g. Dressler et al., 2010; Iversen et al., 2006; Shrestha and McManus, 2008). Many poor, women and socially marginalised users are also reported to have participated in implementation activities, but they are left out of the decision process (e.g. Shrestha and McManus, 2008), leading to participatory exclusion (e.g. Agarwal, 2001).

6.4

RESEARCH METHODS

The actor-oriented approach is employed to investigate the perceptions of environmental equity by different actors involved in CF at local, state and national levels. In 2001/2002, a semi-structured interview (SSI) was conducted with 37 individuals belonging to four relevant groups at different levels (see Table 6.1). The same number of respondents (mostly the same individuals) was interviewed in the follow-up research conducted in 2009/2010 (December–February). The selection of respondents was based on purposive sampling of major players involved in Nepalese CF. As Table 6.1 indicates, the study is focused on local-level forest users. At least five individuals from each FUG were selected for SSI representing different sections of the community. Rangers and DFOs were selected from the three districts (Figure 6.2) while the national forestry officials were selected based on their responsibilities in CF. Three selected districts represent the diversity of Nepalese CF in terms of the stage of CF, the number of FUGs formed and issues involved with CF processes and outcomes. These districts also represent some of the most complex, dynamic and diverse users in terms of economy, ethnicity, culture, religion and political affiliations. The selection of an FUG within each district was based on relative poverty, FUG members’ dependence on forests and other socioeconomic characteristics. Influential CF projects and individuals were selected in the category of international agencies and bilateral projects (IABP). Since the university, businesses and NGOs are yet to become active in CF, they are collectively represented as ‘other key stakeholders’. The selection of individual respondents within each group and sub-group was made to allow respondents to bring diverse interests and sociopolitical attributes in terms of gender, kinship, social stratification and institutional affiliation.

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Figure 6.2: Map of Nepal showing three case study districts.

CHINA

Case study districts 3. Kaski district 2. Tanahun district

NEPAL

1. Kathmandu district

Himalaya

Mid-hills

INDIA Terai

6.5

RESULTS

This study uses the actor-oriented approach with the results presented under the following four sub-headings: (1) forest users; (2) state forestry officials; (3) other key stakeholders – NGOs, university and business; and (4) International Agencies and Bilateral Projects.

6.5.1

Forest users

There is consensus in this group that the decision-making process in CF is largely inequitable because poor and minorities are not given a real opportunity to participate and voice their opinions. A typical response is that many women and poor people do not participate because of ‘limited information about meetings and assemblies’ (FUGC/Ktm.1) and that ‘[they] rarely get [an] invitation’ (LOBUS/Tan). It was also reported that ‘the poor [do] not participate because they depend on daily wage labour and there is not much to receive from community forests’ (FUGC/Tan.1). Moreover the poor and women who did attend meetings generally found it difficult to express their views directly in front of men and higher caste wealthy people because they depend on them for food, jobs and security. Respondents also highlighted cultural norms, kinship ties and taboos for women and lower caste people that prohibit them from raising issues with their traditionally more powerful counterparts. There was widespread concern raised about elite domination in the decisionmaking process in CF. A common respondent comment is that ‘the committee is to implement decisions, not to make decisions, but they make all decisions’ (LONGO.3)

DISV FUGC LG LOBUS LONGO USFED RAN DFOf NFOf

1. Forest users (N ¼ 18, 48.7%) Disadvantaged groups Forest Users Group Committee Local government Forest-dependent local business Local NGO member Forest User Groups’ Federation

2. State forestry officials (N ¼ 9, 24.3%) Ranger District Forest Officer Forest Official at the national level

4. International agencies and bilateral projects (N ¼ 5, 13.5%)

IABP Total Percentage

3. Other key stakeholders at the national level (N ¼ 5, 13.5%) University UNI Forest-related business NABUS NGO active in CF NANGO

Codes

Stakeholders

Number of respondents included in the SSI, their group and level (N

18 48.7

2

3 5 3 2 3

Local

37)

Table 6.1: Composition of stakeholders selected for semi-structured interview (SSI).

3 8.1

3

District

11 29.7

2 2 1

4

2

National

Levels

5 13.5

5

Global

37 100

5

2 2 1

2 3 4

3 5 3 2 3 2

Total

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105

and that the FUGC is a biased organisation where ‘People with good education, large property and higher caste dominate society. They are able to capture the FUGC and get decisions that favour them and their relatives’ (LG/Tan). This lack of trust in FUGC is put down to ‘[FUGC] local boss[es] who represent the DFO’ (DISV/Kas.2) where local-level forestry staff contact village leaders for quick implementation of CF. Many respondents complained that the DFO ‘focus[es] on achieving certain targets through scientific forest management practices, not on equitable decision-making processes’ (LONGO.1) and that ‘top-down, bureaucratic and undemocratic decisionmaking has not changed at DFO’ (LONGO.3). While respondents saw the FUGC as being accountable to the DFO, they believed that decision-making is primarily the job of the FUGC and that guidelines and directions from the DFO are there to ensure forest conservation. Hence FUG members are considered as the helpers of the FUGC. Local decision-making means ‘equal efforts, equal shares’, said one respondent (FUGC/Kas.1), which is fairly consistent with the principle of equality rather than equity because ‘priority to some people can create social division’ (FUGC/Ktm.1). Respondents believed that equality is the principal system of decision-making, which is informally promoted by DFO because it is easy to implement. However, equality is not happening in practice as one respondent (NGO/Tan) remarked: There is environmental corruption because the poorer groups are required to attend the meetings but final decisions are controlled by the committee in collaboration with the DFO. . . . it is compulsory for all people to provide equal labour to management activities with benefits to be distributed equally. How can an equal system be really equal between the poor and rich?

6.5.2

State forestry officials

There was consensus among forestry officials that decision-making in CF is seriously inequitable. Active participation of local users in FUG decision-making is limited to a few members of the FUG, particularly the FUGC members who deprive the vast majority of users an opportunity to voice their opinions. One respondent said: ‘only the active members of the committee make decisions’ (DFOf/Ktm) which indicates ‘community forestry is moving towards ‘‘committee forestry’’, and sometimes ‘‘chairman’’ and ‘‘secretary’’ forestry’ (DFOf/Tan). Elite domination in decision-making is rooted in the Nepalese feudal system and is detrimental to the poor as one respondent pointed out: ‘[The] historically rooted feudal system is biased to some sections of the community . . . low caste people are seen as servant[s] for the higher caste [and] women are suppressed and the poor work for the rich’ (RAN/Kas). Respondents generally see the FUGC as heavily dependent on the DFO to implement decisions with many users highly suspicious about their FUGC members and DFO staff. The state has misleadingly attempted to get the FUGC to address equity issues, but according to the following comment: ‘The presence of women and lower caste people in the FUGC is not more than the passive attendance, but this can make some officials and donors happy’ (NFOf.3). Overall, respondents believe that

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they can do little because they are bound by institutional rules and regulations. While the majority of respondents believe equality to be a key principle of user participation and distribution of benefits, they doubt that equal power in decisions by the poor and wealthy can ever be achieved in reality. For this reason they emphasise the need for the government to enact enabling policies and legislation to prioritise the interests of poor users.

6.5.3

Other key stakeholders: NGO, university and business

A common view exists in this group that environmental inequity in CF is a major issue. A typical response here is ‘the poor users are not given the opportunity to participate by the elites’ (UNI.1). A respondent businessman saw it differently: ‘the poor do not trust the committee or DFO and do not see their basic needs met by CF because decisions are made in their interests’ (NABUS.2). Another respondent saw the problem as ‘the alliance between local elites and forestry staff exploiting the poor’ (UNI.2). One academic identified a common belief: ‘the committee needs outspoken and capable individuals and the poor are not fit for this, [as being] . . . misleading and counter productive to equity outcomes’ (UNI.2), and another respondent stressed the issue of power relations: ‘Unequal power relations are the key factor in decisionmaking . . . [the] broader sociopolitical situation is also favourable for those who have access to money, education and land’ (NANGO). Most respondents saw decisionmaking in FUGC and DFO as bureaucratic, centralised and unaccountable. Respondents identify equity as a challenge in resolving the issues of CF policy where forest users, especially the poor, are still considered forest destroyers. One NGO respondent highlighted: Equity issues at the community level are conditioned by the unequal broader community and political economy. Nepalese political economy is controlled by wealthy and powerful individuals who capture the political and bureaucratic positions and control the state policies and implementation process. They have extensive linkages with local elites and regulate the resource management to fulfil their interests (NANGO).

6.5.4

International Agencies and Bilateral Projects (IABP)

Consensus emerged from this category that there is no equitable participation within FUG decision-making. The majority of respondents believe that interests of most users are not represented by the FUGC. One respondent said there was, ‘no provision for most people to be able to voice their concerns. The committee is falsely assumed to represent all users only for the purpose of officials’ (IABP.2). Respondents also highlighted that elite dominance in FUGC decision-making is encouraged by the DFO because it is easier to work with fewer people: ‘without the help of elites, the forest department cannot deliver its target and commitment with the donors’ (IABP.4). All IABP respondents believe that the poor are receiving some products, but the decisions on product distribution are inequitable. The problem of inequity is that ‘the Opera-

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tional Plan neither has the equity provision, nor is it required by legislation’ (IABP.3). Despite the many problems of equity, all respondents believe that equity is not only desirable, but essential if the FUG is to become sustainable.

6.6

DISCUSSION

The findings of this research show that there is little environmental equity because the poor and minorities do not have a real opportunity to voice their concerns in the locallevel decision-making process (i.e. voice effects). Decisions are made through an alliance of the FUGC and DFO. This raises serious questions about the neutrality, trustworthiness and accountability to the poor (i.e. dignitary effects). The principle of equity in decisions implied by the legislation is not occurring in practice. Empirical evidence also suggests that the formal provision of equity is neither sensitive to the needs and concerns of the poor, nor being put into practice (i.e. priority). Yet the poor and minorities continue to be CF members, which raises a further question: How and why is environmental inequity tolerated and sustained in CF? The answer to this question can be found in (1) the sociocultural circumstances in which CF is embedded and (2) the politics of CF.

6.6.1

Sociocultural circumstances

Sociocultural factors influence environmental equity because they condition ‘voice effects’, ‘dignitary effects’ and ‘priority issues’ by excluding, suppressing or coercing disadvantaged groups in the decision process. Social norms, ties and socioeconomic interdependence often force poor and disadvantaged groups to act collectively and to follow rules out of coercion rather than consent, even when the costs of cooperation outweigh the benefits. The power generated from the sociocultural hierarchy can force people at the lower end of the economic or social hierarchy to cooperate with those at the upper end of the hierarchy (Maskey et al., 2006). For example, high-caste and wealthy users may threaten to withhold employment or credit if the poor fail to cooperate. Similarly, social norms in relation to behaviour can threaten women with reputation loss or even with violence if they break the rules of collective functioning or fail to comply with the deliberations of leaders. These sociocultural factors, which lead to inequitable outcomes, are extremely difficult to overcome and require real participation of women and poor users (Nightingale, 2011). Positive discrimination therefore must give poor and minorities groups a real voice in decisions, which means they must be accorded control over local CF policy agendas and implementation. What can be done about these sociocultural factors leading to inequity? Clearly, participation of all users must be emphasised because, as Arnstein (1969) argued, so many people can be missed or disempowered if their participation is not emphasised. But a superficial emphasis on participation is not enough. The question remains: how can effective participation be promoted in a socioculturally and economically stratified community to bring about environmental equity? Nelson and Wright (1995) argue that a clear distinction has to be made between participation as a means (i.e. a process of

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achieving the aims of a project more efficiently, effectively or cheaply), and participation as an end (i.e. a process of giving control of a development agenda to a community or group). While the need for the latter form of participation is evident, the process must give positive discrimination to the poor and minorities within the community. Otherwise, as Cernea (1993) argues in the analysis of decentralised natural resource management projects, many well-intended initiatives fail when local elites misrepresent community interests and seize control of the processes.

6.6.2

The politics of CF

The politics of CF in relation to environmental inequity is characterised by widespread elite domination and state control. Elite domination, particularly through the FUGC, is problematic because it leads to participatory exclusion. Members of the FUGC, who predominantly come from the upper-caste or wealthier sections of the FUG, hold key positions and exert influence through their kinship or personal relations and inevitably control the CF agenda and decisions. Because poor and minorities are socioculturally and economically constrained, they are often unable to influence decisions. This allows the chairman and secretary to make arbitrary decisions without consulting the user assembly, or other members of the FUGC. Consequently, CF becomes ‘committee forestry’ or ‘chairman or secretary forestry’ as described above. Committee forestry is problematic because it lacks legitimacy and neutrality and can lead to the centralisation of power at the decentralised level. Also the FUGC, as a local decisionimplementing body, does not always fully represent the views of users because it is ultimately accountable to the DFO. For this reason, there is a need for further devolution within the FUG to form separate sub-groups where issues can be decided by representatives of the poor and minorities. Environmental inequity is embedded into the culture of the state agencies where the state implements CF policy within the formal framework of FUGC and its local elite-driven target-oriented, technical procedures. If the users do not comply with DFO orders, the DFO has overriding power to punish the FUGC members or close the CF altogether. This implies the decentralisation of responsibilities requiring local people to manage the forest with no corresponding devolution of power to make meaningful decisions (Fisher, 2010). There is a type of ‘environmental corruption’ occurring where policy and legislative provisions are significantly modified at the implementation stage. In this sense, the DFO can be seen to act as the decision-shaper, the FUGC as the decision-maker and the FUG as the recipients. The underlying reasons for environmental corruption are due in large part to the persistence of bureaucratic cultural norms and ideology in the DFO (Fisher, 2010; Sarin et al., 2003) where decision practices have simply reinforced pre-existing inequality. Inequity also emerges when the state implements CF policy within the targetoriented, output-maximising approach that tends to employ local elites in a formal organisational setting. Findings indicate that the DFO staff use the elite, who often capture the newly created formal organisation, the FUGC, in delivering targets and commitments to donors. While the elites are less dependent on forests, they tend to cooperate with the DFO because they have a rapport with DFO staff and are aware of

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the power structure of the DFO. The elites and formal organisations are also helpful to the DFO in maximising outputs from limited resources. The role of elites in this formal setting is disturbingly cruel to poor and minorities because access to, and control over, forest resources on which they heavily depend are stricter than before and, to make matters worse, they are required to contribute to this inequitable forest management system. In this way inequity has been exacerbated. Why the state has devolved limited power to non-representative elites in a formal setting that has institutionalised environmental inequity is an interesting question. First, the inequity may largely be due to the need to sustain centralised bureaucratic control. As Ribot (2003) argues, bureaucracy may fear losing economic benefit from control over natural resources and the power that defines and supports its political and administrative role. For this reason there is a need to focus reform on bureaucratic change, rather than simple reorientation and restructuring (Sarin et al., 2003). Second, the underlying reasons for inequity are due to bureaucratic norms and ideology. Herring (1983) argues that South Asian bureaucracy is characterised by inefficiency caused by constant delays, by outdated procedures and rigid formalism. There is an existence of Hakim (i.e. bossy) tradition in Nepalese forest bureaucracy in which subordinate staff must follow orders that are hierarchically transmitted from the top to the bottom. The top-level bureaucrats often have a vague idea about the role of bureaucracy in maintaining social and environmental well-being. The policy circle of bureaucracy is guided by the knowledge of orthodox forest science, ignoring the social and political processes and unfairly penalising the poor and minorities. A major problem for promoting environmental equity in CF, therefore, is ideological in that it is about how the bureaucracy is organised and informed.

6.7

CONCLUSION: TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY IN NEPALESE CF

Environmental equity has not been achieved in Nepalese CF. Poor and minorities are not given an effective voice to raise their concerns in local-level decisions (i.e. voice effects). Current CF policy has attempted to prioritise the poor, but this has failed in practice (i.e. priority). There are, however, strong practical and ethical considerations if CF is to achieve environmental equity. This requires positive discrimination in favour of poor and minorities, which in turn will require the removal of injustice and dominance by elites. But before this can occur, both policy and practice must acknowledge that the existing formal provision of the equality principle in distribution and decision-making has led to inequitable outcomes due mainly to the underlying socioeconomic interdependencies, widespread elite domination and the politics of CF. One way to promote positive discrimination is to recognise the need to correct underlying unjust structures and procedures of dominance by elites. As Walzer (1983) argues, this recognition requires constant attention and reworking to break this dominance. To do this, there is a need to establish institutional and procedural norms that ensure the deliberations of the poor and disadvantaged groups are given more weight than those of the elites. This will help offset the historical dominance of elites.

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These norms must be accepted, established and supported by an independent body comprising donors, state, civil society which must be accountable directly to the parliamentary justice advisory board and users. Once it is accepted, there will be a more rigorous and substantive philosophical and pragmatic base for equity as an aim of CF. At the practical level, achieving equity as a CF goal requires initiating and strengthening the participation of poor and disadvantaged groups and increasing their visibility. The meaningful participation of those previously excluded requires more than simply inviting them to join the discussion. It needs an effective platform through an independent body that facilitates the development of participatory structures based on positive discrimination. Clearly, it is imperative to reform the current system so that vested interests are unable to manipulate the CF system for personal gain. This will require the establishment of new institutional structures and mechanisms that can accord real decisionmaking power to poor and disadvantaged groups. These mechanisms must ensure that at the first level, the participation is seen as an end, to give the control of the forest management and development agenda to a group, not as the means to meet an external agenda. At the next level, the elites must be controlled (or disempowered) to empower the disadvantaged groups, otherwise participatory exclusions and committee forestry will continue. When the positive discrimination principle is established and institutionalised and the disadvantaged groups become empowered, the role of the independent body becomes to strengthen, improve and sustain such activities. While it is recognised that the preferential practices and privileges to the wealthy and higher caste are cemented in the deep structures of Nepalese culture, reforms to forest practice and management are long overdue. The proposed changes will help, over time, to break down these formidable barriers to poor and minority voices. This can assist CF to advance the goals of environmental equity.

ENDNOTES 1.

2.

3.

4.

The term ‘poor’ is used broadly to denote both economically disadvantaged as well as socioculturally marginalised groups such as women and lower caste groups. In terms of economic standing, poor in the context of this chapter refers to those identified as ‘poor’ in the participatory wealth-ranking process in Nepalese CF (CPFD, 2001). It is used interchangeably with disadvantaged groups or minority groups. Nepal is divided into three physiographic regions; the Terai (59–610 m), the Middle Hills Region (610–4877 m) and the Mountains/Himalayas (4877–8848 m) (see Figure 6.2). Administratively, the country is divided into five development regions, 14 zones, 75 districts, 58 municipalities and 3912 Village Development Committees (VDC). Due to recent political developments where the former rebels, Maoists, have entered the mainstream political process and the monarchy has been dethroned, administrative boundaries are being changed through the new Constitution of Nepal. FUG in Nepalese CF refers a group of forest users living in and around the forests. They organise themselves and are given power by the DFO to make and implement forest management decisions in regards to access, use and control of forest resources. FUGC (Forest Users Group Committee) is an organisation selected by the FUG to implement FUG decisions. DFO stands for District Forest Office, while DoF refers to Department of Forests. The DFO is a district branch of the DoF.

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5.

111

FUGC stands for Forest Users Group Committee – the executive committee of forest users elected by the users themselves in order to implement forest management plan.

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Decision-making in Forestry? Findings from Three States in India. Overseas Development Institute, London. Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Shrestha, K.K. and McManus, P. (2005). Sustaining inequity? Rethinking the history of Nepalese forest policy. In: Calver, M. (Ed). Forest Consciousness – Proceedings 6th National Conference of the Australian Forest History Society. IOS Press, Rotterdam, pp. 681–691. Shrestha, K.K. and McManus, P. (2007). The embeddedness of collective action in Nepalese community forestry. Small-scale Forestry. 6: 273–290. Shrestha, K.K. and McManus, P. (2008). The politics of community participation in natural resource management: lessons from community forestry in Nepal. Australian Forestry. 71, 2: 135–146. Sikor, T. (2006). Analysing community-based forestry: local, political and agrarian perspectives. Forest Policy and Economics. 8, 4: 339–349. Sunderlin, W.D. (2006). Poverty alleviation through community forestry in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam: an assessment of the potential. Forest Policy and Economics. 38, 4: 386–396. Taylor, C. (1988). The nature and scope of distributive justice, In: Lucash, F.S. (Ed). Justice and Equality Here and Now. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. Thoms, C.A. (2008). Community control of resources and the challenge of improving local livelihoods: a critical examination of community forestry in Nepal. Geoforum. 39, 3: 1452– 1465. Timsina, N.P. (2003). Promoting social justice and conserving montane forest environments: a case study of Nepal’s community forestry programme. The Geographical Journal. 169, 3: 136–242. Walzer, M. (1983). Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality. Basil Blackwell, Oxford. WRI (World Resources Institute). (2005). Decentralization – A Local Voice: World Resources 2002– 2004. WRI, Washington, DC.

CHAPTER

7

Lesotho: A Peculiar Case of Environmental Justice Frederick D. Gordon We were told that resettlement was compulsory. Our concern was how were we going to live in new places? (Refiloe Kolisang, LHWP activist in Braun, 2008)

7.1

INTRODUCTION

Environmental justice is a relatively new term. It seeks to understand how environmental factors, or lack of them, impact local communities. Many of these communities exhibit low incomes and often are people of colour. One of the most daunting aspects of environmental justice claims is that people disproportionately affected by environmental harms lack critical environmental and legal resources to improve their situations. Many of the well-documented environmental justice claims have occurred in the southern part of the United States. Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, and Cancer Alley (the 85-mile corridor from Baton Rouge to New Orleans) are replete with vulnerable communities being exposed to harmful toxic substances. While environmental justice themes have predominantly been applied to local communities in the United States, increasing scholarship has been directed towards the international level. There are many global communities which have been exposed to various environmental ‘bads’. Many of these groups or individuals often are in worse shape than their US counterparts due to lack of due process and democratic transparency. These affected groups are often referred to as political refugees; politically disenfranchised, economically dislocated, and with limited opportunity to change or flee from existing environmental peril. Closer evaluation reveals that many groups face two levels of environmental justice. Groups have been exposed to disproportionate levels of environmental toxins, and many societies have lost their traditional way of life. This means that traditional-based subsistence farming has been removed International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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or severely reduced. This chapter explores these concerns by examining the social, political and environmental implications behind the construction of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), the largest dam project in Africa. This case study reveals the high social costs of dam construction and posits that international environmental legal safeguards have been inadequate to safeguard the rights of indigenous communities. In essence, there is a deep gap between procedural and substantive application of international environmental law. I use international legal norms and neofunctional theory as a platform to explain the LHWP.

7.2

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Chavis (1993) coined the term environmental justice to reflect the uneven nature of environmental harms impacting poor African American communities in the south.1 Since then efforts to rectify the situation have been mixed. The United States government has recognised concern. President Clinton used Executive Order 14392 to create an office for environmental justice. However, the US Supreme Court set a high barrier for environmental justice claims. This meant that the United States would use legal means to protect people from disproportionate environmental toxin exposure. However, this is not an easy task. The US Supreme Court has created a very high standard for proving environmental justice claims. In the Sandoval decision (2002), the Court stated that successful environmental justice claims must prove violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This means that a plaintiff (group or individual) must prove intentional harm (over disparate social impact2 ).

7.3

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

The international framework for understanding and evaluating environmental justice claims is equally complex and challenging. Many of the rights guaranteed to individuals and groups have been substantiated through a key international legal term called generations of rights. Scott (2010: 230) offers important detail about such classifications. The terms are worthwhile reviewing because of the central implications towards understanding the LHWP. Civil and political rights are often referred to as first generation human rights;3 economic social and cultural rights are referred to as second generation rights. The former stems from the 18th-century Declaration on the Rights of Man while the latter is a 20th-century construct with particular emphasis towards protecting the rights of workers. However, it is the third and fourth generation rights which reflect flashpoints that are most applicable to indigenous groups. These rights were developed in the mid1980s to mid-1990s. Third generation rights are usually deemed those that will benefit groups and peoples rather than just individuals, including the right to self-determination and the right to development. The right to development was declared by the General Assembly in its 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development and recognised the

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African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights refers to the right of peoples ‘to a general satisfactory environment favorable to their development’. The right ‘to live in a healthy environment’ was referred to in the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (Scott, 2010: 321). The human rights of indigenous peoples are sometimes referred to as fourth generation rights. Indigenous peoples were not expressly included in the text of any United Nations human rights instrument before the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.4 In 2007, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted. Article 1 recognises that indigenous people have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights in international human rights law. A prima facie conclusion suggests that rights of indigenous groups would be protected by all four generations of rights. However, there has been a distortion between procedural and substantive due process which casts this claim into question. Environmental justice covers many themes and sometimes it is difficult to develop a single answer. Yet there is ample opportunity to expand our understanding of an uncomfortable phenomenon. Albert Camus’ statement that there is no truth, but only truths, is an important axiom that can be applied towards understanding international environmental justice claims. Dialect and debate will continue for each and every case, but it is clear that the right of indigenous people to live free in their environment remains at risk.

7.4

NEOFUNCTIONAL THEORY

The neofunctional integration model provides for justification for cooperative projects. The idea stems back to Mitrany (1943) and Haas (1971). The argument is premised on the concept that economic integration is linked to interstate cooperation. In other words a form of functional cooperation develops whereby country cooperation in one business sector can lead to further cooperation in another sector. This suggests that neofunctional cooperation under optimal circumstances can lead to enhanced interstate cooperation. Vertical and horizontal cooperation5 can both be achieved if initial integration levels offer positive results. Stewart and McCarthy (1995) and Balassa and Stoutjesdyk (1975) note that this approach is also known as integration through project cooperation: it entails cooperation in planning and implementing joint projects or schemes between countries in areas such as transport, communications, water and mining. Davies (1994) observes that the model gives priority to cooperation of joint projects that aim at overcoming underdevelopment-related deficiencies in the spheres of production and infrastructure. If possible, cooperation should begin in apolitical areas. The main goal is for both sides to receive equitable returns. However, that may not be the case. For example, trade agreements do not always provide commensurate benefits for all parties. Cooperation can easily be supplanted by frustration and resentment. Cooperation can be achieved, but good negotiations require a comprehensive understanding of the relevant sociopolitical situation. In other words, a successful bilateral agreement must account for spill-over effects. In short, this means that cooperation must be

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extended to multiple sectors. There are many deep internal and external challenges to achieving such an agreement. Clientelism, cleptocracy and statism are key concepts which must be avoided if parties are earnest in developing long-range cooperation.6 Instead, negotiating parties should reinforce policies that increase demand for goods and services that can add value in the regional integration process. Geographic proximity and cultural and historical links should be considered as well (Haarlov, 1988; Stewart and McCarthy, 1995). In essence, the neofunctional model is linked to the sharing of economic benefits. For example, functional cooperation in running projects can help to prepare the region for market integration. The loose function-based model helps to develop regional political cohesion necessary for the countries to move to the more comprehensive market-driven integration approach. Focusing on projects may also serve to provide the necessary physical requirements for balanced and desirable higher order market integration in the long term. For example, by improving and upgrading transport, communications or electricity-generating infrastructure or availability of water in all participating countries, business decisions of firms may be influenced positively and industrial development depolarised (Stewart and McCarthy, 1995). Hence, the LHWP offers significant hope if neofunctional integration can be applied broadly depicting both vertical and horizontal modelling and cooperation.

7.5

LESOTHO–SOUTH AFRICAN RELATIONS

South Africa uses 80% of the southern cone’s water, but only 10% of freshwater resources are located within its borders. South Africa has attempted to secure water resources from Lesotho since the 1950s, but has not been successful in securing external water. However, political pressure from Johannesburg mandated South Africa to secure additional water sources. Lesotho was the ideal state. Its postcolonial structure left it poor and economically limited and it may have viewed the transfer of water as a major source of revenue into one of the poorest states globally. In fact, Lesotho suffered in many ways. Its rural population was primarily engaged in subsistence-oriented agriculture; it had a poorly developed export market and much of its work force sought out employment opportunities in South African mines (Epprecht, 2000; Gordon, 1981). In many ways, environmental justice claims have dominated this emerald nation7 since its colonisation. The mountainous region of Lesotho, known as maloti, was inhabited by the Basotho people in the early 19th century. From their inception as a nation in the 1820s until the re-establishment of direct rule by the British Crown in 1884, the Basotho (South Sotho) fought for political survival in an environment replete with cynical duplicity, ruthlessness and violent aggrandisement (characteristic of racially segregated frontiers). Basutoland8 remained economically under-developed until Lesothan independence in 1966. The 1970s and 1980s were characterised by tense, unfriendly relations between white South Africa and Lesotho, a central ‘Frontline State’.9 However, critical social and political developments occurred in the early 1990s. In 1993, Lesotho reinstituted parliamentary democracy. Also, South Africa abandoned its

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repressive apartheid policy and underwent democratic transformation in 1994. However, South Africa remained the economic hub of southern Africa and its relationship with Lesotho improved, often characterised as continuous, extensive and even intimate (Gordon, 2008). It was not always this way. As Lesotho prepared for independence in the mid1960s, it appeared that the nationalist, Protestant, anti-aristocratic Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) under Ntsu Mokhehle would obtain power. However, with the backing of the South African government, Chief Leabua Jonathan and his conservative Catholic, aristocratic Basutoland National Party (BNP) gained power in 1965. In 1970, Prime Minister Jonathan lost the next election but refused to relinquish power. He formed a Para-Military Unit (PMU) and terrorised BCP followers, forcing them into exile in South Africa. Jonathan ensured his grip on office for the next 15 years, but in the process aborted the development of democratic institutions within Lesotho. Jonathan, a former mine worker, collaborated with South Africa in strengthening economic relations. But by the mid-1970s, he discovered that opposition to the apartheid giant and the repositioning of Lesotho as a defenceless but courageous Front Line State was a far more profitable option. In turn, Lesotho became a haven for antiapartheid guerrillas. In the meantime, the exiled Mokhehle and his BCP were not idle. They created a guerrilla force, the Lesotho Liberation Army which operated from the mountainous no-man’s land between Caledon and the Phofong (Little Caledon) rivers on Lesotho’s northern border. By the early 1980s South Africa suffered economically from apartheid sanctions. In Lesotho violence erupted over potential water sales to the apartheid government. Jonathan agreed to the LHWP only on the condition that he would control the outflow of water to South Africa. South Africa wanted to remove Prime Minister Jonathan from power for two reasons. First, Lesotho offered sanctuary to the African National Congress guerrillas. Second, South Africa wanted to be the central decision-maker in determining water redistribution. Finally, in January 1986, Prime Minister Jonathan was overthrown by the Lesothan army. Nine months later, in October 1986, the new military authorities signed the Lesotho Highlands Water Treaty. It was signed under duress which was exacerbated when Mozambican president Samora Machel was killed in a plane crash just two days before the signing of the water agreement. Machel’s death generated speculation that his plane was downed by South African government agents. Students from the National University of Lesotho reacted to Machel’s death by demonstrating in the capital of Maseru to disrupt the signing. Regardless, just nine months after the coup, the Lesotho Highlands Water Treaty was signed on 24 October 1986.

7.6

UNDERSTANDING TRADITIONAL WAYS OF LIFE

The history of Lesotho’s soils and of Basotho10 land management is dynamic. Showers (2005) offers a comprehensive understanding of the Basotho farming practices and what was at risk. Communities that have been inherently tied to farming practices must persevere and adapt to climactic, social and political forces. The Basotho are

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viewed as innovators, adopting useful crops and animals, as well as implementing and responding to regional opportunities for trade (Showers, 2005: 11). At the same time, larger regional economic and political forces conspired to fix the amount of land available to them. Ultimately the Basotho were relegated to a relatively small area, three-quarters of which was a mountain range that was considered at the time to be unsuitable for crop production (Showers, 2005: 11). The Basotho were both herders and agriculturalists. From their arrival in the Caledon River basin, not later than the 17th century, until the late 1860s, the Basotho’s land-use system existed in an unlimited landscape. Grazing and agricultural land was in abundance, wild plants and game were plentiful. The Basotho established small scattered villages with 50 to 100 inhabitants, and tended both stock and agricultural fields nearby. However, as the 20th century progressed, the two previously complementary aspects of the Sotho land-use system – agriculture and livestock – came into direct and increasing competition, forcing Basotho men to take over ever-longer migratory labour contracts to supplement the decline in agriculture and livestock production. The shortage of land was obvious even to the colonial administration. Disputes over rights to areas of thatch grass, pasture and fields had been on the increase in the Sotho court system since the 1860s. By 1891 the colonial officers for each district reported a lack of land for the rising generation. The problem was no longer only the question of what territory to allocate to a chief ’s sons and heirs, but which fields to allocate to new households. At the same time that the lack of land was becoming apparent, the quality of existing land was reportedly decreasing. European observers reported soil exhaustion, soil erosion in both the mountains and the lowlands, and changes in the quality of mountain pastures as problems by the mid-1890s (Showers, 2005: 33). As a response, many of the Basotho responded by moving to the mountain regions where they established permanent villages. Historical records distinguish only two categories of land in Basutoland – lowlands and mountains. However, in modern Lesotho an intermediate category is recognised – the foothills. This is an important observation because of the types of crops grown. Crops could not be successfully grown above 8000 feet owing to the cold temperatures. Maize was a risky crop in the mountains, but summer wheat was prolific. In fact, because of the cool climate, the mountain fields of Basutoland could produce a high-quality hard wheat (for bread rather than pastry flour) not possible in most of southern Africa (Showers, 2005: 33). The Basotho had clearly adapted to climatic and political change, but one constant was that they were always able to keep their traditional agrarian farming practices as a primary source of subsistence.

7.7

LESOTHO HIGHLANDS WATER PROJECT

The LHWP is the largest dam construction project in Africa. It was created to increase water supplies to South Africa. This massive water project called for the development of five dams which would be built over a period of 30 years (1987–2017) and is one of the five largest dam-development projects currently under construction in the world.

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The project has cost at least 8 billion dollars with financial support stemming from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Community, as well as the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) based in Lesotho. The LHWP serves multiple purposes. It enables Lesotho to develop hydropower to meet its national electricity demand. South Africa also benefits. This project enables them to secure external water resources to meet the water needs of the Gauteng region, which accounts for approximately 60% of its GDP and 40% of its urban population. The crux of the issue is how and to what extent this massive project can alleviate poverty. A feasibility study of the LHWP was undertaken during 1983–1986 which proposed a multiphase scheme with an ultimate hydroelectric capacity of 110 MW and maximum transferable water volume of 70 m3 s1 (which corresponds to about 47% of Lesotho’s average annual runoff of 150 m3 s1 ) (Haas et al., 2010: 3).

7.7.1

LHWP benefits

The project is quite detailed and will take more than 30 years to complete. There are many phases of development and it is important to show the general impact of dam construction. Lowry (2002) suggests that dam construction may often show many positive benefits but environmental and social costs are not fully factored. Phase IA had several significant impacts. It provided for the delivery of 18.0 m3 s1 and consisted of: (1) the 185 m-high Katse Dam on the Malibamats’o River; (2) 82 km of delivery tunnels to South Africa; (3) the Muela Dam on the Liqoe River; and (4) the 72 MW ‘Muela Hydropower Station. Construction on Phase IA began in 1991 and it was commissioned in 1998 at a cost of US $2.4 billion (Haas et al., 2010: 3). In turn, Phase IB provided for the delivery of 11.8 m3 s1 and consisted of: (1) the Mohale Dam (9.6 m3 s1 ) on the Senqunyane River; (2) the 15 m Matsku Weir (2.2 m3 s1 ) on the Matsoku River and 6 km delivery tunnel to Katse; and (3) a 32 km delivery tunnel from Mohale to Katse. Final impoundment took place in July 2003 at a cost of US $624.3 million (Haas et al., 2010: 3–5). According to the World Bank, LHWP Phase I offered multiple benefits. The project is considered ‘world class’ in terms of the design and implementation with particular reference towards its environmental flow capacity. The LHWP serves as a model of bilateral cooperation.

7.7.2

LHWP detriments

However, there are several problems associated with the project. Understandably, large dam projects often have structural problems. However, in the LHWP case, there are several competing concerns. First, social impacts have not been adequately addressed. This means that many people have lost their traditional methods of earning a living. As a result, the project has not been well received by local community groups. In other terms, massive water projects must be adequately designed to meet technological, environmental and social impacts, which has not been the case with the LHWP. According to Bond (2005), LHWP authorities failed to meet the changing needs of the affected communities. They did not offer enough financial assistance to transition people from agrarian farming practices to other forms of employment. Many

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of the affected groups raised cattle and there was not enough planning to offer other viable employment opportunities. Second, environmental impacts were never considered. Bond (2005) states that the valuable topsoil inundated by Phase 1A water was either never recovered or was diverted to the gardens of European and South African consultants living in the area rather than to those displaced by the rising waters. Many of the latter were given lowquality replacement housing that amounted to little more than un-insulated storage shedding (Bond, 2005). Third, the problem also extends to gender inequality. Braun (2008) reveals other uncomfortable trends. As households lost their homes, agricultural fields, grazing lands and other resources to the construction of the LHWP, policies were implemented in such a way that men received the compensation for these losses (money, food or fodder), and women did not have access to them except through a husband, father or in some cases a chief. This happened despite the fact that most women were the primary farmers and feeders of their families, and that they might have been the primary decision-makers regarding household concerns. The problem became compounded because of the employment dislocation for both men and women. This occurred in two ways: (1) directly through the loss of access to land or other resources; and (2) indirectly through policies that had the effect of changing the division of labour (Tilt et al., 2009). The latter may be the most pernicious impact because it has made a whole generation of workers vulnerable to the fabricated socioeconomic caste systems fostered under the LHWP. Many workers lost the security of subsistence farming. In turn, many people became vulnerable to local governing officials. Tilt et al. (2009) find that the goal economic parity was never achieved. The Lesothan government prioritised the commercial impact of the project over the needs of local indigenous workers. As a result, many local workers were disenfranchised from their local land management practices. This means local inhabitants have lost access to potable water and natural springs; have decreased access to wild vegetables and herbs that are important food and medicinal sources; have decreased access to forests and wooded areas that were submerged in the reservoirs; are losing some of the best arable land in the river basin areas, as well as stones and mud for building purposes. Dam development is often fraught with complexities. Tilt et al. (2009) observe this phenomenon; the rural poor are burdened with a disproportionate share of losses from these schemes, and arguably receive an inadequate share of the benefits. This has clearly been the case in Lesotho. There seems to be a gap between the development promises and what actually occurred (Thamae and Pottinger, 2006). The struggle between the governments of South Africa and Lesotho to minimise their respective costs or to pass on costs to the other, including the costs of rural development and compensation programmes, underlies the decision-making processes regarding planning and implementation (Panel of Environmental Experts, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997). The Rural Development Plan (RDP) of the LHWP was designed to provide skills training and alternative income-generating activities in recognition that those seriously

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impacted would be hard pressed to have a means to maintain their standard of living (Panel of Environmental Experts, 1995, 1991). However the implementation and the planning were seriously under-developed and under-prioritised (Panel of Environmental Experts, 1995: 16). The costs of the RDP fell in the ‘grey area’ that neither Lesotho nor South Africa’s development authority saw as its responsibility. While the loss of land and compensation policy began as early as 1988, the RDP was not in effect until 1993 and it is still not considered highly structured or effective. Impacts on the employment structure of the area were also significant. Migrants from South Africa and other parts of Lesotho often settled on the outskirts of Khokhoba, a large village in close proximity to the employee housing at Katse Dam, while looking for work. Very few Basotho people, local or migrant, found formal work with the LHWP. In particular, the development authority hired men for almost all positions so most work available to women was informal, unregulated and poorly paid. Some women from other villages came to the highlands area in the hope of getting jobs as domestic servants in the skilled employee village, thus creating more competition for the local women trying to obtain the few jobs available (Detter and Gunneweg, 1994). Jobs included cleaning, cooking or sweeping at ‘white houses’. These labour hierarchies created by the project contributed a racialised and gendered landscape of increasing inequality. Overall the LHWP had many foreseen and unforeseen consequences with particular reference to the Katse Dam. As the first, largest and most remote dam, the degree of infrastructure needed to support the building of the Katse Dam demanded a large workforce of engineers, planners and various skilled labourers to be in the area for mostly a decade. While foreigners, mostly white men from more industrialised countries, received longer term, more secure and higher paid professional skilled and semi-skilled positions with the project, most Basotho men had access only to insecure, casual and low-paid ‘piece jobs’ demanding heavy physical labour. Women had almost no formal work opportunities. Many people directly impacted by the LHWP discussed with great concern the rise in sex work during the construction of the Katse Dam. This put women at risk for sexually transmitted disease, HIV/AIDS and exposure to violence, further eroding traditional family structure and the overall welfare of the general community.

7.7.3

Re-evaluating the LHWP

While the financial support for this project is quite complex, the distribution of benefits could reflect a form of neofunctional integration. Economic benefits could be distributed to both South Africa and Lesotho, whereby South Africa would receive a desperately needed water supply and increased revenue would be given to the Losothan government. Further, such development could create a ‘spill-over effect’ whereby multiple sectors could benefit. After all, the LHWP goal is to sell, transfer and deliver water from Lesotho’s Senqu River and its tributaries to the Guanteng (including Johannesburg) industrial region of South Africa. In return, South Africa was estimated to pay approximately $55 million in royalties to Lesotho each year. Recent reports suggest otherwise; that

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Lesotho has received closer to $18 million in average revenue (Hassan, 2002; United Nations, 2003) in part because water levels were below initial projections. The second objective is to create a hydroelectric power station allowing Lesotho to generate electricity domestically but at the same time not worsen the current standards of living of the project affected peoples (LHDA, 1986). But by 2011, it is clear that such a massive project has revealed mixed results. Benefits include new roads and hard currency for Lesotho. South Africa has also been able to provide water to the Guateng Province. However, in terms of equity and environmental justice many concerns remain. Many residents impacted directly by the LHWP reported intense disappointment and distrust, both with the project and the policymakers behind the plan. This suggests that spill-over benefits were never fulfilled and that many people were negatively impacted by this project.

7.8

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE LHWP

The full impacts of the LHWP might not be known for years. However, it is clear from the case study that the project was quite complex and that many groups were negatively affected. Abuse of women’s rights, economic dislocation and overall societal displacement were evident. International law, which is the central component in promoting environmental justice, was absent. International law failed to safeguard people’s right to water, right to development and, overall, to protect the rights of indigenous groups and individuals. Neofunctional integration offers theoretical value for the justification of the project but the actual implementation reflects a clear abrogation of international environmental law and rights. Gleick (1999) offers insight into how indigenous rights were violated in terms of water. He states a right to water cannot imply a right to an unlimited amount of water. Resource limitations, ecological constraints and economic and political factors limit water availability and human use. Should the right to water cover solely enough to sustain a life? Or enough to grow all food sufficient to sustain a life? These are difficult to answer, but he posits that a human right to water should only apply to ‘basic needs’ for drinking, cooking and fundamental domestic uses. This baseline definition is supported by the 1977 Mar del Plata statement and the 1986 UN Right to Development set a goal of meeting ‘basic’ needs. The concept of meeting basic water needs was further strongly reaffirmed during the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and expanded to include ecological water needs (Scott, 2010). Further, The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses approved by the General Assembly on 21 May 1997 also explicitly addresses this question of water for basic human needs, including food. Article 10 states that in the event of a conflict between use of water in an international watercourse, special regard shall be given ‘to the requirements of vital human needs’. In determining vital human needs, special attention is to be paid to providing sufficient water to sustain human life, including both drinking water and water required for

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production of food in order to prevent starvation (Gleick, 1999). Clearly even this basic definition came under question during the development of the LHWP.

7.8.1

Lesotho in 2011

The population of Maseru grew by about 5% between 1996 and 2006 (from approximately 150 000 to more than 250 000 people), and continues to grow as people are drawn by employment prospects in the garment sector which has burgeoned after benefiting from the USA’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This has resulted in over 50 firms employing more than 50 000 people, mainly in the Maseru area. As a result, the availability and reliability of water and wastewater service has become vitally important and the government has set a supply of plentiful and reliable water (Pepperell and Roopchund, 2009). Water is one of Lesotho’s few natural resources and the country has made significant advances in ensuring sustainable access to safe drinking water for its people. Of 24 African countries sampled between 1995 and 2005, Lesotho was ranked third behind Uganda and Ethiopia with regards to the success rate of improving the levels of service of water supply to its population from informal untreated sources to formal water supply systems (Pepperell and Roopchund, 2009). Water experts suggest that 18 potential river sources and dam sites were investigated, as well as groundwater resources, and the study recommended that conjunctive usage of run-of-river, dams, and in some cases groundwater resources, be used to ensure the reliability and sustainability of water supplies in the long term. The report also recommended that the Lowlands area be supplied from several regional sources. This means that as many as six separate water supply schemes would result. This would allow for additional dam construction for the remaining parts of the Lowlands (Pepperell and Roopchund, 2009).

7.9

CONCLUSION

The LHWP is a multilevel project that will take more than 30 years to complete. It was created shortly after the 1986 coup in Lesotho. It was primarily designed to increase water availability to South Africa. The proceeds would be used to vitalise the Lesothan economy. However, there were many complications which included forced resettlement, economic dislocation, and general loss of community and subsistence farming. International law developed considerably during the last half of the 20th century to safeguard the rights of indigenous groups. The central components are the development of third and fourth generation rights which secure the rights for groups to develop economically, the protection of indigenous peoples and the rights to a protective environment. Yet as impressive as these legal measures are, it seems that there is a significant difference between theory and practice. According to integration theory, the LHWP benefits would be dispersed even between South Africa and Lesotho and within Lesothan society. However, there is more of a general pattern of societal disenfranchisement to actual displacement. Environmental justice concerns

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are manifested throughout the LHWP case and the application of strict adherence of international environmental law such the right to fresh water is quite limited. Women’s rights violations are of great concern as well as the overall loss of traditional grazing land which had been a staple for centuries for the Sotho peoples. Environmental justice concerns are patently clear. The LHWP has provided some benefits for Sotho society but it is questionable whether it is enough to overcome the displacement concerns. International legal measures recognise indigenous rights but enforcement of these rights is missing, which may be the ultimate tragedy towards understanding environmental justice concerns in Lesotho.

ENDNOTES 1.

People of colour bear the brunt of the nation’s pollution problem. This was the case in Warren County, North Carolina. The rural, poor and mostly African American county was selected for PCB landfill not because it was a sound environmental choice, but because resistance was minimal. It was during the subsequent protests that the term environmental racism (justice) was coined. 2. Disparate social impact means that a group has been disproportionately exposed to poor environmental conditions, but there is no direct proof that a specific group was targeted. 3. Civil and political rights were recognised by the United Nations in 1948. Economic, social and cultural rights were recognised by the United Nations in 1965. 4. Article 30 of that convention provides that a child ‘who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religions, or to use his or her own language’ (Scott, 2010: 231–232). 5. Vertical integration reflects more an intrastate issue whereby all levels of society are involved in the decision-making process. Horizontal integration is often viewed as multiple agencies working in cooperation with each. It can also involve interstate relations. 6. Clientelism refers to the domination of one major economic sector receiving political benefits. Cleptocracy is often referred to as government by thieves, and statism is a concept which reflects longstanding government–private sector relationships with little emphasis for change in allowing new businesses to enter this special relationship. 7. Lesotho has been the called the emerald nation because its mountainous topography has an emerald reflection. Emerald deposits have also been found there. 8. Renamed Kingdom of Lesotho upon achieving independence from England in 1966. 9. Frontline states were states that harboured African Nationalist Congress guerrillas who fought against apartheid policies in South Africa. 10. The Basotho are a group of people from a cluster of tribes united under King Moshoeshoe I (pronounced Moo shway shway) during the early 1800s. Moving south from the Transvaal region of South Africa, they settled in the Orange Free State and on into the mountainous area now known as The Kingdom of Lesotho (www.basotho.org/Basotho/Basotho.htm).

REFERENCES Balassa, B. and Stoutjesdyk, A. (1975). Economic integration among developing countries. Journal of Common Market Studies. 14, 1: 37–55. Bond, P. (2005). A political economy of dam building and household water supply in Lesotho and South Africa. In: McDonald, D.A. (Ed). Environmental Justice in South Africa. Ohio University Press, Athens, OH, pp. 223–269.

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Braun, Y.A. (2008). ‘How can I stay silent?’ One woman’s struggles for environmental justice in Lesotho. Journal of International Women’s Studies. 10, 1: 5–21. Chavis, B. (1993). Foreword in Confronting Racism: Voices from the Grassroots. South End Press, Boston, MA. Davies, R. (1994). Approaches to regional integration in the southern African context. Africa Insight. 24, 1: 11–17. Detter, A. and Gunneweg, E. (1994). Transformations Caused by Losotho Highlands Water Project Phase 1-A with a Focus on the Ha Lejone and Ha Mensel in Katse Local Catchment, Maseru. Epprecht, M. (2000). ‘This Matter of Women is Getting Very Bad’: Gender Development and Politics in Colonial Lesotho. University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg. Gleick, P. (1999). The human right to water. Water Policy. 1: 487–503. Gordon, E. (1981). An analysis of the impact of labour migration on the lives of women in Losotho. In: Nelson, N. (Ed). African Women in the Development Process. Cass, London. Gordon, F. (2008). Freshwater Resources and Interstate Cooperation Strategies to Mitigate an Environmental Risk. SUNY Press, Albany, NY. Haas, E. (1971). The study of regional integration: reflections on the joy and anguish of pretheorising. In: Lindberg, L.N. and Scheingold, S.A. (Eds). Regional Integration: Theory and Research. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 3–44. Haas, E., Lawrence, J.M., Mazzei, L. and O’Leary, D.T. (2010). World Bank Working Paper No. 200 Lesotho Highlands Water Project Communications Practices for Governance and Sustainability Improvement. The World Bank, Washington, DC. Haarlov, J. (1988). Regional Co-operation in Southern Africa: Central Elements of the SADCC Venture. Report no. 14. Centre for Development Research (CDR), Copenhagen. Hassan, F.M.A. (2002). Lesotho – Development in a Challenging Environment: A Joint World Band– African Development Bank Evaluation. African Development Bank and World Bank, Washington, DC. LHDA (Lesotho Highlands Development Authority). (1986). LDHA Order of 1986. Lesotho Government Gazette Extraordinary, Maseru. Lowry, W. (2002). Dam Politics Restoring America’s Rivers. Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC. Mitrany, D. (1943). A Working Peace System: An Argument for the Functional Development of International Organization [and Other Essays]. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Panel of Environmental Experts. (1989). Report to the LDHA and the World Bank. Washington, DC. Panel of Environmental Experts. (1991). Report to the LDHA and the World Bank. Washington, DC. Panel of Environmental Experts. (1993). Report to the LDHA and the World Bank. Washington, DC. Panel of Environmental Experts. (1994). Report to the LDHA and the World Bank. Washington, DC. Panel of Environmental Experts. (1995). Report to the LDHA and the World Bank. Washington, DC. Panel of Environmental Experts. (1997). Report to the LDHA and the World Bank. Washington, DC. Pepperell, A. and Roopchund, R. (2009). Preparations going ahead to meet the water needs of the Lesotho Highlands. Civil Engineering: Magazine of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering. 17 (October), 9: 36. Scott, S. (2010). International Law in World Politics: An Introduction, 2nd edition. Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO. Showers, K.B. (2005). Imperial Gullies, Soil Erosion and Conservation in Lesotho. Ohio University Press, Athens, OH. Stewart, J. and McCarthy, C. (1995). An appropriate model for joint regional action in southern Africa after apartheid. Development Southern Africa. 12, 3: 401–411. Thamae, M.L. and Pottinger, L. (2006). On the Wrong Side of Development: Lessons Learned from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Transformation Resource Center, Maseru. Tilt, B., Braun, Y. and He, D. (2009). Social impacts of large dam projects: a comparison of international case studies and implications for best practice. Journal of Environmental Management. 90: S249–S257. United Nations. (2003). Investment Policy Review: Lesotho. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. United Nations, New York, NY.

CHAPTER

8

Forgotten Voices: Indigenous Rights and Justice in Environmental Politics Martin Adamian There is increasing awareness of the relationship between human rights and the environment. As the Earth and its ecosystems are increasingly strained by anthropocentric change, law and legal systems are called upon to determine who will bear the burdens. This raises important questions about rights and justice, and has resulted in significant discourse on these issues. Fundamental disagreements exist between individuals and groups regarding the description and understanding of the problems, as well as the potential solutions. International law has developed in order to address issues that cross state borders and impact the lives of many divergent peoples. It is relied on to resolve disputes and balance competing interests, including those of the most disadvantaged. In regards to the environment, international law is seen as the chief instrument for addressing global environmental problems. In addition, there has been an international effort to appreciate the role that land, waters and air play in the cultural identity, as well as the survival and basic rights of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have been described as canaries in the coal mine. As a result of their traditional lifestyles, living close to the land makes them particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation. Just as the canary might signal a build-up of dangerous gas that could threaten the oxygen supply of the miners, the failure to protect the global environment threatens not only the integrity of indigenous communities, but also the health and safety of us all. Therefore, it is important to recognise that these issues must be adequately addressed, not just to protect some isolated group of natives with outdated means of subsistence, but to protect the ecological integrity of all people. For example, Arctic human populations are threatened by the longdistance transport of biological substances. With the Arctic as an important sink and the dependence of indigenous populations on traditional diets, these people are exposed unduly to chemicals that accumulate in the food chain (European Environmental Agency, 2006; Westra, 2008: 8). But this is an early warning to others of the effects of these chemicals, especially those that are bio-accumulative, persistent and

International Environmental Justice: Competing Claims and Perspectives, edited by Frederick D. Gordon and Gregory K. Freeland. # 2012 ILM Publications, a trading division of International Labmate Limited.

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toxic. Further, if Europe and other industrialised states are responsible for the burden of such chemicals, this raises issues of equity and responsibility. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of social justice, equality and peoples’ quality of life in its widest sense. These issues are further complicated by the fact that the environment and indigenous groups are not properly valued or represented in the international system of states. This chapter will look at the development of international law on these issues. Starting in 1972 with the United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, significant questions were identified regarding the environment, indigenous rights and the role of development. The Brundtland Report is famous for introducing the notion of sustainable development; however, the international community is unable to reconcile these competing values, particularly as they relate to indigenous peoples who may have an entirely different understanding of development. A proper understanding of international environmental justice must include reference to the interconnectedness of the natural world, as well as the place of humans and human rights. Indigenous rights, as a subset of human rights must include both collective and individual rights to selfdetermination, as well as rights to cultural, biological and ecological integrity. Ultimately, it is important to realise that all rights of individuals are entirely dependent on the ecological integrity of their surrounding habitat.

8.1

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

The international legal system developed out of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and established the notion of independent states. Since that time, states have remained the central actors in global political relations. According to the widely accepted realist political tradition, states are unitary, rational actors that have become the predominant form of representation. Although this tradition has been repeatedly challenged and adapted, states and the notion of state sovereignty continue to shape all efforts to address issues that cross political boundaries. In fact, the very idea of the nation-state has made it difficult for non-European indigenous peoples to qualify as such. The concept of the nation-state in the post-Westphalian sense is based on European models of political and social organization whose dominant defining characteristics are exclusivity of territorial domain and hierarchical, centralized authority. By contrast, indigenous peoples . . . at least prior to European contact, typically have been organized primarily by tribal or kinship ties, have had decentralized political structures often linked to confederations, and have enjoyed shared or overlapping spheres of territorial control. (Anaya, 2004: 15)

As a result, indigenous communities are not recognised as states on the international level,1 nor are there any guarantees that their rights will be protected within the states in which they reside. As a result, they struggle to defend their traditional ways of life without adequate protection.

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Similarly, issues such as human rights and environmental degradation cannot be adequately addressed when independent states refuse to provide the necessary protections. All boundaries are artificial in the sense that they do not necessarily represent specific ethnic or indigenous groups (Boggs, 1980) and air, water and wildlife cross freely from one jurisdiction to another. As a result, environmental degradation and its effects on human communities do not fit nicely within political boundaries. Further, the distribution of power in the international system of states allows the global environment to be sacrificed to support the wasteful lifestyles of those in the global north, at the expense of the poor and underprivileged in the global south. In this regard, the international system of states is inadequate and international cooperation is necessary in order to find meaningful solutions to these types of problems. Over time, states began to accept, on a voluntary and reciprocal basis, a variety of restrictions in order to pursue shared objectives. This became increasingly true as the international system became more and more interdependent. Nevertheless, the sovereign equality of states, and the voluntary acceptance of international obligations has remained fundamental to the modern conception of international law.2 Without developed enforcement mechanisms there is nothing to stop a state from disregarding its international commitments. As a result of this problem with compliance and enforcement, the sufficiency of international legal mechanisms has often been measured by the extent to which it results in binding international law.3 In this regard, it is important to recognise that our understanding and expectations of the use of law on the international level are dependent on our experiences with law in the domestic context. As a result, characteristics of the domestic model are transformed into prerequisites for international order.4 In several respects, the international system mirrors domestic society; its norms, rules and institutions vary in form and not substance. It is, therefore, not surprising that the common understanding of international law, as well as the literature surrounding international law, is heavily dependent on experiences within domestic legal systems. But the international system is different. For example, the international legal system is a decentralised system, whereas domestic legal systems are extremely centralised. This has contributed to the fact that international law has been unable to satisfy our steadily increasing expectations about the requirements of global order and justice. As the world has become more globalised, more people, pollution, information, money, goods and services cross political boundaries at an ever-increasing rate. This has had profound impacts, both good and bad, on global politics and the relationship between individuals and groups around the world. International law has been used to mitigate these interactions, and provide some minimal standards that can be applied universally. Much of this has happened within, or in conjunction with, the UN, an intergovernmental organisation with states as members. The UN was established after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security. By encouraging cooperative relations among states and promoting social progress, it was thought that living standards could be improved while protecting human rights for all. These proved to be lofty goals, and as a result the UN has been extremely controversial from its inception. Nevertheless, membership has steadily grown, to the point now where almost every country in the

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world has a seat in the general assembly.5 Although it has been criticised for its failures, at a minimum the UN has provided a venue for international discourse on a variety of issues, including global environmental degradation and the protection of indigenous rights. Some argue that UN General Assembly resolutions are not ‘lawmaking’, and can only be declaratory in character (Guradze, 1971). Yet, it is beyond doubt that they have influenced the standards of international behaviour and have helped in the formation of international law, as well as state law and practice. This is particularly true in regards to ‘decolonization, recognition of the right to selfdetermination of peoples, and permanent sovereignty of States over their natural resources’ (Cancado Trindade, 1985). In this regard, others acknowledge that international law is a normative system harnessed to the achievement of common values, values that speak to all of us (Higgins, 1994).6

8.2

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

International environmental law is, arguably, the most dynamic area of international law. One text book in this area properly describes international environmental law as having ‘had the greatest impact, ultimately constituting a powerful factor pushing towards a transformation of the fundamental basis of international law’ (Kiss and Shelton, 1991: 2; see also Taylor, 1998a: 3). Yet, a cohesive body of international law requiring sovereign states to regulate behaviour that affects the environment has not fully been developed. Historically, international environmental problems were not a proper subject for international law. The freedom of states to decide upon their internal set-up, national legislation and foreign policy was virtually unrestricted, giving states maximum freedom to pursue their self-interest. In this regard, environmental issues were considered matters of domestic concern within the sovereign jurisdiction of each state and, as a result, they were addressed by domestic regulation rather than international law. Justice in this regard meant legality, sovereignty, equality and fairness of treatment among states. However, traditional international law was not well equipped to deal with the variety of issues that arise regarding international environmental problems. As a result, environmental law developed as ‘a patchwork, reflecting a piecemeal, fragmented and ad hoc response to problems as they have emerged’ (Yamin and Depledge, 2004: 11). Threats to the Earth’s flora and fauna, wildlife, air and water have been recognised by scientists and conservationists for more than a century, but it is only in the past four decades that states have begun to address these issues on a global scale.7 In 1972, 113 states sent representatives to the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden. This marked the beginning of organised international efforts to develop a comprehensive plan to safeguard the environment while also promoting economic development. Further, it represented an acknowledgement, by industrialised countries in particular, of the importance of multilateral efforts to deal with transboundary environmental problems (Elliott, 1998: 7). Although there were no binding treaties signed at Stockholm, many consider this conference as a watershed in the development of international environmental law. The

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UN Environment Programme was established, creating a permanent framework from which global environmental trends could be monitored, international meetings and conferences organised, and international agreements negotiated. The Stockholm Declaration established that ‘man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality, and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being’.8 In addition, the idea of universal human rights was extended to indigenous peoples for the first time in Principle 14, which recognised that such peoples have the right ‘to control their lands and natural resources and to maintain their traditional way of life’ (Shelton, 1994). Although there was no enforcement mechanism established in the Stockholm Declaration the inclusion of these provisions represents a significant step towards recognition of indigenous rights. International environmental law continued to develop through the 1970s and early 1980s as more and more states began to realise the need to cooperate to address these issues. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development issued its historic report Our Common Future 9 calling for a new era of ‘sustainable development’ (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). To begin implementing this strategy, the UN Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, was convened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. Representatives of governments, international organisations and nongovernmental organisations met in Rio. Several documents were produced including Agenda 21,10 the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Statement of Forest Principles, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (Biodiversity Convention). Since that time additional international environmental laws have been passed on a variety of subjects. Specifically in regards to climate change, it is noteworthy that the international community negotiated a second major international treaty in addition to the UNFCCC in less than a decade: the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Both treaties have been significantly elaborated through additional legal instruments and decisions adopted by the UNFCCC’s governing body, the COP.11 In total, there are hundreds of bilateral and regional treaties and organisations that deal with transboundary and shared resource issues. By one count, there are more than 900 international agreements with some environmental provisions (Weiss, 1999: 111). But the current treaty-based framework of international environmental law is poorly equipped to accommodate non-state players with the equivalent of states’ rights within the area of environmental management (Metcalf, 2004). In this regard, a separate but related body of international law has developed in order to address indigenous rights and their necessary connection to the environment.

8.3

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

Issues surrounding the protection of indigenous rights are not new. From around the time Christopher Columbus set out to explore the possibility of a new world, the people of what are now North and South America began to encounter settlers from foreign lands with increasing frequency. These people arrived and immediately laid

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claim to their lands, overpowered their political institutions and disrupted the integrity of their economies and cultures (Anaya, 2004: 3). This encroachment was often accompanied by the slaughter of those who stood in their way, and disease and slavery for those who survived. This pattern was repeated in other parts of the world, resulting in incalculable human suffering, death and destruction. Those who already inhabited the land and were forced to endure these injustices came to be referred to as indigenous, native or aboriginal. Today, these same terms are used to represent the living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants of lands now dominated by others. They characteristically exist under conditions of severe disadvantage relative to others within the states constructed around them: they have been deprived of their land and access to life-sustaining resources, and their political and cultural institutions have been suppressed (Anaya, 2004: 4). Nevertheless, until relatively recently, neither national law nor international law had been receptive to the assertion of indigenous rights. It wasn’t until 1969 and the publication of an article in The Sunday Times Magazine discussing the destruction of the indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon that the UN was compelled to investigate the conditions of indigenous peoples worldwide.12 In that same year, Special Rapporteur Hernan Santa Cruz submitted a preliminary report of the Special Study on Racial Discrimination in the Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Spheres to the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (Howard, 2003). The final report was completed in 1971, in which Santa Cruz discussed ‘measures taken in connection with the protection of indigenous peoples’. He concluded that because information on specific policies was generally not available to him, an appropriate agency of the UN should conduct a comprehensive study that would identify the forms of discrimination faced by indigenous peoples and propose the national and international measures needed to resolve this discrimination (Alfredsson, 1986: 22; United Nations, 1987: 3). Acting on the special rapporteur’s proposal, the Sub-Commission recommended in Resolution 4B(XXIII) of 26 August 1970, that the Commission on Human Rights authorise a more comprehensive study. The Study of the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations took more than a decade to complete, and was finished in 1987 (Howard, 2003; Martinez Cobo, 1986–1987). The study discusses international and national actions taken to protect indigenous populations including those addressing social issues such as indigenous health, education, employment and housing; cultural issues, including the preservation of indigenous languages, religions and cultures; and political issues, such as political rights, land rights, equality in the administration of justice, the availability of legal assistance and the status of indigenous political and legal institutions. Some scholars contend that the study was inaccessible, lengthy and incomplete, and that because it was seriously outdated by the time of its completion, it generated less of an impact than was anticipated (Sanders, 1989: 408), but the study does propose a definition of indigenous populations,13 identifies various widespread forms of discrimination against indigenous populations and notes the incapacity of international law to deal adequately with the uniqueness of indigenous cultures and peoples. Martinez Cobo suggests that the study ‘be regarded

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as an appeal to the international community to take heed of the painful discrimination practiced against indigenous peoples, one of the largest but weakest sectors of the world’s population’ (United Nations, 1987: 2). Martinez Cobo goes on to recognise that indigenous peoples’ land represents far more than a commodity or exploitable resource; in order to understand indigenous peoples, it is ‘essential to understand the special and profound spiritual relationship of indigenous peoples with Mother Earth as basic to their existence and to all their beliefs, customs, traditions and culture . . . no one should be permitted to destroy that bond’ (United Nations, 1987: 39). As a result, he calls for an end to the systematic violation of indigenous peoples’ rights to the land and its natural resources. He declares their natural and inalienable right to their territories; their right to freely use the land in their possession, including exclusive right to all natural resources therein; and a right to demand the return of land of which they have been unjustly deprived. ‘Millenary and immemorial possession’ is appropriate to constitute legal indigenous title to land. National and international guarantees specifically providing for these rights should be enacted and implemented. States should immediately recognise inviolable indigenous ownership of land, assign to indigenous peoples all public land of sacred and religious significance, and permit and protect indigenous access to such historical sites that are on private land. All illegal acquisitions of indigenous land should be immediately pronounced null and void ab initio, and no rights should be vested in subsequent purchasers of such land. Indigenous peoples should be compensated for all indigenous lands and designated reserves that have been taken from them. Furthermore, the state should not unilaterally terminate or extinguish the right of indigenous possession of land or natural resources (United Nations, 1987: 39–40). Ultimately, the study supported the further development of international law to protect the rights of indigenous peoples by recommending the ratification and strict enforcement of a number of international conventions for the protection of human rights: Slavery Convention (1926), the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), the Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966), the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966) and the American Convention on Human Rights (1969). Martinez Cobo found that the existing international law on human rights and fundamental freedoms was not fully implemented and respected in all countries. Despite the fact that additional international and domestic laws have been created, many continue to suggest that the protections are inadequate. One of the first and most significant binding laws addressing the rights of indigenous peoples is the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (Convention No. 169, adopted 27 June 1989). Convention No. 169, which entered into force in 1991, revised Convention No. 107 (1957), which was the only international convention protecting indigenous peoples’ customary laws and rights to land for 32 years (Swepston and Plant, 1985). On a basic level, Convention No. 169 promotes respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and endorses the recognition of indigenous peoples’ collective ownership

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of land. In Article 1(1) it offers its own working definitions for tribal peoples and indigenous peoples: • • • •

peoples whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from other sections of the national community; peoples whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs and traditions; peoples who descend from populations that inhabited a country at the time of conquest or colonization; and self-identification of a group as indigenous or tribal is regarded as a fundamental criterion (Westra, citing Metcalf, 2004).14

A second binding law addressing the rights of indigenous peoples is the Convention on Biological Diversity15 (Biodiversity Convention). The Biodiversity Convention seeks to conserve and sustain biological diversity, while providing fair and equitable use of genetic resources.16 It was negotiated at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 and entered into force in 1993. The Convention recognises for the first time in international law that biological diversity is ‘a common concern of humankind’ and sets out what must be done in order to ensure its protection. Article 8(j) requires that ‘each contracting Party shall, as far as possible and appropriate: Subject to its national legislation, respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity’. It is important to note that some scholars have suggested that a focus on protecting biological diversity has resulted in an emphasis on establishing protected areas, without fully recognising the significance of indigenous populations within these areas (Dowie, 2009). More recently, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted in 2007 after 20 years of negotiations.17 The Declaration is the most comprehensive statement on the rights of indigenous people, recognising that indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment of all human rights in international human rights law. It makes clear that these rights apply to individuals, as well as groups, giving prominence to collective rights to a degree unprecedented in international human rights law. The Declaration also recognises the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination and to autonomy of government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs. Although this Declaration is non-binding, it was passed with an overwhelming majority, indicating that the international community is willing to commit itself to the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples (Scott, 2010: 232).18 Convention No. 169, the Biodiversity Convention and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples all seek to protect the integrity of indigenous peoples. The concept of integrity connotes the state of being whole, undiminished, unimpaired or in perfect condition. Thus, integrity of indigenous people requires a holistic understanding that encompasses various political, cultural, biological and ecological components of their traditional way of life. As a result, indigenous rights can be

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discussed as the right of self-determination, as well as rights to cultural integrity, biological integrity and ecological integrity.

8.4

THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLES TO SELF-DETERMINATION

The right to self-determination is one of the most firmly entrenched rights in international law (Anaya, 2004) and the easiest to defend (Gros Espiell, 1980). Selfdetermination is a powerful expression of the underlying tensions and contradictions of international legal theory. It reflects the cyclical oscillation between positivism and natural law, between an emphasis on consent and an emphasis on binding objective legal principles, between a ‘statist’ and a communitarian vision of world order (Cassese, 1995). At the most basic level, indigenous groups and organisations assert a right to autonomy and self-governance. In addition, many include a right to freely determine political status, freely pursue their own economic, social, religious and cultural development, and determine their own membership and/or citizenship, without external interference. More controversial is indigenous peoples’ right to secession and self-defence against state actions conflicting with these rights. These rights have the potential to impend national economic interests, as well as the interests of individuals and corporations within the state. In this regard, the rights of indigenous peoples come into direct conflict with the expansion of global capitalism. This conflict was at issue in the United States Supreme Court case Johnson v. M’Intosh (1823), in which Chief Justice John Marshall held that according to the doctrine of discovery, the United States had exclusive rights to acquire full title to lands by purchase or conquest.19 In this context, Native Americans’ rights have been explicitly dismissed as economic interference, or the unreachable operation of the market. These same policies continue around the world in the form of neocolonial economic exploitation. Indigenous peoples become the disenfranchised victims of globalised development, where resources, lands, water and ways of life are taken and destroyed. Lenin was an early proponent of the right to self-determination, supporting the importance of self-determination to support the freedom of peoples (Cassese, 1995; Lenin, 1969). In this regard, self-determination was essential to socialist revolution. It was seen as the basis for anti-colonialism and the liberation of colonised territories (Cassese, 1995). Ethnic or national groups were free to decide their own destiny. In the same way as mankind can arrive at the abolition of classes only through a transition period of the dictatorship of the oppressed classes, it can arrive at the inevitable integration of nations only through a transition period of the complete emancipation of all oppressed nations, i.e. their freedom to secede. (Lenin, 1969)

In contrast, United States President Woodrow Wilson viewed self-determination as free choice to be accomplished through orderly reforms, and was more willing to accept the limits of state sovereignty and territorial integrity as important to the

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maintenance of international order (Cassese, 1995; Westra, 2008). It wasn’t until the Second World War and the failure to provide international order that these principles emerge as international legal standards. Eastern Europeans and developing countries wanted to see Lenin’s thesis developed principally as anti-colonialism, whereas Western countries were not as willing to accept this same conception of selfdetermination. Nevertheless, in 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill drafted the Atlantic Charter and proclaimed self-determination as a general standard governing territorial change, as well as a principle concerning the free choice of rulers in every sovereign state (Cassese, 1995; see also Grenville, 1974). Soon thereafter the UN was established, which furthered the development of these ideas and the notion of human rights more generally. The UN Charter is the first multilateral treaty that actually references selfdetermination (Article 1(2)). It does not define self-determination, but it establishes as the purpose to ‘develop friendly relations among nations, based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take the appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace’. Article 55(c) further states the goals of promoting, inter alia, ‘universal respect for and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion’. The embodiment of the principle of self-determination in the Charter marks its recognition as a legal principle in contemporary international law, but it is important to recognise that it is primarily an objective, without specific obligations imposed on states to accept it (Cassese, 1995). It was reaffirmed in several UN declarations, and represents a driving force of decolonisation, including the elimination of apartheid and neocolonialism. In its Resolution 1865 (LVI) of May 17, 1974, the Economic and Social Council authorised the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to appoint a special rapporteur for a study of the historical development of the right of peoples to self-determination on the basis of the Charter and other instruments adopted by the UN organs. The Sub-Commission appointed Aureliu Cristescu to complete the study, The Right to Self-Determination (1981). Cristescu concluded that ‘the right to self-determination has become one of the most important and dynamic concepts in contemporary international life’ and that this right ‘exercises a profound influence on the political, legal, economic, social, and cultural planes, in the matter of fundamental human rights and on the life and fate of peoples and individuals’ (United Nations, 1981: 117). Starting in 1991, Convention No. 169 required governments to respect the integrity of indigenous peoples including the right to self-determination as a function of binding international law. Accordingly, indigenous peoples have the right of citizenship, and to participate in the development of policies and actions for their own protection. They have the right to decide their own priorities regarding development, including the potential to development of land they occupy.20 Further, Convention No. 169 states that ‘adequate procedures shall be established within the national legal system to resolve land claims by the peoples concerned’ (Article 14(3)). Despite the binding language, states often fail to properly provide the necessary safeguards to protect indigenous rights to self-determination, particularly when the assertion of such

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rights comes into conflict with national economic interests. As a result, there has been an explicit effort to further define and defend rights to cultural, biological and ecological integrity.

8.5

CULTURAL INTEGRITY

The notion of cultural integrity emphasises the value of traditional cultures and peoples in and of themselves. Convention No. 169 states that religious traditions, cultural institutions and languages shall be retained, respected and protected unless they violate internationally recognised human rights (Article 8(2)). There is an emphasis on the link between the environment and the traditional lifestyles of indigenous peoples, as well as recognition of the value of traditional knowledge.21 In this regard, Principle 22 of the Rio Declaration supports the protection of these rights by ‘providing environmental guarantees that allow them to maintain harmonious relationship to the Earth that is central to their cultural survival (Metcalf, 2004). Many suggest that a holistic approach to environmental rights, typical of an indigenous worldview is fundamental (Westra, 2008). As a result, cultural integrity is referred to in several other international laws. The Biodiversity Convention, Article 8(j), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification Especially in Africa, and the Organization of American States Declaration all incorporate cultural integrity. In addition, the Convention on the Rights of the Child also supports cultural integrity and has been ratified by almost all of the global community (with the exception of the US and Somalia) (Article 30).

8.6

BIOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

Indigenous human populations living on and from the land by traditional means must be considered as forming an integral part of the ecosystems concerned. This notion of embeddedness and holistic integration and sharing, in which the environment is embedded within the identity and the existence of humans, is important in many indigenous cultures (Kempton, 2005). Therefore, their cultural integrity, as well as their biological integrity, is entirely dependent on the protection of the ecological integrity of the areas they occupy. When a protected area is established, it should thus have as an objective the conservation of the particular culture, knowledge and way of life of the indigenous populations living within its boundaries (De Klemm and Shine, 1993). Therefore, ecological integrity has the potential to reconnect human life with the wild, and the rights of the latter with those of the former. If it is argued that human health and function are both directly and indirectly affected by disintegrity (Soskolne and Bertollini, 1999) then no theory can properly separate one from the other. The strength of the proverbial canary in the mine example is based on the fact that the demise of the canary anticipates that of the miner. Hence, it is necessary to accept a general imperative of respect for ecological integrity.

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Ecological or biological integrity is an ethical concept linked to the writing of Aldo Leopold (1949) and has been present in domestic and international, and part of public, policy since 1972. In the United States, the goal of the Clean Water Act (1972) is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters. Ecological integrity is also present in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the US and Canada, which was ratified in 1988. Internationally, Principle 14 of the Stockholm Declaration states that indigenous peoples have the right ‘to control their lands and natural resources and to maintain their traditional way of life’ (Shelton, 1994). Similarly, Convention No. 169 makes clear that governments have a responsibility to protect and preserve the land and environment that indigenous peoples inhabit.22 Indigenous rights to natural resources shall be safeguarded, and indigenous peoples shall retain the right to participate in the management and conservation of these resources. Further, Convention No. 169 asserts that traditional transmission of land rights shall be respected and agrarian programmes making additional land available for sectors of the population shall also make land available to indigenous peoples when their land base is too small to permit normal existence (Articles 14–19). Yet again, indigenous rights come into conflict with national economic interests. Their poverty renders them powerless and vulnerable to development and high doses of the hazardous exposure that their very poverty and isolation had helped them avoid. In this regard, the biological and ecological integrity of indigenous peoples is constantly under attack through the economic activities of developed countries that view the use of aboriginal lands and peoples as their right, with little or no consideration for the gravity of the consequences that ensue. Ecological integrity is not an empty metaphor or a grand theory of little utility. It is a concept that supports a solid ethical stance, one that reinstates humans in nature while respecting the latter. In this regard, there is a growing movement to recognise intrinsic value of both the components and the processes of natural systems, not only in philosophy (Callicott, 1989; Leopold, 1949; Westra, 1998), but also in law (Brooks et al., 2002). A number of international legal instruments also reflect this emerging global ecological concern, including language about respect for intrinsic value of both natural entities and processes.23 Further, the notion of ecological integrity seems to go beyond what is meant by biological integrity, and the more limited emphasis on biological diversity.

8.7

ADEQUACY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS

Despite the existence of binding international law addressing indigenous rights, many suggest that there is a ‘protection gap’ between human rights legislation and the problems facing indigenous peoples (Anaya, 2004). Within the UN, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has the authority to monitor human rights implementation, and it has adopted procedures to address all circumstances that could be viewed as early warnings of situations that might escalate. Convention No. 169 legally binds those states that formally ratify the document (Part 10, Article 38) and

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the ILO maintains supervision of its own conventions and recommendations. Specific complaints regarding violations of the conventions provisions may be communicated to the ILO, but the complaint procedure is open only to governments, trade unions, employers’ associations and delegates to the ILO. This brings us back to the questions of representation. For the most part, international human rights instruments refer to individuals, with the paradoxical results that an aboriginal community intent on suing a corporation, for instance, requires that one or more of its members prepare the submission to a court of law, rather than allowing the community itself to speak officially through its representatives. The corporation, itself, an aggregate of far more diverse components, is viewed as one. In fact, this also touches on an additional problem, the failure to recognise collective indigenous rights.

8.8

COLLECTIVE RIGHTS

Building on the assumptions of classical liberalism, Western legal thought has denied the values of community and human connection with a universal perspective that emphasised the importance of only certain values – the values of autonomy and individual self-interest.24 It is assumed that the interests of distinct individuals are consistent and conducive to the general good, yet liberalism fails to properly account for the unique interests of collective entities through an adequate accounting of objective value. This is particularly problematic when we attempt to reconcile the interests of Western industrialised democracies that explicitly recognise and pursue individual liberty with the interests of indigenous communities that struggle to fit their own notion of communal values into an international system that is dominated by liberal notions of individualism. ‘Western thought’, Robert N. Clinton explains, ‘begins with the isolated individual separated from organised society’, which is why ‘it forces extensively on the relationship of the individual to the state’ (Clinton, 1990: 740). Human rights are regarded as limitations on society, on government, and on the state, in favour of the individual; therefore, ‘rights are legal constructs that limit state action’. The fundamental themes of Western legal thought ‘pit the individual against the state and presume that individual rights emerge from the limited nature of the social compact and the restraints imposed by the notion of popular consent’ (Clinton, 1990: 741–742). There is little or no space in these theoretical approaches for groups or collective rights.25 Indigenous peoples derive their notions of law, legal relationships and human rights from a very different theoretical perspective, a different vision from that of Western legal thought. The indigenous worldview derives from tribal culture, kinship and relations in natural ecology. Clinton observes that ‘Native peoples see humans as inherently social beings’ born into a close network of relationships rather than in isolation. The idea of group rights based on principles of mutual respect is the natural way of thinking about legal rights for indigenous peoples, and thus ‘an individual’s right to autonomy is not a right against organised society, as it is in Western thought, but a right one has because of one’s membership in the family, kinship and

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associational webs of the society’ (Clinton, 1990: 742). In this regard, indigenous rights are both an individual right, as well as a collective right of peoples. There have been some efforts to recognise collective rights in international law despite the individual focus of Western legal thought. Article 27 of the ICCPR recognises collective rights, as do the governments of Canada, Australia and New Zealand (Westra, 2008: 40). In addition, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples further supports the application of collective rights through non-binding international law. Nevertheless, collective rights remain a problem as the neoliberal ideal is one of maximum freedom and individual right of choice. The emphasis is on ‘my rights’ rather than on ‘my responsibility’ (Jonas, 1984), and this stark individualism also represents the fundamental tenet of capitalism (Westra, 2008: ch. 9).

8.9

CONCLUSION

The vulnerability that follows the destruction of integrity links indigenous rights to the concept of environmental justice. The principle of integrity together with appropriate second-order principles ensures the defence of basic rights of humankind (Shue, 1996), as well as the support of environmental justice globally, because it would ensure the presence of the preconditions of agency and thus the ability of all humans to exercise their rights as agents (Beyerveld and Brownsword, 2001; Gewirth, 1982). Yet, as we have seen, indigenous rights can be problematic. Despite the development of international law, there is a failure to adequately accommodate the collective rights necessary for a holistic appreciation of traditional cultures and their connection with the natural world. In fact, many suggest that a holistic approach to ecological rights, typical of the indigenous worldview, is fundamental (Westra, 2008). As early as 1972 the Stockholm Conference consecrated the ideas, among others, that: (a) the environment is a global entity to be protected in its entirety; and (b) environmental protection is a necessary condition of the promotion of peace, human rights and development (Ragazzi, 1997). In this regard, the protection of basic human rights is important for the recognition of the need for ecological integrity. Further, as Holmes Rolston (1993) acknowledges, it is a step in the emerging awareness of humanity as an integral part of the biosphere (Taylor, 1998b; Westra, 1998).26 In this regard, the presence of indigenous peoples has helped develop not only collective rights, beyond the rights of individuals, but also contributed significantly to the softening of state sovereignty (Anaya, 2006). This may be a step in the right direction, since state sovereignty has consistently been used to protect the interests of certain groups and interests at the expense of others. Indigenous groups and the environment are the obvious victims in this regard. Sovereignty is further complicated by the fact that individuals and groups often require protection from the state. Some scholars suggest that we need a ‘subaltern cosmopolitan legality’ that relies both on political strategy and legal components: whenever law is resorted to, it is not necessarily the nation-state law; it may be the local unofficial law as well as international law (De Sousa Santos, 2005). Therefore,

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the state is both an enemy and an ally; hence, indigenous peoples’ rights are at one and the same time part of both a national and a global struggle (De Sousa Santos, 2005). International law is not only a question of obeying pacta sunt servanda, when the obligation at issue is erga omnes instead. It is a question of respecting human rights, but also a question of recognising the unique position of these people to foster the conservation of life-saving biodiversity. As a result, the ethics of integrity primarily involve respect for ecological rights (Taylor, 1998b), without limiting these to the individual human rights that are the primary focus of the law. The main point of an ethic of integrity is that it is a new ethic (Karr, 1993), one founded on science demonstrating the interdependence between humankind and its habitats. In this regard, the rights of indigenous peoples must include traditional understandings of selfdetermination, as well as the protection of cultural, biological and ecological integrity.

ENDNOTES 1.

2.

3.

4.

5. 6.

7.

8.

In many ways indigenous peoples’ lands conform to the definition of a state, with its inherent rights to sovereignty (UN Charter, Art. 2, para. 7). The state as a person of international law must possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with other states (Castellino and Walsh, 2005). The 17th-century Dutch jurist, Hugo Grotius (1925), is generally regarded as ‘the father of international law’. However, some dispute this attribution of paternity, emphasising instead the earlier contributions of the Spanish School of international law (see Falk et al., 1985: 7). The term ‘international law’ was not coined until 1789 in an essay written by Jeremy Bentham (Bentham, 1948). Bentham claimed to be doing nothing more than renaming what had been called ‘the law of nations’. Binding international law is also referred to as hard law. A distinction is often made between hard and soft international law. In this context, hard law is law that requires the parties to do, or refrain from doing, something. Soft law, on the other hand, is non-binding, and does not require the parties to act or refrain from acting. The phrase ‘domestic analogy’ has been used to refer to the argument that endorses a transfer to the domain of international relations those legal and political principles which sustain order within states. The domestic analogy represents presumptive reasoning, holding that there are certain similarities between domestic and international phenomena, in particular, that the conditions of order within states are similar to those of order between them, and that therefore those institutions that maintain order domestically should be reproduced at the international level. Currently, the UN is made up of 192 member states (www.un.org/en/members/). ‘The engrained values of any civilization are the sources from which its legal concepts derive, and the ultimate yardstick and touchstone of their validity. This is so in international and domestic legal systems alike, save that international law would require a worldwide recognition of those values. It would not be wrong to state that a love of nature, the desire for its preservation, the need for human activity to respect the requisites for its maintenance and continuance, are among those pristine and universal values which command international recognition’ (Weeramantry, C. (1997) Dissenting Opinion, Gabcikovo-Nagymaros case, ICJ Rep-4, 14). Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, a number of events including the Apollo mission images of Earth from space, as well as the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) coalesced in greater recognition that the environment was both fragile and interconnected. Around this same time, countries such as the United States created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed numerous environmental laws in an effort to minimise environmental degradation. Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, adopted 16 June 1972, UN Doc. A./CONF.48/141 Rev.1 at 3 (1973) Principle 1, 11 ILM 1416 (1972).

144 9. 10.

11.

12.

13.

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Also known as the Brundtland Commission, after its chair Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. Agenda 21 also gave rise to additional negotiations which resulted in the adoption of the 1994 Convention to Combat Desertification and the 1995 Agreement on Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (Yamin and Depledge, 2004: 23). The international legal and institutional framework established by these legal instruments, and its relationship to other international issues, is as complicated and far reaching as the climate problem itself. The underlying complexity of the climate problem and the sheer pace of scientific and political developments are contributing factors. Journalist Norman Lewis (1969) focused the world’s attention on the destruction of the indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon in The Sunday Times Magazine entitled ‘Genocide: from fire and sword to arsenic and bullets – civilisation has sent six million Indians to extinction’. In his article he exposed the fact that the Indian Protection Service, the Brazilian government’s special agency charged with the protection of indigenous people, had been exposed by the ruling military regime for its direct participation in the extermination of native peoples. Lewis described the social policies aimed toward the destruction of the indigenous inhabitants and the confiscation of their land. He suggested that the government agency charged with the protection of indigenous people was merely an instrument furthering that result. The Brazilian government’s expose´, Lewis’s article and the international outcry and protest prompted a UN-sponsored investigation. Martinez Cobo’s definition of indigenous populations is controversial, but it remains the definition of reference in the UN. According to Martinez Cobo, for the purpose of international action taken affecting their interests, indigenous populations should be defined as follows: Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems. This historical continuity may consist of the continuation, for an extended period reaching into the present, of one or more of the following factors: (a) Occupation of ancestral lands, or at least part of them; (b) Common ancestry with the original occupants of these lands; (c) Culture in general, or in specific manifestations (such as religion, living under a tribal system, membership of an indigenous community, dress, means of livelihood, life-style, etc.); (d) Language (whether used as the only language, as mother-tongue, as the habitual means of communication at home or in the family, or as the main, preferred, habitual, general or normal language); (e) Residence in certain parts of the country, or in certain regions of the world; (f) Other relevant factors. On an individual basis, an indigenous person is one who belongs to these indigenous populations through self-identification as indigenous (group consciousness) and is recognized as one of its members (acceptance by the group). This preserves for these communities the sovereign right and power to decide who belongs to them, without external interference. (United Nations, 1987: 29) The provisions regarding self-identification and member recognition make clear that membership belongs, as an exclusive and fundamental right, to the indigenous community. In other words, ‘No State may take, by legislation, regulations or other means, measures that interfere with the power of indigenous nations or groups to determine who are their members; . . . artificial, arbitrary or

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manipulatory definitions must . . . be rejected’ (United Nations, 1987: 28–30). 14. ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, No. 169 of 1989, International Labour Conference, (entered into force 5 September 1991). See also UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities that has the following definition ‘Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems’. 15. 5 June 1992, 1760 UNTS 79, Can.T.S. 1993 No. 24, 31 ILM 818. 16. The important provisions for purposes of this argument include: Article 8 – In Situ Conservation Each Contracting Party shall, as far as possible and as appropriate: (a) Establish a system of protected areas or areas where special measures need to be taken to conserve biological diversity; . . . (d) Promote the protection of ecosystems, natural habitats and the maintenance of viable populations in natural surroundings; . . . (i) Endeavour to provide the conditions for compatibility between present uses and the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components; (j) Subject to its national legislation, respect, practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity (CBD, 1992). 17. UN General Assembly A/RES/61/295, 46 ILM 1013 (2007). 18. The Declaration was adopted by 143 votes to 4 (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States), with 11 abstentions. It is worth noting that the four countries that voted against the Declaration all have significant indigenous populations, and eventually changed their position and endorsed the Declaration. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Adopted by the General Assembly, 13 September 2007 (www.un.org). 19. 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (Johnson v. M’Intosh, 1823). This case involved two parties, both claiming title to a tract of land. The Court held that the defendant’s title, granted by the United States, was superior to the plaintiff’s title, which was received when he purchased the land from an Indian tribe. Marshall viewed tribal societies as lacking full rights to group autonomy or ancestral lands, describing the Indians as ‘fierce savages’ and right to title by discovery as ‘supported by reason’ (21 U.S. at 590–592). In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Marshall liked the Indian tribes to ‘domestic dependent nations . . . Their relationship to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian’ (30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1, 17 (Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831)). 20. It is important to recognise that a right to self-determination must include the right to develop contrary to self-interest of the group. An absolute right to develop would include the right to develop unjust institutions, or destroy the environment. The collective will of the peoples may be based on misinformation and falsehoods, and could lead to conditions that do not represent the best interests of all. For example, an indigenous group could decide to rent its land to Monsanto, or a chemical company. This is particularly problematic when we consider the economic pressures on small underdeveloped states. In one case, Guinea-Bissau was offered four times its gross national product and twice its national debt to accept over 15 million tons of toxic waste over a 15-year period (Wapner, 1997: 220). It should not be difficult to understand why the acceptance of toxics by debt-ridden countries is tempting. But we must recognise that the problem is more complex than offering poor nations the choice between poverty and poison. Toxics are often misrepresented as brick-making material, road fill and fertiliser. In addition, corrupt officials can be easy payoff targets for exporters seeking cheap outlets for toxic waste. 21. Dinah Shelton (1994) suggests that the best way to protect the environment rights of indigenous people is through intellectual property law. Others disagree, suggesting that this may commodify the knowledge as well as the land itself. 22. Land not exclusively occupied by indigenous peoples but traditionally utilised for subsistence activities

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23.

24. 25.

26.

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or cultural traditions must be safeguarded with particular attention being paid to nomadic peoples and shifting cultivators (Article 14). Further, relocation from traditional land may occur only with the free and informed consent of the indigenous peoples, who then may return when the conditions necessitating relocation no longer exist, and who shall receive compensation for any loss or injuries due to relocation (Article 16). This point is illustrated by a project involving the justices of the world’s highest courts, funded by the UNs Environment Programme (UNEP). The project’s biocentric goal, as outlined by Judge Arthur Chaksalson of South Africa, is one of the most important results of the Johannesburg meeting (also known as ‘Rio+10’). The 2000 Draft International Convention on Environment and Development incorporates the mandates of the Earth Charter, which was adopted by a UN Economic, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Resolution on 16 October 2003, in its language and includes articles on ecological integrity and the intrinsic value of nature. In this regard, liberalism replaced Tudor monarchy, rooted in explicit class privilege, with modern democratic constitutionalism rooted in abstract individualism (Brown and Halley, 2002: 5). For example, ‘while organized religious groups constitute groups which might presumably seek group protection for their religious autonomy, American law recognizes only the right of the individual adherent to the free exercise of his or her religion’ (Clinton, 1990: 741). Overlooked in virtually all accounts of the distribution of species and the structure of forests is the role of humanity. There is in fact a growing body of knowledge on how indigenous and local populations manage their natural resources and sustain them over time (Hecht and Cockburn, 1990).

REFERENCES Alfredsson, G. (1986). Fourth session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Nordic Journal of International Law. 55, 1–2: 22–30. Anaya, J. (2004). Indigenous Peoples in International Law, 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Anaya, J. (2006). Indian givers: what indigenous peoples have contributed to international human rights law. Washington University Journal of Law & Policy. 22: 107–120. Bentham, J. (1948). Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Hafner Publishing Company, New York, NY. Beyerveld, P. and Brownsword, R. (2001). Human Dignity in Bioethics and Biolaw. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Boggs, S.W. (1980). International Boundaries: A Study of Boundary Functions and Problems. Columbia University Press, New York, NY. Brooks, R., Jones, K. and Ross, V. (2002). Law and Ecology. Ashgate Dartmouth, Surrey. Brown, W. and Halley, J. (2002). Left Legalism/Left Critique. Duke University Press, Durham, NC. Callicott, J.B. (1989). In Defense of the Land Ethic. SUNY Press, Albany, NY. Cancado Trindade, A.A. (1985). Coexistence and Coordination Mechanisms of International Protection of Human Rights Course. Academy of International Law, The Hague. Cassese, A. (1995). Self-Determination of Peoples. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Castellino, J. and Walsh, N. (2005). International Law and Indigenous Peoples. The Raoul Wallenberg Institute Human Rights Library Series, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden. CBD. (1992). Convention on Biological Diversity. Adopted 5 June 1992. Clinton, R.N. (1990). The Rights of Indigenous Peoples as Collective Group Rights. Arizona Law Review. 32, 4: 739–744. De Klemm, C. and Shine, C. (1993). Biological Diversity: Conservation and the Law. Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 29. IUCN Publications Service Unit, Cambridge. De Sousa Santos, B. (2005). Beyond neoliberal governance: The World Social Forum. In: De Sousa Santos, B. and Rodriguez-Garavito, C. (Eds). Law and Globalization from Below. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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Dowie, M. (2009). Conservation Refugees: The Hundred-Year Conflict between Global Conservation and Native Peoples. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Elliott, L. (1998). The Global Politics of the Environment. New York University Press, New York, NY. European Environmental Agency. (2006). Report no. 29. European Commission Joint Research Centre, Copenhagen. Falk, R., Kratochwil, F. and Mendlovitz, S.H. (1985). International Law: A Contemporary Perspective. Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Gewirth, A. (1982). Human Rights: Essays in Justification and Application. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Grenville, J.A.S. (1974). The Major International Treaties: 1914–1973 – A History and Guide with Texts. Methuen, London. Gros Espiell, H. (1980). The Right to Self-Determination: Implementation of United Nations Resolutions. UN Doc. E/CN. 4/Sub. 2/405/Rev. 1. United Nations, New York, NY. Grotius, H. (1925). On the Law of War and Peace. Translation by Francis W. Kelsey from the 1646 edition. Classics of International Law, Clarendon, Oxford. Guradze, H. (1971). Are human rights resolutions of the United Nations Assembly law-making? Revue des Droits de l’Homme/Human Rights Journal. 4, 2–3: 453–462. Hecht, S. and Cockburn, A. (1990). The Fate of the Forest: Developers and Defenders of the Amazon. Harper Perennial, New York. Higgins, R. (1994). Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Howard, B.R. (2003). Indigenous Peoples and the State: The Struggle for Native Rights. Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, IL. Jonas, H. (1984). The Imperative of Responsibility. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Karr, J. (1993). Protecting ecological integrity: an urgent societal goal. Yale Journal of International Law. 18: 297–306. Kempton, K. (2005). Bridge over troubled waters: Canadian law on aboriginal treaty water rights. Unpublished paper cited in Westra 2008. Kiss, A.C. and Shelton, D. (1991). International Environmental Law. Transnational Pub Inc., New York, NY. Lenin, V.I. (1969). Thesis on the socialist revolution and the rights of nations to self-determination. In: Selected Works. International Publishers, New York, NY. Leopold, A. (1949). A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Lewis, N. (1969). Genocide: from fire and sword to arsenic and bullets – civilisation has sent six million Indians to extinction. The Sunday Times Magazine. (23 February): 34–59. Martinez Cobo, J.R. (1986). Study of the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations. 4 Vols. (1986–1987) Economic and Social Council. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7/Add.1. United Nations, New York, NY. Metcalf, C. (2004). Indigenous rights and the environment: evolving international law. Ottawa Law Review. 35, 1 (Winter): 101–140. Ragazzi, M. (1997). The Concept of International Obligations Erga Omnes. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Rolston, H. (1993). Rights and responsibilities on the home planet. Yale Journal of International Law. 18: 251–252. Sanders, D.E. (1989). The United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Human Rights Quarterly. 11, 3: 406–433. Scott, S.V. (2010). International Law in World Politics, 2nd edition. Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO. Shelton, D. (1994). Fair play, fair pay: preserving traditional knowledge and biological resources. Year Book of International Environmental Law. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Shue, H. (1996). Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence and American Foreign Politics. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. Soskolne, C. and Bertollini, R. (1999). Global Ecological Integrity and ‘Sustainable Development’: Cornerstones of Public Health. Discussion document based on an international workshop at the World Health Organization European Centre for Environment and Health, Rome division,

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Rome, 3–4 December 1998. Available at: www.colinsoskolne.com/documents/WHO1999_Discussion_Document.pdf. Accessed March 2012. Swepston, L. and Plant, R. (1985). International standards and the protection of the land rights of indigenous and tribal populations. International Labor Review. 124, 1: 91–106. Taylor, P.E. (1998a). An Ecological Approach to International Law: Responding to Challenges of Climate Change. Routledge, London. Taylor, P.E. (1998b). From environmental to ecological human rights: a new dynamic in international law? Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 10: 309. United Nations. (1981). The Right to Self Determination: Historical and Current Development on the Basis of United Nations Instruments. By Aureliu Cristescu, Special Rapporteur. E/CN.4/Sub.2/ 404/Rev.1. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. United Nations. (1987). Study of the Problem of Discrimination against Indigenous Populations: Conclusions, Proposals, and Recommendations. Vol. 5 by Jose R. Martinez Cobo, Special Rapporteur. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7/Add.4. Economic and Social Council. Weiss, E.B. (1999). The emerging structure of international environmental law. In: Vig, N.J. and Axelrod, R.S. (Eds). The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy. CQ Press, Washington, DC, pp. 98–114. Wapner, P. (1997). Environmental ethics and global governance: engaging the international liberal tradition. Global Governance. 3: 213–231. Westra, L. (1998). Living in Integrity. Rowman Littlefield, Lanham, MD. Westra, L. (2008). Environmental Justice & the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples: International & Domestic Legal Perspectives. Earthscan, London. World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Yamin, F. and Depledge, J. (2004). The International Climate Change Regime: A Guide to Rules, Institutions and Procedures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Legal Cases Cherokee Nation v. Georgia. (1831). 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1, 17. Johnson v. M’Intosh. (1823). 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543.

EPILOGUE

Environmental justice is a very complex concept. A prima facie explanation suggests that it disproportionately exposes individuals and groups to environmental harms. While there is no monopoly on who is impacted, the case studies included in this book reveal that low income minority groups have been greatly affected. There are cases from the United States, Mexico, Bolivia, South Africa and Nepal, as well as a chapter addressing basic international environmental rights. Part of the challenge with the environmental justice literature is that, while issues are easily recognised, possible solutions are difficult to design and implement. I believe that this concern ultimately serves as the impetus of this book. Scholars, policymaker individuals and groups need to work together to offer solutions rectifying these environmental concerns. Environmental justice in the United States developed as a second thrust of the Golden Age of Environmental Policy, which occurred from approximately 1970– 1980. Many critical laws such as the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1972) and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 are often viewed as the foundation for environmental law. However, as the decade progressed, many of the laws in the United States were directed at the control of toxic substances. The Toxic Substance and Control Act (1976) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 are more tightly connected to the concerns and equity issues reflective of the environmental justice movement because they address the control of harm and toxic pollutants. Hence, the definition of natural environmental protection was expanded. There is no gainsaying that land, water and air were not central to any environmental cause, but the environmental justice movement added the humanistic component to the environmental equation. It seems ironic that environmental rights would take so long to be recognised in the United States. However, a brief review of its policy offers a different interpretation. For example, there are no Amendments for the environment, no cabinet positions that represent environmental concerns. In fact, the environment has been often viewed as a platform for developing the country. By this, I mean that the first part of the 20th century was man’s attempt to harness the environment for energy and resources. Policy did not extend towards long-term understanding of environmental damage. Perhaps it was Rachel Carson’s epic, Silent Spring, that planted the seeds for future environmental justice claims. Her intense investigation of governmental use of DDT and harmful environmental effects emphatically suggests that people must be accountable for their actions. Environmental justice claims, in the United States at least, resonate a similar theme. Today, the United States is more vigilant in not only recognising but also investigating environmental justice concerns. It is hard to

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methodologically characterise all claims into a single modality, but I can say that concern, empowerment and results are three key traceable variables that must be placed within the environmental justice framework. The two cases in the United States show how environmental justice claims arise, but they also reveal that group action can initiate effective and positive change. Nevertheless, there is another dimension to environmental justice. The focus of the book was to see if international environmental concerns could be linked to a United States’ perspective. In some ways, the United States-based environmental justice movement was part of the second wave of environmental policy from 1975– 1980. Policy focused more on the control of harmful substances and on the numerous environmental disasters or near disasters that threatened the United States (such as Love Canal and Three Mile Island). This movement reached its apex in the 1990s. One of the environmental justice movement’s crowning achievements was securing a Federal office to examine environmental justice complaints. The United States’ Supreme Court has never weighed in on an environmental justice case. However, they set a high barrier in stating that discrimination-based complaints must prove intent as reflected in the 1964 Civil Rights Act but, just like Carson’s endeavour with Silent Spring, the environmental justice movement has struggled, coalesced and challenged Federal support to regulate unfair environmental exposure. So what is the bridge to the international level? A strong starting point is with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was grounded in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The early 1940s saw man’s callous nature at the highest levels, yet new human rights seedlings were being planted. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights secured two fundamental rights: social and political rights. These rights would give way to the economic rights during the 1960s. Yet indigenous and environmental rights would only be realised at the end of the Cold War with international recognition of third and fourth generation rights. However, many questions remained and one of the most pressing concerns was whether basic rights of indigenous groups could be both procedurally and substantively safeguarded. This is the central paradigmatic concern that this book addresses. The four international case studies show that many substantive challenges remain and that, unless there are actual enforcement mechanisms in place, international environmental justice concerns may be a tragedy that cannot be reversed. International environmental safeguards exist but much more can be done. The first thing that must be accomplished is the concept of enforcement. Too often, international environment legal concerns are abrogated. What can be done? What is the value of many case studies if they continue to replicate? There are no easy answers, but just as Carson laboured through intense scrutiny and doubt, her works planted the seed for the Golden Age of Environmental Policy and later on the United States’ environmental justice movement. The cases studies included are just the beginning of a long intensive and investigative discovery process to link people to the environment, to link the environment to basic human rights and to hopefully create a paradigm shift where individuals and groups have equal say in developing and implementing both procedural and substantive international environmental policy. Frederick D. Gordon

INDEX

Illustrations and figures are in italics. Tables are in bold. Chapter endnotes are indicated by ‘n’.

Arctic 16, 129 armed conflict 11, 12 Atlantic Charter 138 autonomy 137

activism 5 beginnings 3, 4 coordination 8 Oxnard anti-LNG Movement (OLNGM) 34, 37–40, 41–5 actor-oriented approach 102 advocacy support groups 36, 42 affordable housing 30 Africa 117, 125 see also Lesotho; South Africa African-American communities 5, 6 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 117 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) 125 African National Congress (ANC) 119, 126n agency coordination 55 Agenda 21 12–13, 143–4n agricultural chemicals 3 agricultural industry 23 air quality 3, 24, 42, 46, 88 see also Community Health Air Pollution Information System (CHAPIS) Amazon 15, 134, 144n ecosystems 75 hunting 83, 88 oil industry 71–2, 92 American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights 117 ancestral land 3, 15–16, 55, 86–7, 144n, 145n see also indigenous groups, land ownership Anguiano, Lupe 39 Antilles Islands 54, 56 Antlantic ocean 54, 55–6 apartheid 119, 126n, 138 aquifers 15

Basotho people 118–20, 126n Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) 119 Basutoland National Party (BNP) 119 beach waste 55, 56, 65–6 Bentham, Jeremy 143n BHPB see Broken Hill Proprietary Billiton (BHPB) bilateral agreements 117–18, 133, 140 bilateral projects 102, 106–7, 121 Biodiversity Convention 13, 136 Block, Walter 9 boundaries 131 Boyd, J.K. 11 BP (British Petroleum) 71, 72 Bracero Program 23 Brazil 134, 144n British Petroleum (BP) 71, 72 Broken Hill Proprietary Billiton (BHPB) 34–7, 40, 41, 45–6, 47, 50n Brosnan, Pierce 44, 45 Brundtland Commission 2, 130 Bryant, Bunyan 6 Bullard, Dr Robert 5, 33, 34–5 burden of proof 11, 34–5 bureaucracy 109 bus stops 30 Bush, George H.W. 7 Bush, George W. 7 Cabrillo Port 35–6, 41, 42–3, 46 Cal-CASE (Californians for Clean, Affordable, Safe Energy) 36–7 Caledon river, Lesotho 119, 120 California Air Resources Board 24 Central Coast 15, 21–31 demographic shifts 24

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energy crisis 35, 36 Malibu 15, 33–50 Oxnard 15, 23, 25–31, 33–50 Santa Barbara 24, 25 Santa Maria 23 Ventura 23–5, 29–30, 39, 41 California Coastal Protection Network (CCPN) 39, 40, 42, 44, 47 California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32) 22 California State Lands Commission (CSLC) 35, 41 Californians for Clean, Affordable, Safe Energy (Cal-CASE) 36–7 campaigning, local organisation 7, 8 Camus, Albert 117 Canada 140 canaries in the coal mine 16, 129, 139–40 cancer alley 1 capitalism 142 carbon dioxide 13, 49n Caribbean Current 57–8 Caribbean Sea 54, 56–7 Carson, Rachel 3, 149, 150 Casa de Cultura de Tulum 65 caste issues 98, 103, 107, 110, 122 caves 58–60 CCPN (California Coastal Protection Network) 39, 40, 42, 44, 47 celebrity involvement 42, 44 cenotes 58–9, 60, 62, 67 census data 24 Central Coast, California 15, 21–31 Cernea, M. 108 chemical accumulation 16, 129–30 chemical industry 4, 10, 15, 24, 34, 145n Chevron 71–2 children conservation involvement 55, 63, 64, 65–6 pollution exposure 3, 35 church involvement 35, 37, 44 Churchill, Winston 138 citizen awareness 4 Citizens Against Crystal Energy (CACE) 39 city growth 62 civic engagement 31 civic responses 38, 40, 46–7 Civil Rights Act 1964, USA 116, 150 civil rights movement 5 class issues 73, 137 see also low-income groups environmental hazards 3, 5, 15, 33, 41 Clean Air Act (USA) 7, 17n, 149

clean-up 10 Clean Water Act (USA) 17n, 140, 149 Clearwater Port 36, 49n cleptocracy 126n clientelism 126n climate change 133, 144n Clinton, Bill 7, 116 Clinton, Robert N. 141 coalitions 39 coastal pollution 53–4, 55 see also beach waste; marine pollution Coba, Mexico 60 Cobo, Martinez 135, 144n coercion 107 collaboration 46 collective action 5, 14, 34, 46, 47, 107 collective rights 141–2 colonialism 12, 120, 133–4, 137, 138 commercial demands 122 Commission for Racial Justice, 1987 USA 5, 21 Commission on Human Rights 134 committee forestry 105, 108 Commoner, Barry 2 community forestry (CF) 97–8, 100–11 Community Health Air Pollution Information System (CHAPIS) 24–5, 27, 28 community involvement 3, 23, 34, 37–8, 44, 97–8 compensation programmes 121, 122–3, 135 compliance 131 composting toilets 65 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 1980, USA 10 concern 100 Conference on Environment and Development 97, 124, 133, 136 Conference on the Human Environment 2, 12, 130, 132, 142 Conoco 90 consent 107 conservation 139–40 Consolidated Edison 3–4 consumers, costs 9 Convention on Biological Diversity 1992 13, 136 Convention on the Law of the NonNavigational Uses of International Watercourses 124 Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 117, 139 cooperation 117–18, 126n, 131

INDEX

153

coordination 8 agencies 55 corporations 141 Correa, Rafael, Ecuadorian President 85 corruption 62, 105, 108, 145n costs 9 ‘cradle to grave’ approach 10 Cristescu, Aureliu 138 crop prices 23 cross-community participation 37–8, 46 Crystal Energy Company, Houston, Texas 34, 36, 39, 49n CSLC (California State Lands Commission) 35, 41 cultural integrity 138, 143 cultural issues 129, 134 see also indigenous groups, cultures cycling 30

dignitary effects 16, 99, 101, 107 discrimination 11, 18n, 134–5 see also class issues; gender equity; indigenous groups; race issues positive 100, 107, 108, 109, 110 disempowerment 107 disenfranchisement 122, 125, 137 displacement 22, 23 distribution of power 131 distributional equity 10, 99, 101 District Forest Office (DFO), Nepal 101, 105, 106, 108–9, 110n division of labour 122 domestic analogy 143n Dowie, Mark 2, 12, 136 due process 117 Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality 5

dam construction 16, 116, 120–3, 125 Dayuno 74 DDT 3 decision making processes 16, 99, 101 community involvement 23, 44–5, 48, 98, 102–5, 107–8 Declaration on Environment and Development 12–13, 133, 139 Declaration on the Right to Development, 1986 116–17 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007 117, 136, 142, 145n Declaration on the Rights of Man 116 Deepwater Horizon oil spill 1, 58, 71 Deepwater Port Act 46, 49n deforestation 3, 14, 54, 75, 122 democracy 12 demographic shifts 24 demonstrations 4, 7, 41, 119 see also rallies devaluation of land 9 developing countries see also Ecuador; Lesotho; Nepal forestry 97 see also community forestry (CF) sanitary conditions 11 weak legislation 11 development financial support 121 development planning 62 development rights 116 ‘devil’s excrement’ 71–2 Diamond, L. 12 dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) 3 diets, traditional 16, 74, 76, 78–83, 90, 91

Earley, P.C. 99 Earth Charter 146n Earth Day 4, 8, 17n Earth Summit 1992 97, 124, 133, 136 Earth Week 41 Ecological Center, Mexico 64–5 Ecology and Environment, Inc 40 economic development environmental impact 3, 15, 140 sharing benefits 123 ecosystems 1, 139–40 Amazon 75, 88 educational programmes 65 protection 3, 136 ecotours 64 Ecuador 15, 74–92 educational programmes 62–3, 64, 65, 66, 87– 8 Ejido of Pino Suares 61 Elders 63, 64 elitism 105, 106, 108–9, 110 ‘emerald nation’ 126n employment patterns 122, 123 empowerment 13 Endangered Species Act (USA) 17n, 149 energy crisis, California 35, 36 energy industry 47–8 see also hydropower; liquid natural gas (LNG) projects Environmental Defense Center 42, 44 Environmental Defense Fund 4 environmental equity 16, 22, 97–100, 101, 109–10 environmental footprints 62, 122

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

Environmental Impact Report (EIR) 40, 42–3, 46 Environmental Impact Statement 4 environmental justice academic approach 8–9 criticisms 8–9 definitions 1, 2, 9–10 principles 9–10, 13, 18n, 22, 34–5, 73 range of issues 22 environmental justice movement (EJM) 5–6 Environmental Justice Strategic Plan 7–8 Environmental Leadership Summit 10 environmental organisations 4 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 5, 17n, 24, 36, 41, 143n Environmental Justice Strategic Plan 7–8 Office of Environmental Justice 6, 7 policy changes 7 environmental racism 5, 6 equal distribution 9, 10, 22, 99 equality 73, 99–100, 105, 109, 130 sovereign 131 equity 100, 105, 106, 107 see also inequalities distributional 10, 99, 101 environmental 16, 22, 97–100, 101, 109– 10 gender 76, 98, 103, 107, 122–3, 126 procedural 99, 101 ethics 109, 140, 143 Europe nation-state model 130 as polluter 16, 130 Executive Order (EO) 12898, USA 6–7, 22, 116 Exxon Valdez oil spill 71

Faber, Daniel 33 fairness of procedures 99 faith strategy 35, 37, 44 family values 35 FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) 97 farm-to-school programmes 30 Fernandez, Erica 39, 45 first generation human rights 116 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit 7, 18n, 22 fish 3 Fisher, R.J. 98–9 Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) 35 food access 109, 122

chemical accumulation 129–30 donated by companies 76–7, 78, 79–81, 91, 92n farm-to-school programmes 30 hunting 78–9 sharing 74, 77–9, 81–2, 83, 89, 91 traditional diets 16, 74, 76, 78–83, 90, 91, 129–30 Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) 97 Foreman, Christopher 9 Forest Users Groups (FUGs), Nepal 101–2, 103–5, 106, 108–9, 110n forestry see also rainforest community (CF) 16, 97–8, 100–11 destruction 3, 14, 54, 75, 122 Forestry for Local Community Development 97 form letters 49–50n fourth generation human rights 117, 125 Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 133 frameworks 38, 40, 116 free trade policies 23 Frontline states 118, 119, 126n Fukushima nuclear accident 2

Galston, W. 99 Garcia, Beatriz 43–4, 47 Gareno, Ecuador 74, 84–90, 91 gas pipelines 15 gender equity 98, 103, 107, 122 employment patterns 123 indigenous groups 76 violations 126 generation of rights 11–12, 116 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis 24 Gleick, P. 124 global warming 16 globalisation 14, 131 see also international law Gore, Al 7 government responses 13, 40 see also civic responses developing countries 11 indigenous rights 14 USA 6–7 grassroots organisations 8, 15, 21–3, 66 see also local organisation Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement 140 Great Pacific Garbage Patch 55 green economy development 29–30

INDEX

greenhouse gases 36, 49n reduction 13 Grotius, Hugo 143n groundwater contamination 5, 6 legislation 10 Guanteng, South Africa 123–4 guerrillas 119, 126n Guinea-Bissau 145n Gulf of Mexico 1, 58, 71, 72 Hakim 109 hard law 143n hazardous-waste facilities 21 health children 3, 35 effect of pollution 4, 24, 72 legislation 6 rights 13, 47, 117 high-pressure gas pipelines 3 HIV/AIDS 123 horizontal integration 126n hotels 61, 65 household economics 15, 89–90 housing 30, 122 Howard, John, Australian Prime Minister 36 Huaorani 74–6, 78–84, 85–6, 91 Hudson River Valley, USA 3–4 Huentaro, Ecuador 74, 77, 83, 84, 88 human rights 1, 13, 18n, 47, 73, 125 see also development rights; indigenous groups, rights; self-determination collective 141–2 cultural 139 ecological 139–40, 142 generations 11–12, 116–17 health 13, 47, 117 hygiene 11 legislation 10, 11–12, 126n, 133, 135–9, 140–1 see also international law protection 2, 140–1, 142–3 self-determination 137–9 violations 11, 124, 139 water 124–5, 126 Western views 141 Hunt, Governor Jim 6 hunting 78–9, 83, 88 hurricanes 54, 59 hydropower 3–4, 14, 121, 124 hygiene rights 11 ideologies 37–8 immigrants 15, 23

155 environmental justice activism 31 exposure to environmental hazards 25, 26–7, 28 population growth 22–3 South Oxnard, California 28, 31 incentives 9 independent bodies 110 Indian Protection Service, Brazil 144n indigenous groups Basotho people 118–20, 121–2, 126n Brazil 134 cultures 15, 53, 62, 65, 74, 129–30 definitions 134, 136, 144–5n developmental pressure 62, 64, 72–5, 121–2 discrimination 134–5 Ecuador 72, 73, 74 international law 3, 16, 133–42 land ownership 77–8, 134, 135–6, 138, 140 migrant workers 23, 123 oil industry 14, 73, 77–8, 83–5, 92 rights 12, 77–8, 116–17, 122, 124–5, 129, 133–42 sharing knowledge 63 Tulum, Mexico 53–67 USA 133–4, 137 worldview 141–2 individualism 141, 142, 146n industrial development location studies 33 industrial pollution 3, 23 see also liquid natural gas (LNG) projects; petrochemicals; toxic-dump sites inequalities 11, 107–8 see also equity distributional patterns 10, 33, 99, 101 historical development 73 integration 117, 126n, 137 integrity 136–7, 138, 142, 143 cultural 139, 143 ecological 139–40, 143 intellectual property law 145n intent 11 intentional harm 116 interagency coordination 8 Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice 8 international agencies 106–7 international agreements 133 international financial support 121 International Labour Organization (ILO) 135– 6, 141 international law 10, 11–13, 17n, 132–43

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

see also specific conventions; specific declarations absence 124–5 compliance 73, 108, 131, 135, 140–1 development 11–12, 129, 130–1, 132–3 versus domestic law 132 indigenous groups 3, 16, 133–7 principles 2–3 self-determination 137–9 internships 64 interstate cooperation 117, 126n irrigation 65 Japan 2 Johnson v. M’Intosh (1823) 137, 145n Johnston, B.R. 11 Jonathan, Leabua 119 Jordan, Susan 44, 47 justice 99–100, 132 karstic aquifers 54 Katse Dam 121, 123 Khokhoba, Lesotho 123 Kyoto Protocol 133 land access 122 devaluation 9 indigenous groups 77–8, 134, 135–6, 138, 140 management 119–20, 140, 146n protection 77–8, 139–40 landfills, locations 5, 6, 49n latrines 11 leadership 22 legal positivism 11 legislation see also international law; policy compliance 73, 108, 131, 135 hard v. soft 143n indigenous groups 133–7 self-determination 137–9 USA 3–4, 6–7, 10, 22, 116, 125, 140 Lenin, V.I. 137, 138 Leopold, Aldo 140 Lesotho 118–26 Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) 16, 116, 119, 120–6 Lesotho Liberation Army 119 Lewis, Norman 144n liability 10 liberalism 141, 146n Lichtermann, Paul 37

Lind, E.A. 99 liquid natural gas (LNG) projects 15, 29, 33– 50 lobbyists 36, 42, 47 local organisation 7, 8, 14, 48, 66 see also grassroots organisations forestry management 97, 101, 103–5, 108 Loop Current 58 low-income groups 4, 10–11 see also poverty agricultural industry 23 community forestry 103 decision making processes 16 developmental pressure 122 exposure to environmental hazards 17, 25, 26–7, 73 industrial development location 33, 73 protective legislation 6, 106 service sector 23 South Oxnard, California 28

Machel, Samora 119 Malibu, California 15, 33–50 maloti 118 Mar del Plata statement 124 MARAD (Maritime Administration) 49n marginalisation 23 Marine Debris Program (MDP) 55–6 marine pollution 56, 65–6 see also coastal pollution oil spills 1, 4 Maritime Administration (MARAD) 49n market access 85–8 market integration 118 Maseru, Lesotho 119, 125 Master Plan for the Forestry Sector (MPFS), Nepal 101 Matsku Weir 121 Maya culture 53, 55, 59, 60–1, 63, 64, 66–7 Maya Riviera 61–2 McCloskey, Pete 4 media postings 40 Messerschmidt, D.A. 99 methodology, academic 9 Mexico displacement 23 Tulum 14, 15, 53–67 Michegan Coalition 6 migrant workers 23, 123 Millenium Development Goals 11 minority groups 1, 3, 4–5, 10–11, 17 see also human rights; immigrants;

157

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indigenous groups; low-income groups decision making processes 100, 102, 103– 5, 107, 108, 109–10 environmental risks 98–9 industrial development location 33, 34 protective legislation 6, 106 Mixtec 23 mobilisation 34, 35, 38, 43, 48 Mohai, Paul 6 Mohale Dam 121 Mokhele, Ntsu 119 Montreal Protocol on the Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) 13 Morales, Maricela 40, 42, 46–7 Mozambique 119 Muela Dam 121 mutual respect 141–2

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) 23 Napo River, Ecuador 77 nation-state 130 National Environment Policy Act, 1969, USA 4, 17n National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) 6 National Forestry Plan, Nepal 100–1 National Marine Sanctuary, USA 63 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA 63 National Priority List, USA 10 Native Americans 137 native plants 64 needs-based distribution 99 NEEJ (Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice) 7 NEJAC see National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) Nelson, Gaylord Anton 4, 17n Nelson, N. 107–8 neocolonialism 137, 138 neofunctional theory 14, 117–18, 123, 124 neoliberalism 142 Nepal 14, 16, 97–8, 100–11 NGOs 106 Niger Delta oil spills 71 NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), USA 55–6, 63 non-governmental organizations 106 norms 109–10 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 23

North Carolina 5 North Equatorial Current (NEC) 57 north versus south 131 NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. see Crystal Energy Company, Houston, Texas nuclear energy 2 Obama, Barack 8 obesity levels 30 ocean currents 55–8 oceanic pollution 56, 65–6 oil spills 1, 4 Office of Environmental Justice (EPA) 6, 7 oil exploration 14, 15, 74, 76–8, 91 oil industry, opposition by 22 oil pollution 1, 4, 71–2 Olmec culture 61 open space access 31 opposition 13, 22 Oriente 75, 83 Ormond Beach coastal wetlands, California 31 Oryx Energy Company 74, 76–8, 79–81, 83 Our Common Future 133 Oxnard, California 15, 23, 25–31, 33–50 ozone depletion 13 Parfit, D. 100 participation 107–8, 110 partnerships 66 PCBs (polychlorinated-biphenyls) 5, 17n pedestrian safety 30 people of colour 14, 22, 126n see also race issues exposure to environmental hazards 24, 25, 26–7, 28, 33 Perenco 74, 84–5, 88 pesticides 23 Petroamazonas 74, 85 petrochemicals 15 see also oil exploration USA 1–2, 34, 38 Petroecuador 74, 77 planning 62 plant nurseries 64 plants, native 64 Plastic Pollution Coalition 66 plastics 55–8, 65–6 Platform Grace 36 policy 4, 9, 14 see also legislation political boundaries 131 political cohesion 118 political issues 108–9, 134

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INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: COMPETING CLAIMS AND PERSPECTIVES

political movements 34 political refugees 115 political representation 31, 106 political support 38, 46–7 pollution 15 see also air quality data 24 impact on economic development 24 impact on human health 4, 24, 72 industrial 3, 23 oil 1, 4, 71–2 water 1, 4, 38, 59, 62, 88 polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs) 5, 17n population changes 1, 24 port licences 35 positive discrimination 100, 107, 108, 109, 110 positivism 11 poverty 11 see also low-income groups definitions 17, 110n environmental risks 5, 9, 33, 37, 48, 73 equity issues 16, 25, 98–9, 101, 140, 145n power dynamics 73–4 power of numbers 45 power plants 29 priorities 16, 98, 101, 107 Priority View 100 procedural equity 99, 101 project cooperation 117 protected areas 139 protection gap 140 public space access 31 public transportation 30, 86, 87–8 Quehueiri-ono, Ecuador 74–5, 77, 79–81, 83, 88–9, 91 Quiet Crisis, The 3 Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards symposium 6 race issues 5, 6 see also indigenous groups; people of colour industrial pollution 21, 33, 49n, 73 rainforest 54, 75 see also Amazon hunting 78–9 rainwater collection 65 rallies 4, 35, 41, 47 see also demonstrations Rawls, J. 99 Raz, J. 100 RDPs (Rural Development Plans) 122–3

refineries 1 regional integration 14 regional treaties 133 religious involvement 35, 37, 44 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 1976, USA 10, 149 Right to Development 124 The Right to Self-Determination 138 Rio Conference 1992 97, 124, 133, 136 Rio Declaration 12–13, 133, 139 risk assessment 9, 40, 41 Rival, L.M. 78 roads 86, 87–8 Rolston, Holmes 142 Roosevelt, Franklin D. 138 royalties 123–4 Rural Development Plans (RDPs) 122–3

salinisation 55, 59, 62 Sandoval decision 2002 11, 116 sanitation 11, 65 Santa Barbara, California 24, 25 Santa Barbara Channel 4 Santa Cruz, Hernan 134 Santa Maria, California 23 Scenic Hudson v. Consolidated Edison 3–4 Schlosberg, David 9–10 school children involvement 55, 63, 64, 65, 66 school data 24, 25 school meals 30 Schwarzenegger, Arnold 36, 46 Scott, S.V. 11–12 Sea Education Association 56 sea turtles 64, 65 seabirds 56 second generation human rights 116 seismic exploration 74, 76–8 self-determination 116, 136, 137–9, 143, 145n settlement patterns 15, 75–6 sex work 123 Shell 71, 72 Shelton, Diana 145n Shiripuno River 74, 84 Shocco, Warren County, USA 5–6 Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve 54–5, 64, 65 Sierra Club 40, 41 Silent Spring 3, 149, 150 Smith, Trevor 43 Snow, David 38 social behaviour 14 social issues 134 social movements 34, 38, 47 sociocultural factors 107–8

159

INDEX

socioeconomic status impact 3, 107, 109, 121–2 soft law 143n soil degredation 120, 122 solar power 61, 65 Sotho land-use 120, 126 Sotho people 16 see also Basotho people South Africa 118–19, 120, 122, 123–4, 125 South Oxnard, California 25–31 Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (NEEJ) 7 sovereignty 130, 131, 142 Spanish School 143n spill-over benefits 123, 124 states 130, 142, 143n statism 126n Stockholm Conference 1972 2, 12, 130, 132, 142 Stockholm Declaration 12, 133, 140 Storm King Mountain, USA 3–4 storm surges 59 student demonstrations 119 Superfund 10 sustainability 2, 98, 130

Tarrow, Sidney 34, 47 Taylor, Dorceta 34 ‘team leaders’ 43 terrorist targets 38, 40 Texaco 71–2 third generation human rights 116–17, 125 Tindall, David 44 tourism 15, 23 Mexico 54–5, 61–2 toxic-dump sites Central Coast, California 24–5, 26, 28 excessive fears 9 Guinea-Bissau 145n locations 3, 5, 6, 24–5 Warren County, North Carolina 5–6 toxic substances exposure 17 liability 10 Toxic Waste and Race 21 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) 24–5, 26, 28 trade agreements 117 traditional diets 16, 74, 76, 129–30 changes due to oil industry 79–83, 90, 91 chemical accumulation 129–30 traditional lifestyles 1, 74, 76, 119–20 developmental pressure 15, 62, 115–16, 121, 125–6, 129

food sharing 74, 79, 83 legislation 136 rights 139 transparency 12 transportation access 30, 86, 87–8 treaties 15, 133 Treaty of Westphalia 130 Tribal Trust Foundation 53, 55, 64, 66 truth 117 Tulum, Mexico 14, 15, 53–67 Maya temple 60 Municipality 62

Udall, Stewart Lee 3 UDPs (Urban Development Plans) 60, 62 UN see United Nations UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserves 75 United Nations Brundtland Commission 2, 130 Commission on Human Rights 134 conventions 13, 124, 133, 138–9, 140 see also specific conventions declarations see specific declarations Environment Programme 66, 133, 146n Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) 97 General Assembly 116–17, 124, 131 historical development 131–2, 138 human rights 126n, 134 legislation 131–2 membership 143n resolutions 131, 132, 134, 138, 146n Rio Conference 1992 97, 124, 133, 136 Stockholm Conference 1972 2, 12, 130, 132, 142 United States Coast Guard 35, 41, 49n United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) 35 United States of America California 15, 21–31 Deepwater Horizon Oil spill 1 European settlers 133–4 legislation 3–4, 6–7, 10, 22, 116, 125, 140 Louisiana 1–2 National Priority List 10 petrochemical industry 1–2, 92 toxic-dump sites 5–6, 24–5, 26, 28 Warren County, North Carolina 5–6 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 11, 150 Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man 12, 13

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University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources 6 urban development plans (UDPs) 59–60, 62 USA see United States of America vehicle ownership 30 Ventura, California 23–5, 29–30, 39, 41 vertical integration 126n Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) 13 violence 123 voice effects 16, 99, 101, 107 wages, low 23 see also low-income groups Walzer, M. 99, 109–10 Waorani see Huaorani war 11, 12 Warren County, North Carolina, USA 5–6 water access 11, 15, 53–67, 118, 122, 125 international sales 119, 123

legislation 140 rights 124–5, 126 waste treatment 64–5, 125 water pollution 38, 56, 59, 62, 65–6, 88 oil spills 1, 4 Weil, Zoe 66 White House Forum on Environmental Justice 8 Whitehead Jr, Roy 9 Wilson, Woodrow 137–8 wind power 61, 65 women see gender equity World Commission on Environment and Development 133 World Summit 2003 97 Wright, S. 107–8 Yanomamo, Ecuador 79 Yasuni National Park 75 youth involvement 39, 63–6 Yucata´n Channel 58 Yucata´n Peninsula 54, 58–9, 62