Ecological Debt in Extractive Industries percy makombe EJN

1. Ecological Debt in Extractive Industriespercy makombe EJN • Concept of Ecological debt • Examples • Ecological debt: transparency and accountability • Key challenges • EJN and CSOs campaigns • Way forward

2. Concept of Ecological Debt The Debt accumulated by the Northern industrial countries towards the Third World countries on account of resource plundering, environmental damages, and the occupation of environmental space to deposit wastes, such as greenhouses gases. Those who abuse the bio-sphere, transgress ecological limits and enforce resource extraction of a range of natural resources must begin to discharge this ecological debt (AccionEcologica).

3. Concept of Ecological Debt It includes the appropriation of traditional knowledge, for example, of seeds and plants, on which the modern agri-business and biotechnology are based, contamination of the atmosphere through the emission of various greenhouse gases, producing and testing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in countries of the South, and the dumping of chemicals and toxic waste in the Third World. Raina, V. (2005). Dams as a source of ecological debt. SPEEDCA:Quito.

4. Examples • The carbon debt: the debt acquired by the pollution of the atmosphere caused by industrialised countries due to their disproportionate greenhouse gas emissions. • The biopiracy: the use of intellectual property laws (patents, plant breeders’ rights) to gain exclusive monopoly control over knowledge and innovation of farmers and indigenous peoples. • The Environmental liabilities. Debt acquired through the extraction of natural resources, such as oil, minerals, or forest, marine and genetic resources. • The export of hazardous waste that are originated in industrialised countries and disposed in impoverished countries, without the minimum environmental and social safety conditions.

5. The ‘impeccable’ logic of pollution trade DATE: December 12, 1991TO: DistributionFR: Lawrence H. Summers ... I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that… I've always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted. (full memo at www.whirledbank.org)

6. Sajida Khan (1952-2007)though felled by cancer from dump, her EIA challenge to methane flaring rebuffed the World Bank PCF, 2005 at present, Durban lacks investors

7. South Africa applied for a $3.75 bn loan from the World Bank to finance Eskom’s coal-fired power.

8. Examples • Destruction of natural habitats and human livelihoods as a result of damage from petroleum extraction. For instance the damage wrought by Shell Oil in the Niger Delta, the home of the Ogoni people. • Oil activities commenced in the 1960s in Angola but Angola still imports much of its oil at a much higher price.

9. Examples • Antifungal from Namibian giraffe • Appetite suppressant from SA and Namibia • Antibiotics from Gambian termite hill • Wild seed varieties account for $66 billion in annual bio-piracy benefits to the US (Vandana Shiva, YashTandon) • Oil and gas extraction has been done with little or no environmental mitigation provisions. These methods ensure huge profits for TNCs and leave an equal deficit to the local communities.

10. key challenges • Although quantification is useful in illustrating the impact of ecological debt, it can be very dangerous. The problem with placing a monetary value on pollution or resource depletion is that it commodifies nature. • Professor Joan Martinez Alier (1998) has made the argument that: “although it is not possible to make an exact accounting, it is necessary to establish the principal categories (of ecological debt) and certain orders of magnitude to stimulate discussion.”

11. CSOs and Ecological Debt campaigns

12. “I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.” - Al Gore speaking privately, August 2007‏

13. Upsurge of protest against electricity disconnections, price increases, WB loan

14. Way forward • 1) at global scale, work in solidarity to block ecological destructive projects. • 2) at national scale, continue to make demands and challenge weak legislation • 3) at national scale pressure environmental regulatory agencies to do their job. • 4) at regional/provincial/state/municipal scales, engage public utility commissions and planning boards to block ecological destructive practices and projects. • 5) at local scales, target point sources of destructive habits and raise consciousness in local communities.