RESEARCH AND ORIENTATION WORKSHOP ON FORCED MIGRATION
Eighth Annual Winter Course on Forced Migration 2010
Module E
Resource Politics, Climate Change, Environmental Degradation, and Displacement
Introduction
Natural Resources are basic and essential for survival of people. In contemporary South Asia there is generally rush and competition to grab natural resources both by the State as well as private/corporate leaving the communities concerned in jeopardy.
Natural resources are usually referred to as land or raw materials from economic point of view, which occur naturally in environments without human intervention. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity existent in various ecosystems. Natural resources are derived from the environment. Many of them are essential for our survival while others are used for satisfying our wants. Natural resources may be further classified in different ways. On the basis of origin, resources may be divided into: (a) Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere, such as forests and their products, animals, birds and their products, fish and other marine organisms. Mineral fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this category because they formed from decayed organic matter; and (b) Abiotic resources include non-living things. Examples include land, water, air and ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver etc. Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in the following ways:
- Potential Resources – Potential resources are those that exist in a region and may be used in the future. For example, petroleum may exist in many parts of India, having sedimentary rocks but until the time it is actually drilled out and put into use, it remains a potential resource.
- Actual Resources are those that have been surveyed, their quantity and quality determined and are being used in present times. The development of an actual resource, such as wood processing depends upon the technology available and the cost involved. That part of the actual resource that can be developed profitably with available technology is called a reserve.
With respect to renewability, natural resources can be categorized as follows:
- Renewable resources are ones that can be replenished or reproduced easily. Some of them, like sunlight, air, wind, etc., are continuously available and their quantity is not affected by human consumption. Many renewable resources can be depleted by human use, but may also be replenished, thus maintaining a flow. Some of these, like agricultural crops, take a short time for renewal; others, like water, take a comparatively longer time, while still others, like forests, take even longer.
- Non-renewable resources are formed over very long geological periods. Minerals and fossil fuels are included in this category. Since their rate of formation is extremely slow, they cannot be replenished once they get depleted. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them. But coal and petroleum cannot be recycled. [i]
Natural Resource Management
Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Natural resource management is interrelated with the concept of sustainable development, a principle that forms a basis for land management and environmental governance throughout the world. There can be many examples to show that natural resources are by no means purely economic matter but also have political connotations, therefore resource politics is apt to be named. There is a strong inter play between economic and political matters vis-a-vis resources. Basic natural resources like water, fertile land, are about survival of people, where as other natural resources like ore, oil, timber are about revenue therefore political behaviour/ structures are also important.
In order to get the broader perspective one may use ‘resource politics’ which brings in the multi-dimensional dynamics/ issues relating to political, socio-economical, cultural, legal issues in an inter twined manner. One has to understand how resource and politics are inter related in the South Asian region.
With an overall South Asia perspective, one can look at resource politics, to see how and why resource scarcity and dependence can trigger or have detrimental effects on the processes and structures of democracy, peace, stability, socio-economic development, ethnic balance. At inter-state level for example, there is always water sharing problem between India and Pakistan or India and Bangladesh. Even taking intra-state example, in Sri Lanka the ethnic conflict got continued due to strife over social, cultural, economic and political spaces. The conflict also got heightened over water resource sharing at Mavil aru. When the LTTE closed the sluice gates of the Mavil Oya (Mavil Aru) reservoir on July 21 2008 and cut the water supply to 15,000 villages in government controlled areas it triggered the escalation of war and ended with annihilation of LTTE, apparently in mid 2009.
However, intervening factors, such as regional differences, climate variability, and human manipulation of ecosystems (1) generate a highly uneven distribution. (2) Population growth and increasing per capita demand with the latter growing twice as fast as the former, further limit the local availability of water (Gleick 1998). Extrapolating this trend, the United Nations fears that in 2025 two-thirds of the world population will suffer from water stress (United Nations 1997). “Water stress” as a category is part of the demographic index used to measure water poverty, marking the beginning of water stress at a per capita availability of 1,700 [m.sup.3] per year, chronic water scarcity at 1,000 [m.sup.3] and absolute water scarcity at 500 [m.sup.3] (Gleick, Chalecki, and Wong 2002).
It is important to see how one industrial disaster could pollute the air, water and soil. Or how natural disasters could affect natural resources, as in the case of tsunamis (agricultural land salination, mangrove), cyclone (marine resources).
Climate Change
Climate change will inflict damage on every continent, but it will hit the world’s poor disproportionately hard. Whatever hard-fought human development gains have been made may be impeded or reversed by climate change as new threats emerge to water and food security, agricultural production and access, and nutrition and public health.
“Climate Change and Global Poverty: A Billion Lives in the Balance?” draws on expertise from the climate change and development communities to ask how the public and private sectors can help the world’s poor manage the global climate crisis. Increasingly, climate change and development are two sides of the same coin. Effective climate solutions must empower global development by improving livelihoods, health, and economic prospects, while poverty alleviation itself must become a central strategy for both mitigating emissions and reducing global vulnerability to adverse climate impacts.
Global warming and climate change are inter related issues. The anthropogenic input mainly through fossil fuel use, deforestation and industrial revolution, which releases about six billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, has resulted in warming up of earth and has become one of the greatest threats facing the planet. Global surface temperature over the 100 years ending in 2005, has increased by about 0.74 ± 0.18 °C. The atmospheric CO2 concentrations has increased from the pre-industrial level of 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in 2005. [ii]
Global warming has effected a change in quantum and patterns of precipitation. The changes in temperature and precipitation patterns increased the frequency, duration and intensity of extreme weather events like floods, droughts, heat waves and cyclones. Other effects of global warming include higher or lower agricultural yields, further glacial retreat, reduced summer stream flows, species extinctions and disease outbreaks. Deforestation also affects regional carbon reuptake, which can result in increased concentrations of CO2, the dominant greenhouse gas. Land-clearing methods such as slash and burn compound these effects by burning bio matter, which directly releases greenhouse gases and particulate matter into the air.
The oceans play a vital role in the earth’s life support system through regulating climate and global biogeochemical cycles through their capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). But, the additional input has resulted in the reduction of ocean pH, which will have a subsequent effect on the carbonate chemistry through the reduction of the carbonate ions, aragonite and calcite, used by many marine organisms to build their external skeletons and shells. Ocean acidification has already increased ocean acidity by 30 % and could increase by 150 % by 2100. The increase in global temperatures are causing a broad range of changes like sea level rise due to thermal expansion of the ocean and melting of land ice, leading to inundation of coastal areas and displacement of substantial human populace.CO2 (Carbon dioxide) emissions belong to the most important causes of global warming. So, intervention is very much essential with the participation of people so as to mitigate the effect of the global warming. Awareness is very much lacking on among the public on the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, to follow energy saving methods etc.
Environment and Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at fighting global warming. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”[iii]
The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of November 2009, 187 states have signed and ratified the protocol.[iv]
Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries (called “Annex I countries”) commit themselves to a reduction of four greenhouse gases (GHG) (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and per fluorocarbons) produced by them, and all member countries give general commitments. Annex I countries agreed to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% from the 1990 level. Emission limits do not include emissions by international aviation and shipping, but are in addition to the industrial gases, chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which are dealt with under the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
The benchmark 1990 emission levels were accepted by the Conference of the Parties of UNFCCC (decision 2/CP.3) were the values of “global warming potential” calculated for the IPCC Second Assessment Report.[v] These figures are used for converting the various greenhouse gas emissions into comparable CO2 equivalents (CO2-eq) when computing overall sources and sinks.
The objective is the “stabilization and reconstruction of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” The objective of the Kyoto climate change conference was to establish a legally binding international agreement, whereby all the participating nations commit themselves to tackling the issue of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. The target agreed upon was an average reduction of 5.2% from 1990 levels by the year 2012. According to the treaty, in 2012, Annex I countries must have fulfilled their obligations of reduction of greenhouse gases emissions established for the first commitment period (2008–2012).[vi]
The five principal concepts of the Kyoto Protocol are:[citation needed]
Commitments. The heart of the Protocol lies in establishing commitments for the reduction of greenhouse gases that are legally binding for Annex I countries, as well as general commitments for all member countries.
Implementation. In order to meet the objectives of the Protocol, Annex I countries are required to prepare policies and measures for the reduction of greenhouse gases in their respective countries. In addition, they are required to increase the absorption of these gases and utilize all mechanisms available, such as joint implementation, the clean development mechanism and emissions trading, in order to be rewarded with credits that would allow more greenhouse gas emissions at home.
Minimizing Impacts on Developing Countries by establishing an adaptation fund for climate change.
Accounting, Reporting and Review in order to ensure the integrity of the Protocol.
Compliance. Establishing a Compliance Committee to enforce compliance with the commitments under the Protocol.
Case Study I: Bio-Diversity, Katghora Forest Reserve, Chhattisgarh
Fifty-year-old Bhuvan Pal Singh can barely read or write but for thousands of inhabitants of the Katghora forest reserve in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh he holds a revered position as a traditional healer.
Bhuvan treats his patients with medicinal plants for free. He believes he cannot charge for knowledge that has been passed down for generations and for something that is after all from nature. Many of his patients travel miles for treatment and his register reveals the diversity of ailments he diagnoses, everything from backaches to cancer. His wrinkly face lights up as he explains the medicinal treasures that the forests hide. “There are many things doctors can cure but so too can the forest,” he says. Home to 8,000 medicinal plants, India’s natural forests form the primary source of healthcare for 60 to 80 percent of the population and often the only succour for the 320 million that live on less than Rs.50 a day.
Changes in the last few years however have begun to worry him. “Five years ago it used to take me barely a day to find dhatu (an orchid commonly used to cure rheumatism) today it takes me double the time,” he worries. Bhuvan is not alone in his concerns about his forest’s diminishing wealth. An estimated 10 percent of India’s flora and fauna are on the list of threatened species, and many more are on the verge of extinction.
Rapid economic growth and limitations in integrating environmental concerns into development planning have put increasing pressure on biodiversity across India, which is one of the globally recognized mega diverse countries rich in biodiversity. With only 2.4 percent of the earth’s land area, India accounts for seven to eight percent of the world’s recorded species.
Home to 89,000 species of animals, 46,000 species of plants and nearly half the world’s aquatic plants, India’s management of its natural resources has regional and global significance. However with half of country’s land already under cultivation, rising population and the threat of climate change, protection of diverse habitats poses a formidable challenge.
Recognising this, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting several initiatives to conserve the country’s rich and diverse ecosystems and demonstrate strategies to reduce poverty. The importance of such initiatives cannot be underscored in a country where 47.2 percent of those living below the national poverty line are members of scheduled tribes, the overwhelming inhabitants of India’s forest areas. UNDP’s conservation activities cover several states, including Bhuvan’s state of Chhattisgarh where the project focuses on several key elements – conserving and enhancing floral and faunal diversity through the active involvement of joint forest management committees and sustainable livelihood support to communities. Here is hoping that the efforts are in time to save Bhuvan’s magical plants.
The links between the consequences of neoliberal globalisation and climate change, groups have come together to organise a Social and Climate Justice.
Case Study II: Sunderbans, West Bengal
Taking Sunderbans, West Bengal in to account, Independent experts like Dr.Dipankardas Gupta have argued that it is one of the most vulnerable & threatened eco-systems in this country due to climate change impact, human intervention & faulty developmental policies & priorities. Excerpts of Solution Exchange, UNDP based on the key findings are:
Firstly, it is an extremely fragile ecosystem affected by sea level rise @ 3.14 mm/year and in some places as high as 5.22 mm/year which is much higher than the global average. This has led to massive soil erosion and submergence of a few islands resulting to a few thousands climate/environmental refugees;
Secondly, between 86-90 sq. kms of land has been lost in the last 30 years and scientific data & field observation shows that the rate of loss is increasing;
Thirdly, according to Indian Meteorological department article published in the journal ‘Mausam’, there is a 26% increase in severe cyclones during the last 120 years in the Bay of Bengal and the Sunderbans, both in West Bengal & Bangladesh, which have experienced 4 super cyclones between 2006-09, including Aila Cyclone in 1998;
Fourthly, increasing salinity over the years has reduced crop productivity & fish catch, the main livelihoods of the people, as well as posing an increasing threat to the bio-diversity. In various scientific reports, loss of various flora, fauna & aquatic species have also been reported. There are also documented evidences that the Sunderbans is becoming increasing hostile for even migratory birds;
Fifthly, in the May 2009 Cyclone Aila in which more than 2.5 million persons & 194,000 families were affected, embankments were breached and the tidal surge made most of the cultivable land saline and destroyed most assets, all livelihoods equipment, fish & prawn farms, livestock, boats and most personal belongings. Most of the land continues to be unfit for agriculture, especially paddy. Even till this date, there is very little livelihoods options, except for some manual labour work being provided by the Government, civil society organizations for reconstruction & recovery work and by contractors & in the brick kilns; Sixthly, even before Aila, Sunderbans was becoming increasingly endemic to indebtedness, migration, child labour, women & child trafficking, very poor nutritional status especially amongst children & women, high incidence of TB, malaria & other diseases as a result of poor nutrition & sanitary conditions. These problems have exacerbated manifolds after Aila and have brought to the fore the increasing risks, vulnerability and poverty of the communities at risk.
And Seventhly, most of the affected blocks were already selected under the UNDP-GoI & Govt. of West Bengal ‘s DRR Programme. However, no early warning, preparedness or organized response by the ‘Task Forces’ was reported by any stakeholder. Some agencies are still involved in recovery activities. Some have DRR components but a systematic approach to institutionalize DRR from family to community to local institutional levels is yet to be observed, except for rare instances. There are a few groups and the Forest Department who are working on forest protection and especially on mangroves plantation. It is seen that there is no agency which is trying to integrate DRR as well as development work with Climate Change Adaptation (CCA). Apart from adaptation, mitigation has also to be urgently incorporated especially in threatened ecosystems like the Sunderbans.
During the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, the voices of marginalised like, Tuvalu’s delegate, Ian Fry, calling for a binding agreement, not the mere “political agreement” that has been widely expected for weeks now—and asks for a new protocol that will limit climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius, not 2, the target of most negotiators, is never heard outside. Mr. Fry’s speech gets an unusually hearty round of applause, including from the NGO delegates but governments including India and China did not take it seriously, or out rightly neglected it. This is irony where developing countries trying to represent the smaller countries are not able to accommodate their views.
Disaster Management
Disaster is defined as ‘the impact of an event or phenomenon which is caused by nature or human induced, which result in number of deaths and destruction of property where by affecting normalcy of life, causing damage to society, economy and environment, which by and large is beyond the coping mechanism of the community or society concerned’[viii]. Well in the recent years there has been series of disasters globally. Notably in India the Orissa Super Cyclone in 1999, Gujarat (Bhuj) earthquake in 2001, Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, etc., has brought in shift in government policies. Based on the experiences gathered on the impact of disasters, now Government of India has evolved holistic and integrated approach to disaster management. There are some positive developments in national level in the disaster management context such as the introduction of Disaster Management Act of 2005, and other institutional structures such as National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) up to Panchayat Raj level in its formation. The National Policy framework has been prepared after due deliberations and keeping in view the National Vision ‘to build a safe and disaster-resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive, multi-disaster and technology-driven strategy for disaster management. This will be achieved through a culture of prevention, mitigation and preparedness to generate a prompt and efficient response at the time of disasters. The entire process will centre-stage the community and will be provided momentum and sustenance through the collective efforts of all government agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations.[ix] This Policy framework is also in conformity with the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the Rio Declaration, the Millennium Development Goals and the Hyogo Framework 2005-2015. NDMA’s Objectives, Guidelines and Policy formulations have evolved to include efficient response and relief with proper preparedness and mitigation with caring and humane approach towards the vulnerable sections of the society.
In India when the institutional mechanism is geared up at national level, many provincial States are yet to gear up with disaster management structures. It is yet to be seen whether the paradigm shift from reactive responses to proactive preparedness and mitigation is going to be a reality. There is long way to go. Particularly there is need to strengthen the community resilience through community based disaster management.
Now linking climate change adaptation with disaster risk reduction is another major challenge because it needs fundamental change in government’s approach which has been using the prism of development from GDP alone. It needs to make community participatory and local specific approaches to succeed in tackling the issues of climate change, environment degradation, disaster and displacements.
There are several inter related issues like coastal zone management, special economic zones formation, rehabilitation policy, etc. which affect weak and marginalised sections. It is important to see the inter relationship between resource politics, environmental degradation, global warming, climate change, and natural disasters. Now we need to see the link between Disaster Risk reduction (DRR) and Climate Change adaptation (CCA). India had agreed to adopt regional Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures under the Delhi Declaration (August 2006) and incorporate DRR into national development schemes under the 10th Five-Year Plan (2002-07). Moreover, in June 2008 the Prime Minister of India released the “National Action Plan on Climate Change” (NAPCC), which laid out principles to protect the poor through inclusive sustainable development and stressed inclusion of civil society.
Mahatma Gandhi’s talisman is very useful here to conclude here “Earth has the natural resources to meet the needs of human race but not its greed”.
Suggested Readings
1. Jean Elshtain, Democracy and the Politics of Displacement Response
2. Lael Brainard, Abigail Jones and Nigel Purvis, eds., Climate Change and Global Poverty A Billion Lives in the Balance? In Global Poverty, Climate Change, Development, Developing Countries, Foreign Aid, Brookings Institution Press, 2009.
3. “Uprooted Twice : Refugees from the Chittagong Hill Tracts” / Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, in Refugee & The State, Ed. Ranabir Samaddar, Sage : New Delhi.
4. “Pakistan : Development and Disaster”, Atta ur Rehman Sheikh, in Internal Displacement in South Asia, Sage : New Delhi
5. “Bangladesh : Displaced and Dispossessed”, Meghna Guhathakurta and Suraiya Begum, in Internal Displacement in South Asia, Sage : New Delhi
6. “Agrarian Impasse and the Making of an Immigrant Niche” in The Marginal Nation : Transborder Migration from Bangladesh to West Bengal, Ranabir Samaddar,)
7. “Ethnic Politics and Land Use : Genesis of Conflicts in India’s North-East” / Sanjay Barbora in Economic & Political Weekly, March 30, 2002
8. “Globalization, Class and Gender Relations : The Shrimp Industry In South-western Bangladesh” / Meghna Guhathakurta, unpublished
9. Report of Workshop on Engendering Resettlement & Rehabilitation Policies and Programmes in India, Mohammed Asif, Lyla Mehta and Harsh Mander, November 2002
10. “Development Induced Displacement in Pakistan” / Atta ur Rehman Sheikh, in Refugee Watch, No. 15
11. “Scrutinizing the Land Resettlement Scheme in Bhutan”, Jagat Acharya, in Refugee Watch, No. 9, March 2000
12. Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change Reports, 2007
13. Indian National Disaster Management Act, 2005
14. National Action Plan on Climate Change(NAPCC) 2008
15. K.M. Parivelan, Community Based Disaster Management Approaches, TNTRC, 2008
Notes
[i] Wikipedia on Natural resources, www.wikopedia.org
[ii] Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change Report (IPCC), 2007.
[iii] United nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, November, 2005.
[iv] Kyoto Protocol Status of ratification as per UNFCCC.
[v] Methodological issues relating Kyoto Protocol, UNFCC 1998.
[vi] see Annex B of the Protocol
[vii] UNDP’s Good Practices Report on Biodiversity, www.undp.org.in
[viii] As per Indian National Disaster Management Act, 2005
[ix] NDMA Policy note, www.ndma.gov.in