Indigenous land rights case in the United States

(Reuters/Gary Cameron http://on.rt.com/sbi0xc)

           Environmental concerns impact the most vulnerable, or disadvantaged communities most dramatically. The class has explored several cases of land-rights disputes between small populations and larger governments around the world, including the Brazilian Amazon, Sierra Leone’s forests, Chiapas Mexico, and Somali pirate waters. One student commented that luckily, United States policy is no longer racially biased against the indigenous peoples. However, this Wednesday’s release of the “Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘Buck’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015” suggests differently.

            The House and Senate Armed Services Committee attached a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would hand over a large portion of the Tonto National Forest to the foreign mining company, Resolution Copper. This land is important to the San Carlos Apache Tribe as burial, medicinal, and ceremonial grounds. Terry Rambler, the chairman of the tribe, stated that is where his people have gathered acorns, a food source that has sustained his people for as long as they know.

There is a deeper, historical importance, as it also surrounds the Apache Leap, a summit from which trapped Apaches once jumped to their deaths, rather than be killed by settlers in the late 1800’s. “Since time immemorial people have gone there. That’s part of our ancestral homeland," Rambler said, "We’ve had dancers in that area forever -- sunrise dancers -- and coming-of-age ceremonies for our young girls that become women. They’ll seal that off. They’ll seal us off from the acorn grounds, and the medicinal plants in the area, and our prayer areas.”

Resolution Copper will use a variety of “block cave” mining that digs underneath the ore and causes it to collapse from its own weight, which eventually cracks and subsides the surface land. This would not only threaten the historic and present use of the land, but the livelihood of future Apache generations. “What those mountains mean to us is that when the rain and the snow comes, it distributes it to us,” Rambler said. “It replenishes our aquifers to give us life.” It is unknown what impacts this will have upon water distribution once the land begins to subside.

Most United States citizens do not generally feel the impacts of scarcity, as the powerful and wealthy government is able to provide necessary resources and services to compensate for the world’s diminishing resources. However, this is an autonomous population that is acutely aware of the exploitation of their subsistence resources they depend upon.  Scarcity-induced social conflict usually involves renewable, less ‘lootable’ resources, such as water and arable land. Another case in the US includes the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State over 1,600 acres transferred for industrial development. With a growing number of cases of land disputes with the disadvantaged Native Americans, could this potentially develop into a much more vicious conflict as seen in Brazil?

Late Wednesday night, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oka.) tried to offer an amendment to remove the Resolution Copper deal from the defense bill, but lost in the House Rules Committee on a 6-4 vote. The mine has filed an operating plan with the federal Forest Service and starting a review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). However, NEPA only applies to land that belongs to the federal government. Western environmentalism is growing popularity with increasing green initiatives and sustainability-conscience public. Indigenous lands serve as a loophole. Perhaps this reflects the dichotomy between indigenous environmentalism and western environmentalism. This demonstrates a need for public environmental dialogue to incorporate more holistic, universal, and intrinsic elements of indigenous environmentalism.   

McAuliff, Michael. “Congress Raids Ancestral Native American Lands with Defense Bill.” (Decmber 3, 2014). Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/ndaa-land-deals_n_6264362.html

“Congress gives Native Americans lands to foreign mining company with new NDAA.” (December 4, 2014). RT. http://rt.com/usa/211531-native-indian-lands-mining/

Source of Environmental Conflicts: Ignored grievances from minorities

Over the past couple weeks, our class has been exploring how conflict is related to the environment, and several theories used to explain the root cause of conflicts. In this paper I will be looking specifically at conflicts surrounding forest resources, both in the Amazon, from our class readings, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). By looking at both case studies, I will prove that environmental conflicts are rooted in scarcity issues, but come to life through a lack of recognition of indigenous and minority grievances. Continued lack of recognition runs the likely risk of entrenching and increasing the civil unrest surrounding the scarce resource.   

The Kayapo have been living in the Amazon for thousands of years, slowly accumulating shared knowledge of the rainforest and how to subsist from it. They are a nomadic people, living in temporary settlements for a few years until all natural resources are exhausted, then they move on. Yet, because of land colonization by non-indigenous people, the Kayapo have been forced into a sedentary lifestyle that basically transformed the once lively population into peasants (WWF 2014). The establishment of non-indigenous people, namely loggers and gold miners, not only caused the Kyapo and other local people to lose control over their territory, but also destroyed their traditional nomadic lifestyles. The land, a scarce resource, is still a contested resource today; as indigenous people are reliant on the forest for survival, and are pitted against the interests of loggers eager to extract valuable timber. Although the Kyapo and other indigenous groups are receiving attention by various activist groups, more than 1,000 environmental activists, religious workers, organizers and rural workers have been murdered in the Amazon in the last 20 years (New York Times 2011). Successful prosecutions of those who order the killings are virtually nonexistent, proving both that competition over the scarce forest resources is very real, and that cooperation with the indigenous groups reliant on the forest is essentially absent. In order to properly cope and deal with the violence, governments must cooperate with the indigenous. While their claims to the land were never formally conceded, this does not delegitimize their claim in any way.

The issue surrounding land claims in forest regions is occurring similarly in the DRC. Vitshumbi is a fishing village located on the southern shore of Lake Edward within Virunga National Park in the DRC. Africa’s oldest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site, Virunga is home to many endangered and endemic species, and holds the largest intact forest of all of Africa. Now that the country is reaching a relatively peaceful era, after two decades of civil war, loggers are pouring in to the capital hoping to reinstate their companies and profit from the regions’ rich forest resources. One London-based company in particular, SOCO, is devoted to tapping into the supposed oil reserves under Lake Edward (The Guardian 2014).  This exploration has direct negative impacts for the villagers of Vitshumbi. With little to no assistance from the weak central government, the village relies entirely on the lake for sustenance. Villagers and park wardens have taken to the streets to try and block SOCO from exploring within the national park, an illegal activity to begin with. SOCO has allegedly dealt with this complication by paying off the park wardens, promising them a share of SOCO’s profits from the exploration. Armed groups are now getting involved as well, promising to stifle village protests by any means for a share of the profit (Global Witness 2014). This behavior unquestionably feeds into continued conflict.

Rebel groups in the northeastern town of Beni, located right outside of Virunga National Park, have carried out a series of seemingly arbitrary killings and kidnapping against civilians, brutally murdering men, women and children with machetes and axes. The attacks have left more than 100 casualties in the October alone, after villagers took to the street demanding the government respond to the injustice occurring in the park (AlJazeera 2014). In a country that is struggling to pull itself out of civil war, SOCO and other invasive companies that come in and ignore the local population threaten the vulnerable country’s newly reinstated peace. If the villager’s claims and contestations were taken into account, the resulting conflict could have been evaded.

Resource scarcity undoubtedly leads to competition over the resource, yet this competition does not necessarily have to be violent. It turns violent when a stakeholder’s claims remain unrecognized. In both cases, in the Amazon and in DRC’s Virunga Park, the villagers stated their claims through activist groups and protests, which led to violence by those seeking to silence their voice. Granted, a government needs to be capable of responding to villagers’ claims, which in some cases it is too fragile to do, but disregarding and thereby discrediting indigenous grievances will more than likely lead to conflict. 

Works Cited:

Balint-Kurti, D. 2014. “Drillers in the mist’: How secret payments and a climate of violence helped UK firm open African national park to oil” Global Witness.

Rudolf, John. 2011. “After Killings, Brazil Vows to Confront Amazon Violence.” New York Times.

Vidal, J. 2014. “Soco Denies Paying for Congo DRC Trip to UN to Discuss Virunga Oil Drilling.” The Guardian.

2014. “DR Congo town hit by protestors over killings.” AlJazeera: Africa.  

2014. “About the Amazon People.” WWF.

The Honduran Government Cannot Handle Shrimp Farming

            When you hear the phrase “shrimp farming in Honduras”, not much comes to mind. However, shrimp farming in this Central American nation has become the subject of some debate over recent years as both an environmental and social issue. Shrimp farming is not a historical activity in Honduras it was introduced in the early 1970s and the industry has seen rapid growth over the past two decades. This growth is largely in part due to western demand or shrimp, and now Honduras is one of the top shrimp exporters from Latin America.[1] It’s main consumers are the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe.

            However, shrimp farming has some environmental consequences. Shrimp farming causes devastation to natural mangrove forests. These mangrove forests are part of a system of coastal wetlands that is crucial to the ecosystem of the region. Shrimp farming requires the removal of mangroves to make shrimp nurseries in their place. An estimated 3 million hectares of mangrove forest have been lost over the last thirty years, however roughly 450,000 of these hectares are now unusable and abandoned due to extreme pollution.[2] Mangrove destruction has devastating effects on the environment, such as decreasing the water quality, destroying habitats for native fish and increasing the risk of coastal flooding. Additionally, runoff from the shrimp hatcheries causes nutrient imbalances in the surrounding water, further degrading the ecosystem. Catching wild shrimp also creates “bycatch”, which is when other species are unintentionally caught during the fishing process. Large shrimp farming companies are given international donations and are favored by the state as the preferred means for operating the shrimping industry. The shrimp industry does provide some economic stimulation to an otherwise impoverished nation, however the consequences far outweigh the benefits. The shrimp industry is not sustainable, as it relies heavily on wild-caught shrimp and is growing at a burgeoning pace. Stonich and Vandergeest note the temporary cash flows, expensive start-up costs and market susceptibility to price fluctuations. Additionally, the shrimp industry displaces local farmers or shrimpers, especially since large shrimp companies are favored by the Honduran government.

            I argue that although the shrimping industry may boost the local or state economy temporarily, Honduras does not have the infrastructure to support itself and to mitigate the resulting consequences. I had the opportunity to visit Honduras last winter break, with the student group Students Helping Honduras. The goal of this nonprofit is to establish 1,000 schools in rural villages throughout the nation. My week in Honduras was filled with intensive labor. I have never in my life lifted more cement, sand and cinderblocks. The work was grueling due to the lack of sufficient construction tools; all lifting and cement-mixing was done by hand.

            The reason why the situation in Honduras is exigent is due to the extreme gang violence. Two gangs, the Maras and the MS-13, have a stronghold on the country. When I was in Honduras, my group of students traveled with anywhere from two to five Honduran soldiers. They were armed with heavy machine guns and did not leave our group throughout the entire trip. This is due to the extreme prevalence of gangs and gang violence in Honduras. The gangs took hold of Honduras after being deported back to the nation from the United States due to a “get-tough” Congressional stance on immigration. Criminals were deported to Honduras, although the developing nation did not have the proper means to handle them. Now, Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world and a large amount of gang violence. Because of this government corruption, Honduras will be unable to deal with the lasting environmental consequences of shrimping.

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[1] http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=6339

[2] http://mangroveactionproject.org/shrimp-farming/

Southeast Asian Pirates

In Southeast Asia piracy has increased but conversely, it does not seem that Southeast Asian pirates have as “good” of intentions as Somalia’s pirates. From a few readings I have come to the conclusion that as globalization increases, piracy as well increases. I would originally think that as an economy is growing, a country would produce less crime. But in some examples it shows that even as markets increase, piracy is positively associated.

Before, Asian pirates would use ancient spice routes to find their next target. However, now with Chinas booming economy, the Strait of Malacca and South China Sea are highly used routes by trade ships and have become the new target routes for Asian pirates. One-quarter of the world’s commerce and half of its oil pass through these routes. China’s individual economy as well accounts for one-third of the world’s global trade and one-fourth of the world’s oil. As there economy is boosting the statics in piracy acts have also increased: from 1995-2013, 136 people were killed by pirates in Asia (more than twice the number of those in Africa). As well Southeast Asia accounted for 41% of the worlds pirate attacks (whereas Somalia and West Africa accounted for 28% and 18% of the attacks)

Along with increasing criminal acts of piracy, it has been speculated that corruption between oil ships and pirates is taking place in Asia. The Oraphin 4 is one of 11 vessels that was attacked 4 times. First, in August of 2013, two attacks in October, and the last attack in May 2014. During one the attacks the ship should have sailed to a nearby Malaysia port to report the crimes that had taken place. Instead the ship sailed back to its homeport in Sri Racha delaying the reports. As well, given the high number of ships that travel these routes, its very odd that at random the same shipping company was a constant victim. Many people believe that the ships captain or chief engineers are involved in these incidents. But after investigation, the captain and the crew were cleared.

            Pirates have been able to steal millions of dollars of fuel from these ships. Once the oil is obtained it is often mixed with legally attained oil. This mixed oil is then sold again into the market. As of now, this fuel exchange of illegal oil is highly taking place in Singapore.

            As China is becoming one of largest economies their growth of inputs and exports are only heavily increasing. With an increase in high productivity and economic expansion there still remains to be neighboring countries that are increasing in criminal activity. Over time, piracy has decreased in Somalia and seemed to shift to Asia. I think that as globalization expands in Asian countries more corruption, illegal activity, and piracy will take place. 

Somali Piracy versus the Al Shabab

Theories on Somali piracy often focus on the criminality of piracy practice. Instead of being concerned about the believability of Somali ‘coast guard’ narratives, Christian Bueger’s argues that, “we can treat the narrative as meaningful fiction which gives coherence to the practice of piracy.” (1824) This allows us to investigate Somali piracy practices against the Al Shabab terrorist organization and evaluate their relationship with one another. Illuminating this link may offer potential solutions for both Somali piracy and Somali terrorism.

            Firstly, it is important to address fundamental ideological differences between the Al Shabab terrorist organization and Somali pirates. The economic gains for Somali pirates are contingent upon their behavior, with pay deductions for mistreating the crew or even the 18^th-century rule that “anyone who ‘meddled’ with a woman without her consent ‘shall suffer present death’.” (Phillips) The Al Shabab are known for stoning women accused of adultery to death (BBC). The Somali pirates self-proclaimed sole motivation is the protection from hunger (Genttleman), whereas the Al Shabab have more complex religious-political aims. The pirates appear to have a moral code against the harm to innocent people according to their spokesperson. “Killing is not in our plans. We don’t want to do anything more than hijacking… If you hold hostage innocent people, that’s a crime. If you hold hostage people that are doing illegal activities, like waste dumping or fishing, that is not a crime.” (Genttleman) There is a stark contrast between this and the terrorist practices of the Al Shabab, who are known for their suicide-bomber attacks and kidnappings across the border in Kenya (BBC). Finally, the general population of pirates and terrorists represent two factions of African Islamic groups, with the pirates being primarily Sufis and the terrorists practicing the Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam. Finally, the pirates claim, whether believably or not, to be interested in the protection of their people and seas, serving as a ‘Coast Guard’ against foreign forces. Although the Al Shabab gained Somali support by promising security for the people in 2011, they lost credibility when they rejected Western food aid during a period of drought and famine (BBC). Furthermore, this exposed their disinterest in the actual prosperity of Somali populations.

There has ben a rapid decline in Somali piracy activities since 2013. Many different theories have been presented as explanations, however, Currun Singh offers an enlightening connection in the International New York Times between the rise of Al Shabab and the decline of piracy. “The most likely reason for the decline in piracy is that the Kenyan and Ethiopian war against Al Shabab, the deadliest terrorist organization in East Africa, has disturbed the patronage networks and business conditions along the Somali coast that have enabled pirates to operate.” (Singh) Studies show that piracy, like other illicit businesses, need stable conditions to prosper. According to Singh, there have been isolated attempts at cooperation between pirates and terrorists, but ultimately, the “Islamists” [Al Shabab] are serious about putting an end to piracy. Singh’s research shows that counterterrorist and counter-piracy attempts by the West have only had the opposite effect, yet “the same militant Islamists that the Bush administration had targeted in the war on terror joined the war on piracy – and did a better job of it.” However, now that Al Shabab is in retreat, the emerging power vacuum in Somalia’s southern ports may lead to conditions for pirates to resurface.

Now it is crucial to address the proclaimed – whether true or false – interests of the Somali pirates. Bueger presents the “simple logic” that the main solution to piracy is to establish effective coast guards. “Pirates have explicitly made this offer, claiming that they would disengage from piracy, if they could get employment in an official government-sponsored coastguard.” (1822) Institutionalizing the practice of piracy can essentially validate all of their claims of national defense, environmental protection, and subsistence intentions. It will also allow for a unified, legitimate force for the eradication of terrorist forces in Somalia and future threats to national security.

Bueger, Christian. (2013) "Practice, Pirates and Coast Guards: the grand narrative of Somali piracy", Third World Quarterly, 34:10, 1811-1827. 

Gettleman, Jeffrey. Q&A With a Pirate: "We Just Want the Money". September 30, 2008. The New York Times News Blog. 

The Economist. "Somali piracy: more sophisticated than you thought" Nov. 2, 2013. http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21588942-new-study-reveals-how-somali-piracy-financed-more-sophisticated-you

BBC. "Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?" May 16, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15336689

Singh, Currun. "Al Shabab Fights the Pirates." International New York Times. October 22, 2013. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/opinion/international/al-shabab-fights-the-pirates.html?_r=0