ECOLOGICAL DEBT

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• ECOLOGICAL DEBT
• WHO OWES WHO?

The North owes an Ecological Debt to the
South Produced by RCADE, Barcelona, 2002
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• CONTENTS

• FIRST PART
• Ecological Debt definition
• Elements that constitute the Ecological Debt
• SECOND PART
• The relation between External debt and Ecological
  debt
• Organizations that are working on the Ecological
  Debt
• More information

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DEFINITION

• The Ecological Debt is the obligation and the
  responsibility that industrialized countries have
  towards Third World countries, because of the
  plunder of oil, minerals, forests, biodiversity,
  marine resources because of the occupation of
  their environmental space and the destruction and
  pollution of their natural capital and sources of
  subsistence.

• It does not put a price to nature
• It does not pretend to put environmental services
  on the market
• It does not put a price to the right to pollute

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ELEMENTS CONSTITUTING THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT
The pollution by industrialized countries because
of their disproportionate emissions of gases that
cause the increase in the greenhouse effect and
the deterioration of the ozone layer. The
illegitimate appropriation of the atmosphere and
of the carbon absorption capacity of oceans.
soils and vegetation.
?
Who owes who?
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Who emits the CO2 that produces the climate
change?
The environmental services supplied by Southern
countries as owners of their proportional part
of atmosphere, oceans, soils and new vegetation
that absorb CO2 produced in Northern countries,
are not taken into account

• THE CO2 EMISSION PER CAPITA OF A CITIZEN IN USA
  IS 15 TIMES LARGER THAN IN INDIA

Who owes who?
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Who will suffer most from climate change?
The effects produced now and in future by climate
change on Southern countries (sea level raise,
increased hurricanes, stronger Niños...) are not
taken into account. This is a de facto
application of The Polluter DOES NOT PAY
Principle!!
Who owes who?
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ELEMENTS CONSTITUTING THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT
The excessive extraction of natural resources
such as oil, gas, minerals, marine resources,
forests. These resources are exported without
taking into account social and environmental
damages. There is an ecologically unequal
exchange.
Who owes who?
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THE TEXACO CASE (I)One example from Ecuador
http//www.texacorainforest.org
Who owes who?
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TEXACO in Ecuador (II)
SOME FIGURES IN THE TEXACO CASE

• Extraction of more than 1.500.000.000 barrels of
  oil in 20 years of activity in Ecuador 1970-90.
• 1.000.000 hectares directly and indirectly
  destroyed in tropical forests
• 16.800.000 gallons of oil leaked
• 19.000.000.000 gallons of liquid wastes
  contaminating Amazonian rivers
• 235.000.000.000 cubic feet of flared gas
• 300 pools filled with toxic wastes
• Irreversible damages in Siona, Secoya, Cofán,
  Quichua
• and Huaorani settlements

Who owes who?
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Many other cases of liabilities
by TNC

• Under the Alien Torts Claims Act (of the United
  States) there have been many attempts to claim
  compensation from firms for damage done in other
  countries.
• For instance, against Freeport McMoRan (Irian
  Jaya - West Papua)
• Southern Peru Copper Corporation
• Dow Chemical and other firms (DBCP in banana
  plantations)
• Union Carbide (Bhopal)
• Also European firms (Elf, Agip, Repsol, Shell,
  Rio Tinto) refuse environmental and social
  liabilities in their overseas operations.

Who owes who?
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Who are the debtors?The energy case (I)
The environmental impacts caused by the
extraction of natural resources necessary for the
production of energy are not compensated in any
form
Who owes who?
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Who are the debtors?The energy case (II)
The environmental impacts caused by the
extraction of natural resources for producing
energy are not compensated in any form

• USA (5 of world population) consumes 25 of the
  world energy.
• 2000 million people in developing countries have
  no access to electricity

Who owes who?
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Other examples of overexploitation in order to
cover Northern countries consumption
Forced overexploitation by Northern countries is
exhausting Southern countries natural resources

• A recent FAOs document affirms that among the 17
  world most important fisheries, 9 have been
  depleted. They have been mainly exploited by
  European and Japanese companies.
• From 1991 to 1995, more than 11 of world
  forested areas have been lost. Even though
  deforestation has different causes, Southern
  countries are net exporters of wood to Northern
  countries. Often forests are depleted and then
  tree plantations (eucaliptus, oil palms) for
  export are introduced.

Who owes who?
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ELEMENTS CONSTITUTING THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT
The intellectual appropriation and the
uncompensated use of ancestral knowledge related
to seeds, medicinal plants and other knowledge
that support biotechnology and modern
agroindustry .
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EXAMPLES OF BIOPIRACY
The industrialized countries have stolen, and
keep stealing, knowledge and seeds of Southern
countries

• http//www.grain.org/
• http//www.rafi.org

• Harpadol, a traditional plant of Namibia,
  Sudafrica and Bostwana. Only 0.06 of sales are
  for farmers. Companies of Southern Korea, Germany
  and USA claim for the property right of Harpadol.
  Many other examples (Sangre de Drago,
  Ayahuasca...). Also, old examples chinchona
  officinalis...

• The tropical countries have maintained a high
  level of biodiversity. Many of the species used
  in pharmacy and agroindustry come from these
  countries, but they didnt get anything for this.

Who owes who?
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ELEMENTS THAT CONSTITUTE THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT
The degradation of the best land, water, air and
human energy by exporting agriculture, which
jeopardizes the food security and sovereignty,
and the culture of local communities.
?
?
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Switch to agriculture or aquaculture for exports
Southern countries have been forced to substitute
traditional agriculture or resource use by export
agriculture or aquaculture
Substitution of 70 of the mangroves in Ecuador
by shrimp farming for export
Increase of Niños impact because of reduction of
coast protection
Substitution of traditional agriculture in
fertile valleys in the Andes by flower production
for exports
Pollution in greenhouses, starvation in years of
scarce harvest
Who owe who?
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ELEMENTS CONSTITUTING THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT
Toxic wastes carried to Third World countries
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Some examples of waste transport (I)
Industrialized countries have contaminated, and
keep contaminating with their waste the
developing areas
Nuclear tests map
6.) Atoll of Mururoa (France) and other atolls
(UK) 220 tests 21.) Marshall Islands (US) -- 66
tests
Who owes who?
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Some examples of waste transport(II)
Industrialized countries have contaminated, and
keep contaminating with their wastes the
developing areas

• ALANG (INDIA) industrialized countries send out
  ships to be disassembled in this area. In 20
  years levels of pollution equivalent to an
  industrial area after 200 years of functioning
  have been reached

Who owes who?
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Some examples of waste transport (III)
Industrialized countries have contaminated, and
keep contaminating, with their waste the
developing areas

• http//www.greenpeace.org/toxics/index.html

• NEPAL In 1998 70 tons of expired pesticide have
  been discovered. They have been imported under
  the indication development aid. Some with the
  labels of the USA embassy
• PHILIPPINES Tons of toxic material have been
  discovered on some American military basis when
  they have been abandoned
• PARAGUAY Delta Pine sent out lapsed polluted
  cotton seed, to Rincon-i - some deaths, illnesses
  in 1998.

Who owes who?
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Relations between External debt and Ecological
debt
External Debt
Loans conditioned upon an adjustment plan
Plan to balance external accounts (including
payment of debt interests)
Restraint inflation
Reduction internal wages and social expenses
Improvement of the terms of trade (unlikely!)
Overexploitation of environment in order to
increase exportations
Increased technical efficiency
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Summary - up to
now
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• Governments sometimes mistakenly oppose
  environmental protection for the sake of poverty
  alleviation.
• They say, our priority is poverty, not the
  environment.
• However, people have fought for livelihood and
  the environment (Chico Mendes, Medha Patkar, Ken
  Saro-Wiwa...).

• THE WSSD IN JOHANNESBURG 2002 IS AN OPPORTUNITY
  FOR SOUTHERN GOVERNMENTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY TO
  PRESENT THE CLAIM FOR THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT. THIS
  WOULD SIMULTANEOUSLY HELP THE ECOLOGICAL
  ADJUSTMENT THAT THE NORTH MUST MAKE AND HELP WITH
  POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN THE SOUTH

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Organizations that are working on the Ecological
Debt

• Acción Ecológica Ecuador
• http//www.ecuanex.net.ec/accion/
• FOEI (Friends of Earth International)
• http//www.foei.org/
• Jubilee
• http//www.jubilee2000uk.org/ecological_debt/eco_
  main.htm
• .....
• RCADE-Red de Denuncia de la Deuda Ecológica
• http//www.rcade.org/comisiones/deudaecologica.htm

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Last campaigns and meetings
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More information on the Ecological Debt

http// www.cosmovisiones.com/DeudaEcologica/