From xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Subject New Global Report: “This is the Environmentalism of the Poor and the Indigenous”
Date June 7, 2020 12:00 AM
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[A new report presents the most complete analysis of environmental
conflicts to date, focusing on 3,000 cases of grassroots activism
worldwide, activism by the poor and indigenous that comes with a heavy
cost of criminalization, violence, and murder. ]
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NEW GLOBAL REPORT: “THIS IS THE ENVIRONMENTALISM OF THE POOR AND
THE INDIGENOUS”  
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Researchers/ICTA-UAB, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
June 2, 2020
The Ecologist
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_ A new report presents the most complete analysis of environmental
conflicts to date, focusing on 3,000 cases of grassroots activism
worldwide, activism by the poor and indigenous that comes with a heavy
cost of criminalization, violence, and murder. _

In the demonstration that birthed the environmental justice movement,
North Carolina State Troopers prepare to oust protestors demonstrating
against the dumping of toxic dirt in the Warren County landfill on
September 17, 1982. , BFA Environmental Consultants

 

There is a world movement for environmental justice, composed of a
myriad of local movements against fossil fuels extraction, open cast
mining, tree plantations, hydropower dams and other extractive
industries, and also against waste disposal in the form of
incineration or dumps. 

_Read the full report_
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This is the environmentalism of the poor and the indigenous. It took
the name 'environmental justice' in the South of the United States in
the 1980s, from movements against the unjust, disproportionate
socio-environmental impacts in areas predominantly inhabited by Black,
Hispanic and Indigenous populations. 

Environmental defenders who protest destructive resource uses are
indeed a promising force for global sustainability and environmental
justice. However, their activism comes at a heavy cost: many face
criminalization, violence and murder. 

POLICIES

These are the findings of a new paper from the EnvJustice 
[[link removed]]team based on the EJAtlas
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environmental conflicts up to date with findings that have direct
implications for enhanced support of environmental defenders. 

The article, published in Global Environmental Change, looks at nearly
3,000 cases worldwide. The bulk of the information on this movement
comes from activists rather than academics. 

_Highlights are: _

_Why are there so many environmental conflicts worldwide?_

_Environmental defenders, particularly indigenous peoples, often
confront violence_

_How often are such grassroots movements successful in defending the
environment?_

_Read the full report_
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Activists such as OCMAL in Latin America (Observatorio de Conflictos
Mineros) started to make maps of conflicts, as also OIlwatch and other
organizations born in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Another civil society organization - Global Witness - provides yearly
figures and the names of environmental defenders killed defending the
environment and their livelihoods. This data is not from a UN
department or an academic organization.

The world movement for environmental justice operates so far at the
margins of the international meetings (the COPs) and panels (IPCC,
IPBES) which occupy central spaces of information and propose public
policies. 

MILESTONE

The new paper is inspired by environmental grassroots movements
across the world, and it aspires to support them by making their
activities, their failures and successes, more visible. 

As academics our research is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant
(2016-21), with the title, _A global environmental justice movement:
the EJAtlas_ (www.envjustice.org [[link removed]]). 

The open-access Environmental Justice Atlas (www.ejatlas.org
[[link removed]]) started at ICTA-UAB (Barcelona) in 2011 in a
previous European-funded project, EJOLT. It has reached 3155 entries
of ecological distribution conflicts by May 2020. 

Each entry contains a description, sources of information, and many
codified variables. It is directed by Leah Temper and J.
Martinez-Alier, coordinated by Daniela Del Bene, and it has counted
with hundreds of collaborators. The authors of this article are among
the main ones.

This report is a milestone in the field of statistical and comparative
political ecology, possible through the global Atlas of Environmental
Justice (www.ejatlas.org
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VIOLENCE

We present quantitative analyses shedding light on the characteristics
of environmental conflicts and the environmental defenders involved,
as well as on successful mobilization strategies. 

Environmental defenders are frequently members of vulnerable groups
who employ largely non-violent protest forms. 

In 11 percent of cases globally, they contributed to halt
environmentally destructive and socially conflictive projects,
defending the environment and livelihoods. 

Combining strategies of preventive mobilization, protest
diversification and litigation can increase this success rate
significantly to up to 27 percent.

However, defenders globally also face high rates of criminalization
(20 percent of cases), physical violence (18 percent), and
assassinations (13 percent), which significantly increase when
Indigenous people are involved. 

We find that bottom-up mobilizations for more sustainable and socially
just uses of the environment occur worldwide across countries in all
income groups, testifying to the existence of various forms of
grassroots environmentalism as a promising force for sustainability.

[_Arnim Scheidel, Daniela Del Bene, Juan Liu , Grettel Navas, Sara
Mingorría, Federico Demaria, Sofía Avila, Brototi Roy, Irmak Ertör,
Leah Temper and Joan Martinez-Alier. These researchers all work at
the Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA-UAB),
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain._]

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