Across the world, communities are struggling to defend their land, air, water, forests and their livelihoods from damaging projects and extractive activities with heavy environmental and social impacts: mining, dams, tree plantations, fracking, gas flaring, incinerators, etc. As resources needed to fuel our economy move through the commodity chain from extraction, processing and disposal, at each stage environmental impacts are externalized onto the most marginalized populations. Often this all takes place far from the eyes of concerned citizens or consumers of the end-products.
Responding to these incidences of socio-environmental conflicts, the world has seen many environmental justice groups and movements. However, most of these struggles are grossly undocumented and unarchived. The Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT) project has recently launched the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice, an interactive online mapping platform detailing around 1000 environmental conflicts (and growing). It allows users to search and filter across 100 fields and to browse by commodity, company, country and type of conflict. With one click you can find a global snapshot of nuclear, waste or water conflicts, or the places where communities have an issue with a particular mining or chemical company. Click on any point to find the actors and a conflict description with the outcome and sources. Maps you create using the search and filter can be shared on your webpage or facebook. Featured maps will focus on issues ranging from fracking to conflicts over mega-infrastructure projects to maps on violent targeting of activists.
The EJ atlas puts together socio-environmental struggles about the often invisible conflicts in order to contribute to an emerging globalizing movement for environmental justice. The project is coordinated by Professor Joan Martinez-Alier and his team of ecological economists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB).
“The Atlas illustrates how ecological conflicts are increasing around the world, driven by material demands fed primarily by the rich and middle class subsections of the global population,” says Martinez-Alier. “The most impacted are poor, marginalized and indigenous communities. They usually do not have the political power to ensure access to environmental justice and health.” Over 2000 different corporations and financial institutions are involved. This includes many corporate and state actors from developed countries, but with growing participation from the emerging economies.
The EJ atlas maps conflicts across 10 main categories:
- Nuclear
- Mineral Ores and Building Extractions
- Waste Management
- Biomass and Land Conflicts
- Fossil Fuels and Climate Justice/Energy
- Water Management
- Infrastructure and Built Environment
- Tourism Recreation
- Biodiversity Conservation Conflicts
- Industrial and Utilities Conflicts
The database contains information on the investors, the drivers for these deals, and their impacts, basic data, source of conflict, project details, conflict and mobilization, impacts, outcome, references to legislation, academic research, videos and pictures.
The EJAtlas will reach 3000 entries of environmental conflicts across the world by December 2019 (ejatlas.org) including about 320 for India. This allows new work on Comparative Political Ecology.
One can do analyses based on countries or regions but also one can do cross-cultural analysis on many topics such as copper mining, sand mining, eucalyptus or oil palm plantations, dams, incinerators, coal fired power plants, fracking, nuclear reactors. Cross-cultural analyses are being done on sand mining for minerals (ilmenite etc), on women environmental defenders assassinated, and on the role of religious groups active in environmental conflicts in Latin America and South and SE Asia. “Featured maps” based on the EJAtlas have focused on companies (Chevron, Vale …) or movements (such as Blockadia – to leave fossil fuels in the ground). This wealth of research coming from the EJAtlas project contributes to give an affirmative answer to the question: Is there a global environmental justice movement?
While the map highlights disturbing trends, such as continuing corporate impunity for environmental crimes and the fact that 80% of the cases entail a loss of livelihood, it is also inspiring. Amidst the stories of environmental devastation, political repression and persecution of activists, many cases of environmental justice victories can be found. Court cases were won, projects were cancelled and sometimes, the commons were reclaimed. 17% of the cases in the map are considered environmental justice victories.
The Atlas will make it easier to find information, connect with other groups working on related issues and increase the visibility of environmental conflicts. It can also be used for teaching and advocacy work. For the moment, the map is similar to ancient world maps, with good coverage of some areas and blanks spots. The goal now is to reach out to many new civil society organisations and researchers with specific areas of expertise and invite them to contribute to expanding the base of knowledge.
A crucial feature of the project and the Atlas is that grassroots movements for environmental justice are the key for moving towards more just, equitable and less damaging forms of consumption and production. According to Atlas coordinator Leah Temper “Only once communities stand up and say we will no longer be polluted, will governments and companies change their behaviour.” Leah Temper will launch the Atlas at the 19 March Mapping Environmental Justice event in Brussels, which is co-organised by the European Environmental Bureau and the United Nations Environment Programme’s Liaison Office to the EU Institutions.
The Global Atlas of Environmental Justice is a unique global inventory of cases of socio-environmental conflicts built through a collaborative process between academics and activist groups which includes both qualitative and quantitative data on thousands of conflictive projects as well as on the social response.
The Atlas aims to make these mobilization more visible, highlight claims and testimonies and to make the case for true corporate and state accountability for the injustices inflicted through their activities. It also attempts to serve as a virtual space for those working on EJ issues to get information, find other groups working on related issues, and increase the visibility of environmental conflicts.
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