Green Development and employment creation: Natural twins or step brothers?

Transcription

1 Green Development and employment creation: Natural twins or step brothers? A case study from Ecuador, South America Mona Meurer (M. A. Global Political Economy, Kassel University) (Draft) Our planet is on the verge of an environmental collapse. Scholars all over the world are looking for an alternative developmental path. Obviously, development needs to be greened in order to ensure further existence of life on earth. At the same time poverty is prevailing and in some parts increasing. One could speak of a dual crises of global poverty and global environmental degradation 1. Therefore an alternative mode of development has to take place as a coherent mixture of social, economic and environmental policy - the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development UNRISD calls this the green economy agenda. 2 In this paper I am asking in how far this agenda is compatible with the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 1 ( Eradicate extreme Poverty and hunger ). Goal 1 Target 2 formulates the objective to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people. The question from the viewpoint of labor is how an in how far - attempts towards some kind of green development can also contribute to the ILO s decent work agenda. This question is crucial as the social limits of fossil fuel are discernibly far in advance of the ecological limits resource extraction creates poverty and underdevelopment that leads to social unrest and eventually violence. 3 The structure of this paper is as follows: I will first explain why Ecuador needs an alternative development path. The second part discusses innovative developmental paradigms in the new Ecuadorian constitution of 2008 followed by the presentation of two promising green projects: the Yasuní-initiative and the Intag-movement. After that I analyse in more detail the case of Salango, a small fishing village where the conflict between industrial fish meal production and alternative ecotourism is following the old dichotomy of labour versus environment. I conclude in arguing for active government policies that ensure the creation of sustainable livelihoods and decent work in combination with the protection of nature. 1 Doig/ Carrol 2011: 1 2 UNRISD 2011, I am grateful to Jacklyn Cock for drawing my attention to the UNRISD research project. 3 Sachs 2007: 92. 1

2 1. Introduction: The need for an alternative developmental path in Ecuador Ecuador like most developing countries- has been following export-led development strategies in the past which are mainly based on the exploitation and export of its abundant natural resources. Ecuador is home to the Amazonian rainforest that stretches down through Peru and into large parts of Brazil and contains not only one of the world s highest levels of biodiversity but also a significant share of the world s oil resources. The Andean mountains in Central Ecuador provide large mineral resources, for example copper, that have created struggles between local communities and mining companies. Besides oil, wood and minerals Ecuador produces a number of so-called Non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAEs), for example fruits, coffee, cocoa and fish. NTAEs are products that have previously not been produced in the country or changed from being a product for domestic consumption to becoming an export product. 4 NTAEs are characterized by higher levels of financing than traditional crops, are highly dependent on an assortment of industrial inputs and require more sophisticated techniques and technical know-how. 5 Ecuador s rural communities are penetrated by a globalized market through the spread of NTAEs. 6 This way, the local communities do not benefit from their collective resources. Instead, they become dispossessed of their main source of livelihood. Ecuador s export-led developmental strategy has been forced upon the country through foreign debt, austerity programs and the IMF-supported Dollarization of the economy in Since the dollarization of Ecuador s economy, the country is highly dependent on the U.S. economy and obliged to attain its national currency through foreign trade or borrowing. Cleary, such a development path cannot be sustainable. That lesson is not exactly new the Greek philosopher Aristotle distinguished between production for one s own needs (economics) and production for trade and profit (chresmatics) and warned against the domination of the latter over the first. Karl Polanyi 7 interprets Aristotle as giving a prophetic advice not to subordinate regional self-provision ( ) to export production. 8 In Ecuador, the concentration on NTAEs has led to environmental degradation, food insecurity and social inequality. Ecuador s new government under President Raffael Correa (since 2006) has decided to take a different path to prevent more social unrest and to play an active role in 4 Robinson 2008: Robinson 2008: Robinson 2008: Karl Polanyi, writing in 1944, analysed how the industrial revolution transformed European societies. Polanyi argued that the commodification of all things to become goods on the market disrupts society. People will ultimately turn towards extreme means to protect themselves against the market if the countermovement by civil society is not able restrict the scope of the market through decommodification. This is how he explains the rise of fascism in Europe between the two world wars. 8 Polanyi (2001), cited in Sachs 2007:

3 the international fight against climate change. This paper presents Green Economy - initiatives from Ecuador that arose as alternatives to an industrial development based on resource-extraction, the resource discussed being oil, copper and fish. I want to discuss in how far these attempts at constructing a sustainable development path are able to combine the three key goals of development: employment creation, livelihood security and ecological sustainability. 2. The will to change: Alternative developmental paradigms in the 2008 constitution Ecuador s export-oriented developmental strategy is now slowly changing with the inclusion of food sovereignty in the new constitution of 2008 (`Soberania Alimentaria, article 281) 9 and the start of a government campaign to buy national products. The new constitution includes social and economic rights as the Right to Well-Being/ Sumak Kawsay /El Buen Vivir and also gives the natural environment the status of a legal person, based on the concept of the Rights of Nature and Mother Earth/ Pachamama. 10 These two concepts form an alternative developmental paradigm that calls for socially inclusive and environmentally friendly development with the goal of real improvements in people s lives. The development goal is to reach an equilibrium, rather than infinite growth. 11 This concept clearly departs from the neoliberal concept of the free market and also from Amarty Sen s development as freedom. Instead of emphasizing positive freedoms like the right to do business, to vote, or to work, Buen Vivir is more about negative freedoms like freedom from poverty and freedom from pollution and emphasizes equity and social rights rather than individualism and property rights. The new constitution thus remembers indigenous values that have been suppressed in the long night of neoliberalism to which President Correa promised to put an end when he took office in Such indigenous values are not very different from the African tradition of Ubuntu which presents an ethos of communalism and mutual obligation. 13 The Correa-government attempts to bring back state control into the economy instead of corporate-led industrial development and focus on social rights rather than individual freedoms. Ecuador shows much determination to combine environmental protection to the creation and redistribution of income to benefit the poor. The constitution has a lot of potential to create a fair green economy. However, the real-life initiatives towards such a green economy proof just like the creation of the new constitution to be sites of fierce political conflict. 9 Government of Ecuador 2008: D Amico 2011:2 11 Faltheuer 2011: Faltheuer 2011: Cock 2011: 10. 3

4 3. Creating new livelihood opportunities: Green economy initiatives in the Ecuadorian jungle Green Economy from below in Intag: saving the environment while creating jobs One example for a successful integration of environmentalism and decent livelihood strategies is the Intag-region in Northern Ecuador. In the 1990s the communities in this region mainly comprising of subsistence farmers - were faced with the threat of mining as world copper prices rose and the Ecuadorian government wanted to open up Intag for Bishi Metal, Mitsubishi s minning company. The answer of the people was two-fold firstly, realising the harmful social and environmental impacts of mining, they burnt down Bishi Metals pioneer camp and set up a sign saying Miners, not a step further from here, secondly, they got into contact with NGOs in the Global North that would help them develop ecotourism lodges, organic farms and fair trade relations as alternatives and barriers to mining. Extractive, polluting industries cannot exist alongside with organic agriculture or ecotourism and connections to fair trade initiatives ensure income for those working in these areas, thus creating economic incentives for people to favour environmentally friendly development. 14 Green Economy from above in Yasuní: compensation for environmental protection The Yasuní National Park in East Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse areas of the world, a huge area of rainforest and rivers inhabited by indigenous groups that has been strictly protected from commodification in the past. However, under the ground of the Yasuní area lie oil resources that could generate around 14 billion Dollar of income for the Ecuadorian state if concessions for extraction were to be sold to private corporations. Seeing the harmful social and environmental impacts of oil exploitation in the rest of Ecuador s vast rainforest, and the climate impact of forest destruction, president Raphael Correa decided to protect Yasuní if the Global North takes responsibility for preventing climate change as well. Correa argues that the burden of protecting the climate should not be left to the Global South alone, where the main forest resources are situated but should be shared between the developing world and the industrial nations. Clearly, the Global North has already destructed large parts of its forests and continues creating a few times more the climate gases than underdeveloped countries or even emerging economies. Therefore, Correa argues, the cost of leaving the oil in the ground in Yasuní shall be shared equally between Ecuador and the rest of the world. He demands half of the expected income from selling oil concession consequently around 7 billion Dollars to be paid into a trust that, once complete, the Ecuadorian government is going to use for social projects and environmental protection. At the moment the government is realising a number of projects that aim to create livelihoods and protect the environment, such as support for the creation of 14 Kuecker 2007 and D Amico

5 workers co-operative (the program Socio-vulcanizadoras),a huge housing project for the rural poor (Bono de la vivienda) or a direct cash transfer program for low-income families with children of school-age ( El Bono del Desarollo Humano). These projects could benefit from the additional funds from abroad and give the Ecuadorian government more manoeuvring space for social policy without having to further exploit nature or increase taxes. Raphael Correa has already created himself powerful enemies with tax rises for corporations, middle-income and upper class families. Provoking the national elites further is very dangerous on September 30, 2010, the outraged rich of the country mobilized the police forces into a coup d etât that was fought down by the military which remained loyal to government. Ecuador has a long history of violent military-led government changes. So far, only few countries have made contributions to the fund and the amounts were rather symbolic. Germany has promised impressive sums to be transferred to the trust when the idea first came up a few years ago. After the change in government in 2009 however, the new liberal minister for development cooperation, Dirk Niebel, declared he would not pay anyone for not polluting, this being a ridiculous reward for inaction. The German withdrawal from the fund has provoked not only diplomatic conflicts between the two countries but threatens the whole project as many European countries tend to follow the German line. Only Spain and Italy have declared support (which resulted in harsh critique from the German minister Niebel). 4. The price of not taking action: Environmental degradation and underdevelopment at the Ecuadorian coast The town of Salango is a small fishing village of 4500 inhabitants on the coast of Ecuador and part of the Machalilla National Park, one of Ecuador s 40 natural protection areas. The local community wants to build up an alternative developmental path through eco-tourism, following the example of neighbouring villages. The biggest obstacle to a green economy in Salango is a fish meal factory that is polluting air and sea with chemical waste and toxic gases and keeping tourists from staying overnight. At the same time, the factory is the biggest employer of the whole National Park area as it provides income opportunities up to 300 people. Machalilla National Park weak authorities and double standards The Machalilla National Park is Ecuador s only national park including marine areas as it stretches over the coast of the state of Manabí. The Park attempts to be a green economy initiative, supporting ecotourism as an alternative to environmentally harmful activities such as the exploitation of marine resources. Industrial activity is prohibited inside the limits of the national park, so is the extraction of resources (mainly wood, animals and marine life). In many of the small fishing villages along the 5

6 coast, tourism is creating significant livelihood opportunities as eco-lodges and small hotels are spreading. The natural beaches invite tourist to enjoy the sun that is constantly shining from January to June and breeding humpback whales can be observed close-up in the coastal waters from June to September. Other tourist attractions are diving in the coastal reefs and bird watching on two islands close to the coast: Salango Island and the Isla de la plata (Silver Island). Despite the growing importance of ecotourism, most families in the small fishing villages belonging to the national park still find their main source of livelihood in the extraction of marine resources. Many are artisanal fishermen, others work on industrial boats. Subsistence fishing is becoming ever more restricted by park authorities due to the long-term harm the extraction of marine resources is doing to the coastal ecosystem. However, problems of industrial fishing or contamination by industry are not addressed by the National Park. The fish meal factory in Salango is subject to numberless complaints to the ministry of environment and two legal actions by the people of Salango. The fish meal factory is situated illegally inside the park areas. The factory was built at the beginning of the 1970s, the National Park came into being shortly after that in the mid-70s. The national park authorities do not support the local resistance against the pollution of Salango s beaches and against the damage to public health of the factory s gases. Instead, park authorities officially deny the existence of environmental impacts. 15 Ecotourism versus fish meal: the struggle for an alternative developmental path In comparison to the neighbouring villages, Salango has the best sites for diving, bird watching, whale watching and paragliding. Moreover, a large number of archaeological artefacts have been found in the town and are presented in the local museum, telling a vivid story of 5000 years of local culture. The development of ecotourism is clearly hindered by the presence of the fish meal factory run by the corporation Pesquera POLAR. The factory is polluting air and water with organic and chemical waste, the toxic gases create constant respiration problems among Salango s inhabitants. Some families have lost members to lung cases, an unnaturally high number of children suffer from Asthma. 16 The sand of the beach has turned from golden to grey over almost 40 years in which the factory has constantly dumped its waste in the bay. Though the environmental pollution is less visible today, due to new machines and filters, the factory dumps used water into the ocean, preferably at night. These impacts on health and the environment remain largely undocumented as both the ministry for environment and the ministry for public health just like the Machlilla National Park - hesitate to take action against the corporation POLAR, despite constant claims for justice from locals. Around 50 people in Salango 15 Interview (2011) with Silvana Rivadeneira, environmental lawyer of the NGO Ecolex. 16 These are findings from my own field research in Salango. A recently published report on public health in Salango done by the ministry for public health does not recognize the cases of lung cancer but mentions that there is a high level of pollution by gases from the factory. See Ministry of Public Health

7 have decided to take legal action and filed two collective law suits against POLAR, one in 2007 and one in In reaction to this, the corporation has started an intensive image-campaign in Salango, accompanied by scholarships for outstanding students in the local school and support for local handcraft workers. Moreover, presents are handed out on Christmas and Mother s day. According to Pesquera POLAR, the goal is to have a bond with the local population so that they stand with Pesquera POLAR. 17 This strategy clearly works as people are responsive to small presents and many have a family member working in or for POLAR that demands loyalty. Few people - most of them working in tourism - have an economic interest in openly speaking against the factory. The clash between environmentalism and employment creation in Salango 18 In Salango we can clearly see that there is a tension between the short-term goal to create formal employment and the future oriented development of jobs that are green in the sense that resources are not overused and that the surrounding environment is not severely affected by the mode of production. The few jobs that have been created in ecotourism throughout recent years cannot absorb the factory s workforce: around 50 local families have a son working for POLAR. At the same time, ecotourism cannot develop further exactly because of the factory the two developmental paths are mutually exclusive. Therefore, the activists against the factory in Salango mostly consider the workers of the fish meal factory as their opponents rather than seeing labour as a potential ally. The interesting thing is that labour inside the factory is just as weak and divided as the countermovement outside the factory. The factory smashed the works council in the 1990s after a strike and dismissed basically all local workers to bring in less "problematic" outsiders from other towns. Now - after some people started openly fighting against the factory in a legal case - the factory has started again employing locals. Still there is no works council representing the 200 constant workers. Workers are not paid well still a job with Polar is one of the very few possibilities for unskilled workers to receive health insurance and a regular income. Labour is weak inside the factory, and so is the resistance movement in town. The countermovement against the commodification of nature simply does not talk to labour. It is a heavy silence between members of the same neighbourhood, sometimes the same family. The relationship between Pesquera POLAR and Salango is certainly unhappy nevertheless, it is strong. For almost 40 years now, authorities have left the people of Salango to the might of POLAR. Today, Salango is the only fishing village in Machalilla National Park that has not developed real alternatives in eco-tourism despite the fact that it is the place where most tourist-attractions of the Park (Salango Island with its reef and nesting tropical birds, the archaelogical museum and whale- 17 Interview (2011) with Jenny Betancourt, Director s Assitant at Pesquera POLAR, September I am grateful to Edward Webster for helpful discussions. 7

8 watching spots close to the beach) are located. The people of Salango pay the price for the inaction of local authorities. Active state policies towards decent green jobs are necessary. If authorities in the Machalilla National Park continue to fall short in support for an alternative developmental path in Salango, the people of Salango will reach a point where they cannot tolerate the situation anymore: their suffering in terms of health, environmental degradation, dispossession from natural resources and denial of self-determination and sustainable development will one day become unbearable and lead to serious social unrest. 5. Conclusion: Linking workers, environmentalist and the state to create a fair green economy I argue that major investments in environmentally friendly development could change the fate of Salango, for example if NGOS come in to build up organic agriculture, eco-tourism and fair trade relations like has happened in the Intag region. This could generate employment that is more attractive than working for POLAR especially has the factory hardly employs any women. However, the big difference between Salango and Intag is that the people of Intag built up an alternative to mining before the mining companies actually entered the region. Until today, the communities there have to constantly resist new attempts to exploit the local copper fields. They feel strengthened by the alternative they have built up and the international support. In Salango, the fish meal factory has been part of the town for almost 40 years and through employment and recently through social projects has penetrated very deep into the local community. At the same time, POLAR has built up close ties to local political decision-makers. Thus, the resistance to POLAR needs to follow a similar strategy: combine the countermovement from below with respective policies from above. Policies to support green development need to be combined with local governance and economic initiatives from below in order to pave the way for a just transition, remembering indigenous values and knowledge like Pachamama in South America or Ubuntu in Southern Africa. The case study of Salango shows that there is often a conflict between job creation and the protection of natural resources. The short-term goal of providing income-security to workers tends to clash with the longterm goals of preventing an environmental collapse and creating social security for all. This tension can only be overcome by greater policy coherence between economic, social and ecological policies. Realizing such coherence needs political ideas and political power. Scholars of economics, social security and ecology need to present ways in which political leaders can realize such policy-coherence. For decision-makers to transform these inputs into real policy outcomes it needs democratic influence of the people affected most by these policies the poor and vulnerable. 8

9 Activists of labour and environmental issues need to increase their efforts to connect the two struggles in order to successfully push governments towards a just transition. Speaking in Polanyian terms, one has to think conflicts over the commodification of labour together with struggles against the commodification of nature because they are organically linked 19 both have their roots in the logics of capital accumulation. One should not make an artificial distinction between proletarian struggles against exploitation and community resistance against the commodification of collective resources. 20 As Jacklyn Cock formulates it, we have to move away from a false dichotomy between labour and the environment 21 and connect `green` and decent, most obviously because the connections between the exploitation of people and nature are often linked 22. Instead of drawing an artificial line between social movements struggling for protection of the ecosystem and labour movements struggling for decent livelihoods, scholars have to analyse where these two can learn from each other and where they have to sort out conflicts of interest. Sources Interviews Interview (2011) with Silvana Rivadeniera, NGO Ecolex, October 25, Quito, Ecuador Interview (2011) with Jenny Betancourt, Director s Assistant Pesquera Polar, September 14, 2011, Guayaquil, Ecuador. Bibliography Burawoy, Michael (2010): From Polanyi to Pollyanna: The False Optimism of Global Labor Studies, Global Labour Journal: Vol. 1 (2), p Available at: Cock, Jacklyn (2011): The Green Economy : Problems and Prospects for an alternative development path in South Africa, paper presented to the 4 th Workshop of the ICDD Research Cluster Work, Livelihoods and social security in the 21 st century, November 2011, University of Campinas, Brazil. D Amico, Linda (2011): We Have to Correct the Errors of our Ancestors. Policy Implications of Environmentalism and Gender in Intag, Ecuador, Paper presented to the UNRISD 19 Harvey 2003: An interesting debate on this distinction can be found in the Global Labour Journal, see Burawoy 2010 and Webster Cock 2011: Cock 2011: 4. 9

10 conference Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social Dimension, Geneva: October Doig, Alison/ Carrol, Erica (2011): A Fair Green Economy: Framing Green Economy and the Post-MDG Agenda in Terms of Equity, Paper presented to the UNRISD conference Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social Dimension, Geneva: October Fatheuer, Thomas (2011): Buen Vivir. A Brief Introduction to Latin America s New Concepts for the Good Life and the Rights of Nature, Heinrich Boell Stiftung (HBS) Publication Series on Ecology Volume 17, Berlin: HBS. Government of Ecuador (2008): Constitución de la Repúlica del Ecuador, Quito: Government of Ecuador. Harvey, David (2003): The New Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kuecker, Glen David (2007): Fighting for the Forest. Grassroots Resistance to Minin in Ecuador, in: Latin American Perspectives, Voume 34 (2), Ministry of Public Health Ecuador National Directive of Health (2010): Subcentro de Salud Salango, Diagnostico Situacional de Salud, Modelo Attencion Integral de Salud MAIS, Salango, Ecuador. Palma, Amalia/ Robles, Claudia (2011): The Green and the Social. How Far, How Close in Latin America?, Paper presented to the UNRISD conference Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social Dimension, Geneva: October Sachs, Wolfgang/ Santarius, Tilmann (eds.) (2007): Fair Future. Resource Conflicts, Security and Global Justice, a report of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, London: Zed UNRISD (2011): UNRISD Conference Green Economy and Sustainable Development. Bringing Back the Social Dimension, Geneva: Oct 2011, weblink, accessed on 28 September Webster, Edward (2011): Get decent and build the economy, The Star, 13 March Webster, Edward (2010): From Critical Sociology to Combat Sport? A Response to Michael Burawoy s From Polanyi to Pollyanna: The False Optimism of Global Labour Studies (GLJ 1.2), Global Labour Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 3, p Available at: 10