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Green imperialism (also called eco-imperialism, eco-colonialism, or environmental imperialism) is a derogatory epithet alluding to what is perceived as a Western strategy to influence the internal affairs of mostly developing nations in the name of environmentalism.
The skeptical perception of the Brundtland report by the Third World elites was summarized as green imperialism by Helge Ole Bergesen in 1988. [1] In 1999, Deepak Lal used the term with the same meaning in his book Green Imperialism: A Prescription for Misery and War in the World's Poorest Countries. [2] Nonetheless, the same term is used differently in Richard Grove's 1995 book Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism 1600–1860. [3] In Grove's book, it means the impact of utopian tropical islands on European data-driven scientists resulting in early environmentalism. [4]
The first mentions of the term environmental colonialism or eco-colonialism appeared in connection with debt-for-nature swaps since 1989. [5] [6] It was feared that the however well-intentioned environmental protection programs could be perceived as meddlesome and imperialistic. [6] The establishment of national parks in Africa has in some cases led to the impoverishment and displacement of local populations. [7]
Eco-imperialism (or ecoimperialism [8] ) was originally an abbreviation for ecological imperialism, a concept laid out by Alfred Crosby in his book of the same name, but changed its meaning after the publication of Paul Driessen's Eco-Imperialism: Green Power Black Death in 2003. [9] Crosby's eco-imperialism is interference with a degrading effect on the environment of targeted countries, while Driessen's eco-imperialism is interference with a degrading effect on the economy in the name of environmental improvement. [9]
During the Battle of Seattle in 1999, media presented environmentalism as a new form of imperialism. [10] The rich, developed countries impose their environmental preferences and priorities on the developing countries. [11]
Several European governments announced boycotts of Malaysian timber due to unsustainable deforestation in Malaysia as in a publication by Mahathir Mohamad in 1999. [12] Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamed, opposed the boycotts, arguing that "we are not exploiting the forests for no good reason. We need money. We have to export wood because we need the foreign exchange without which we cannot buy what we want". [13] Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) accused the European Union of "economic colonisation" for banning palm oil in biofuels by 2020, in order to halt deforestation. [14] A representative of FELDA said: "It’s the same colonial attitudes, the white man imposing their rule on us from afar." In 2022, Malaysia threatened to stop the export of palm oil to EU as response to new regulations on deforestation. [15] [16]
In 2009, Germany called French proposal of carbon tariffs as eco-imperialism. [17] Back then, greenhouse tariffs met strong opposition from developing countries such as India and China, since these tariffs would impact their exports. [17]
The biofuel transnational meta-standard regulation of the European Union promotes certain sustainable fuels. [18] [19] However, this regulation extends beyond EU's jurisdistion and raises the issue of eco-imperialism. [18]
In 2014, Joji Morishita, a Japanese commissioner, expressed his concerns about calls of sustainable whaling from the International Whaling Commission by the words "The whaling issue is seen as a symbol of a larger issue sometimes in Japan... You might have heard the word 'eco-imperialism'". [20]
The approval of the World Bank loan of $3.05bn (£2.4bn loan) for 4,764 MW Medupi Power Station drew criticism for supporting increased global emissions of greenhouse gases. [21] [22] If the coal plant was not built, there would have been significant limitations placed on industrial development in the country. [22]
US president's Joe Biden's "Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad" is described by Asian Times as green imperialism and a hidden protectionist policy, which should protect American jobs from competition by "cheap carbon-dirty goods". [23]
Eco-imperialism is sometimes described as a combination of global environmental and broad neoliberal agendas. [24] Eco-imperialism is perceived to result in a policy of commodification of all resources of earth. [25] This tendency of commodification of nature for environmental goals is also known as "selling nature to save it" or green grabbing. [26] [27] [28] Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt mentions Ouarzazate Solar Power Station as an example of such green grabbing, which was built without informing surrounding communities on pasture land and will export some of the energy to Europe. [28] [29]
Critical voices depreciate environmentalism as an excuse for hindering economic development of developing countries. [22] Critics see alternative energy sources as far from realistic, and fossil fuels as the key to lifting entire populations out of poverty. [30] Developing nations, led by Brazil, India and Singapore, opposed entangling global trade with pollution controls in 1994, calling them hidden protectionism, which will keep jobs in the developed countries and deprive poor nations of their competitive advantages. [31] The agenda of environmentalist NGOs is called neo-colonialism and eco-imperialism in 2022 by Japan, Peru, South Africa, Kenya and Bolivia. [32] Eco-imperialism functions as a derogatory epithet. [33] [24]
According to Anil Agarwal, a 1990 study [34] by the World Resources Institute allocated responsibility for global warming to developing countries. [35] Agarwal considered this study to be flawed, politically motivated, and unjust, and saw it more as exacerbating the North–south divide. [35] In his 1991 paper, he called this an example of environmental colonialism and blamed U.S. overconsumption for global warming. [36] However, a 1990s worldwide survey "Bicycles, Yes — Cheap Shoes, No" by WorldPaper showed that 66% of the participants did not agree to perceive debt-for-nature swaps as eco-colonialism. [6]
Environmental colonialism became a subject in the book "Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All" by Michael Shellenberger. In The Wall Street Journal , John Tierney, a long-standing critic of environmentalism, wrote that "Shellenberger makes a persuasive case, lucidly blending research data and policy analysis with a history of the green movement and vignettes of people in poor countries suffering the consequences of “environmental colonialism.”" [37]
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from oil crops in 2014. Palm oils are easier to stabilize and maintain quality of flavor and consistency in ultra-processed foods, so they are frequently favored by food manufacturers. Globally, humans consumed an average of 7.7 kg (17 lb) of palm oil per person in 2015. Demand has also increased for other uses, such as cosmetics and biofuels, encouraging the growth of palm oil plantations in tropical countries.
Nature conservation is the moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values underlie conservation, which can be guided by biocentrism, anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, and sentientism, environmental ideologies that inform ecocultural practices and identities. There has recently been a movement towards evidence-based conservation which calls for greater use of scientific evidence to improve the effectiveness of conservation efforts. As of 2018 15% of land and 7.3% of the oceans were protected. Many environmentalists set a target of protecting 30% of land and marine territory by 2030. In 2021, 16.64% of land and 7.9% of the oceans were protected. The 2022 IPCC report on climate impacts and adaptation, underlines the need to conserve 30% to 50% of the Earth's land, freshwater and ocean areas – echoing the 30% goal of the U.N.'s Convention on Biodiversity.
Neocolonialism is the control by a state over another nominally independent state through indirect means. The term neocolonialism was first used after World War II to refer to the continuing dependence of former colonies on foreign countries, but its meaning soon broadened to apply, more generally, to places where the power of developed countries was used to produce a colonial-like exploitation.
Mahathir bin Mohamad is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held office from 1981 to 2003 and later from 2018 to February 2020 for a cumulative total of 24 years, making him the country's longest-serving prime minister. Before becoming premier, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and in other cabinet positions. He was a Member of Parliament for Langkawi from 2018 to 2022, Kubang Pasu from 1974 to 2004, and Kota Star Selatan from 1964 to 1969. His political career spanned more than 75 years, from joining protests opposing citizenship policies for non-Malays in the Malayan Union in the 1940s to forming the Gerakan Tanah Air coalition in 2022.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the RioConference or the Earth Summit, was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
Trade justice is a campaign by non-governmental organisations, plus efforts by other actors, to change the rules and practices of world trade in order to promote fairness. These organizations include consumer groups, trade unions, faith groups, aid agencies and environmental groups.
Ecological debt refers to the accumulated debt seen by some campaigners as owed by the Global North to Global South countries, due to the net sum of historical environmental injustice, especially through resource exploitation, habitat degradation, and pollution by waste discharge. The concept was coined by Global Southerner non-governmental organizations in the 1990s and its definition has varied over the years, in several attempts of greater specification.
Debt-for-nature swaps are financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation's foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures.
Sustainable consumption is the use of products and services in ways that minimizes impacts on the environment.
This page is an index of sustainability articles.
Issues relating to biofuel are social, economic, environmental and technical problems that may arise from biofuel production and use. Social and economic issues include the "food vs fuel" debate and the need to develop responsible policies and economic instruments to ensure sustainable biofuel production. Farming for biofuels feedstock can be detrimental to the environment if not done sustainably. Environmental concerns include deforestation, biodiversity loss and soil erosion as a result of land clearing for biofuels agriculture. While biofuels can contribute to reduction in global carbon emissions, indirect land use change for biofuel production can have the inverse effect. Technical issues include possible modifications necessary to run the engine on biofuel, as well as energy balance and efficiency.
An eco-tariff, also known as an environmental tariff or carbon tariff, is a trade barrier for the purpose of reducing pollution and improving the environment. These trade barriers may take the form of import or export taxes on products that have a large carbon footprint or are imported from countries with lax environmental regulations. The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is a carbon tariff.
Palm oil, produced from the oil palm, is a basic source of income for many farmers in South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America. It is locally used as cooking oil, exported for use in much commercial food and personal care products and is converted into biofuel. It produces up to 10 times more oil per unit area than soybeans, rapeseed or sunflowers.
Palm oil production is important to the economy of Indonesia as the country is the world's biggest producer and consumer of the commodity, providing about half of the world's supply. In 2016, Indonesia produced over 34.6 million metric tons of palm oil, and exported 25.1 million metric tons of it. Oil palm plantations stretch across at least 12 million hectares. There are several different types of plantations, including small, privately owned plantations, and larger, state-owned plantations. There are a variety of health, environmental, and societal impacts that result from the production of palm oil in Indonesia. A recent publication by the NGO Rainforest Action Network (RAN) indicates that the use of palm oil by some of the biggest chocolate and snacks' producers is increasing this problem.
Palm oil production is vital for the economy of Malaysia, which is the world's second- largest producer of the commodity after Indonesia. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is a government agency responsible for the promotion and development of the palm oil sector in the country. The country's palm oil industry produces about 90 million tonnes of lignocellulosic biomass, including empty fruit bunches, oil palm trunks, and oil palm fronds, as well as palm oil mill effluent (POME). In 2010, in response to concerns about social and environmental impact of palm oil, the Malaysian Government pledged to limit palm oil plantation expansion by retaining at least half of the nation's land as forest cover.
The global waste trade is the international trade of waste between countries for further treatment, disposal, or recycling. Toxic or hazardous wastes are often imported by developing countries from developed countries.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research non-profit organization established in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. Subsequent presidents include Jonathan Lash, Andrew D. Steer and current president Ani Dasgupta (2021-).
The theory of imperialism refers to a range of theoretical approaches to understanding the expansion of capitalism into new areas, the unequal development of different countries, and economic systems that may lead to the dominance of some countries over others. These theories are considered distinct from other uses of the word imperialism which refer to the general tendency for empires throughout history to seek power and territorial expansion. The theory of imperialism is often associated with Marxist economics, but many theories were developed by non-Marxists. Most theories of imperialism, with the notable exception of ultra-imperialism, hold that imperialist exploitation leads to warfare, colonization, and international inequality.
Green grabbing or green colonialism is the foreign land grabbing and appropriation of resources for environmental purposes, resulting in a pattern of unjust development. The purposes of green grabbing are varied; it can be done for ecotourism, conservation of biodiversity or ecosystem services, for carbon emission trading, or for biofuel production. It involves governments, NGOs, and corporations, often working in alliances. Green grabs can result in local residents' displacement from land where they live or make their livelihoods. It is considered to be a subtype of green imperialism.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's political views have shifted during his lengthy career. Support for "Asian values," liberal Islam and Malay nationalism have long been part of Mahathir's political ideals. He has long been a critic of the foreign policy of the United States and other Western nations. Mahathirism has had an influence over subsequent Malaysian administrations.
