Ecological debt

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
World map coloured according to the number of days each country takes to exhaust the resources it produces in the same year (green-high to red-low).
The Global North consumption is higher than its production (shown by the red color), while the Global South produces more than consumes (green color). The resource proportion between consumption and production relates to the amount of environmental degradation.

Ecological debt refers to the accumulated

habitat degradation, and pollution by waste discharge.[1][2] 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.[3]

Within the ecological debt broad definition, there are two main aspects: the ecological damage caused over time by a country in one or other countries or to ecosystems beyond national jurisdiction through its production and consumption patterns; and the exploitation or use of ecosystems over time by a country at the expense of the equitable rights to these ecosystems by other countries.[4]

History

The term 'ecological debt' first appeared on paper in 1985, in a yellow booklet with the title “Women in movement" made by the German ecofeminist

Green Party in Germany in 1985. The work was intended to be used for a workshop she gave on 'women, peace and ecology' in Nairobi during the United Nation Women’s Conference
(the first workshop of this kind).

In 1992, the term appeared again in two reports published in different places around the world: “Deuda ecológica” by Robleto and Marcelo in

Overall, the ecological debt 'movement' was born of the convergence of three main factors during the 80s-90s: 1) the consequences of the debt crisis in the 70s due to the

Rio Summit in 1992); 3) an increase in recognition of the violence caused by colonialism over the years [9] (the demand of recognition is over 500 years, since Columbus arrived in North America
).

In 2009,

foreign debt crisis in the global South.[9] They proposed 'debt for nature swaps', which essentially means that those countries that possess abundant biodiversity and environmental resources would give them up to the global North in return for the World Bank reducing their debt.[9]

Feminist

Global South.[9] In fact, scientists at the US National Academy for Sciences state that in the time period of 1961–2000, by analyzing the cost of greenhouse gas emissions created by the rich (the Global North) alone, it has become apparent that the rich have imposed climate changes on the poor that greatly outweigh the poor's foreign debt.[10] All of this environmental degradation amounts to ecological debt, seizing the people's livelihood resources in the Global South.[11]

In 2009 as well,

ecological footprints human society can determine the rate at which it is depleting natural resources. Recent writings have highlighted the ubiquity of ecological debts, such as to Pacific salmon populations, groundwater and polluted waterways. Ultimately, the imperative of sustainability
requires human society to live within the means of the ecological system to support life over the long term. Ecological debt is a feature of unsustainable economic systems.

Political dimension

Historical context

There have been several debates around the notion of ecological debt, and this is mostly because the concept arises from various social movements in response to the distributional injustice of climate change's consequences on the environment and people's livelihood.

Salleh, in particular, showed how the ecological debt manifested in the destruction of the environment and associated climate change the North has created is made possible through the process of

human being has the central role above everything else. The notion of humans being embedded in the ecosystem that they live in is crucial to the discipline of political ecology.[9]

In political ecology, which reconnects nature and the economy, ecological debt is crucial because it recognizes that colonization has not only resulted in a loss of culture, way of life, and language for

global warming to occur, making the North’s ecological footprint soar,[15] while also constructing an ecological debt so large as to completely rid the entire Global South of their financial debt
.

During the

International Money Fund a choice to defaulting on these debts or make structural adjustments to continue to receive further funding.[16]
It was the first push back, reversing the stream, but it stayed as a draft paper not recognized by international institutions or lead countries at that time.

Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009 - Action Aid demonstration

Today

In the 2000s, two networks were created and still exist today: the Southern Peoples Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance (SPEDCA) which is a network of creditors that launched a campaign for the recognition of ecological debt, and the European Network for the Recognition of Ecological Debt (ENRED) which is a network of debtors.

During the

developed economies (such as the United States, some European countries, China) go beyond donations or adaptation credits and make reparations that recognize an ecological debt for excessive pollution over several decades. The top United States ambassador, Todd Stern, flatly rejected arguments by diplomats from these countries that the United States owed such a debt.[17]

The

displaced people
) of some countries, no real action was adopted. There were no recognition of responsibilities but recommendations only.

Calculations

Climate debt

When discussing ecological debt,

carbon budget
can and is calculated, and distributed among countries.

Calculations

Academic work on calculations of the ecological debt came later. An article published in 2008 looked at the distribution of

ecological impacts for various human activities.[10] Studies were also produced at regional level within countries, for instance for Orissa in India.[18]

As seen previously, calculation of the ecological debt implies various aspects related to political ecology. While calculating the amount of emissions, some scholars have disregard inequalities of emissions from the past whereas others have considered historical accountability. In addition, there is a connection between ecological issues and the economy due to the value natural resources have and the important role they play in benefiting our economy.[19]

In 2000, Neumayer calculated what he named the 'historical emissions debt', consisting on the difference in emissions of actual historical emissions (from a specific date in the past) and equal per-capita emissions (current emissions).[20]

Theoretically, it may be possible to put a money value on ecological debt by calculating the value of the environmental and social

external costs associated with climate change.[21]

In 2015, Matthews proposed a method to calculate the ecological debt, by looking at the accumulated `carbon debts' for each country.

national fossil fuel CO2 emissions[23] and population and this since 1960. Furthermore, it runs a comparison between temperature changes each year by each country's emissions compared to a proportional temperature change of each country's share of the world population (this same year). This gives the accumulated credits and debts related to a larger range of emissions and the 'climate debts' obtained would be the difference between the actual temperature change (caused by each country) and their per-capita share of global temperature change.[22]

Other scholars have proposed a different approach, a `modified equal shares' approach, that would consider each country's basic needs and would weight each ones' share of emissions.[24] However, this approach brings potential ethical and political difficulties to quantitatively defining what would thus be the equal shares.

Key debates

Although some recent emerging countries have participated in the increase of

carbon emissions, the situation tend to stay uneven in-between developing and developed countries[25]
regarding who is affected the most versus who pollutes the most.

Recent studies on ecological debt focus more on sub-topics as the notion of historical responsibility[5] (whether or not a country is considered ethically responsible or accountable for carbon emissions prior 1990, i.e. when global warming was universally recognized), the components of climate debt (see above sections), the difficulties in deciding when to start counting past emissions[26] and if this debate is slowing the implementation of programs or the legal and political consecration of the debt through treaties.[27]

Present key debates focus on how is the debt going to be paid back. First, some academia have pushed for financial

Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) or the universal basic income. It consists on regular cash payments to everyone in a community (or country) and has proven a certain efficacy in some places around the world (like Namibia).[29]

Another debate addresses the fact that the ecological debt risks “commodifying nature” is exhausting ecosystem services. Researchers have tackled this risk by showing how it will expand the inclination of objectifying, monetizing and ultimately commodifying nature.[5] Moreover, the language of debt, repayments, credits and so forth is understood in Northern countries mostly, and is mostly focused on recognition of wrongdoing but not payment for loss of services for instance.[5]

Resources

Books

  • Ecological debt: the health of the planet and the wealth of nations, Andrew Simms, Pluto books, 2005
  • Larkin, Amy (2013). Environmental Debt: The Hidden Costs of a Changing Global Economy

Reports

See also

References

  1. ISSN 0959-3780
    .
  2. ^ Donoso, A. (2015). "We are not debtors, we are creditors. In: Bravo, E., & Yánez, I. (Eds.), No more looting and destruction! We the peoples of the south are ecological creditors". Southern Peoples Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance (SPEDCA).
  3. .
  4. ^ "Ecological debt". Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  5. ^ a b c d Warlenius, R., Pierce, G., Ramasar, V., Quistorp, E., Martínez-Alier, J., Rijnhout, L., Yanez, I. (2015). "Ecological debt. History, meaning and relevance for environmental justice". EJOLT Report. 18: 48.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Robleto M.L., Marcelo W. (1992). La deuda ecológica. Una perspectiva sociopolítica. Santiago de Chile: Instituto Ecología Política (IEP).
  7. ^ Borrero Navia, J. (1994). La deuda ecológica. Testimonio de una reflexión. Cali: Fipma y Cela.
  8. ^ "Deuda Ecologica". Deuda Ecologica (in Spanish). 2018. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2018-02-28.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Salleh, A. (2009). Ecological debt: embodied debt. Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice. London: Pluto Press.
  10. ^
    PMID 18212119
    .
  11. .
  12. ^ Andrew Simms. Ecological Debt: The Health of the Planet & the Wealth of Nations. (London: Pluto Press, 2009) p.200.
  13. ^ Polanyi, Karl (1944). Chapter 3: Habitation versus Improvement. In The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 35–44.
  14. .
  15. ^ Seager, J. (2009). The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World (4th ed.). New York, NY: Penguin.
  16. ^ Warlenius, Rikard (2014). "Reversing the arrow of arrears: The concept of "ecological debt" and its value for environmental justice". Global Environmental Change: 22. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ^ Zeller Jr., Tom (December 5, 2009). "Negotiators at Climate Talks Face Deep Set of Fault Lines". New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  18. ^ S. Khatua and W. Stanley, "Ecological Debt: a case study from Orissa, India" (2006) [1]
  19. , retrieved 2022-10-24
  20. .
  21. S2CID 154241874.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  22. ^ .
  23. .
  24. .
  25. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/1/014010.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  26. S2CID 46996496.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  27. .
  28. ^ Ngosso, Thierry (2016). "Ecological Debt Versus Financial Debt In The African Context". The Critique. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  29. ^ Krahe, Dialika (2009-08-10). "A New Approach to Aid: How a Basic Income Program Saved a Namibian Village". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2018-02-28.

External links