the trajectory of sustainable development

Sabau, G., Onifade, T.T. & Whyte-Jones, K (Eds.). 2015. The Trajectory of Sustainable Development. Canada:

Worldwide Holistic Sustainable Development Cooperation.

i

EDITORIAL TEAM

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Gabriela Sabau B.A. and Ph.D. (Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania) Primary affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research Interests: Knowledge based economy/society compared to information economy/society, Sustainable

development – beyond long-run economic growth, Economics as a moral science

Page:http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/social-science/environmental-studies/gsabau/Pages/default.aspx

MANAGING EDITOR

Temitope Tunbi Onifade EPt (ECO Canada), LL.B. (Obafemi Awolowo University), LL.M. (University of

Ibadan), M.A. Environmental Policy (Memorial University of Newfoundland), B.L. (Nigerian Law School) Primary affiliations: University of Calgary; Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research interests: Natural resources law and policy, environmental law and policy, energy law and policy, human

rights and social justice, public policy and risk governance

Page: http://mun.academia.edu/TemitopeOnifade

CO-MANAGING EDITOR

Kimberley Whyte-Jones B.A. (The University of the West Indies), M.A. Environmental Policy [In view]

(Memorial University of Newfoundland) Primary affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research interests: Communication for behavior change, environmental policy, policy deliberation, public

participation, social marketing

EDITORS

Wade Bowers B.Sc (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Ph.D. (Simon Fraser University) Primary affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research interests: Insect Ecology, Biodiversity, Forest Science

Page: http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/environmental-policy-institute/Pages/faculty.aspx

Isiaka Adekunle Amoo B.Sc Industrial Chemistry (University of Benin), M.Sc Analytical Chemistry

(University of Benin), PhD Analytical Chemistry (Usman Danfodio University Sokoto) Primary affiliation: Federal University of Technology Akure

Research interest: Analytical chemistry

Page: http://che.futa.edu.ng/profile.php?staffid=1134

Kelly Vodden H.B.A. (University of Western Ontario), M.A. (Simon Fraser University), Ph.D. (Simon

Fraser University) Primary affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research intersperses: Sustainable rural community and regional development, rural resilience, community

involvement in resource management, collaborative, multi-level governance, community adaptation, complex

adaptive social-ecological systems, innovation, green economies and community-corporate relations

Page: http://www.mun.ca/geog/people/faculty/kvodden.php

Andreas Klinke M.A. (University of Stuttgart). Ph.D (Darmstadt University of Technology) Primary affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research interests: International environmental politics, global governance, risk governance, discourse,

deliberation, participation

Page: http://www.mun.ca/posc/people/Klinke.php

Odunola Akinwale Orifowomo LL.B, LL.M., M.B.A., Mphil, and Ph.D (Obfaemi Awolowo University), BL

(Nigerian Law School), ACTI (Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria), Certificate in Space Studies

(International Space University, Strasbourg, France) Primary affiliation: Obafemi Awolowo University

Research interests: Labour Law, law of banking and taxation law

Jose Lam B.Sc. (University of British Columbia), M.Sc. (McGill), M.B.A. and Ph.D (Concordia) Primary affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research interests: Entrepreneurship, small business management, family business, and regional economic

development.

Page: http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/social-science/business/Pages/faculty.aspx

http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/social-science/environmental-studies/gsabau/Pages/default.aspx

http://mun.academia.edu/TemitopeOnifade

http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/environmental-policy-institute/Pages/faculty.aspx

http://che.futa.edu.ng/profile.php?staffid=1134

http://www.mun.ca/geog/people/faculty/kvodden.php

http://www.mun.ca/posc/people/Klinke.php

http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/social-science/business/Pages/faculty.aspx



ii

Ivan Savic, B.Com (University of Toronto), M.A. (Columbia University), Ph.D. (ABD-Columbia University) Primary affiliation: Memorial University of Newfoundland

Research interests: International political economy, global governance and international organizations,

international dimensions of environmental issues

Page:http://www.mun.ca/posc/people/Savic.php

Stephen Decker BA. (Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland), MA (Memorial University

of Newfoundland), Ph.D. (ABD – University of British Columbia) Primary affiliations: Memorial University of Newfoundland; University of British Columbia

Research interests: Integrated resource and environmental management (IREM) with a focus on the human

dimensions of wildlife management

Page: http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/social-science/environmental-studies/pages/faculty.aspx

Abul Fozol Muhammod Zakaria B.SS. and M.SS. (Shahjalal University of Science & Technology), MA

Environmental Policy [In view] (Memorial University of Newfoundland) Primary affiliation: Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet

Research interest: Anthropology, environmental policy

Page: http://www.sust.edu/faculty-members-view/?&dept=anp

Md. Rayhanul Islam BB.A.(Daffodil International University), M.B.A. (University of Dhaka) Primary affiliation: Daffodil International University

Research interests: Green Accounting, Auditing, taxation and angel finance

Page:http://faculty.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd/teachers/bba/40

Toyin O. Adekanmbi N.D. and H.N.D. (Federal Polytechnic Ede), B.Sc. (University of Agriculture (Federal

University of Agriculture Abeokuta), Professional Certificate (Occupational Safety and Health

Administration) Primary affiliation: Bells University of Science and Technology

Research interests: Analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, environmental chemistry

and industrial chemistry, science laboratory technology

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Supernumerary Prof. Dr. Gulshan Ara Latifa Primary affiliation: University of Dhaka

Prof. Dr. Md. Muslehuddin Sarker Primary affiliations: University of Dhaka; Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Bangladesh Atomic

Energy Commission

Prof Dr. Md. Elias Hossain Primary affiliation: University of Rajshahi

Laboni Ferdous Primary affiliation: World University of Bangladesh

Dr. Bukola Ruth Akinbola Primary affiliation: University of Ibadan

Helal Hossain Dhali Primary affiliation: University of Dhaka

http://www.mun.ca/posc/people/Savic.php

http://www.grenfell.mun.ca/social-science/environmental-studies/pages/faculty.aspx

http://www.sust.edu/faculty-members-view/?&dept=anp

http://faculty.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd/teachers/bba/40



iii

TABLE OF CONTENT

The Trajectory of Sustainable Development by Gabriela Sabau & Temitope Tunbi Onifade 1-5

India’s Renewable Energy Scheme: Policy Response too Environmental Challenges by Temitope Tunbi Onifade 5-

11

Ecological Modernization for Sustainable Development: Case Study of the EU and China by F. I. M. Muktadir

Boksh &Jannatul Islam 11-18

The Implications of Road Tollbooth to Local Economic Development: A Case Study of Tabre and Offinso by

Benjamin Dosu Jnr 18-26

Experiential Learning in Environmental Humanities Education: Themes in the Emerging Literature by Maura

Hanrahan & Jennifer Brooke Dare 26-30

Oil and Gas Conflicts in the Niger-Delta: Shifting from the Tenets of Resource Violence towards

Environmentalism of the Poor and Resource Complex by Ayoola Samuel Odeyemi 30-37

Global Governance in Food Safety: A Comparative Study on Private Food Standard Initiatives by Jannatul Islam

37-41

Everyday Struggles and Adaptive Strategies: A Snapshot on the Impact of Climate Change over the Livelihoods

in Hail Haor, Moulovibazar, Bangladesh by Mohammad Monjur-Ul-Haider & A. F. M. Zakaria 41-46

Non-State Market Instruments for Responsible Oil and Gas Production: A Historical Study of Equitable Origin

EO100TM Certification Scheme Banjo Afeez Edu 46-53

A Case Based Analysis of Neoliberal Approaches to Water Resources Management In Indonesia, Bolivia, Canada,

And The United Kingdom by Dylan Emerson Odd 53-60



1

EDITORIAL

THE TRAJECTORY OF SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

Gabriela

Sabau1

&

Temitope Tunbi Onifade2

1. Associate Professor, Memorial University of

Newfoundland

2. Lecturer, Memorial University of

Newfoundland

The human environment will always

change, development will continue.

There will be growth. This cannot and

should not be avoided. The decisive

question is in which direction we will

develop, by what means we will grow,

which qualities we want to achieve, and

what values we wish to guide our future-

Olof Palme, 1972.

1. Introduction

Limitless industrialization and large-scale

industrial pollution, the growing threat of nuclear

radiation, documented mass destruction of entire

ecosystems around the globe, cross-boundary

problems such as air and water pollution leading to

“…burning rivers, dead forests, and toxic chemicals

causing permanent damage in animals and humans”

in Europe and United States of America (Ivanova,

2007), and the peculiar European problem of acid

rain in the 1960s raised global concerns about the

environment (Ivanova, 2007). A British

cosmologist, Sir Fred Hoyle, predicted in 1948 that

the first images of earth from space would change

our view about our planet. And then, the three-man

crew (Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders) of

Apollo 8, took pictures of the earth from space. The

image was captured during Christmas Eve of 1968

but the photographs appeared in print in early

January of 1969. Black and white and coloured

copies were made but the coloured version became

the iconic image of the environmental movement as

it showed a contrast between the grey desolate

landscape of the lifeless moon and the vivid blue and

white orb of the fertile earth, essentially revealing

that the earth was fragile and destructible. This

discovery later became known as the ‘Earthrise’

(Conor, 2009).

The Earthrise made people aware of how

fragile the human environment was. As part of the

reactions to this awareness, Sweden’s Deputy

Permanent Representative to the United Nations,

Börje Billner, proposed to the General Assembly on

13 December 1967 that a conference be held to

“facilitate co-ordination and to focus the interest of

Member countries on the extremely complex

problems related to the human environment”

(Ivanova, M. 2007). In 1967, Inga Thorson, Swedish

negotiator and diplomat at the United Nations, called

for the termination of expensive United Nations

(UN) conferences on nuclear energy as these mostly

benefited the industrialized countries’, especially the

United States’, nuclear industry. Her aim, as

popularly construed, was to quash UN plans to

convene the fourth international conference on the

peaceful use of atomic energy, being an ardent

supporter of disarmament. Under her influence and

the leadership of Sverker Åström, then Sweden’s

Permanent Representative at the United Nations, the

Swedish delegation decided, without instructions

from Stockholm, to challenge the latest UN atomic

energy conference proposal when it was presented at

the General Assembly. Also, Sweden was at the time

under internal political pressures to find a solution to

the problem of acid rain. Meanwhile, the country

had established itself as a respected middle power

oftentimes challenging the superpowers and their

cold war status quo. Instead of siding with the cold

war parties, Swedish diplomats tried to use the UN

system to shift the diplomatic focus away from a

nuclear paradigm towards more concern for

environmental protection and international

development (Stoica, 2010).

In the spring of 1968, the Swedish

delegation to the United Nations office at New York,

led by the then Sweden’s Permanent Representative

to the United Nations, Sverker Åström, convinced

the Swedish government to launch a formal

initiative on environmental governance (Ivanova,

2007). The General Assembly supported the idea,

leading to the first United Nations Conference on the

Human Environment in 1972, with Sweden hosting

it in its capital city, Stockholm. The main purpose

of the conference was to serve as a practical means

to encourage and provide guidelines for action by

governments and international organizations

designed to protect and improve the human

environment, and to remedy and prevent its

impairment by means of international cooperation,

bearing in mind the particular importance of

enabling the developing countries to forestall the

occurrence of such problems (UNGA, 1969).

2. Only One Earth

The Stockholm Conference was the first

United Nations conference on the environment as

well as the first major international gathering

focused on human activities in relation to the

environment, laying the foundation for

environmental action at an international level (Buss,

2007). The conference brought the developed and

developing countries together to affirm the "rights"

of the human family to a healthy and productive

environment (WCED, 1987). It resolved that

defending and improving the environment must



2

become a goal to be pursued by all countries. It

produced the Stockholm Declaration and Action

Plan which defined principles for the preservation

and enhancement of the natural environment, and

highlighted the need to support people in this

process (Buss, 2007), by including the twin

principles of environmental responsibility and social

justice (Redclift, 1996). It also led to the

establishment of the United Nations Environment

Programme (UNEP) in 1973. The conference made

environmental policy become a universal concern,

and the conference’s motto of “Only One Earth”

became iconic for the modern environmental

movement (Grieger, 2012).

3. Our Common Future

A further show of global concern about the

impact of human activities on the environment

appeared again in the 1980s. The 1980 World

Conservation Strategy of the International Union for

the Conservation of Nature argued for conservation

of living resources as a means for assisting

development, and specifically for sustainable

utilization of species, ecosystems and resources

(Kates et al, 2005). In 1983, the General Assembly

of the United Nations Organization welcomed the

idea that a special commission that would be given

the mandate to make available a report on the

environment and anticipated world environmental

challenges up to the year 2000 and beyond should be

established. The World Commission on

Environment and Development (WCED) was

established on 19 December 1983 and assigned the

responsibility for proposing strategies for

sustainable development. The Commission was

chaired by Dr. Gro Harlem Brudtland, a medical

doctor and prime minister of Norway at that time,

humanist and former Norway’s Minister for

Environmental Affairs between 1974 and 1979, and

leader of the Labour Party. She was believed to be

well suited for that position; she was also later

appointed President of the World Health

Organization and Special Envoy of the United

Nations Secretary-General on Climate Change (See

Rudzki, 2008; Hauff, 2007).

The Brundtland commission did its work

and prepared a report entitled “Report of the World

Commission on Environment and Development:

Our common future: A global agenda for change”.

The report, adopted on June 16, 1987, achieved a

consensus view on a definition of sustainable

development where none existed previously (Smith

and Warr, 1991) and presented a political vision of

sustainable development which acknowledged the

inseparability of environmental and development

issues and the link between poverty and

environment, “the pollution of poverty” (Adams,

1990). It called for wide institutional restructuring in

order to achieve a balance between the economic,

social and environmental objectives of sustainable

development. One of the recommendations made

by the WCED was that an international conference

should be convened within an appropriate period of

time, after the presentation of the Brundtland report

to the General Assembly. This recommendation

brought the Rio Conference into being.

4. The Spirit of Rio: Implementation of

Sustainable Development

In the summer of 1992, Rio de Janeiro

Brazil hosted the United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development ("UNCED"), also

called the Earth Summit or simply Rio. The Earth

Summit is widely acknowledged as a watershed

event in the history of global international

environmental governance and international

development (see generally Kibel, 2002). This

summit took the concerns shown by the Brundtland

Commission beyond the boundaries of speculation;

governments agreed to a set of documents in

recognition both of the need to radically improve

people’s well-being in many countries of the world

and the need for major changes to production and

consumption patterns due to the massive adverse

impact human activities were having on the

environment. The summit produced three

nonbinding instruments, the Rio Declaration,

Agenda 21, and a Statement on Forest Principles.

The Rio Declaration outlines 27 principles on

environmental obligations and development rights,

as guidelines for relations between nation-states

(especially between the countries of the global north

and those of the global south), and as a framework

for national economic and environmental policies;

“Agenda 21”, is a massive 40‑chapter voluntary

action programme designed to address

environmental exigencies such as soil erosion,

deforestation, desertification, atmospheric change

and toxic waste, as well as issues of development

such as poverty, consumption patterns, habitat and

health; The Statement on Forest Principles is a

guide to sustainable exploitation and use of forest

resources (Khor, 2012). The Summit also saw two

new landmark environmentally-friendly

conventions open for signature: the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention on

Biological Diversity (UNCBD), which are now

signed and ratified by almost all countries. The then

UN Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros‑Ghali, in a

closing speech, spoke glowingly of the “spirit of

Rio” that emerged during the summit. According to

him, it “is no longer enough for man to love his

neighbour, he must now also love the world. Beyond

man’s covenant with God and his social contract

with his fellow men, we now need an ethical contract

with nature and the Earth.... The Earth has a soul. To

restore it is the essence of Rio” (Khor, 2012, p.2-3).

Attempts at executing the outcomes of the

first Earth Summit faced serious political threats.



3

Countries of the North, especially the US, were

unwilling to fully commit themselves to changing

the patterns of consumption, production and

resource use. The US disapproved targets and

timetables for reducing greenhouse gas emissions

under the Kyoto Protocol and this exposed the

likelihood that developed countries might not accept

the need for significant changes in economic

policies and lifestyles. Developing countries

responded by refusing to implement their

obligations under the agenda. As a result, the

processes after Rio were said to have failed to fulfill

the promise of Rio (Khor, 2012). These concerns

inspired the follow-up conference which was held in

2002 known as the World Summit on Sustainable

Development (WSSD), otherwise described as the

second Earth Summit or Rio+10.

5. The Future We Want

Governments once again gathered, this

time at Johannesburg, to fashion out an

implementation plan that would provide more

specifics on how governments would make good on

the promises made at Rio and to reinforce their

commitments to the goal of sustainable development

(UNGA, 2002). The declaration provides as follows:

Thirty years ago, in Stockholm, we

agreed on the urgent need to respond to

the problem of environmental

deterioration.

Ten years ago, at the United

Nations Conference on Environment and

Development, held in Rio de Janeiro,

we

agreed that the protection of the

environment and social and economic

development are fundamental to

sustainable development, based on the

Rio Principles. To achieve such

development, we adopted the global

programme entitled Agenda 21

and the

Rio Declaration on Environment and

Development,

to which we reaffirm our

commitment. The Rio Conference was a

significant milestone that set a new

agenda for sustainable development

(UNGA. 2002).

Rio+10 therefore reaffirmed the commitment of

world representatives to achieving the goals set out

in the Rio conference. They ‘purportedly’ further

committed themselves to the outcome documents of

the conference. It appears to be doubtful how much

they were ready to actualize this reaffirmed

commitment. One would observe that the

reaffirmations are mere gestures, like the 1992

commitments ended up being.

Nonetheless, the Johannesburg summit

produced the Johannesburg Declaration with which

world representatives “assume a collective

responsibility to advance and strengthen the

interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars of

SD — economic development, social development

and environmental protection — at the local,

national, regional and global levels” (UNGA, 2002).

World leaders committed themselves to specific

targets and timetables within which to achieve some

of the overarching commitments made at the 1992

Earth Summit, through the Johannesburg Plan of

Implementation (Cicin-Sain et al, 2011). They

reaffirmed their commitments to achieving the

objectives of the UNFCCC (Hardstaff, 2012) and

also made specific pledges on issues such as

transport, for example committing to:

Implement transport strategies for

sustainable development, reflecting

specific regional, national and local

conditions, to improve the affordability,

efficiency and convenience of

transportation as well as urban air quality

and health and reduce greenhouse gas

emissions, including through the

development of better vehicle

technologies that are more

environmentally sound, affordable and

socially acceptable (Plan of

Implementation of the World Summit on

Sustainable Development at Para 20(a))

These commitments now form the foundation upon

which pragmatic sustainable development practices

could develop.

Governments were back at Rio in 2012 for

another follow-up international conference on

sustainable development tagged “United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development”

(UNCSD), or Rio+20. (UNGA, 2009). Since this

was 20 years after the first Earth Summit, the

objective of this conference was to secure renewed

political commitment for SD, assess the progress to

date and the remaining gaps in the implementation

of the outcomes of the major summits on SD, and

address new and emerging challenges. The

conference adopted a focused political document

entitled “The Future We Want” with two

overarching themes, a “green economy” and “an

institutional framework for sustainable

development”. Post Rio+20, the concept of “green

economy” was questioned due to its potential of

being equated with “green growth” (Jackson, 2012).

The most significant contribution of the summit was

the decision to launch an intergovernmental process

to develop a set of "action-oriented, concise and easy

to communicate" sustainable development goals

(SDGs), accompanied by targets and indicators.

These goals were meant to set a new post 2015

international development agenda, to secure the

continuity of the Millennium Development Goals

(MDG), whose deadline was coming to a close in

2015, and to respond to new problems.



4

6. Looking Forward

The most recent event aiming to advance the

global sustainable development agenda was the UN

Sustainable Development Summit, which took place

from 25th 27th September 2015 at the UN

Headquarters in New York. The summit adopted the

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,

“Transforming our World” which is based on a set

of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and

169 targets, adopted by the UNGA on 10 September

2014. While the MDGs mainly targeted the

developing countries, the SDGs make no distinction

between developed and developing countries, as

they are universal in nature and applicable to all

countries. They promote peace and security,

democratic governance, the rule of law, gender

equality and human rights for all, in a context of

active environmental protection.

7. Conclusion

Given the trajectory of sustainable

development, it is therefore obvious that the biggest

challenge facing the concept is its implementation.

This problem might stem from uncertainty about the

meaning and coverage of the concept, hence

allowing for multiple interpretations and

applications. It might also be a result of the

complexity in its context, relating to the plurality of

stakeholders with diverse, often conflicting,

interests. To address implementation challenges,

therefore, the concept needs to be redefined and its

approach to addressing diverse interests needs to be

clearer. The recent UN work on developing the set

of comprehensive, universal SDGs should provide

some needed guidance.

The selected essays in this collection

address sustainable development issues affecting

diverse interests and different countries. The

approaches are such that they clearly reflect the

context to which they apply: Issues of sustainable

development concern in Bangladesh are distinct

from those in Canada or Nigeria, and discussions in

each of these jurisdictions should be construed

within the context of the jurisdiction in question.

The contributions of the authors are an attempt to

contextualize sustainable development in order to

make it clearer and more specific in meeting the

interests of stakeholders and individuals. This does

not preempt the ecosystem approach to sustainable

development, but only reinforces the fact that local

contexts should determine the contribution of each

jurisdiction to global sustainable development.

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ocf.htm.

INDIA’S RENEWABLE ENERGY SCHEME:

POLICY RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL

CHALLENGES

Temitope Tunbi Onifade

Lecturer, Memorial University of Newfoundland,

Canada.

[email protected];

[email protected]

Abstract

The article analyses the stages of India’s renewable

energy (RE) policy cycle. It provides an answer to the

question of whether or not India’s RE policy

framework is comprehensive and successful. In

answering this question, it employs qualitative

methods, and relies on primary and secondary sources.

The study establishes that India’s RE policy exhibits

effectiveness, functionality, and equity, but lacks

efficiency and sufficient political support. It concludes

that the components of India’s RE policy phases,

though near complete and successful, are blurred with

no clear distinctions, and cut across several decades.

Keywords: renewable energy; policy; India; energy;

environment

Alternative citation (online): Onifade, T.T.2015.

India’s Renewable Energy Scheme: Policy

Response to Environmental Challenges. JWHSD, 1,

1-15. Available at:

http://wwhsdc.org/jwhsd/articels/

1. Introduction

India is one of the fastest growing economies in

the world, and this places enormous energy demands

on its resources (Bajpai and Sachs, 2005). The country

is a notable importer of petroleum products, and has

statistics showing it as the fourth largest energy

consumer as at 2011, and of crude oil and petroleum

products in the world as at 2013 (US Energy

Information Administration, 2013). There is no

gainsaying this considering the country is one of the

two in the world with a population of over one billion

(Government of India, 2011).

In addition to the threat of energy depravity, a

growing number of empirical studies have identified

increased environmental problems in India, and their

effects on livelihoods. Some scholars have linked the

declining standard of living of Indians to pollution,

http://www.un-documents.net/a42-427.htm

http://www.un-documents.net/a42-427.htm

mailto:[email protected]





6

claiming its consequences include climate change

(Greenstone and Hanna, 2011). Other scholars have

traced increased natural disasters in India directly to

climate change (Thomas et al., 2012); yet, some other

scholars have identified the effect of climate change on

India’s agriculture, and particularly rain-fed crops, and

discovered the worst effect on small scale farmers

(Asha, et al., 2012).

Pollution and climate change threaten the

livelihood of Indians in the face of inadequate adaptive

mechanisms (de Fraiture et al., 2007). They have

serious consequences on the country’s dense

population. Perhaps, averting the consequences of

pollution is the reason India specifically committed to

the idea of a “Long Term Cooperative Plan” in the Bali

Action Plan, that its per capita emission would not

exceed those of developed countries (MEF,

Government of India, 2009). The country has since

reflected these environmental protection commitments

in its development policies, and believes it can best

meet its energy needs in a responsible, eco-friendly and

sustainable manner by making suitable policies (Vijay

et al.).

This paper describes the framework of India’s RE

policy. It provides an answer to the question of whether

or not India’s RE policy framework is comprehensive

and successful. It establishes that India’s RE policy

exhibits effectiveness, functionality, and equity, but

lacks efficiency and sufficient political support. In

doing this, it employs the policy cycle and uses

qualitative methods, and relies on primary sources such

as statutes, and secondary sources including books,

articles, and research surveys. The paper concludes that

the components of India’s RE policy phases, though

near complete and successful, are blurred with no clear

distinctions, spanning several decades.

2. India’s Renewable Energy Policy

The literature shows that India’s RE policy has

passed through five phases: Agenda setting,

formulation and legitimation, decision

making/legislation, implementation, and assessment.

2.1. Agenda Setting

RE became India’s agenda through environmental

and energy concerns. To show commitment to the

United Nations Conference on the Human

Environment (UNCHE) which the country attended,

and in response to the threats of industrialization,

India’s earlier environmental goals were to protect

water and air quality, and the country’s federal

government took steps in this respect (Greenstone et

al., 2011). Empirical studies show that the country

successfully curbed air pollution but not water

pollution: results revealed further that the use of

catalytic converters contributed to making air pollution

control effective (Greenstone et al., 2011). This

established to the government that the less carbon-

emitting energy consumed, the cleaner the

environment became— a feature inherent in RE.

The Bhopal disaster of 1984 which led to the death

of thousands and injury of over a hundred thousand

people including successive generations refreshed

people’s minds about environmental risks (Browning,

1993; Peterson, 2008; Izarali, 2013). Particularly, it

revealed the need for power sources in community-

based industrial operations to be safer and cleaner

(Broughton, 2005).

Also, energy statistics showed that India would

reach a total domestic energy production meeting 71%

expected energy consumption by 2016-2017, and 69%

of expected energy consumption by 2021-2022. The

statistics estimated that the country would meet the

29% balance in 2016-2017 by importing energy-

equivalent of 267.8 MTOE, and the 31% balance by

2021-2022 by importing energy-equivalent of 375.6

MTOE (CSO, NSO, MSPI, Government of India,

2013). These estimates reveal that India’s energy

imports might increase as the years go by. The

country’s current energy capacity cannot power its

growth rate (Arora, 2010). Energy demand is likely to

increase at the rate of 7.5% in the future (Kaur, 2012:

625). India is also concerned that fossil fuel costs are

rising (MNRE, 2011: 6). Again, it is predominantly

rural, but has found it difficult to extend power to

remote areas lacking grid and road infrastructures

(IEA, 2012; Arora 2010).

These facts manifested economic, environmental,

security, and general sustainability implications. More

people became deprived of energy following an

increased pressure on national economic means,

mainly India’s natural resources; increased rural-urban

migration led to congestion of cities, and pressure on

the environment and its resources; and increased

reliability on foreign energy markets resulted in

increased vulnerability.

In 1981, India’s Federal government fully

acknowledged the country’s energy and environmental

challenges, and the potential solutions found in

reducing, and substituting where possible, the

consumption of fossil fuel. In that year, it established

the Commission for Additional Sources of Energy

(CASE) to find alternative sources of energy, and put

it under the supervision of the Department of Science

and Technology (Bhattacharya and Jana, 2009;

Chaturvedi, 1997). The department discovered RE

as a viable non-conventional and alternative energy

for India, and developed the agenda for promoting it

with research and development (Chaturvedi, 1997;

Bhattacharya and Jana, 2009).

Being a commission constituted by the

government, the recommendations and activities of

CASE officially established RE as a government

business, hence putting it in the government’s

agenda. India’s Federal government has since believed

that RE would help meet India’s economic and

environmental objectives (Arora, 2010).

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7

2.2. Formulation and Legitimation

India’s RE policy formulations are driven by

environmental, energy, taxation, and direct RE

instruments. At the earlier periods in its history,

environmental policy instruments drove India’s RE

policy formulations. Environmental governance

instruments provided that the federal government and

other stakeholders should develop and promote RE as

supplement and/or alternative to fossil fuel.

India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests

(MEF), now the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and

Climate Change (MEFCC), is responsible for India’s

environmental policies (MEFCC, 2014). The Ministry

released the National Environmental Conservation

Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and

Development (NECSPSED) in 1992 (MEF, 1992).

The National Environmental Conservation

Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and

Development, 1992, prescribed population control and

conservation of natural resources as priorities of the

Indian government, with emphasis on concerns about

land and water, atmosphere, bio-diversity, and

biomass. It recommended developing government

policies from environmental perspectives. In order to

achieve these recommendations, it provides for support

policies and systems that recommend alternative

energy (MEFCC, 2014).

The same MEF, as it then was, released the Policy

Statement for Abatement of Pollution in 1992 (MEF,

1992B). The document emphasized integrating

environmental and economic aspects in development

planning. It stressed precautionary methods for

pollution abatement, promotion of technological inputs

for reducing industrial pollutants, and reliance on

public cooperation for securing a clean environment in

response to emerging challenges (MEFCC, 2014 B).

The provisions of the two 1992 policy documents

reflect the principle that energy concerns should bear

environmental awareness and the need for an

alternative energy source and technology cleaner than

fossil fuel. In addition, the National Action Plan on

Climate Change, released in 2008, outlines existing

and future policies and programmes on climate

mitigation and adaptation measures, and specifically

mentions, as a goal, moving from fossil energy to RE

(Deiva, 2012).

India’s recent RE policy formulations can be

found in energy policies, and energy taxation

instruments. These include the National Electricity

Policy 2005, Rural Electrification Policy 2006,

National Tariff Policy 2006, and the Integrated Policy

2006 (Sinha, 2011). India considered the possibility

of meeting its electricity target of “Electricity for All

by 2012” by RE options under the National

Electricity Policy, 2005, and the policy provides that

efforts need be made to reduce the capital cost of

non-conventional and RE projects (Deiva, 2012;

ABPS IAPL, 2009). The Integrated Policy, 2006,

provides how to meet the demand for energy

services of all sectors including the lifeline energy

needs of vulnerable households, in all parts of the

country, with safe and convenient energy at the least

cost in a technically efficient, economically viable,

and environmentally sustainable manner (Sinha,

2011). The Rural Electrification Policy, 2006,

provides means by which RE producers could

benefit from their supply to the power stream. The

National Tariff Policies provide tax concessions for

energy production from RE.

The Indian government now pursues three main

energy goals: access to energy, energy security, and

mitigation of climate change (IEA, 2012). The

government regards RE a means for achieving these

three goals. For this reason, it has made attempts to

legitimate its RE policy, leading to specific RE policy

formulations. The MNRE conducted several public

workshops and stakeholder consultations in an attempt

to develop a comprehensive RE policy (MNRE, 2011).

It reviewed its objectives, prepared an action plan, and

consulted stakeholders and professionals. Based on the

broad guidelines provided by India’s Performance

Management Division of the Cabinet Secretariat, the

MNRE released the Strategic Plan for New and

Renewable Energy Sector (SPNRES) for the Period

2011-2017 (MNRE, 2011).

While previous RE policy formulations were

indirect in that they involved using policies in other

areas to promote RE, SPNRES presents a direct

approach. It shows that RE has become recognized as

needing an independent and comprehensive support

system. It envisions to “…upscale and mainstream the

use of RE sources in furtherance of the national aim of

energy security and energy independence, with

attendant positive impact on local, national, and global

environment” (MNRE, 2011: 16). It is designed to

follow four distinct phases: define the aspiration; assess

the situation; develop the strategy; and plan the

implementation; and it plans to replace fossil fuel

where possible (MNRE, 2011: 16). The MNRE plans

to review the plan quarterly, report systems for specific

programmes, develop independent monitoring and

verification, and initiate other follow up procedures

(MNRE, 2011: 62).

2.3. Decision Making and Legislation

While RE is largely regulated at both Federal and

State levels, the legal framework under which it

operates is primarily federal. The country has no RE-

specific regulatory institution and statute.

Being a federal polity, India has a hierarchical

regulatory and decision making structure for the RE

subsector: Forum of Regulators (FOR), various State

Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs), and

Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC)

(ABPS IAPL, 2009); there is also the Delhi Electricity

Regulatory Commission (DERC) (ABPS IAPL, 2009:

34).

The Forum of Regulators (FOR) was

constituted under section 166(2) of the Electricity



8

Act (EA), 2003, and consists of Chairperson of

Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC)

and Chairpersons of State Electricity Regulatory

Commissions (SERCs). In giving effects to the

provisions of the Electricity Act and other statutes in

favour of RE, amidst other provisions, its functions

include analysing tariff orders and other orders of

the central commission and state commissions, and

compiling data arising on them; highlighting,

especially, the efficiency improvements of power

utilities; harmonizing regulation in the power sector;

laying standards of how licensees perform as

required under the Act; sharing information among

the members of the forum on various issues of

common interest and approach; undertaking

research work, in-house or through outsourcing, on

issues relevant to power sector regulation; evolving

measures for protecting interests of consumers,

promoting efficiency, economy, and competition in

the power sector; and such other functions as the

central government may assign to it, from time to

time (Forum of Regulators). The CERC makes

decisions and regulates the power industry at the

state level, and gives effect to the provisions of the

EA, 2003, in favour of RE. The SERCs performs

similar functions at the respective state levels, and

the DERC performs same at the federal capital level.

Although India does not have a specific law

for regulating RE, it is planning to enact one, called the

Renewable Energy Act, allegedly based on insights

from the German Renewable Energy Act (EA)

(Upadhyay, 2014). The country currently regulates RE

with some provisions in its EA, 2003 (Upadhyay,

2014).

The Federal Government enacted the EA in

2003. The long title of the EA incorporates, as part

of its purposes, promotion of efficient and

environmentally-benign electricity policies

(Ministry of Law and Justice, 2003). The Act allows

easier generation, transmission, and distribution of

centralized non-intermittent sources of power,

including RE (Upadhyay, 2014). It provides that the

commission in charge of tariffs should specify the

terms for determining electricity tariffs by

considering the need to promote the co-generation

and generation of electricity from renewable sources

of energy (Ministry of Law and Justice, 2003: 31). It

states that the Government of India should prepare a

National Electricity Policy and Tariff Policy from

time to time for developing power systems based on

optimal utilization of resources such as coal, natural

gas, nuclear substances or materials, hydro and

renewable sources of energy (Ministry of Law and

Justice, 2003: 8).

In May 2010, the Indian Federal Government

adopted the Indian Grid Code (IEGC) 2010. This is

the first law that allows integrating RE into the

electricity grid system based on States-issued grid

codes.

2.4. Implementation

The Federal Government of India implemented

RE plans by establishing support institutions and

programmes for RE. In 1982, the Indian government

established a government department for RE

development, reputed to be the first cabinet-level

department for promoting RE: It converted the CASE

to a government department known as the

Department of Non-conventional Energy

(Bhattacharya and Jana, 2009; Chaturvedi, 1997;

Ottinger, 2005). The Department became the

Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources

(MNRE) in 1992, and subsequently the federal

Ministry of New and Renewable Resources to

reflect its RE mandate (MNRE, 2011; Bhattacharya

and Jana, 2009). It promotes RE through research

and development (Bhattacharya and Jana, 2009;

Chaturvedi, 1997).

To boost RE financially, the Federal

Government established the Indian Renewable

Energy Development Agency (IREDA) in 1987

(Bhattacharya and Jana, 2009). IREDA is a public

limited government company under the

administrative control of the MNRE, responsible for

promoting, developing, and extending financial

assistance for RE, and energy efficiency and

conservation projects.

India’s Federal Government also employs fiscal

incentives, tax incentives, purchase targets, and grid

integration mechanisms to boost RE (Sinha, A. 2011).

To implement the fiscal incentives, it supports RE with

budgetary funds; tax incentives come in form of tax

concessions and holidays; with purchase targets, it

mandates states and other stakeholders to purchase a

stated proportion of their energy from renewable

sources; and grid integration facilitates features feeding

RE into the power grid.

2.5. Assessment

Government institutions, experts, and scholars

monitor, evaluate, and communicate the impacts of

India’s RE policy. IRENA sets the standards for

assessing RE to include effectiveness and

sustainability, efficiency, equity, and institutional

feasibility (IRENA/UKERC, 2014). Stakeholders

consider India’s RE policy effective and functional:

The Renewable Energy India (TREI) Expo revealed

that RE share in India’s energy mix increased from

7.8% in 2008, to 12.3% in 2013 (TREI, 2001);

Vinjamuri et al have shown that an energy mix, with

wind energy providing 30%, solar energy 20% and gas

turbines (biogas and natural gas) of a further 20%, is

working for India (Vinjamuri et al., 2011:162); and

Etcheverry finds that RE projects have the prospects to

enhance rural sustainability and life (Etcheverry,

2003).

Stakeholders believe India’s RE policy promotes

social equity. The UN, for example, would conceive

India’s RE policy to be in support of the ‘Sustainable

Energy for All Initiative,’ aimed at achieving poorest

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9

people’s access to energy and sustainable use of local

resources ( Wilson, 2012). It is largely agreed now that

RE enhances the chances of rural dwellers having

access to power and securing jobs through the

availability of power and power production ventures.

These are elements pointing to social equity and

justice.

However, researchers do not consider India’s RE

policy efficient. Some argue that RE is still 52-129%

more expensive than conventional power, and that

RE has set ambitious goals of doubling the existing RE

capacity by 2017, but lacks the mechanism to achieve

this without increased budgetary allocation (Shrimali

et al., 2014). Further investigations on this are left for

future research.

3. Conclusion

India’s RE policy has all the phases of the policy

cycle, save reformulation. These phases are not

chronological: They are blurred, and consist of

remotely connected stages. Nonetheless, they present a

comprehensive policy structure.

The major challenge India’s RE policy faces so far

is insufficient political and economic support.

Commentators have noted that RE competes unfairly

with nuclear and fossil energy, and lacks sufficient

tariffs (Meisen, 2010). This is because it is fairly recent,

compared to fossil fuel energy. State and non-state

actors have huge financial interests in the existing fossil

fuel regime, making it difficult for them to prioritize

RE over such interests. Perhaps, future reformulation

of the policy will take care of this situation.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Dr. Andreas Klinke for

commenting on the two prior drafts of this paper.

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capital/.

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11

from http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-

data.cfm?fips=in .

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of renewable energy technologies and their

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sustainable energy for all initiative make a

difference? Green Economy Coalition.

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w-how/energy-equity-can-un-sustainable-

energy-all-initiative-make-difference.

ECOLOGICAL MODERNIZATION FOR

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:

CASE STUDY OF THE EU AND CHINA

F. I. M. Muktadir Boksh1; Jannatul Islam2

1. Research Assistant, Canadian Forest Service,

Department of Natural Resources Canada

[email protected]

2. Lecturer, World University of Bangladesh

(On leave), Research Assistant, Memorial

University of Newfoundland, Canada

[email protected]

Abstract

Ecological modernization theory was developed in

the industrialized Western European countries in the

80s in order to control environmental pollution and

also to ensure their development in a sustainable

manner. This paper reviewed a number of literatures

and tried to explore the implementation progress of

the theory in the European countries, and the state

of ecological modernization process in the new

industrially developed country, China. Review of

literature on ecological modernization in the

European Union (EU) and China shows that there is

implementation and progress of the theory in

different countries in the EU despite that it is

criticized as ‘greening capitalism,’ while China on

the other hand has started implementing the theory

following Western European countries. More time is

necessary to realize the full benefit of the theory.

Keywords: ecological modernization; Western

Europe; China; sustainable development

Alternative citation (online): Boksh, F.I.M.M.

and Islam, J. 2015. Ecological Modernization for

Sustainable Development: Case Study of the EU

and China. JWHSD, 1, 52-72. Available at:


1. Introduction

The sustainability of ecological process for any

country keeping pace with its economic

development is not an easy job. Ecological

modernization in this regard plays a very essential

role by systematic eco-innovation and diffusion, and

has by far the largest potential to achieve

environmental improvements (Janicke, 2008).

Through economic and environmental policy

integration, ecological modernization seeks to

provide a substitute to the antagonistic relationship

between economic development and environmental

protection existing in the developed economies.

Sustainable development on the other hand is the

combination of sustainable economic systems,

sustainable global ecological processes, and

sustainable social equity (Dryzek, 2005). Thus

ecological modernization is important for overall

sustainable development.

2. Scope and Objectives

European countries have experienced dramatic

changes in environmental policies and politics

during the last few decades, and the root cause for

this is considered to be ecological modernization.

The European Union (EU) is the pioneer of the

ecological modernization concept. The EU has

developed into a leader of international climate

change policies as the important EU policy actors

have been advocates of the ecological modernization

theory. They consider that ecological modernization

has created a win-win situation where both

economic growth and protection of environment

take place (Solorio, 2011).China on the other hand

experienced rapid and continuing economic growth

since the 1980s and, as a result of this, the country

managed not only to lift hundreds of millions of

people out of poverty, but also improved the lifestyle

of growing middle-class of the population. But this

success has been achieved at the cost of massive and

growing environmental degradation, including

serious pollution of air, soil and water. Ecological

modernization in China faced determined multi-

level resistance from those firmly committed to the

belief that the treadmill of production and high

economic growth of the country is more closely

linked to regime-legitimacy and the mainstream

collective visions of economic prosperity than

ecological modernization (Li and Lang, 2010).

This article analyses the state of ecological

modernization in two economically powerful and

industrially advanced blocks: European Union and

China. The major decision makers and motivations

behind the promotion of ecological modernization in

these blocks have been explored. Moreover, the

study tried to explain the major debates and criticism

of the theory.

In brief, the study will explore the following key

issues- critically analyze the state of ecological

modernization process in EU and China and identify

the role and interest of political and economic

factors in ecological modernization. The study will

have great political and policy importance and can

provide better understanding on global

http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=in

http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=in

http://www.seeforum.net/countryreport/india.html

http://www.seeforum.net/countryreport/india.html

http://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/know-how/energy-equity-can-un-sustainable-energy-all-initiative-make-difference








12

environmental politics as it incorporates the

implication of ecological modernization in the two

industrially advanced and economically powerful

blocks in the world. China and the EU are major

industrial producers that are economically vibrant.

On issues like energy, environment and climate

change, the EU and China can play dominant roles

to achieve and ensure global sustainable

development, both for today and for future

generations.

3. Methodology

This article reviews the existing literature for

incorporating diverse aspects of ecological

modernization theory, and extensively studies two

cases, EU and China, to evaluate the progress of

ecological modernization. It appears from the

literature that since the promotion of the ecological

modernization theory in 1980s in Europe, EU

countries had three decades to promote and progress

in the environmental policy reform and attain some

progress in ecological modernization, whereas

China has not been able to fully promote the theory

and to some extent failed to implement ecological

modernization. From this perspective, it is very

important and time-worthy to research and explore

the above objectives.

4. Theoretical Background

Ecological modernization theory was first

developed in the early 1980s primarily in a small

group of Western European countries, notably

Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

(UK) (Moland Sonnenfeld, 2000). More

specifically, the notion of ecological modernization

was first launched by a member of the Berlin state

parliament during debates in 1982. Huber (1991)

and Koalitionsvertrag (1998) termed ecological

modernization as a technology-based and

innovation-oriented strategy focusing on the

efficient use of resources and providing co-benefits

both for ecology and economy.

At its beginning, ecological modernization was

essentially a political program. It was neither a

theory, nor a concept which included the social

dimension of this type of modernization. Addition of

ecological modernization with further development

was strongly influenced by debates with other

schools-of-thought. Ecological modernization

concepts developed in western industrialized

societies from the concern of degradation of natural

resources due to excessive industrialization and

expansion of cities, and social concern of protecting

vulnerable natural areas from devastating

industrialization and urbanization (Mol, 1997). The

theory at first redefined the relation between state

and market within environmental reform, and

emphasized the role of market and government for

environmental protection. After that, technology and

technological development have been emphasized in

ecological modernization ideas and scholars have

been more positive and optimistic of the

contribution of technology and technological change

to environmental reform (Mol and Janicke, 2009).

The ecological modernization concept is thought of

as an effective response to a variety of circumstances

or imperatives regarding social-ecological thought

and fulfills the need and gap within the thought.

Rapid expansion of ecological modernization in the

European countries occurred not because it was a

well-developed and highly-codified social theory,

but rather because it accorded particularly well with

a number of intellectual and broader political-

economic factors and many of these factors are from

outside the realms of sociology and environmental

sociology (Buttel, 2000). Ecological modernization

also describes asset of processes and perspectives

that capitalism is trying to achieve as its version of

sustainable development, and ecological

modernization is replacing the earlier phase of

crude, environmentally damaging industrial

capitalism (Pepper, 1998).

Gouldson and Murphy (1996) identified four

themes of ecological modernization that need to be

considered. The four themes include: environment

and economy can be successfully combined for

further economic development with the aid of

government intervention; environmental policy

goals should be integrated into other policy areas;

alternative and innovative policy measures should

be explored; and the invention, innovation and

diffusion of new-clean technologies is essential.

Pepper (1998) pointed out three approaches to

ecological modernization including market

environmentalism, welfare/interventionist

environmentalism, and market-based incentives to

economize the environment so that ecological

modification will only be used in cases where

environmental costs are counter-balanced by

welfare benefits.

Sustainable development was formally

endorsed by political leaders from more than a

hundred and seventy countries at the Rio Earth

Summit in 1992. The Rio process refers to the

ongoing international interaction between new

social movements, academia, politics and business

that has led to the formulation of environmental

policy strategies in the context of the United Nations

Conference on the Environment and Development

(UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Sustainable

development not only deals with the

interdependencies between economy and ecology,

but also combines the ecological question with the

social question on a global scale. Sustainable

development is supposed to diffuse the long term

tension between economic growth and

environmental protection (Carruthers, 2001), and a

complete formulation of ecological modernization

results in sustainable and equitable development

(Huber, 2000).



13

Ecological concerns and ecological

modernization gradually gained traction in existing

political, economic, and social institutions.

Government, markets, and the civil society as actors

get involved in the reform process, focusing on

various types of pressure they may have exerted on

business enterprises (Yee, Lo and Tang, 2013).

Janicke (2008) considered that the role of smart

government regulation and growing business risks

for polluters in the context of multi-level

environmental governance are the two driving forces

of ecological modernization. These two influencing

factors may reinforce each other in the long run and

increase the dynamics of environmental innovation.

The three stages in the development and maturation

of ecological modernization theory are summarized

in table 1 below.

Table 1: Stages of development and maturation of

ecological modernization theory

Period Feature

First

1980s

1. Heavy emphasis on the role of

technological innovations used

for environmental reforms and

industrial production.

2. Critical attitude towards the

state

3. Favourable attitude towards

market actors and market

dynamics

Criticism

1. Treats the environment as

another technological problem

to be overcome in the pursuit

of progress

Second

early 1990s

1. Less emphasis and less

deterministic view regarding

technological innovations

2. More balanced view on state

and market dynamics in

ecological transformation

processes

3. More attention on the

institutional and cultural

dynamics of ecological

modernization and the role of

human agencies in

environment-induced social

transformations

Criticism

1. Prime criticism has been Euro-

centrism

2. Overly optimistic idea of

environmental reforms in social

practices, institutional

developments, and

environmental discourses, and

its neglect of consumption and

life-styles

Third

mid-1990s

onwards

1. Industrial production is

increasingly complemented by

paying attention to ecological

transformations related to

consumption processes

2. Various national studies on

environmental reforms in non-

EU countries, new

industrializing economies in

East Central Europe, the USA

and Canada

3. Growing attention is paid to the

global dynamics of ecological

modernization

Source: Mol, 1999

5. Ecological Modernization in EU and

China

The European Union countries and China are

the major industrial producers in the world, and at

the same time have been the highest carbon emitters

in the last few decades. To minimize divergence and

agonizing relation between economic development

and environmental protection, policy makers of EU

and China initiated ecological modernization at

different points in time. Since the Western EU is the

origin of the ecological modernization theory, they

have experienced more than twenty years of

ecological modernization. Newly industrialized

China on the other hand is gradually moving towards

ecological modernization in recent years.

The European Union has a long history of

ecological modernization showcasing formulation

and implementation of policies to facilitate

technological development and environmental

protection. This started since 1994 when the

European parliament passed a resolution on

Environmental Technologies in facilitating the

environmental technology industry for future

employment and economic development. That

assigned a prime role to the government in realizing

the potential of linking economy and environment.

Apart from this, the Single European Act and the

Maastricht Treaty enhanced and expanded the

competence of the European Union to



14

Table 2: Initiatives by EU countries for ecological

modernization

design and deliver environmental policy (Gouldson

and Murphy, 1996). Ecological modernization in

industries of Western Europe ranged from waste

management and livestock to carbon capture and

storage from the beginning. More recently, there

have been efforts to expand the concept beyond its

origins and consider its applicability in developing

states.

Most European countries are increasing the use

of economic instruments and moving towards more

negotiated and consensual environmental policy

making. But the degree to which these innovations

take place, their concrete forms, as well as their

environmental effect will differ among countries,

depending, inter alia, on their policy style and

institutional layout (Mol, 1999). EU Environmental

Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS)

showed from econometric analysis that

environmental management system of a firm

positively influences its environmental process

innovations. Apart from this, strong participation of

specific departments such as the R&D department is

an important determinant of environmental

innovations (Rennings et al. 2006).

The policy documents of the European Union

seek to reverse both trends through the integration of

economic and environmental policies. The White

Paper of the EU stated that a key factor in achieving

a labor-intensive, environmentally benign

development path was the creation and promotion of

a clean technology base (White Paper, 2000).

Ecological modernization with its technocratic

solutions to environmental problems has established

an important position in EU, and European

environmental policy makers now believe that a

long-term and extensive change of technologies

reduce environmental burdens, and also ensures

sustainable development. The European policy

makers also consider that EU countries have the

political clout as well as the human, technical and

financial resources to provide long-term support to

strengthen the capacity of the developing countries.

But the implementation and sustainable

development related regulations are not yet

satisfactory (6th EAP).

European ecological modernization mainly

comprises of strategies that seek to change the

regulatory and fiscal state to stimulate ecological

innovations and more investment to the less

polluting resource-efficient technologies. The first

global financial crisis of the twenty-first century

Countries Initiatives for Ecological Modernization

Bulgaria 1. Liberalization and privatization of the Bulgarian economy.

2. Increase democratization and public participation in environmental issues.

Denmark

1. Strategy and framework program of the development of the textile industry.

2. Gradual and cumulative expansion of the scope of the environmental policy programs: permits and control,

cleaner technology, environmental management systems, and product oriented approach.

3. Score system designed to assess environmental performance of the chemicals used in the industries.

Finland

1. Non-wood bio-energy production in order to replace volatile foreign oil.

2. Agri-environmental developments.

3. Long term growth-oriented economic and industrial policies along with strong investments in R&D.

4. Strong emphasis on technology and innovation in creating societal well-being.

Sweden

1. High-quality environmental research and monitoring linked to indicators; environmental legislation and

the creation of frameworks for administration; the inclusion of environmental considerations in physical

planning.

2. Commitment to the polluter pays principle; and the development of supports and fiscal mechanisms for

linking environmental policy and practice.

3. External cooperation, synergies between the environmental and economic agendas.

4. The Government Commission on Green Taxation in 1994 and Public Procurement Act of 1992 first linked

relevant goods and services with environmental concerns.

5. Strong commitment to social democracy and decision making structure.

6. Adopted the principle of sectoral responsibility for solving existing environmental problems

7. Local Agenda 21.

UK

1. Environmental best practice programmes for small and medium enterprise.

2. Fiscal stimulus launched for green investments.

3. Car scrap page premium programme for emission reduction.

4. Launched the mainstreaming sustainable development package for sustainable economic growth and the

protection of the environment.

5. Placing of an economic value to ecosystem services with National Ecosystem Assessment.



15

poses major challenges for the formulation and

analysis of environmental policy. The concept of

ecological modernization in Europe has been very

vocal during the economic crisis than most

alternative approaches. According to the

Schumpeterian perspective, the recession has

accelerated the demise of old and polluting

industries and opened the opportunities for

ecological structural change (Feindt and Cowell,

2010).

European Union’s environmental strategy for

sustainable consumption is primarily driven by

neoliberal conceptualizations of the relationship

between society and the environment (ecological

modernization). They are concerned with potential

influence on the consumer society rather than their

impact on the food production chain (Couturier and

Thaimai, 2013). Ecological modernization also

emerged for the food products of the European

Union. Two innovative projects have been

undertaken, the EU Eco-label and the EU Organic

logo, in order to instrumentalize the normative

philosophy of ecological modernization. This is

done with the hopes that incentive-based,

incremental transformation in the processes of

production and consumption can adequately address

the challenges of environmental degradation

(Couturier and Thaimai, 2013). European countries

have taken different environmental policy initiatives

as a part of their ecological modernization effort.

Ecological modernization initiatives of some EU

countries are summarized in the table 2 above.

China took off for ecological modernization

from 1998, marked by the publication of the

Ecological Environment Construction Plan in 1998,

and after that ‘Guideline for Ecological

Environmental Protection’ in 2000. The recent

inclusion of environmental domain in the official

definition of modernization in China reflects the

changing priorities of China for its further and future

sustainable development. China Modernization

Report 2007 entitled “Study on Ecological

Modernization” attracted large scale media and

public attention in China and around the world. The

environmental storms launched by China’s State

Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) in

2005, 2006, and 2007 are some recent initiatives for

environmental protection, succeeding in achieving

some immediate goals. But the China Modernization

Report 2007 graded China 100 among 118 countries

regarding its ecological modernization level.

Ecological modernization in China is

considered as second-time modernization whereas

the previous modernizations were focused on social

modernization (social welfare, equity, education,

etc.). Many of the key concepts of ecological

modernization in China were similar to the western-

style modernization such as dematerialization, the

eco-friendly economy, decoupling, prevention and

clean technology (Zhang, Mol and Sonnenfeld,

2007). China has experienced rapid economic

development during the last four decades and this

has resulted in large environmental deterioration.

China is the front runner in C02 emissions and many

of its mega-cities are most polluted in the world.

China has become the centre of international debate

about issues regarding economic development,

global warming, as well as environmental protection

policymaking and policy implementation.

Lai, Wong and Cheng (2012) investigated how

various ecological modernization forces in terms of

environmental regulations, customer pressure, and

economic pressure are associated with the

implementation of green logistics management

(GLM) by Chinese export manufacturers. Based on

the survey data from 128 Chinese export

manufacturers, the finding shows that customer

pressure is a significant factor affecting the extent of

their GLM implementation, which in turn is

positively associated with their environmental,

financial, and operational performance.

Interestingly, both environmental regulations are not

significant drivers for Chinese export manufacturers

to pursue GLM. A study on the information

technology and electronic industries in China by

Park, Sarkis and Wu (2010) identified and

demonstrated that a blend of business and

environmental value can be created from adopting a

sustainable supply chain management approach. The

adoption of a sustainable supply chain management

approach is rapidly becoming a key business

challenge and opportunity in China and other large

emerging economies around the world. Among the

ongoing conflict between the goals of environmental

conservation and economic growth in China, the

state environmental agencies attempted to

implement a green national accounting (green GDP)

exercise in recent years to publicize the extent to

which environment-related costs of economic

activity reduce actual GDP, and to promote a more

comprehensive and realistic accounting of economic

development and of GDP growth (Li and Lang,

2010).

The implementation of environmental

protection policies in China is still in its inception.

Increasing awareness among political,

administrative and societal actors regarding

ecological issues in China has been a prime initiative

during the last decade. Possibilities for sustainable

action do exist, but currently are at best used very

selectively (Grunow and Heberer, 2011).It has been

stated that if appropriate strategies, policies, and

practices are established and successfully

implemented, by around 2050 China could be

among the top 40 countries in terms of ecological

modernization; and by the second half of the 21st

century, among the top 20 countries in

comprehensive ecological modernization (Zhang,

Mol and Sonnenfeld, 2007). The position of China

compared to Germany in terms of environmental



16

sustainability and ecological modernization can be

realized from the table 3 below.

Table 3: Environmental sustainability and

ecological modernization

Sources: Chine Centre for Modernization Research

(2007)

6. Political and Economic Actors in

Ecological Modernization

Ecological modernization of a country is

developed and influenced by multi-level and multi-

dimensional actors. Not only governments and

industry but also NGOs act at all levels of the

modernization process. Mol (2010, pp. 460–461)

argues that the social mechanisms, dynamics and

actors through which social practices and

institutions point to three key elements supporting

ecological modernization. These elements

determine the ability of a particular state to realize

ecological modernization. The first element is

classified as political modernization, which focuses

on the role of the state, non-state, and external actors

(international and supra-national institutions). The

second element identified is economic and market

dynamics and the role of economic agents. This

category incorporates producers, consumers and

business associations, which use market, monetary,

and economic logics in pushing for environmental

goals. The influence of this condition would

therefore rest on the existence of a functioning and

relatively free market economy. The third element

has been identified as civil society for supporting the

development of ecological modernization. In many

cases, these elements push for new positions, roles,

ideologies, and cultural frames regarding

environmental issues. These three elements

reinforce the importance of a strong and effective

capacity of the state to choose between different

options and engage effectively with other internal

and external actors for ecological modernization.

Government action can in multiple ways foster

ecological modernization for a country. Government

actors are crucial for stimulating technological

innovations by providing fund for green research

and development, incentives in the tax system (e.g.

feed-in tariffs for renewable energy), creating

markets for scarce environmental goods, setting

progressive environmental standards that foster

technological progress (Feindt and Cowell, 2010).

Janicke (2008) introduced two driving forces of

ecological modernization- the role of smart

government regulation and growing business risks

for polluters in the context of multi-level

environmental governance. These two influencing

factors reinforce each other in the long run, thereby

increasing the already existing dynamics of

environmental innovation. The experience of the

Chinese central government in recent years shows

that the political priorities of the centre, the specific

interests of local actors, and the structural/

administrative constraints on them explain the

behavior of local actors in the environmental field.

The environmental policy-making in China is still at

the inception level, but awareness among political,

administrative and societal actors regarding

ecological issues in China has increased during the

last decade (Grunow and Heberer, 2011). Neil

Carter and Arthur Mol categorize the innovations

and transitions in China’s environmental

governance system into four major categories:

political transitions to ‘Environmental State’, the

role of economic actors and market dynamics,

emerging institutions beyond the state and market

including environmental NGOs, media, social

norms, rules and codes, and processes of

international integration strategies against

desertification; prevention of the intrusion of salt

water into the ground water; prevention through a

popular protest on a dangerous chemical plant being

built, and the control of vehicle emissions. Similarly

Yee, Lo and Tang (2013) identified three types of

actors exist namely political, economic, and to a

lesser extent social actors for ecological

modernization. They also stated that local

government has more formalized relationship with

firms, organizational buyer exert noticeable pressure

on firms and the civil society as a less

institutionalized actor poses a perceptible threat to

some firms. In sum, it is apparent that there are three

types of actors- political, market, and the civil

society- that function for ecological modernization.

7. Major Arguments against Ecological

Modernization

Ecological modernization has been criticized

for some of its core themes in the context of both

European Union and China. The most common

criticism is that its high emphasis on technological

innovation and efficiency will not realize long-term

sustainability if efficiency improvements are

outstripped by growth rates (Feindt and Cowell,

2010). Ecological modernization has also been

criticized for its diverse political trajectories, and the

value of this framework in the European Union is

reduced as it becomes scattered and imprecise (Mol,

1999). The technocratic outlook, corporatist

Countries

Environmental Sustainability Index 2005 Ecological Modernization Report

2007

Index Ranking Index Ranking

Germany 56.9 31 93 5

China 38.6 133 42 100



17

structures, economic rationality and undemocratic

nature of ecological modernization was also a matter

of dispute.

Ecological modernization has little attention for

the social context of change and the ethical issues

are overlooked, that is the modern societies are

composed of divergent interests and inequalities of

wealth and power. The link between environmental

protection and social injustice is not established.

Ecological modernization is viewed as an

unacceptable attempt to green capitalism by authors

such as Blowers (1997), Barry (1999) and

Schnaiberg et al. (2002), and considered its reforms

as superficial and cosmetic and unable to resolve the

ecological crisis.

8. Conclusion

The ecological modernization theory has been

developed from the concern for protecting the

environment without hampering the sustainable

economic development process. The initiative has

received significant attention by policy makers in

the European countries and China, and is seen as an

attractive alternative to the pessimistic deep green,

radical alternative approaches such as neo-

Marxist/political economy. Ecological

modernization presents both opportunities and

challenges when addressing environmental issues.

Despite many debates and criticisms, the ecological

modernization concept has grown steadily in the

European countries and established itself as a role

model for other industrially advanced countries such

as the United States, China, and India to follow. The

practice of ecological modernization in the

European Union encouraged Chinese policy makers

to approach environmental policy reforms in the

manner Western Europe has done. Even though the

Chinese economy is experiencing double digit

growth, it has realized the boundary of the

environment and taken some steps towards

sustainable economic development.

It is too early to give remarks about successes

or failures of the ecological modernization for

sustainable development in both EU counties and

china. The environmental state today (rise in GHG,

global temperature, acid rain, ozone depletion etc.)

has developed due to industrial pollution and

emission activities of more than hundred years. The

solution to such problems without compromising

much of economic development in the form of

ecological modernization will understandable be

time-consuming. It is good that the highest pollutant

emitters such as EU and China have recognized their

responsibility for environmental protection and

incorporated policies for ecological modernization.

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668

THE IMPLICATIONS OF ROAD

TOLLBOOTH TO LOCAL ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF

TABRE AND OFFINSO

Benjamin Dosu Jnr

MA Candidate in Environmental Policy,

Environmental Policy Institute, Grenfell Campus,

Memorial University of Newfoundland,

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

This Research captioned as “The Implications of

Road Tollbooths to Local Economic Development”

presents how the emergence of road tollbooths as an

alternative source of revenue to the Road Fund has

contributed in providing employment and livelihood

options to residences in and around the towns or

communities where these tollbooths are located.

Most of the developing economies particularly in

Africa are characterized by high predominant rate

of youth unemployment especially those without

education and employable skills. The search for

employment and livelihood has compelled mostly the

youth in and around the places where road

tollbooths are located to make their daily means by

selling all sort of wares ranging from agriculture

and industrial products around the road tollbooths.

The objective was to find out how these trading

activities contribute to local development. Using

case study and sampling, the research revealed that

trading activities around the road tollbooths have a

lot of benefits which have led to the improvement of

the lives of the operators and the local communities.

However, they are also characterized by a lot of

challenges including accidents, effects on health and

other risks which impede the smooth operation of the

trading activities in the study areas.

Keywords: economic development; employment;

road tollbooth; livelihood; petty trading

Alternative citation (online): Dosu Jnr, B.2015.

The Implications of Road Tollbooth to Local

Economic Development: A Case Study of Tabre

and Offinso. JWHSD, 2, 28-45. Available at:

http://wwhsdc.org/jwhsd/articles/

1. Introduction

A common sight in Africa’s sprawling urban

areas is the widespread proliferation of petty traders,

hawking items from garden produce to imported

consumer goods. These small-scale merchants

represent perhaps the fastest growing segment of the

labour market in Africa, attracting the unemployed,

the displaced, and the impoverished (Little 2008).

Recent economic stagnation and restructuring on the

continent spurred the growth in this sector, as waged

employment declined and inflation spiraled. At least

part of the restructuring has been under the watchful

eyes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and

the World Bank, whose programs have slashed






19

public sector employment, urban subsidies

(including subsidies on food), and the exchange

value of local currencies. All of this coupled with

high unemployment rate has made it difficult for

many Africans to subsist without holding multiple

occupations, including involvement in all types of

trade as a way to supplement their meager incomes

(Little 2008). This burgeoning petty trade, often

euphemistically labeled the “informal sector”, has

been praised by some as a sign of a healthy private

sector, without recognition that its growth is

symptomatic of larger structural problems in the

economy which leave many individuals with little

choice but “to trade to eat”.

The importance of the informal sector of our

economy cannot be overlooked. Research has shown

that the informal sector of which street trading is an

integral part, constitutes a 35% of most national

economies especially in developing countries

(Boafoa-Asare 2010). According to the World Bank,

the “informal sector” is a force in developing states

comprising between 25% and 40% of annual

economic production in Africa and Asia (Maguire

2009). Developing countries are mainly

characterized by large informal sectors and Ghana is

no exception. The informal sector employs about

51% of the total population of Ghana for which

15.2% of this are engaged in trading activities.

Again, Petty trading as a form of informal sector is

said to provide employment and livelihood to about

13% of the total populace both in urban and rural

areas (Ghana Statistical Service 2008). These petty

trading activities range from the sale of agricultural

products to manufactured and industrial products

mainly to satisfy the basic needs of the individuals.

Petty trading is very important to the

development of the economy of Ghana. Aside its

economic impact in terms of employment, income

generation and livelihood, this economic activity

tends to provide goods to consumers mostly in

smaller quantities and at a convenient locations. For

example, a survey conducted by the Offinso South

Municipally Assembly in 2009 revealed that about

24.5% of the people are engaged in petty trading

activities as a source of employment and livelihood

within the municipality (Offinso South Municipal

Medium Term Development Plan 2009-2013). What

has been observed recently is the sprawling up of

petty trading activities due to the emergence of road

tollbooths on the Ghanaian highways. These traders

operate by making drivers, motorists and pedestrians

have easier access to retail goods and foods in

general thereby meeting the needs of travelers from

both near and afar.

The paper therefore unveils the economic

implications of these trading activities around the

tollbooths on the Ghanaian highways with specific

focus on Tabre and Old Offinso in the Atwima

Nwabiagya District and Offinso South Municipality

respectively. The paper focuses on the economic

importance of road tollbooths in the areas of

employment, livelihood and local economic

development.

2. Scope of Study

The Offinso South Municipality and Atwima

Nwabiagya district form part of the 30

Administrative Metropolitan, Municipals and

Districts in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Offinso

South Municipality with New Offinso as a capital is

located roughly within latitude 7º15N and 6º95S and

longitude 1º35E and 1º50W with a total land area of

about 600km2 (MMTDP, 2009-2013). The

Municipality shares common boundaries with

Offinso North District in the North, Afigya Kwabre

in the East and South, Atwima Nwabiagya and

Ahafo Ano South Districts in the West.

The Atwima Nwabiagya District on the other

hand lies approximately between latitude 6o 32’N

and 6o 75’N, and between longitude 1o 36’ and 2o

00’ West. It is situated in the Western part of the

Ashanti Region and shares common boundaries with

Ahafo Ano South and Atwima Mponua Districts (to

the West), Offinso Municipal (to the North),

Amansie–West and Atwima Kwanwoma Districts

(to the South), Kumasi Metropolis and Afigya

Kwabre Districts (to the East). It covers an

estimated area of 294.84 sq km. The district capital

is Nkawie. The toll booths under study are located

on major roads linking the districts and regions to

other parts of the country.

3. Research Methodology

The study adopted a case study approach. This

is because the approach pays attention to a particular

area of concern by considering the various issues

(including sociocultural, economic, and

environmental) and thoroughly reporting them. The

study therefore covered particular road tollbooths

with reference to Old Offinso in the Offinso South

Municipality and Tabre in the Atwima Nwabiagya

District. The high rate of patronage of these trading

activities by the local residents and people from

beyond as well as the recognition of these activities

by the Municipal and District assemblies of the

study areas make the chosen scope favorable

locations for the study. The target group for this

survey are categorized into two namely the

institutions that are concerned and supposed to

regulate the activities around the road tollbooths

which includes Offinso South Municipal Assembly,

Atwima Nwabiagya District Assembly, Ghana

Highway Authority, and the petty traders operating

around the road tollbooths.

The purposive selection technique which is non

probability sampling was used to interview the

traders around the road tollbooths. The absence of

associations involving the traders around the

tollbooths and at the local assembly posed a

challenge of determining the sample frame of the



20

people engaged in the activities around the road

tollbooths. Since explorative studies require a

minimum sample size of 40, a total of 53 actors were

interviewed involving 50 traders around the road

tollbooths, two planning officers of the two district

assemblies and Ghana Highway Authority. The

face-to-face interviews were conducted with each of

the respondents using a semi-structured

questionnaire containing both open and close ended

questions.

The data collected were analyzed and findings

derived from the analysis.

4. Findings

4.1. The Characteristics of Trading

Activities around the Road

Tollbooths

The survey revealed that the trading activities

around the road tollbooths are not under any

regulation. The traders can enter and exit at will. It

does not require registration or any conditions

attached. It only requires little start-up capital which

can easily be obtained through personal savings or

from family members and easily repaid. At times,

this capital can even be obtained through credit

purchases from the suppliers which make it easier to

enter. People can also operate at any time in any day

without any restrictions and since there are vehicular

movements on these highways almost every time,

the traders are seen to operate from dawn to

midnight.

In addition, apart from the fixed tax (30 Ghana

Pesewas per person) by the traders, they are not

required to pay taxes on the profit made. This

therefore means that one’s income to be earned

depends largely on how hard the person is supposed

to work. Due to the lack of regulation of the trading

activities, these taxes paid do not provide direct

benefits such as access to business training and

infrastructural development to the operators

involved. This also makes some of traders easily

evade tax payment since the tax is collected at the

point of contact with a particular trader.

4.2. Characteristics of the Traders

around the Road Tollbooths

The youth form the majority (92%) of the

traders around the road tollbooths. The stress and the

risks coupled with the hot sun involved in the

activity can mostly be endured by the youth who are

naturally stronger. This has therefore provided

alternative jobs for the youth who form the majority

of the unemployed in the country. Kwakye et al

(2007) also confirmed that the youth forms the

majority of these street trading activities in Ghana

constituting about 86% under the age of 30 years.

These traders are also characterized by those with

little or no education and lack of employable skills

signifying an easy entry and operation of the trading

activities around the road tollbooths. The study is in

line with Otoo (2012) who revealed that more

females are found to operate around the road

tollbooths as compared to men. Men tend to join the

operation when young and leave for other jobs as

they grow older due to their higher degree of

occupational mobility as compared to the women as

also indicated in Mitullah (2003).

4.3. Road Tollbooths and Livelihood

The emergence of road tollbooths has helped in

providing alternative source of cheap employment

for those without jobs in the districts or the

municipalities where the tollbooths are located and

beyond. More than 60% of the traders are selling

around the tollbooths due to lack of employment or

even employable skills to look for jobs in other

sectors. According to Asiedu and Agyei-Mensah

(2008), factors that increase this economic activity

in Africa with reference to Ghana include migration

and unemployment. This has helped reduce the

number of youth employment found within the

districts or the municipalities where these tollbooths

are located.

Also, more than 50% of the traders are selling

as result of a search of livelihood support system.

This, according to Asiedu and Agyei-Mensah (2008)

serves as a source of livelihood and an avenue also,

to supplement family income. Road tollbooths do

not only provide employment for local residence but

also a source of livelihood for a living. The traders

have not only gotten a source of their livelihood

from the tollbooths but improved livelihood as well.

4.4. Road Tollbooths and Poverty

Reduction

With respect to poverty reduction in the study

areas, road tollbooths are capable of reducing

poverty among the people of the study areas

especially those involved in the trading activities.

The trading activities around the road tollbooths are

capable of providing incomes for the traders

involved thereby improving the standard of living of

these actors. The traders earn an average income of

GH¢9.00 which is far more than the minimum wage

income of GH¢4.48 in Ghana and higher than the

$2.00 below which a person is considered as poor at

the international level.

Road tollbooths have also helped in improving

the income levels of the traders. More than 80% of

the traders indicated an improvement in their income

levels since they engaged in the trading activities.

This improvement in income means an increase in

access to basic needs such as food, water, education

and shelter. This has helped in the improvement in

the living standard of these traders. To buttress this

assertion, 36% of the traders indicated that they

would starved if they were removed from their road

tollbooths while 4% of them indicated that they were

supporting their education with the income

generated from this source.



21

4.5. Sustainability of the Trading

Activities around the Road

Tollbooths

Sustainability of the activities looked at how the

activities would be able to stand the test of time so

as to ensure a continuous flow of the benefits to the

people involved. The trading activities around the

road tollbooths were identified very sustainable. The

Ghana Highway Authority in charge of road

tollbooths has no intention of removing the traders

around the road tollbooths. The district assemblies

also intend to support these activities since it

generates revenue for the local for the municipal and

district assemblies through taxes from the traders.

The assemblies in addition support these activities

by providing sanitation services to the traders

around the road tollbooths. These institutions

therefore do not restrict the operations of the traders

in terms of the trading activities.

In addition, traders involved have constant

supply of the products they sell around the

tollbooths. This is because most of the traders (56%)

are into the sales of manufactured products which

are constantly produced throughout the year

provided customers are in need of them. Besides,

those involved in the sales of agricultural products

indicated they have these goods supplied to them

most of the times, and where there is no supply for a

particular product, they are able to shift to other

agricultural produce available. This therefore

implies that the trading activities around the road

tollbooths are very sustainable.

4.6. Challenges of the Trading Activities

around the Road Tollbooths

The traders operating around the road tollbooths

are posed with or pose certain challenges that

impede their operations and the smooth operation of

the road tollbooths. The following outline some of

the challenges regarding the trading activities

around the road tollbooths.

i. Lack of access to credit from formal financial

institutions. This is due to the absence of loan

security and an organized association to

contract for loans for the traders. This assertion

can be buttressed by none of the respondents

indicating access to credit from the formal

financial institutions. This tends to limit their

operation especially for fresh entrants.

ii. Another challenge associated with the trading

activities is that in the case all their products are

not sold out, these products normally go bad

leading to loss on the part of the sellers. This is

in the case of agriculture products which are not

normally perishable in nature. At times too, they

have their monies taken away by passengers in

the moving vehicles.

iii. The risk of accidents is also a challenge that

impedes the smooth operation of the activity.

This is because their activity involves hawking

around moving vehicles. A mistake on the part

of either the drivers or the sellers normally leads

to road accident. 52% of the traders indicated

their activity is faced with the risk of accident.

These accidents normally lead to death or

incapacitation of the victims involved.

iv. The constant hawking around moving vehicles

and in the hot sun tends to affect the health of

the sellers involved. More than 60% of these

traders are exposed to the hot sun and smoke

from vehicles and therefore exposed to all sort

of health related problems such as cough,

sputum production and wheezing in addition to

the stress involved in running after moving

vehicles.

v. The trading activities around the road tollbooths

impede vehicular movement. Attempt by these

traders to get to passengers who want to buy

their products tend to slow down vehicular

movement and this affects the smooth operation

of the road tollbooths.

vi. Finally, poor sanitation tends to pose a

challenge to the smooth operation of both the

tollbooths and the traders around the road

tollbooths. The survey revealed that though the

district assemblies tend to provide sanitation

services to the trader around the road tollbooths

their efforts are not enough. Traders operating

around the road tollbooths who are supposed to

complement the effort of the assemblies

normally expect the concern assemblies to do so

due to the taxes they pay to the assemblies. This

has resulted in huge sanitation problems with

filth saddled around the road tollbooths where

these traders operate thereby making it

uncomfortable to operate around these

tollbooths.

5. Recommendations

In the light of the findings, this paper proposes

some recommendations for the improvement of the

trading activities around the road tollbooths. The

recommendations are also meant to promote the

sustainability of these trading activities towards

local economic development. The following policy

recommendations are made to improve and sustain

the trading activities around the road tollbooths.

i. To sustain the trading activities around the road

tollbooths, it is imperative to look at them as a

livelihood support system which requires the

support of both the public and the private sector.

This therefore requires the concern assemblies

to regulate the activities of these traders. This

can be done through the establishment of a

database for the traders with the aim of giving

them financial aid and effective tax collection

system. It will also help to know the total

amount generated from these activities as tax to

support local development.



22

ii. Provision of sheds by the concerned assemblies.

These sheds should be provided for the traders

so as to have a permanent place for smooth

running of the activities. This will help in

protecting the traders and their products from

the hot sun and its associated health risks. It will

also help in organizing these traders so that they

can easily be contacted.

iii. The traders should be encouraged to form an

association with elected executives to manage

these associations. This will help in having a

common voice to press for their needs when

they arise. The formation of an organize

association will also help to make them credible

in terms of their dealings with formal financial

institutions and other agencies thereby aiding

their access to loans and other services for the

betterment of their activities.

iv. Provision of education for both the traders and

the drivers will go a long way in reducing the

risks of accidents associated with their work.

Construction of speed ramps on the roads

leading to where the tollbooths are located is not

just enough, but the use of signs to educate the

drivers on the existence of these traders and the

need to exercise cautions in driving around the

tollbooths. Traders should be also well educated

on road safety issues. This will eventually help

in reducing the risks of road accidents which

usually result in death and incapacitation of the

traders and also facilitate vehicular movements.

v. Business support system should be provided by

the Business Advisory Councils (BACs) of the

assemblies. These supports can be in the form

of training in financial management, proper

book keeping and business advancement. This

will inculcate the skill of proper management on

the part of the traders including saving habit

with the aim of moving to alternative

businesses. With this the trading activities

around the road tollbooths will serve as a

platform for business and entrepreneurial

development.

vi. Traders in artisan training who could not

complete their training due to financial difficult

should be supported by the concerned

assemblies under the National Youth

Employment Program. This will help reduce the

number of youth under artisan training who see

the trading activities around the road tollbooth

as alternative source of livelihood. Besides, it

will also help them acquire the needed skills

which are more sustainable than the trading

activities. It also calls for sponsorship package

for needed but brilliant students.

vii. Finally, sanitation services provided by the

district and municipal assemblies can be

complemented by the provision of dustbins and

education on the proper disposal of the waste

products from their activities. This will reduce

the challenge associated with wastes.

6. Conclusion

The paper through the case study approach has

been able to establish the benefits of road tollbooth

to the improvement of the livelihoods of local

residents as well as local economic development.

The study has been able to establish that, through the

trading activities around the tollbooths, people able

to meet their daily basic needs including food,

shelter, education and clothing. The local economies

have been also positively affected through taxes

collected which support development activities

within these areas.

Through the evidence provided, it was worth

conducting the research which aside potentially

contributing to knowledge, it will also provide a

guide in the formulation and implantation of policies

and programs in support of the activities around the

tollbooths.

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strategies in African cities: Planning and

development implications of multiple

livelihood strategies. Iowa: Iowa State

University Department of Community and

Regional Planning.

Palmer, R. (2007). Skills for work?: From skills

development to decent livelihoods in

Ghana’s rural informal economy.

International Journal of Educational

Development 27(4) 397-420.

Ramatu, M. and Colin, P. (2009). Agriculture and

social protection in Ghana. Future

Agricultures Centre for Social Protection

Working Paper No. SP04. Retrieved from

http://www.future-

agricultures.org/publications/research-and-

analysis/107-agriculture-and-social-

protection-in-ghana/file.

Simon, M. (1999). The meaning and measurement

of Poverty . Overseas Development

Institute Poverty Briefing Note. Retrieved

from

http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/o

di-assets/publications-opinion-

files/3095.pdf.

Skinner, C. (2008). Street trade in Africa. School of

Development Studies Working Paper No.

51. Retrieved from

http://wiego.org/sites/wiego.org/files/publi

cations/files/Skinner_WIEGO_WP5.pdf.

World Development. (2007). Development and the

next generation: World Bank Report 2007.

New York: Oxford University Press.

Appendix

Research Instruments

The purpose of this questionnaire is to obtain

information relevant to my research title: “The

Implications of Road Tollbooths to Local Economic

Development”. The information provided will be

used purely for my academic research, and will be

treated anonymously and privately. So I humbly

Expenditure Daily

(GH ¢)

Weekly

(GH ¢)

Monthly (GH

¢)

Food

Water and

sanitation

Transportation

Health

Education

Electricity

Rent

Clothing

Personal

hygiene-soap,

pomade etc

Telephone

calls

Recreational

and cultural

services



24

request you to provide the information requested as

candidly as possible.

A. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TRADERS

AROUND THE TOLLBOOTHS

1. Age of

respondent:……………………………………..

2. Sex of respondent (a) Male [ ] (b) Female [

]

3. Marital status (a) Married [ ] (b) Single [ ] (c)

Widowed [ ] (d) Divorced [ ] (e) Separated [ ] (f)

others (specify)…………………………

4. Ethnic of origin (a) Akan [ ] (b) Ewe [ ] (c)

Ga [ ] (d) Northern tribes [ ] (e) others

(specify)....................................................................

....

5. Place of

Origin………………………………………………

……….

6. Length of stay if not from the place (a) less than a

year [ ] (b) 1-2 years [ ] (c) Above 2 years [ ] (d)

others (specified)……………………….

7. Reason(s) for migration if not from the

place/region (a) employment [ ] (b) education [ ]

(c) family ties [ ] (d) others

(specified)…………………………………

8. Livelihood of place of origin (a) farming [ ] (b)

Trading [ ] (c) fishing [ ] Others

(specify)…………………………

9. Educational status (a) Primary [ ] (b)

JHS/Middle[ ] (c) Secondary [ ] (d) No schooling [

]

(e)Other

(specify).......................................…………………

………………………….

10. If any stage not completed, please state why:

……………………………………………………

……………………………………

11. Number of dependents. Biological

children…………..Relatives………………

Other

(specify)……............................................................

.........................….

12. Religious affiliation (a) Christianity [ ]

(b) Islamic [ ]

(c) Traditional [ ] (d) others

(specify).................................................

1. Reason for selling (a) employment [ ] (b)

income [ ] (c) livelihood [ ] (d) others

(specify)……………………………………………

…………………………………

2. What kinds of goods do you sell? Please

state.................................................................

3. Days of selling (a) everyday [ ] (b) week days [

] (c) weekends [ ] (d) others

(specify)……………………………………..

4. Time of operation (a) 6 -12 noon [ ] (b) 12-6pm

[ ] (c) others (specify)………………..

5. Before this activity did you have any livelihood

were you involved in any other economic activity?

Please

state...........................................................................

.....................

6. How did you get your startup capital (a) personal

savings [ ] (b) Family [ ] (c) Loans (d) others

(specify)……………………………………………

………………………………….

7. Daily income (a) GH ¢ 1-5 [ ] (b) GH ¢6-10 (c)

GH ¢11-20 [ ] (d) Others

(specify)…………..

……………………………………………………

…………………….

8. Expenditure of the operators

9. Benefits obtained from selling (a) Improved

income [ ] (b) Improved livelihood (c) others

(specify)………………………………..

10. What are some of the challenges you face in

your operation? (a) Accident [ ] (b) Health risk (c)

others

(specify)……………………………………………

……………………..

11. What do you think can be done to reduce this

challenge? Please specify……………………..

1. Do you have any association(s) regarding your

activities? (a) Yes [ ] (b) No [ ]

2. If yes, do you belong to any of such

association(s)? (a) Yes [ ] (b) No [ ]

3. If no, why? Please

specify……………………………………………

…………

4. How do you benefit from such association(s) if

any? (a) credit/loan (b) training (c) moral support

(d)others

(specify)……………………………..........

5. Do you pay tax(es) to the assembly? (a) Yes [ ]

(b) No [ ]

6. If yes, how much? Please

specify……………………………………………

…

7. Do you benefit from the tax (es) you pay? (a) Yes

[ ] (b) No [ ]

8. How do you benefit? Please

specify…………………………………………..

9. Have you heard of any intervention/

empowerment programs from the government? (a)

Yes [ ] (b) No [ ]

10. Which of the interventions or programs? Please

specify…………………………

PART I-BACKGROUND (SOCIO-

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE)

PART II- ECONOMIC (OPERATIONAL

ACTIVITIES)

PART III- INTERVENTION PROGRAMS



25

11. Have you benefited from any of such

interventions/programs? (a) Yes [ ] (b) No [ ]

12. If yes, how? (a) Loan/credit [ ] (b) Training (c)

others (specify)…………………

13. If no, why? Please

specify……………………………………………

………

14. When do you intend to stop this activity? Please

specify…………………

B. INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR THE DISTRICT

PLANNING AND COORDINATING UNITS

1. Does the District assembly regulate the activities

around the road tollbooths?............

a. If yes, how?

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...........................

b. If no,

why?………………………………………………

…………………………

2. Does the assembly provide

intervention/empowerment programs for the

operators?...................

a. If yes, what are these intervention/empowerment

programs?

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...........................

b. If yes, how have these

intervention/empowerment programs benefited

these

operators?..................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

..............................................................

c. If no,

why?..........................................................................

..........................................

d. If no, has the district assembly planned for any

intervention/empowerment program(s) for

them?.......................

e. If yes, what are these intervention/empowerment

programs?

i..................................................................................

..............................

ii................................................................................

...............................

iii...............................................................................

.................................

3. Does the District Assembly receive any tax(es)

from the operating activities?....................................

a .If yes, how

much?........................................................................

.......................

b. Does the assembly face any challenge in

collecting taxes from these

operations?......................

c. If yes,

how?..........................................................................

.................................

4.Do these activities contribute to Local Economic

Development?.............................

5. If yes, how?

i..................................................................................

.......................................................ii.........................

...................................................................................

............................iii...................................................

...................................................................................

.

6. Does the district face any challenge with regard to

these activities around the tollbooths?.......

a. If yes, what are these challenges?

i..................................................................................

.......................................................ii.........................

...................................................................................

............................iii...................................................

...................................................................................

.iv...............................................................................

........................................................v.........................

...................................................................................

.........................

b. How does the assembly intend to reduce/solve

these challenges?

i..................................................................................

.......................................................ii.........................

...................................................................................

............................iii...................................................

...................................................................................

.iv...............................................................................

........................................................v.........................

...................................................................................

...........................

7. How does the assembly intends to improve these

activities so as to promote Local Economic

Development?

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

....................................................

C. INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR THE GHANA

HIGHWAY AUTHORITY

1. Does this institution regulate the trading activities

around the road tollbooths?.............................

2. If yes,

how?..........................................................................

...................................

3. If no,

why?..........................................................................

.....................................



26

4. Do these trading activities pose any challenge(s)

to the operations of the tollbooths or vehicular

movement……………………………….

5. If yes, how?

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...........................

6. How do you intend to reduce/solve these

challenges?

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

...................................................................................

.............................................................................

7. Has anything been done to remove these traders

from where the tollbooths are located?...........

8. If no, do you intend to remove

them?......................................................................

9. If yes, how do you intend to do

that?..........................................................................

10. Have your institution planned for trading

activities around the tollbooths?.............

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN

ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES

EDUCATION: THEMES IN THE EMERGING

LITERATURE

Maura Hanrahan1 & Jennifer Brooke Dare2

1. Chair, Humanities Program, and Assistant

Professor, Environmental Policy, Grenfell

Campus, Memorial University of

Newfoundland, Canada

[email protected]

+17096372181

2. MA Candidate, Environmental Policy,


Canada

[email protected]

Abstract

Through a literature review, this research note

explores the incorporation of experiential learning

in undergraduate environmental humanities

university programs and the evaluation of these

programs; we looked at relevant literature from

Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia and

New Zealand where the English language and other

commonalities would allow themes to emerge.

Prompted by a re-evaluation of an existing

Humanities course at Memorial University —

Humanities 3020: Humanities and the Environment

— we sought and identified themes from the small

body of emerging literature. The themes identified

are: Finding students’ knowledge base;

Interdisciplinary education; Experiential learning

component (particularly field study or place-based

learning); and pedagogy of care. Our findings are

based on specific keywords identified for the

educational development of the environmental

humanities course at Memorial University. Future

research regarding elements of experiential

learning in an undergraduate humanities setting

would best benefit from a broad search approach

accounting for variables omitted from this research.

Keywords: environmental humanities; experiential

learning components; pedagogy; interdisciplinary

education.

Alternative citation (online): Hanrahan, M. &

Dare, J.B.2015. Experiential Learning in

Environmental Humanities Education: Themes in

the Emerging Literature. JWHSD, 2, 71-80.

Available at: http://wwhsdc.org/jwhsd/articles/

1. Introduction

In the words of humanities educator, Jeanne

McGlinn (1999: 2-3), “experiential learning, or

learning by doing, fits newer conceptions about the

process of learning.” This research note explores

how experiential learning can impact students

studying environmental humanities. We draw upon

several articles in peer-reviewed journals to

investigate the introduction and evaluation of

experiential learning in environmental humanities

programs at the undergraduate university level. This

work is part of a larger project of revising an

undergraduate environmental humanities course –

Humanities 3020 – at Memorial University’s

Grenfell Campus, Corner Brook, Newfoundland and

Labrador, Canada. We see such a component as

potentially valuable. Although our research is

ongoing, we have located a few articles, all

pertaining to programs in the United States and

Australia; given the youth of environmental

humanities as a discipline, this is not surprising. In

this note, we begin by outlining the rationale for

experiential learning in environmental humanities.

Then we review our methodology, including

limitations of this research and discuss our findings

with a subsequent summary of the four main themes

from the literature: (1) finding students’ base

knowledge, (2) interdisciplinary education, (3) field

study or place-based learning, and (4) pedagogy of

care.

1.1. Rationale for Experiential Learning

in Environmental Humanities

Environmental humanities is a relatively new

discipline that can be defined as a synthesis of

humanities disciplines, such as literature,

philosophy, history and art history with a focus on

the natural world. Environmental humanities may

contain elements of science, especially citizen

science, and public policy. The introduction of and

subsequent commitment to experiential learning

comes from an understanding of the limits of

classroom- or school-based learning. The impact of

classroom teaching can limit a student’s

understanding of real-life application and impede

the development of personal meaning, both factors






27

being important for meaningful long-term learning.

(Goralnik, Millenbah, Nelson, and Thorp, 2012).

The concept of learning has changed due to the work

of Dewey, Freire, Kolb and others to emphasise

experience as the key to real learning (McGlinn

1999). Put simply, “It is not enough for teachers to

simply convey information in a behaviorist model of

stimulus and response (as) learners are not passive

vessels; they are persons with experiences and past

knowledge which they use to transact with ideas and

create meaning” McGlinn 1999: 3). This must be

particularly true of education that is centred around

nature (Goralnik et al. 2012). There is also a concern

to help students enhance their relationship with the

natural world and to see themselves embedded in it

so that they can develop values such as respect and

responsibility for the environment (Goralnik et al.

2012).

For students to formulate meaning and develop

understandings of themselves, the world around

them and their place in it, they require education

which evokes meaning. The following reviews a few

of the noted practises for educational development

of environmental humanities primarily through

experiential learning.

2. Methodology We developed a set of relevant keywords (Table

1) to review the existing English language literature

on environmental humanities education in post-

secondary institutions with a bias towards

experiential learning techniques and activities. We

were especially interested in evaluations of these

techniques and activities. In addition to our original

search terms, other search terms were added based

on relevant words found during the review. In our

search we included the following electronic

databases: Memorial University library system,

ProQuest, ERIC and Google Scholar. We also

conducted a focused search of the Journal of

Experiential Learning, given its mandate as “a peer-

reviewed, scholarly journal presenting a diverse

range of articles in subject areas such as outdoor

adventure programming, service learning,

environmental education, therapeutic applications,

research and theory, the creative arts, and much

more” (SAGE journals 2015). We use McGlinn’s

(1999) work on experiential learning in

environmental humanities programming to inform

our interpretation of additional literature identified.

McGlinn’s (1999) paper discusses the General

Education program at the University of North

Carolina, Asheville, which is built around a four-

course interdisciplinary humanities sequence with a

faculty teaching circle on experiential learning.

Please see Table 1 in the Appendix.

2.1. Limitations of Research

We acknowledge that there is more literature on

environmental humanities education in general and

that there is literature addressing such education in

high schools [e.g., Gillet, Thomas, Skok, and

McLaughlin, 1991] but we chose research

publications from developed English-speaking

countries that pertained to post-secondary

environmental humanities education programs with

experiential learning components. We also excluded

research on related programs such as wilderness

education, outdoors education and others, whether

offered by universities, colleges or high schools

(e.g., Grumbine, 1988). (In some ways, these

programs are the precursors to current

environmental humanities and helped to lay the

foundation for an identifiable discipline that has

taken root. In addition, many authors have argued

that the humanities should play a more central role

in interdisciplinary environmental education; for

instance, Griffiths (2007) states that “humanities

broaden the scale at which science commonly

operates towards “human-scale geographies” and

uses narrative forms to create human reflexivity in

environmental practices and paradigms (cited in

Ryan, 2012: 1014). Meanwhile, we restricted our

search to university programs that are clearly part of

the burgeoning discipline of environmental

humanities. We understand that there may be other

relevant literature for future research due to the

limitations of our search parameters.

3. Findings

Given the relative novelty of environmental

humanities programs, especially those incorporating

experiential learning, literature on this topic remains

in its infancy. We were able to locate only two

articles in peer-reviewed journals that specifically

addressed our topic: the evaluation of experiential

learning in environmental humanities. The only

articles focused on experiential learning and

environmental humanities appeared in the Journal of

Experiential Education. One was mainly concerned

with evaluation (Alagona and Simon, 2010) and the

other with an identified pedagogical approach

(Goralnik et al. 2012). Another publication we

reviewed was a research paper produced by an

Australian university which explores the twenty year

history of an undergraduate environmental

humanities course though consistent themes that

have emerged (Ryan, 2012).

The identified literature was confined to the

United States and Australia, although such

education is offered elsewhere and we searched for

relevant publications on programs in any English-

speaking country. The University of California at

Santa Barbara offers a Wildlands Studies Program

with a summer field course called Wilderness and

Society: The California High Sierra Project

(Alagona and Simon, 2010). Alagona and Simon

(2010) based their evaluation of this program on the

five summer sessions between 2002 and 2007, in the

Sierra Nevada of eastern California. For the past



28

twenty years, the School of Communications and

Arts at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia

has delivered an undergraduate course called

Environmental Humanities; the history of the course

parallels the development of the environmental

humanities as a field in Australia, where the journal

Environmental Humanities was founded and is

based (Ryan, 2012). The third paper is broader in

scope than the others but the lead author teaches

field philosophy at Oregon State University, with

field philosophy defined as interdisciplinary

experiential environmental humanities learning

(Goralnik et al. 2012). Field philosophy has as its

foundation, a concept of environmental ethics based

in community and a commitment to place-based

environmental education; among the goals of field

philosophy (and environmental humanities in

general) is the cultivation of empathy and ethical

capacity and behaviours (Goralnik et al. 2012).

We would again like to acknowledge that there

are likely other environmental humanities courses

with experiential components besides those we have

identified but, as far as we can tell, these are not yet

considered in the literature. There are also, of

course, many environmental humanities programs of

study which may or may not include experiential

learning; the environmental humanities minor at the

University of Delaware is an example (University of

Delaware College of Arts and Sciences, Department

of English) and the MA in Environmental

Humanities at the University of Utah is another

(http://environmental-humanities.utah.edu/).

3.1. Themes Although the literature on this topic is minimal,

some fundamental themes can be identified. These

are as follows:

i. Finding students’ knowledge base

ii. Interdisciplinary education

iii. Experiential learning component

(particularly field study or place-based

learning)

iv. Pedagogy of care

A. Finding students’ knowledge base

A common element in the existing literature is

the usefulness of building upon students’ base

knowledge. As McGlinn (1999: 3) states, “Dynamic

learning requires that teachers draw on students'

background information, build knowledge which is

needed to develop new concepts by offering

experiences, guide students in experiences in which

they can create new knowledge, and provide a

structure for reflection.” This approach recognizes

that the teacher is no longer considered the only

expert in the classroom and that student experiences

are significant and offer learning opportunities

(McGlinn, 1999, 7). Accordingly, both McGlinn

(1999) and Ryan (2012) suggest starting a course

with a question or assignment to establish an

understanding for students’ basic knowledge.

Additionally Goralnik et al. (2012) suggest higher

learning is improved when it builds upon students’

prior knowledge.

The literature also suggests embracing the

natural relationships between students and teachers

to maximize the efficacy of learning (Alagona &

Simon, 2010; Goralnik et al.2012). These elements

set the stage for what Goralnik et al. (2012) call a

pedagogy of care; experiential learning in

environmental humanities has emotional

engagement as a goal and aims to foster emotional

connections. After all, “people experience emotional

reactions to situations before they can engage events

and ideas intellectually” (Goralnik et al. 2012:416).

B. Interdisciplinary education

Humanities education is inherently

interdisciplinary. Humanities courses taught at our

university encompass material and approaches from

literature, philosophy, visual art, theatre, history,

anthropology, gender studies, Indigenous studies,

and other disciplines. In this way, students are able

to consider questions and examine problems from

various perspectives; it is our belief that this

promotes thinking, personal development, and

citizenship. In some ways, environmental

humanities as a discipline or sub-discipline, is even

more adventurous and ambitious. As Ryan (2012:

1014) writes, “At a fundamental level, the ecological

humanities seek to redress the arts and sciences gulf

towards practicable environmental sustainability by

ameliorating ‘two cultures’ (Western/Indigenous)

thinking.”

Instructors in environmental humanities

conclude that the experience of being exposed to an

interdisciplinary curriculum encouraged students to

move beyond compartmentalized learning

(Christensen & Crimmel, 2008: cited in Alagona &

Simon, 2012). This is particularly true if field study

or place-based learning (discussed below) is

included in the curriculum. Thus, environmental

humanities courses and programs tend to draw from

multiple disciplines. The University of California’s

course Wilderness and Society: The California High

Sierra Project draws from history, geography and

law. The interdisciplinary nature of experiential

learning opportunities in environmental humanities

moves students towards a deeper learning

experience involving the natural world and, thus,

away from anthropocentric approaches and further

into relationship and even partnership with current

environmental issues (Ryan, 2012).

C. Experiential learning It seems that interdisciplinary education is

advanced through field work. Alagona & Simon

(2012: 203). This implies that field work is

inherently interdisciplinary as students focus on real

problems, writing, “Field courses provide



29

opportunities to break down disciplinary academic

barriers and generate increased student interest and

engagement in humanistic approaches to

environmental studies that may seem overly abstract

in a traditional classroom setting.” Place-based

learning—sometimes called community-based

education-- is an experiential learning concept that

brings students out of the classroom and into natural

settings. The environmental and place-based

education literature demonstrates the value of direct

experience with the natural world to develop

relationships with nonhuman nature (Goralnik et al.

2012). Further, researchers believe that field trips

provide students with opportunities to “unpack

values, relationships, and identity in environmental

humanities courses to provide quality

environmental, philosophical and care- based

learning experiences” (Goralnik et al. 2012: 422).

To advancing critical place consciousness,

instructors at Australia’s Edith Cowan University

brought students on fieldwork trips to key

biodiversity locations, such as Anstey-Keane

Damplands and Forrestdale Lake in the southern

Perth suburbs and more recently to Northbridge, a

reclaimed wetland system in Perth (Ryan, 2012).

Aboriginal Australian perspectives are incorporated

into teaching during the last three weeks of the

course and Aboriginal teachers appear as guest

speakers. Field study and place-based learning

provides students with an opportunity to connect

meaning and deep understanding of curriculum

topics to real-life situations (Alagona & Simon,

2010; Goralnik et al. 2012; Ryan, 2012). According

to Alagona & Simon (2010:203), “In the field,

students can see how biophysical processes, social

structures, and cultural ideas about nature fit

together to shape the land and its inhabitants.

D. Pedagogy of Care

By the time Edith Cowan University students go

on field trips, they have already studied concepts of

nature, images of nature, nature as a contested

political construct, and related ideas (Ryan, 2012).

This prepares them for an enhanced field trip

experience and allows experiential learning to have

maximum value. Then, according to Alagona &

Simon (2010: 193), “the field immersion experience

foster(s) a sense of simplicity and opportunities for

self-reflection.” This enables the development of

values of care that Goralnik et al. (2012:417), for

instance, envision: “Experiential learning can

develop a sense of community, practical and

problem-solving skills, empathy and personal

growth” which are core to the mission of humanities

in general and of environmental humanities as well.

This ‘pedagogy of care’ recognizes emotions and

relationships as important tools for learning as these

tools encourage students to develop a deep

understanding, respect and care about the content in

class. Goralnik et al. (2015:417) suggest that often

the impact of school learning is limited by the lack

of applicable understanding or the internal question,

“how does this apply to my life?” Experiential

learning with a pedagogy of care provides a

connection to literature and emotional engagement

encouraging ‘deep learning.’

4. Conclusion

There are challenges when incorporating

experiential learning into environmental humanities

programs and courses. Although efforts are being

made towards flexibility in learning approaches,

most experiential models do not match the education

models that have long been the bedrock of post-

secondary education (Goralnik et al, 2012).

Logistics present another significant potential

obstacle (Alagona and Simon, 2010) and often

require support in the form of funding and staff

assistance, which may or may not be available. In

spite of these challenges, the existing literature

contains compelling arguments about the value and

effectiveness of incorporating experiential learning

into environmental humanities education.

Experiential learning seems to advance the goals of

environmental humanities as a new discipline,

providing students with a medium of maximum

opportunity to conceptualize and apply course

concepts. With these goals uppermost in mind, we

cannot ignore the convincing arguments in the

literature as we plan future programming at our

university.

References

Alagona, P., & Simon, G. (2010). The role of field

study in humanistic and interdisciplinary

environmental education. Journal of

Experiential Education, 32(3), 191-206.

Gillet, D.P., Thomas, G.P., Skok, R.L., &

McLaughlin, T. L. (1991). The effects of

wilderness camping and hiking on the self-

concept and the environmental attitudes

and knowledge of twelfth graders. The

Journal of Environmental Education, 22

(3), 33–44.

Goralnik, L., Millenbah, K. F., Nelson, M. P., &

Thorp, L. (2012). An environmental

pedagogy of care: Emotion, relationships,

and experience in higher education ethics

learning. Journal of Experiential

Education, 35(3), 412-428.

Grumbine, R.E. (1988). The university of the

wilderness. The Journal of Environmental

Education, 19 (4), 3–7.

McGlinn, J. (1999). Experiential learning in a

humanities class. Rethinking Key issues in

College Learning. Elon College: North

Carolina.

Ryan, J. (2012). CCA 3101/4101 environmental

humanities: The history of a unit through



30

an ecopedagogical lens. US-China

Education Review, B(12), 1013-1020.

Sage Journals. (2015). Journal of Experiential

Education. Retrieved from

http://jee.sagepub.com/.

University of Delaware College of Arts and

Sciences, Department of English. The

environmental humanities minor.

Retrieved from

http://www.english.udel.edu/programs/mi

nors/Pages/eh.aspx.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Drs. Bernard Wills, Stephen

Blackwood, and Lawrence Bruce-Robertson of

Grenfell’s Humanities Program, and Dr. Ken

Jacobsen, Head of the Division of Arts, for their part

in our course revisions. We would also like to thank

the journal editors and reviewers. Finally we wish to

thank the SWASP program, Student Services,

Memorial University.

Appendix

Table 1: Search Terms

Topic Search Terms

(Keywords)

Experiential

Learning in

Environmental

Humanities in

Higher Learning

“environmental

humanities” and

“evaluation”

“evaluation”

“environmental humanities

course/class/education”

“evaluating environmental

humanities education”

“education” AND

“environmental

humanities”

OIL AND GAS CONFLICTS IN THE NIGER-

DELTA: SHIFTING FROM THE TENETS OF

RESOURCE VIOLENCE TOWARDS

ENVIRONMENTALISM OF THE POOR AND

RESOURCE COMPLEX

Ayoola Samuel Odeyemi

Research Assistant and MA Candidate,

Environmental Policy Institute, Grenfell Campus,

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

[email protected]

Abstract

Oil and gas is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.

However, oil and gas production in Nigeria has

been fraught with conflict, tension and rivalry,

particularly in the Niger Delta region of the country

for the past two decades. Commentators have

attributed the high prevalence of the violent

dimensions of oil- driven conflicts in the region to

the high level of poverty of people. Despite Nigeria’s

abundant oil wealth and position as a leading oil

and gas supplier in the world, indigenes of the Niger

Delta remain some of the poorest people on earth.

The Nigerian government has made several futile

efforts to curb the violence in this region, including

military crackdowns on militant groups, granting of

amnesty to encourage surrender, and the

establishment of the Niger Delta Development

Commission (NDDC). It is therefore pertinent to

analyse the history of violence in the Niger-Delta

region of Nigeria, examining the reasons for the

violence and situating these conflicts in the context

of local realities. Examining the social economic

positions of the indigenes of the region in relation to

the various attempts by the Nigerian government to

curtail the conflicts in this region and exploring the

reasons for the low success rates enjoyed by these

attempts may be helpful in this analysis. I argue that

the government of Nigeria should shift its attention

from combating violence in the Niger Delta to

addressing the issues causing this violence.

Employing qualitative methods, I explore the

theories of environmentalism of the poor and

resource violence. I discover that environmentalism

of the poor and resource complex theories describe

the Niger-Delta situation better, and provide

groundwork for further research into solutions by

subsequent scholars and policy makers.

Keywords: environmentalism of the poor; Niger-

Delta; resource violence; resource curse; resource

complex

Alternative citation (online): Odeyemi, A.S.2015.

Oil and Gas Conflicts in the Niger-Delta: Shifting

from the Tenets of Resource Violence towards

Environmentalism of the Poor and Resource

Complex. JWHSD, 2, 55-70. Available at:


1. Introduction

The conflict in the Niger Delta region where

most of the crude oil in Nigeria is extracted is

severely affecting not only the Nigerian economy

but also the global prices of petroleum products.

According to a special report released by the United

States Institute of Peace, the losses of revenue from

oil and gas have been increasing steadily since 2004.

According to the report in 2004, clashes between

militant leader Asari Dokubo and the Rivers State

government or proxy militias spanned communities

south of Port Harcourt and led to a loss of less than

25,000 barrels of oil production a day; in 2005, the

assaults intensified and added several dollars to the

global oil price; by 2007, regular oil production had

fallen by 500,000 barrels; in 2008, as a result of all

the clashes, production reduced from an average 2.2

million barrels per day to an average of 1.2 million

barrels per day. As at 2009, amnesty was granted to

militants who agreed to a cease fire and this led to a

phase of uneasy peace; experts posit that the stability

gained through the 2009 amnesty is now eroding in





31

line with past cycle given the increase in violence

with each election season, and is therefore a cause

for concern (Newsom, 2011). As a result of this,

Nigeria is in need of a long lasting solution to the

conflicts in the Niger Delta which may be found in

a model that captures the social, cultural and

political complexities of this region.

The article reviews the existing literature on the

theories of resource violence and environmentalism

of the poor, and relates them to the conflicts in the

Niger-Delta. The central argument in this paper is

that the government of Nigeria should shift its

attention from combating violence in the Niger

Delta to addressing the issues causing this violence.

The paper employs qualitative methods including

narratives, description and analyses of relevant

themes.

The paper is organised into four main parts. Part

one is this introduction laying down the background

to the research and providing the methods and the

structure. Part two provides the theoretical

frameworks. Part three discusses the phenomenon of

conflict in the Niger Delta. Part four applies the

theoretical frameworks to the Niger Delta crisis. Part

five concludes the paper.

2. Theoretical Background

The paper examines two major theories,

resource violence and environmentalism of the poor,

in analysing the conflicts in the Nigerian Niger

Delta. It describes these two primary theories,

showcasing how well they describe the situation in

Niger Delta.

2.1. Resource Violence

This theory is based around the observation that

many natural resource-driven jurisdictions are

deeply involved with complexes of wealth and

violence (Watts and Peluso, 2014). This theory

evolved from the earlier agrarian based theories in

political ecology such as Blaikie’s (1985) analysis of

soil erosion and Hecht’s (1985) work on Brazilian

ranching. However as a result of the poor

performance of resource dependent states

particularly in Africa (Collier and Ong 2005), and

the growing geopolitical concerns over resource

scarcity and global struggles over strategic resources

(Klare 2011), the attention of development

economists and political scientists shifted to natural

resources and resource commodities. This

eventually led to the development of the power line

of policy research under the theme of ‘resource

curse’. Under this theme, poverty, security and

resources are brought together, and connections are

drawn between a nation’s dependence on primary

raw materials and the deficits and dysfunctions

associated with this dependence (World Bank,

2011). The 1990’s saw the development of literature

reinterpreting the theories of comparative advantage

in modernization (Rostow, 1960). Under this new

interpretation, governments captured rents from key

resources, that is energy, minerals and agricultural

commodities, thus creating overly powerful

centralized governments and powerful patronage

systems instead of democracies, which eventually

result in corruption, poor economic performance and

a lack of transparency. Karl (1997) described this

situation where resource wealth is associated with

developmental and governance failures as the

‘paradox of plenty’. This led to the development of

the ‘resource curse’ thesis by Basedau (2005),

Brunnschweller and Bulte (2008), Rosser (2006)

and Ross (2012). Under this new thesis, some

authors posit that in resource dependent states, the

combination of state pathologies and failures along

with the poor economic performance creates

situations under which conflicts are almost

inevitable, while other authors like Klare (2011),

Homer-Dixon (1999), Baechler (1998) opine that

global or local scarcity of strategic resources make

internal instability or inter-state conflict and

destabilization more likely. Resource curse however

is seen to condemn the state to poor governance

which eventually results in civil wars over resources,

contesting the state’s power and means of resource

control, whether territorial or non-territorial.

In Paul Collier’s book, ‘The Bottom Billion’

(2007), he argues that most of the world’s billion

chronically poor live in 58 countries most of which

are in Africa. He continued that these nations are

known for lack of economic growth and civil

conflicts, and are caught in a number of traps, one of

which is the civil war trap, which he posits are

expensive costing an average of $64 billion and

having affected about 73% of the world’s poor at one

time or the other. Another trap he discusses is the

natural resource trap, which occurs when resource

wealth or dependency turns sour. Collier posited that

he had identified a relationship between resource

wealth, poor economic performance, poor

governance and the likelihood of civil conflicts,

which eventually results in resource wealth,

originally viewed as a comparative advantage,

turning out to be a curse. Collier further opined that

possession of large quantities of oil by states creates

big patronage, which according to him results in ‘the

survival of the fattest’. This situation occurs as a

result of oil wealth which reduces political

constraints and reduces the need to tax, and evolves

the democracy in the state to a dysfunctional one

focused on economic development. He explains that

this situation occurs more readily in low income

states that are economically diverse; this situation

along with the existence of the survival of the fattest

under oil dispensations and other natural resources

creates a breeding ground for resource predation and

the economy of rebellion and civil wars.

Collier (2007) also advanced the theory of greed

over grievance theory, when he posited that

rebellions have less to do with rebel leader’s



32

opinions on liberation, justice and equity which they

put forward as their political projects; he believes

that the agenda of the rebel leaders has more to do

with organized crime, shadow states, mafia

connections and the facility by which the political

class loots the resources. He contends that oil wealth

results in a flawed democracy with delusional

political bodies, criminals pretending to be freedom

fighters and wealthy patrons misappropriating

funds, all leading to conflicts, civil wars and

eventually making the people 15% poorer.

This approach has however been criticized as

though it gives an apt description of the situation in

many resource dependent states, it fails to

incorporate the influence of the other key actors in

the oil and gas industry such as the multinational oil

companies and banks. Perhaps, this is why Watts

and Pelusso (2014) advocate for a shift in theories

from resource curse to resource complex, by placing

resources on a broader landscape of institutions,

actors, agents and processes including legitimacy,

authority and rule. They emphasize the importance

of exploring the links between production areas and

downstream sites of surplus accumulation and

physical transformation, and identified the key

players in the oil industry as the international and

national oil companies, the oil servicing companies,

the massive oil critical infrastructures, the

apparatuses of the oil based states, the engineering

companies, financial groups, shadow economies,

nongovernmental organizations, monitoring

agencies, corporate social responsibility groups,

research institutes, lobbyists, landscape of oil

consumption, oil communities, military and

paramilitary groups.

2.2. Environmentalism of the poor The theory of environmentalism of the poor was

described by Narain (2015) in an article in Business

standard, when she posited among other things that

the local communities are the forefront of the

environmental movement in India. To these

communities, Narain argues that the environment is

not a matter of luxury but of survival, as mining of

the land and the cutting of trees lead to the drying up

of already scarce water resources and results in their

losing more grazing grounds and agricultural fields.

She continued that even though they are aware of

their poverty, they still insist that what for the nation

can be termed development is only serving to make

them poorer. This commentator posits that state

actors should always listen to the voices of the poor,

and the contention of these poor people should not

be dismissed as anti-growth sentiments (Narain

2010).

By implication, the theory, environmentalism of

the poor, posits that the best champions for the

environment are the poor who depend on the

environment directly for sustenance, as the

harnessing of natural resources and the harmful

effects that comes with it affect them more directly,

therefore they can better understand the best ways to

treat the environment while harnessing the natural

resources. The theory also points out that actions

that can be deemed as promoting development for

the more wealthy class of the society can lead to

impoverishment and suffering for the poor. Hence,

in order to achieve well rounded development,

stakeholders should see the idea of development as

subjective, and the opinions and plights of the poor

must be factored into development plans.

The environmentalism of the poor is based on

the tenets of social justice, particularly claims to

recognition and participation and is based on the

belief that the fights for human rights and the

environment are inseparable(Schlosberg 2007).

Martinez-Alier (2013) is one of the key contributors

to the development of this theory through his

research; he posits that the environmentalism of the

poor relates to actions taken when concerns are

raised about the environment, in situations where the

environment is a direct source of livelihood. He

argues further that this theory is reinforced in other

values such as defence of indigenous territorial

rights and enforcement of the sacredness of some

natural elements.

Martinez-Alier (2013) divides the causes of the

environmental conflicts into two major reasons; he

opines that the first reason is the growth in

population, which has resulted in the continuously

increasing demand for energy to sustain the

continuously increasing human population. He

believes that the social metabolism of industries is

the second cause of environmental conflicts; this he

posits is as a result of the inability of industries to

recycle energy.

Moore (2000) takes Martinez-Alier’s

arguments further by specifying that because fossil

fuels could be used only once, new supplies always

have to be obtained from “commodity frontiers”. By

implication, this ensures that the rate of natural

resource extraction is continuously increasing and,

if appropriate care is not taken, the negative impacts

of these activities would also exponentially increase

working more hardship on the poor in the region

who depend on the environment directly for

sustenance.

Another key principle under this theory can be

identified in the arguments of Lawrence Summers,

the chief economist of the World Bank, in 1992,

when he posited that from an economic viewpoint,

industries that are responsible for pollution should

be situated in low income areas, because the costs of

morbidity and mortality would be lower than in rich

areas (Moore 2000). This view represents the

uneven distribution of the cost and benefits of

natural resource exploitation between the rich and

the poor. While the rich consume large quantities of

imported energy and materials producing an

increasing amount of waste, many of the effects are



33

exported to the regions inhabited by the poor. Even

more commonly particularly in developing nations,

raw materials are transported away from the

localities they are extracted into the urban centres,

where they are processed and utilized, making the

wealthy occupants of the urban areas have better

access to means of livelihood, riches and comfort

while the poor indigenes of the rural areas where the

resources are derived are left to deal with the

pollution and impoverishment resulting from the

exploration processes.

The agitation of the poor against the abuse of

their environment is usually carried out using the

weapons of the weak, examples of which are

dialogue, direct confrontation, blockades, riots and

protests, ranging from local to international

involvement (Swyngedouw 1997). These agitations

usually result in the establishment of new

institutions and networks to facilitate and organize

their struggles, as can be seen in the establishment

of Oilwatch in 1995, a network established to deal

with issues of biodiversity, pollution, deforestation,

protection of indigenous territorial rights and global

climate change, as a response to the protests by

indigenes of local communities that had been

ravaged by the harmful effects of natural resource

exploration in Amazonia of Ecuador, and the Ogoni

and Ijaw peoples in the Niger-Delta (Oilwatch

2011). These institutions and networks, born out of

environmentalism of the poor, serve as a link

between local movements and wider global issues.

The argument for environmental protection

effected by the poor under this theory can be applied

through different approaches, one of which is

through economic valuation, which can be seen

when indigenes demand for monetary compensation

or damages for their sufferings. Another approach is

through the insistence on the enforcement of their

rights through either territorial or fundamental

human rights (Martinez-Alier 2013).

On the global scene, environmentalism of the

poor forms part of the environmental justice

movement. It can be found in the notions of

ecological trade and ecological debt. This is made

apparent in situations where relatively poor

countries are forced to sell their raw materials at

unsustainable rates with prices that do not include

compensation for local or global externalities or in

situations where rich countries make use of huge

environmental spaces without making payments or

even recognizing other people’s entitlements to

these services.

3. Conflict in the Niger-Delta

Major resource conflicts arose in the Niger

Delta region in the 1980s when Nigeria had become

almost totally dependent on petroleum and at a point

that petroleum resources were responsible for

generating 25% of the Gross Domestic Product

(GDP) (Terminski 2011). The dependence on the oil

and gas sector forced a huge number of families to

abandon their traditional agricultural practices as the

reduction in the export of agricultural commodities

was making the market for agricultural produce

dwindle drastically. As a result of this though, a

large number of skilled Nigerians who were

employed in the sector were well paid and growing

in wealth. However, the masses particularly those

based in the Niger-Delta were sinking deeper into

poverty, as not only were they affected by the

reduced market for agrarian products, but also their

sources of livelihood like fishing and farming were

steadily being destroyed as a result of environmental

pollution and degradation arising from the extraction

of oil from their localities. This led to a situation

where both poverty and urbanization were on the

rise, with oil towns such as Port Harcourt growing

quickly, but with the high prevalence of corruption,

slow economic growth and a rise in unemployment.

The majority of the people in the Niger Delta region

lived in abject poverty.

3.1. The Ogoni Elders

The conflict in the Niger-Delta intensified in the

early 1990s due to growing tensions between foreign

oil corporations and a number of Niger-Delta

minority groups such as the Ogoni and the Ijaw who

felt exploited by the companies and the Nigerian

government. This conflict originally stemmed from

tensions that could be traced to 1957, a year after the

discovery of Nigeria’s first commercial petroleum

deposit. During this period, the Ogoni people, a

minority ethnic group in Nigeria with a population

of about half a million people in a region that covers

about 1,050 km2 in the southeast of the Niger-Delta

basin, were being forcefully evacuated from their

homes by the government, so as to allow the oil

companies have access to the oil fields in their

communities, while offering them paltry sums of

money in compensation. This situation worsened in

1979 when the then Constitution of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria alongside the Land Use Act

vested the state governments with the ownership of

all lands within their territories, and also added that

all compensation for land would be based on the

value of the crops on the land at the time of

acquisition, not on the value of the land itself. By

implication, the state government usually in

collaboration with the Federal government were

now empowered to allocate lands to oil companies

as they deemed fit (Human Rights Watch 1999). The

tensions grew in the 1970s and the 1980s when the

government in several instances failed to keep their

promises to provide special benefits to the people in

the region for the hardships they were suffering.

With their environmental, social and economic

states rapidly deteriorating, the Movement for the

Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was formed

in 1992 by Ken Saro-Wiwa, an Ogoni activist.



34

MOSOP was formed to be the major

campaigning organization representing the Ogoni

people in their struggle for ethnic and environmental

rights. The targets of the campaigns were usually

the Nigerian government and Royal Dutch Shell. By

December 1992, the conflicts between MOSOP and

the Federal government alongside the multinational

oil companies had escalated considerably. Both

parties had begun to resort to violence, eventually

leading to MOSOP issuing an ultimatum to the oil

companies (Shell, Chevron, and the Nigerian

National Petroleum Corporation) demanding $10

billion in accumulated royalties, damages and

compensation, and "immediate stoppage of

environmental degradation", and negotiations for

mutual agreement on all future drilling. MOSOP

threatened that if this was not complied with, they

would embark on mass action to disrupt the

operations of the oil companies (Nigerian Muse).

The government responded to MOSOP’s

ultimatum by banning public gatherings and

declaring disturbances of oil production as acts of

treason. Oil extraction from the territory had slowed

to a trickle of 10,000 barrels per day (1,600 m3/d),

which amounted to 0.5% of the national total at the

point, as a result of the unrest in the region. By May

1994, military repression had escalated

considerably. On 21 May, mobile policemen and

soldiers attacked many Ogoni villages and by the

end of the fourth day, Ogoni chiefs had been brutally

murdered. Although Ken Saro Wiwa had been

denied entry into Ogoniland on that day, he was

arrested and detained in connection with the killings.

The occupying forces, while claiming to search for

culprits responsible for the Ogoni killings raided 27

villages, resulting in the death of 2,000 Ogoni people

and the displacement of 80,000-100,000. More than

2,000 Ogoni people were forced to leave Ogoniland,

escaping to neighbouring jurisdictions (Terminski

2011). Amnesty International described this crisis as

deliberate terrorism.

By this time, the environment in Ogoni

communities has been terribly degraded. As Barbara

P. Thomas-Slayter (2003) noted:

Oil exploration by international oil

companies, especially Shell, has turned

the Ogoni homeland in Nigeria into a

wasteland of pollution with a poisoned

atmosphere and widespread devastation

caused by acid rain, oil spillages, and oil

blowouts. Lands, stream, and creeks are

totally and continually polluted, the

atmosphere has been poisoned, charged

at it is with hydrocarbon, vapors,

methane, carbon monoxide, carbon

dioxide and soot emitted by gas

In May 1994, nine of the key MOSOP members

including Ken Saro-Wiwa were arrested and

accused of incitement to murder the four Ogoni

elders. Athough they denied all the charges, they

were imprisoned for over a year before they were

eventually found guilty and sentenced to death by a

specially convened tribunal selected by the late

General Sani Abacha, the then military head of state

of Nigeria. The activists were denied the due process

of the law, and on 10 November 1995 were hanged

by the Nigerian state (Thomas-Slayter 2009). The

deaths of the Ogoni nine resulted in both

international and national uproar, by groups such as

the Commonwealth of Nations which suspended

Nigeria’s membership, the United States, the United

Kingdom and the European Union who all imposed

sanctions, none of which were on petroleum. In

2001, Greenpeace (2001) reported that

two witnesses that accused them [Saro-

Wiwa and the other activists] later

admitted that Shell and the military had

bribed them with promises of money and

jobs at Shell. Shell admitted having given

money to the Nigerian military, who

brutally tried to silence the voices which

claimed justice

3.2. The Ijaw Youths

Another key group in the history of the conflicts

in the Niger-Delta was the Ijaw Youths Council

(IYC), an organization formed by youths from the

Ijaw tribe, a minority ethnic group indigenous to the

Niger-Delta, to challenge control over their

homeland and their livelihoods from the oil

companies. In 1998, they issued the Kaiama

Declaration, which called for oil companies to

suspend operations and withdraw from Ijaw

territory. They pledged to struggle peacefully for

freedom, self-determination and ecological justice.

They called their direct action campaign operation

for climate change entitled “Operation Climate

Change”, and it begun on December 1998. On 30

December 1998, while two thousand youths

processed through Yenegoa, the armed forces

opened fire on them killing at least 3 protesters and

arresting 25 more. A dusk to dawn curfew was

imposed and all forms of meetings were banned.

However, athough they continuously suffered

attacks from the military which resulted in several

casualties, Operation Climate Change continued and

disruptions of Nigerian oil supplies continued

through 1999 (Obi 2009).

3.3. The Current Republic

Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999. There

were many expectations on the measures that the

new civilian government would take to address the

problems of the Niger Delta. On 5 June 2000,

President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Niger

Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to

develop the Niger-Delta by focusing on the

development of social and physical infrastructure,

and ecological and environmental remediation and

human development. The purpose of this move was



35

to solve the issues responsible for the conflicts in the

region. However, the NDDC was largely

unsuccessful in curbing the violence in the region,

and has been subject to political influences and

disruptions.

The upheavals that this paper has discussed

eventually led to the militarization of the Niger-

Delta. These paramilitary groups were majorly

funded by local and state officials who believed they

could wield these paramilitary groups to enforce

their own political agenda. Before 2003, the

majority of the regional violence was concentrated

in Warri; however after the merger of the two largest

military groups in the region, the Niger-Delta

Volunteer Force (NDPVF) under Mujahid Dokubo-

Asari, and the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV) under

Ateke Tom, both groups majorly comprising of

Ijaws, the conflict became focused in Port Harcourt

and outlying towns. Mujahid Dokubo-Asari is a

former president of the Ijaw Youth Council, and

under his leadership the aim of the NDPFV is to

attempt to control the oil and gas resources in the

region through bunkering. In June 2004, the

situation escalated to the point where police, army

and navy forces had to be brought to occupy Port

Harcourt. The forces, rather than reduce the

violence, only served to intensify it, by destroying

the livelihoods of the villagers and using the

conflicts as an excuse to raid homes of innocent

civilians. The military was also accused of

conducting air raids against villages reducing them

to rubbles.

By the end of 2004, several battles had ensued

over the Port Harcourt water front leading to the

destruction of several settlements in the area. In

August 2008, the Nigerian government launched

military attacks against the militants, patrolling the

waters and hunting them down, searching all civilian

boats for weapons and raiding several known

military hideouts (Obi et al 2011).

On 26 June 2009, the Nigerian government

under President Umaru Musa Yar’adua announced

that it would grant amnesty and an unconditional

pardon to militants in the Niger-Delta, provided they

surrender their weapons to the government in

exchange for training and rehabilitation (BBC

2009). This began the era of uneasy peace that

Nigeria is in now, as there are pockets of violence

that erupt on a daily basis. Kidnaps in this region are

still rampant, for example on the 28th of November

2014, two Pakistani construction workers and one

Indian construction worker were kidnapped in

Emakalakala town in Bayelsa state (Reuters 2014).

Also by October 2012, Nigeria experienced a large

increase in piracy off its coast. By early 2013, the

country became the second most pirated nation in

Africa next to Somalia. The Movement for the

Emancipation of the Niger Delta is thought to be

behind most of the attacks. Since October 2012,

MEND has hijacked 12 ships, kidnapped 33 sailors,

and killed 4 oil workers (Reuters 2014).

4. Environmentalism of the Poor,

Resource Violence and the Niger-Delta

Crisis

The principles discussed by the proponents of

the theories of environmentalism of the poor and

resource violence are very closely related to the

situations surrounding the conflicts in the Niger-

Delta. The Niger-Delta situation supports the claims

of Narain in her article in Business Standard, as the

major champions for the environmental protection in

the region are the poor people whose livelihoods are

directly affected by the effects of environmental

pollution. Although the oil and gas sector in Nigeria

is helping generate funds for the nation and serves

as a source of wealth and enrichment for the wealthy

minority in Nigeria, it has been a source of

impoverishment for the Nigerian masses particularly

those based in the Niger-Delta region in Nigeria, as

it is responsible for the death of their means of

livelihood such as fishing and agriculture.

The main arguments of the earlier

environmental protection groups formed in the

Niger-Delta such as MOSOP and the Ijaw Youths

Council (IYC) were based on claims for recognition

as occupiers and owners of the land whose interests

were to be protected and considered before oil

exploration could be continued in the region. The

leader of the MOSOP, Ken Saro-Wiwa, insisted that

the right to a healthy environment was a

fundamental right his people were entitled to, as

every act of pollution against the environment

directly affected the lives of the indigenes of the

region. This is similar to the position held by the

IYF. This situation was further aggravated that few

of the benefits from the oil exploration trickled down

to the indigenes of the region, as the benefits were

mostly enjoyed by the wealthy educated

professionals in the oil industry and the corrupt

politicians and military leaders.

It should also be noted that before the situation

escalated to full scale guerrilla warfare, most of the

confrontations against the abuse of the environment

were carried out using the weapons of the weak, like

the IYF’s protests and riots. One of the

achievements of the struggles of the MOSOP was

the establishment of the Oilwatch which was

established partly as a result of their struggles

(Reuters 2014).

It is important to note that the environmentalists

approached their struggles from both economic

valuation as can be seen in MOSOP’s demand for

$10 billion in accumulated royalties, damages and

compensation, and the insistence on the enforcement

of fundamental and territorial rights, as can be seen

in the NDPFV insisting that they had territorial

rights over the oil in their regions and attempting to



36

control the oil and gas resources in the region

through bunkering.

Under the theory of resource violence, it is

obvious that the oil and gas reserves are the root

cause of the complexes of wealth and violence that

exist in the Niger-Delta region. Also like Rostow

(1960) observed, the government of Nigeria

captured rents from the oil and gas sector in Nigeria

by vesting itself with the ownership over all land and

natural resources in Nigeria under the 1979

constitution and the Land Use Act, resulting in an

overly powerful centralized government with close

ties to States and multinational oil companies who

paid heavy bribes to the government for access to

lands containing oil, leading to the prevalence of

corruption, lack of transparency and poor economic

development in Nigeria. This resulted in Nigeria

getting trapped in the ‘paradox of plenty’ as defined

by Karl (1997).

One should note, however, that though Collier’s

(2007) descriptions of the resource curse applies to

the Niger-Delta situation, it fails to effectively cover

all the key actors in the Niger-Delta situation,

particularly the involvements of the multinational oil

companies, who are key players in the continued

instability in the region. An example of this can be

seen in the Greenpeace report in 2001: Two

witnesses claimed to have been bribed by shell to

falsely testify against Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other

members of the Ogoni nine, with promises of money

and jobs at Shell. Shell also admitted to having given

money to the Nigerian military to silence the voices

which claimed justice.

Also, it should be pointed out that though the

violence in the Niger-Delta has been taken over by

shady characters whose motives are questionable

and can fall under the greed over grievance theory,

it was not always so. As seen from the history behind

the conflict in the Niger-Delta region, the original

champions of the environment in the region such as

the MOSOP and the IYF had altruistic intentions and

were interested in the welfare of the people. It is

therefore safe to say that the theory that most

successfully fits the Niger-Delta situation under the

theories of resource violence is the resource

complex which is broad enough to cover most of the

issues responsible for the conflict in the Niger-Delta,

including the principal actors and institutions

responsible for its continued existence.

5. Conclusion

As shown by the various failed attempts by the

Nigerian government to curb the violence in the

Niger-Delta, the issues resulting in the conflict are

very complex and require solutions that are tailor-

made for the region. Since the theories of

environmentalism of the poor and the resource

complex may be able to successfully explain the

reasons for the existence of the conflicts in this

region, it is advisable that potential solution policies

should embrace these theories. That is to say such

policies should take into account the opinions of the

indigenes of this region. This gesture may serve two

main purposes: solving the specific problems of the

Niger-Delta and its people, and granting legitimacy

to whatever solution policies proffered.

Policies for addressing the problems of the

Niger Delta should also take into account every key

institution and actor responsible for the violence in

order to ensure that they do not continue to

undermine the restorative efforts made by state and

non-state actors. Steps should be taken to protect the

traditional means of livelihood of the indigenes of

this region so as to mitigate the effects of oil and gas

exploration. The government should establish a

framework where these indigenes can table their

grievances on nonviolent platforms so as to help the

region break free from the cycles of violence it has

been plagued with. This paper has revealed that if

the government should shift the focus from their

battle with the militants in their bid to end the

conflicts in the region to a strategy that includes a

higher involvement of the indigenes in the decision

making process in the oil and gas development in

their local environments including a better scheme

for the distribution of the profit derived from oil and

gas extraction in the region, the government would

achieve more success in curbing the conflicts in the

region than they have achieved in the past.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Paul Foley for his

comments on the initial draft of this paper. My

gratitude also goes to the journal editors and the

anonymous reviewers.

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GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN FOOD SAFETY:

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PRIVATE

FOOD STANDARD INITIATIVES

Jannatul Islam

Lecturer, World University of Bangladesh (On

leave); MA Candidate in Environmental Policy and

Research Assistant, Grenfell Campus, Memorial

University of Newfoundland, Canada

[email protected]; [email protected]

Abstract

We eat food to stay healthy and to survive. When the

food we eat has negative effects on health, then we

describe it as “unsafe”. Many of the diseases

humans carry are food-borne. Regulatory initiatives

in food safety emerged because of many factors

including the globalization of economic activities,

advancements in food science and transportation

technology, and the dominance of global retail

chain. But following consumers’ concern in the

prevailing mechanisms for food safety control,

alternative mechanisms in global food safety

governance emerged, now known as private

initiatives in food safety governance. Due to the

growth of private standards, a debate has emerged

focusing on the relationship between these private

initiatives, global public authorities and

international trade law. Private standards may

present barriers to the trading of a number of

products and may therefore run counter to

international trade rules. Some critics have also

claimed that private standards are challenging the

legitimacy of established multilateral trade

institutions such as the World Trade Organisation

(World Trade Organisation 2005). At this point, it is

important to probe into the emergence of private

food safety standards governance as a

complementary mechanism in global food safety

governance. I argue that the existence of private

initiatives seems to be unavoidable, hence the need

to incorporate them into international trade rules

and institutions by reconstructing existing systems





38

and clarifying the roles of private standards in food

safety governance. The argument is presented

through narratives, descriptions and analysis.

Keywords: private initiatives; World Trade

Organisation (WTO); Sanitary and Phytosanitary

Measures (SPS); private food safety (PGS); World

Health Organisation (WHO)

Alternative citation (online): Islam, J.2015. Global

Governance in Food Safety: A Comparative Study

on Private Food Standard Initiatives. JWHSD, 2, 46-

54. Available at: http://wwhsdc.org/jwhsd/articles/

1. Introduction Food safety usually refers to compliance with

health or safety standards as determined. If food has

adverse effects on our health when we prepare, use

or eat it, we generally describe it as unsafe. The

WHO’s report (1999) indicates that 1.5 billion cases

of diarrhea in children and over 3 million premature

deaths occurred due to foodborne diseases both in

developed and developing countries. The United

States (US) estimated that 48 million illnesses,

128,000 hospitalizations and 3000 deaths result each

year from foodborne diseases (Centre for Disease

Control and Prevention 2011). The Office for South

East Asia Region, World Health Organisation Food

Safety Programme (1999) reported that

approximately 1.8 million children die in developing

countries yearly as a result of foodborne diseases

caused by contaminated food and water.

Global food safety regulatory initiatives

emerged primarily to address the rapidly decaying

public trust in modern global food chains,

complicated by many factors including the

globalization of economic activities, advancements

in food science and transportation technology, the

multi-nationalization of the food industry, and the

advent of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in

1995 (Wouters et. al. 2008). Consumers’ are

concerned with the prevailing mechanisms of food

safety control (Henson & Caswell 1999), and as a

result, alternative mechanism in global food safety

governance emerged. This trend of alternative

mechanism expedited the growing influence of

private regulators.

Both public and private standard institutions

have pros and cons. The purpose of this paper is to

introduce global food safety governance, showing

the controversy on the status of public and private

institutions and presenting the way for mitigating

problems of private institutions in food safety

standards governance. The paper conceives private

food safety standards governance as having emerged

as a complementary mechanism in global food

safety governance.

2. Comparative Implication of public-

private standard in Global Food Safety

A. Implication of Public Institutions

Traditionally, control measures in food safety

have been regarded as regulatory spaces exclusively

filled by states (Casey 2009). The WTO as a public

authority governs, regulates and facilitates food

trade through its Agreements on Sanitary and

Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical

Barriers to Trade (TBT) (Henson & Humphrey

2010). This process basically is developed to

promote trade liberalization, and became the de

facto enforcer of standards through the legal matters

it adjudicates (Hatanaka et. al. 2005). The Codex

Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is the assigned

standard-setting organization for food safety under

SPS. The CAC was created in 1963 by Food and

Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and WHO to

develop food standards, guidelines and related codes

of practice with three purposes: (1) protecting health

of the consumers; (2) ensuring fair trade practices in

the food industry and (3) promoting coordination of

all food standards (CAC, 2011).

However, public institutions of food safety are

facing criticism on their effectiveness and efficiency

in global food safety issues when one compares

private initiatives. Lin (2011) claimed that no

multilateral legal instrument addresses global food

safety issues in a comprehensive manner. There are

a number of other ongoing criticisms.

First, WTO multilateral trading facilitators

never made food safety a core concern (Lin 2011),

and do not have the provisions regarding the

effective promotion of food safety beyond their set

of trade agreements (Niu 2006), whereas private

standards are believed to do these. Besides,

sometimes SPS stands as a means for WTO

members to create exceptions to each other’s food

safety rules and standards to facilitate food trade

(Silverglade 2002).

Second, codex scientific basis of standard

setting has faced serious challenges, though it has

legitimacy of substantive and procedural rules, and

the accountability and transparency in decision

making process (Smythe 2009). This is especially

the case in controversial disputes over beef growth

hormones (BGH) and genetically modified

organisms (GMO). Also, in decision making, as a

democratic process, they take decisions based on

majority vote rather than consensus, hence creating

conflicts of interest over the scientific authority.

Third, WHO which is the UN-mandated agency

in global health issues has so far failed to play a

leading role in coordinating and creating governance

initiatives (Lin 2011). In addition, it has failed to

fully employ its normative authority (Taylor 2002).

B. Implication of Private Institutions Private institutions in food safety standards are

the initiatives that focus on food safety (including

bio-safety) and sustainable development (including

biodiversity) by using different tools geared towards

issues of quality control, process verification,




39

traceability and labeling. Some of these private food

safety institutions include Marine Stewardship

Council (MSC), GlobalGAP (GAP-Good

Agricultural Practices), Global Food Safety

Initiatives (GFSI), Nature’s Choice, FilièresQualité,

Field to Fork, British Retail Consortium (BRC),

International Food Standard (IFS), NGO (Rainforest

Alliance), Global Standards, and Tesco’s Nature’s

Choice private.

Due to the market failures and the lack of

consumers’ confidence on existing public regulatory

bodies in the 1990’s, non-state governance

initiatives for standard-setting and certification

started to emerge (Abbot & Snidal 2001). Private

standards are facilitating global food safety issues,

and there are indications that they have enjoyed

acceptance despite the co-existence of public

institutions. Private food safety (PFS) facilities

respond to markets by reacting to consumer

perception on food safety rather than playing the role

of trade facilitators such as the SPS agreement. Also

they create the avenues for producers and retailers

competing in upgrading and ensuring quality in

consumer food. Again, PFS mechanisms are

reviving and returning public trust to producers and

retailers, hence directly facilitating business

development. In addition, although some of its

measures have been initiated in regions such as

Europe, state-determined food standard systems

have sometimes failed to trace the origin of diverse

and intensely circulated products due to

globalization which has had reverse effects on food

safety. PFS schemes are addressing this problem by

maintaining labeling and traceability systems.

Furthermore, increased political and economic

demands for more effective food safety controls

have left nation-states struggling to regulate food

safety and quality practices, allowing alternate

mechanisms to proliferate (García et. al. 2007).

Most of the states are struggling because of gaps in

regulatory systems and lack of implementation

equipment, resources and manpower. In such

situations, PFSs are playing complementary roles

for public food safety, and helping to decrease

public reliance on states food safety mechanisms.

Despite that PFSs have become popular, they

have faced some criticisms. First, although private

standard compliance is not mandatory, large

retailers subscribing to PFSs are becoming

gatekeepers to the global food markets. This creates

some form of domination and enhances monopoly.

This may result in harsh cost effects on consumers

and may create economic disadvantage for small

retail outlets. Producers and suppliers also become

subject to the whims and caprices of large dominant

retailers in the PFS schemes (Grace 2006).

Second, complying with different, sometimes

several, private standards may be burdensome for

least or newly industrial economies around the

world. PFS systems may require significant

upgrades in production facilities which may incur

much cost for certification, labeling and inspection

from reviewers. As those countries largely depend

on incomes from exportation of food products, the

compliance-related costing and failure to comply

may have direct impacts on their development.

Third, PFS institutions are mostly created out of

mutual agreements, voluntary participation, and

collaborative partnerships, but rarely with statutory

legal mandate. The private standard setter, in many

cases, may not have the procedure for advance

notification while embarking on the adoption and

modification of standards which may affect market

access on a large scale and require substantial

changes in existing production facilities. On the

other hand, private standard setters are self-designed

and regulated and sometimes potentially conflicting

with other private, local or state food safety

regulations, potentially causing difficulty for dispute

handling. Parties with complaints may then have to

‘surrender’ to private standard procedures to keep up

access in the market.

Fourth, debates on the authority and legitimacy

of PFS are still ongoing. There are no clear positions

regarding how democratic their decision making

systems are. It is possible that their decision making

systems are influenced by private parties having

biased national interests. It is also possible that the

interest of some parties and nationalities are

excluded in this process. Also, due to the

institutional design and profiteering potentials of

private actors, their accountabilities and

responsibilities to stakeholders may be questionable.

3. Complexity of public- private standards

Sometimes, private standards overlook

government food safety regulations. Besides, SPS

has some guidelines for states’ food standard but not

clarified role for PFS and this may create more

confusion and complexity in global food safety. The

European Commission argued that they would not

object if PFSs exceed the SPS, and then the WTO

acknowledged that the private standards were often

much more demanding (World Trade Organisation

2005). This WTO’s acknowledgement may be a way

of buttressing the reliability of PFSs.

PFSs are becoming potential threats to the

legitimacy of public food safety institutions. Public

and private standard in food safety are sometimes

potentially competing and conflicting with several

regulators at the international and transnational

levels, especially when exporting-countries’

suppliers are unaware of the nature, source or

process of food safety regulation in an importing

country. Such uncertainties have raised concerns

which are crucially important but under-analyzed

(Kingbury et. al. 2005). Also, although complying

with PFS is not mandatory in international trade,

suppliers and producers seem ready to comply with

PFS to gain access in specific markets due to the



40

large retail outlets’ involvement in PFS. These

complexities sometimes create dispute, clash of

interests and harm especially to developing

countries’ economic advancement.

4. Mitigating the Problems of Private

Standard

Private standard initiatives could work as

complementary systems with public standard

systems. Although, ensuring public health is

primarily the responsibility of public authorities,

emerging private institutions are becoming

inevitable due to the challenges and limitations that

public institutions face. Besides, PFSs are

contributing to the modernization of industries in

developing countries, fostering foreign direct

investment, helping to solve food safety issues in

industrialized countries, allowing producers to enter

into more stable business relationships, growing

awareness and demand of consumers for extra

precautions, and creating decreased reliance of

consumers on public authorities.

Having recognized the importance of PFSs,

several mitigating initiatives may be necessary to

improve them. First, there may be need to

acknowledge and foster the positive contribution of

private standards by public authorities such as SPS

agreement of WTO. For global governance actors to

achieve this, public authorities could restructure

their institutions and incorporate PFSs as

complementary institutions for global food safety

governance. Second, safeguards should be put in

place by creating an independent body to monitor

the substance of private standards and facilitate

dispute settlement. Third, private standard

maintenance basically affects smallholders but the

standards have positive impacts for compliant

producers. So, actors can support smallholders by

initiating public or mutual subsidization

mechanisms by providing information, financial aid

and technical support to upgrade their facilities, or

reduce product certification fees for smallholders.

Fourth, complying with several standards for the

same market, sometimes conflicting and confusing,

is costly and trade-restrictive. To combat this

problem, SPS agreements should have precise

harmonization strategies. A benchmark standard

may initiate allowing producers that comply with

one standard to be deemed compliant with all the

other standards. But this initiation should not block

the competition with each other for higher levels of

food safety. Fifth, in global governance, the public

are not precisely identified, hence making it difficult

to determine how democratic and legitimate PFSs

are in food governance. The recognition and

validation of PFSs norms and consensus by state and

public authorities could help enhance private

standard legitimacy.

5. Conclusions

Food safety is a very sensitive and responsive

issue. Public policy should govern and emphasize

all-out effort on public food safety. Due to different

circumstances and reasons this paper has already

discussed, private standards’ institutional

emergence has become inevitable. There are

different arguments in favor and against both public

and private standards in food safety. Basically, state

failure to retain consumer trust, producers and

retailers groups’ market response, pressures from

interest groups and globalization have fostered the

emergence of PFSs. But debates are arising

regarding their structures, changes in standard

policy decision, barriers to their development, and

the issues of how democratic or legitimate they are.

Still, the existence and acceptability of private

standards are noticed and acknowledged by WTO,

European Commission and other stakeholders all

over the world. Therefore, the existing public

structures may need to be newly configured for

global regulation of free trade and food safety,

incorporating and specifying the role and procedures

of private standards in global food safety

governance.

Acknowledgements

My gratitude goes to Dr. Andreas Klinke for

reading and commenting on the draft of this paper. I

would also like to thank the journal editors and

anonymous reviewers for their comments and

suggestions.

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EVERYDAY STRUGGLES AND ADAPTIVE

STRATEGIES: A SNAPSHOT ON THE

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE OVER

THE LIVELIHOODS IN HAIL HAOR,

MOULOVIBAZAR, BANGLADESH

Mohammad Monjur-Ul-Haider1 & A. F. M.

Zakaria2

1. Assistant Professor, Department of

Anthropology, Shahjalal University of

Science & Technology (SUST)

[email protected]

2. Assistant Professor, Department of

Anthropology, SUST (on study leave);

Graduate Fellow, Environmental Policy,


Canada.

[email protected]

Abstract

Bio- cultural diversity and survival strategies are

getting high concentration in present academic

scholarships due to rapid climatic chaos.

Bangladesh is one of those countries, which is

tagged as one of the most vulnerable to climate

change. Climate driven hazards are exhibited

frequently in the Haor-regions of the country. The

resources around Haor like- water, fishes, birds,

firewood, seasonal crops and vegetables, sand, coal,

stones etc. are reacting with the changing climate

and the Haor-people are struggling to adapt in their

everyday life. The Haor-people have to sustain with

http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1361&context=lcp

http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1361&context=lcp





42

their pertaining resources and those are deeply

influenced by climate change. It becomes necessary

to understand the impacts of climate change over the

peoples and adaptation strategies that people adopt

and discover in their everyday life in Hail Haor of

Moulavibazar district, Bangladesh. One should also

identify the problems that Haor-people face due to

climate change and suggest recommendations from

the local perspective to overcome from the situation.

Keywords: adaptation; adaptive strategies; climate

change; natural resources; Haor lives; livelihood.

Alternative citation (online): Haider, M. M. &

Zakaria, A.F.M. 2015. Everyday Struggles and

Adaptive Strategies: A Snapshot on the Impact of

Climate Change over the People Living in the Hail

Haor, Moulovibazar, Bangladesh. JWHSD, 1(3), 4-

14. Available at: http://wwhsdc.org/jwhsd/articles/.

1. Introduction

Human history is a history of adaptation and

mal-adaptation. Adaptation to climate change is a

promising scientific field of study; its expression

remains confused and is predestined to be so due to

the lack of clarity of its definition, which is still

being shaped (Burton, 2002). Anthropology studies

the nature of adaptation and adaptive strategies from

its very beginning especially by forming a different

school of thought, namely cultural ecology. It looks

at the manner in which individuals and groups adapt

to their environment by measuring the costs/benefits

and successes/failures of these changes.

The Tropic Cancer passes through the middle of

Bangladesh dividing it into two halves, and it enjoys

a tropical climate. The climate of this country is

characterized by high temperature, heavy rainfall,

often-excessive humidity and a fairly marked

seasonal variation throughout the year. Bangladesh,

one of the poorest countries, almost every year faces

climate driven hazards (World Bank, 2000).

Hazardous extreme events occur frequently, which

are originated from water driven and climate

induced phenomena (Rahman, et al., 1990). The

climate-induced natural disasters are floods,

cyclones and storm surges, droughts that cost much

to the country’s physical infrastructures, crops, lives

and other properties of the people.

The importance of wetlands for Bangladesh can

hardly be overstated. About half area of the country

can be considered as wetlands (Khan, M.S. et al.,

1994). Bangladesh possesses vast areas of wetlands

including rivers and streams, freshwater lakes and

marshes, Haors, Baors, Beels, water storage

reservoirs, fish ponds, flooded cultivated fields and

estuarine systems with extensive mangrove swamps.

The life and livelihood on Bangladesh are dependent

on the wetlands. The lakes are the source of

fisheries, aquatic vegetations and other biodiversity,

irrigation, navigation and flood control etc

(Chakrabarty, T. R. 2005). Because of extensive

dependency, lack of proper management and climate

change, these resources and local people’s

livelihood are in enormous danger. Resource driven

conflicts and marginalization processes have been

escalated.

This paper allows an understanding of how

local practices and mitigation measures (i.e.,

decision making and techniques applied) works

within the greater cultural sphere of the Haor-

peoples. This also helps in knowing how Haor-

peoples identify their problems related to disaster

risk reduction and climatic vulnerability. On the

other hand, this study helps in examining the

findings of the former studies undertaken at the

study area. It enables the inclusion of Haor-peoples’

view regarding different mitigation measures,

livelihood initiatives and social actions in

Moulavibazar district.

2. Objectives

The study explores the impact of climate change

and the adaptation strategies taken by the peoples of

Hail Haor in Moulavibazar district. More

specifically, this paper reveals the impact of climate

change among the lives and livelihoods of the Hail

Haor by assessing the vulnerabilities of the Haor-

peoples, knowing how they respond and

documenting the recommendations from the local

perspective to overcome adverse effects of climate

changes.

3. Theoretical Understanding

Adaptation is at the end both a process and its

outcome of everyday struggle to cope with the

surrounding environment (Simonet, 2010). It refers

to kinds of working relationships of everyday life.

Confronted with the acceleration and intensification

of global environmental and socio-economic

changes, which are the sources of this problem,

research into the adaptation of systems continues to

grow (Moran, 2000). In anthropology, adaptation is

defined as the process through which organisms or

populations of organisms make biological or

behavioral adjustments that will facilitate or assure

their reproductive success, and therefore survival, in

their environment. The success or failure of adaptive

responses can only be measured on a long term basis

and the consequences of the observed behaviors on

evolution are not predictable (Bates, 2005).

However, despite an influence on an old regional

scale, the appearance of climatic changes induced by

man on the planetary scale is unprecedented. From

hunting-gathering to post capitalism is the result of

continuous struggle to cope with the changing

circumstances and for searching better coping

mechanism. Therefore, since individuals have

always adapted to climate, which can be called

somatic adaptation, experienced by an individual by

his life course, but ultimately it is shared and the



43

whole community that follow but sometimes

improper interference from outside in the name of

technical advice or management that also may lead

towards mal-adaptation too. Since life resembles

and reflects a successful adaptation, the sole

objective of the adaptation of a system resides in its

survival.

According to Terrell (2006), Human adaptation

is a classic example of what has been more generally

termed ecological niche construction. Niche

construction occurs when an organism modifies its

relationships with its surroundings by actively

changing one or more of the factors in its

environment, either by physically perturbing factors

at its current location in space and time, or by

relocating to a different space-time address, thereby

exposing itself to different factors. By analyzing

Guinea wetlands management, Terrell (2006) also

focuses on adaptive strategies of local people which

derived from inherited friendship and

transgenerational management of resources. These

epistemological understandings give the framework

in articulating this study in exploring the Haor

people’s perceptions and reactions in coping

mechanisms in the era of climate change in

Bangladesh

4. Methods The study has been conducted by a research

team that brings together a range of methodological

approaches including Participatory Rural Appraisal

(PRA), Life Histories, Case Studies, In-depth

Interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGD) in

order to obtain greater insight into the study areas.

The purpose of the FGD was to collect local

perception on a specified topic (regarding climate

change) from a group, the members of which ‘spark’

off each other. The research team tries to identify the

households having 2-3 generations

(grandfather/grandmother/father/

mother/son/daughter/grandson/granddaughter) in a

family as key respondents to collect generation

views and experiences regarding climate change.

Field site inter-generational dialogues has been

arranged with the participation of local social

activists, teachers, youths, farmers, fishers, and local

elected bodies (different ages) to raise the issues to

address the climatic changes that are occurring, and

coping strategies.

This study also focuses on an interdisciplinary

review of secondary sources related to climatic

changes, adaptation and livelihood strategies in the

disaster-prone areas. The institutional data have been

collected from universities, research institutions, apex

agencies, and relevant departments of the government.

5. People and Struggles

The Hail Haor is located in the North-Eastern

Bangladesh and is a part of the Sylhet Haor basin.

Sylhet basin covers a large number of Haors and

wetlands and among those Hakaluki haor, Tanguar

haor, Hail haor etc. covers an extensive area (WRI.

1990). This basin is an extensive alluvial plain

supporting a variety of wetland habitats. It contains

about 47 major haors and more than 6,000 beels, or

freshwater lakes, nearly half of which are seasonal

(Haque M.I. 2008). The Hail Haor is located in

Mirjapur, Kalapur, Srimongal Sadar, Ashidrone,

Bhunobir unions of Srimongal Upazila; and

Nazirabad, Giasnagar unions of Moulavibazar

Sadar Upazila. The aforesaid two upazilas are under

Moulavibazar district. This Haor is a wetland basin

in the midst of three hillocks (namely- Satgaon,

Balishira and Barshijura) that become a large single

body of water with overall catchment area 60,000

hectors; wet season Haor area 12,490 hr. dry season

4009 hr. (in the year of 1999, source: Bangladesh

Water Development Board). It is surrounded by a

chain of tea-gardens, pineapple fields, groves of

rubber and natural forests. Manu River passes over

the North-east side of the area and meets with

Kushyara River. Thus, the Hail Haor consists of a

variety of types ranging from ditches, peat lands,

lakes, and rivers to deepwater paddy fields. All these

variety form a unique mosaic of habitats with rich

diversity of flora and fauna. This Haor bears the

livelihood of thousands of people from diverse

activities as fishing to collecting water plants,

materials of thatching and firewood. The grazing

system in this region supports cattle that recycle

nutrients, enrich soil and provide draft source. The

plant diversity provides snakes, frogs, and certain

fish species that help agriculture in general.

The hydrology of Hail Haor, as elsewhere in

other wetlands of the country, was dominated by

heavy rainfall by the end of April that fills up the

entire Haor. Peasants had to leave the almost ripe

paddy just about 10-15 days before harvest. But the

realities have been changed in recent decades by the

Synopsis of Case Study-1: Climate changed considerably

Arjot Uddin, 65 an elderly peasant of Hajipur had experienced

very worst situation with his paddy cultivation. He lost all

crops for unwanted draught. He told us, “The age-old trends

in climate parameter have been changed considerably. We

have experienced climate anomalies and this is very true. We

have observed almost 30 consecutive rainless days during

peak monsoon, which is unthinkable. Temperature increases,

century old patterns of cultivation have changed as well.” Mr.

Arjot Uddin also added, “New generations in both rural and

urban do not believe that there had been six seasons in

Bangladesh.”

Name used in this paper is pseudonym in order to protect the

identities of the participants



44

creation of dwarf embankments. The most important

Boro (early maturing variety) paddy enabled to

harvest a bit earlier than before, while the

submersible embankments can now hold the water

for a few extra days that are critical to harvest the

crop before the entire Haor becomes flooded. Once

flooded, water can easily overtop the dwarf

embankments allowing aquatic plants and fish to

flourish. Though there is no option left for a second

crop, abundance of fish helps to continue local

economy. Availability of other aquatic flora and

fauna helps the peoples of Hail Haor to maintain

their livelihood. According to the local people, there

are 138 Beels in Hail Haor; among those 14 were

noticed as sanctuary for fish conservation and

availability of fishes by safe breeding. Among 14,

the mentionable are- Agura, Balla, Barokandi,

Borogangina, Digholi, Dum, Jaduria, Jathua,

Kajura, Patrodoba, and Sananda Koch. There is a

permanent sanctuary named Baikka Beel where

different fish species are available including the

endangered fishes, like- Kajoli, Gulsha, Meni, Rani

etc. In recent times number of fishes reduces

remarkably due to different reasons, such as:

scarcity of fish food, brood fish catching, use of

insecticide in the crop field, degradation of water

quality, dewatering in dry season, lack of rain,

disappearing pollution, over harvesting of the

natural resources, land use conflict, lack of

upstream water flow in winter, over flow of water in

monsoon, increase risk of flood, entrance of saline

water due to lack of water flow in winter, land

erosion, siltation, road construction and other

development activities.

Besides, climate change is also a factor for

reducing the number of fishes. Climate change has

influenced the rainfall patterns. Temperature and

rainfall patterns of the last decades show that the

average temperature in both monsoon and winter has

increased and that’s why people of Hail Haor are

having more rain in the monsoon and less in the

winter. If excess rainfall occurs between the end-

April and early-May, it would not be possible for the

peasants to collect their almost ripe paddy. This will

have adverse impacts on food availability from local

sources. Moreover, frequent use of chemical

fertilizer and insecticides lessened the paddy variety

and production. Therefore, it would add reliance on

imported rice from uncertain international markets,

which may add an extra measure of poverty to the

poor peoples of the Hail Haor.

Hail Haor has been famous for its livestock

farming and milk supplying. The available land for

grazing has decreased remarkably. Shortage of

transportation facility is another barrier in this

sector. Delay in raw-milk marketing might have

resulted in loss of income. The peoples of Hail Haor

do not feel comfort in livestock husbandry now.

It is found from the study that there are some

key factors for which climatic hazards occurs in

Haor region, viz. slope and flat landscape,

increasing population density, agro-based economy,

climate based cropping and fishing, seasonal variety

dependant on monsoon. It is likely that the

ecosystem of Hail Haor will be affected badly due

to climate change; heavy falling, flash-flood, soil

erosion, decreasing fertility, draught and some other

environmental hazards take place. The Haor

ecosystem is abundantly dependent on availability

of water. If water comes in earlier than the harvest

of Boro paddy, the production decreases. On the

other hand, fish grow well if there is adequate

monsoon flow. However, there is huge uncertainty

regarding the timing of occurrence of monsoon

rainfall. If pre-monsoon local convective rainfall

comes early, farmers may not find adequate time to

harvest Boro.

In the dry season, the area of the Hail Haor

shrinks. The study shows that huge changes have

occurred due to sedimentation and as a result depth

and duration of inundation has changed. This change

shows a positive impact on agricultural aspects

enhancing emergence of new soil boundaries and

serious negative impact on eco-environmental

aspects i.e. reduction of wetland ecosystem (Uddin,

M. J., Mohiuddin, A. S.M. & Hossain, S. T., 2013).

Similar results were also described by Nishat, A

(1993) and Sultana et al. (2009) in accretion of land

for edifice used in some flood prone areas of

Bangladesh (Erickson et al., 1993). Sedimentation

has taken place in low lying areas where grazing

land emerges in course of time in some flood prone

areas (Ullah et al., 2006). The study revealed that the

farmers grew pineapple and citrus fruits (like: citron,

lemon, lime, orange etc.) in rows running up-down

slope of hillocks pick up the pace of soil erosion.

6. Adaptive Strategies The NAPA (National Adaptation Plan for

Action) Bangladesh document is one of the few

adaptation strategies which address the Climate

Change issue for Bangladesh. An in-depth review of

flat lands, coastal areas and wetlands reveals that

Bangladesh requires topographical and ecology

specific strategies in adapting to Climate Change.

The impacts of Climate Change are not restricted to

environmental damage alone, the loss of life and

property along with social catastrophes are all

serious pr which require Dhoincha cultivation is a

successful means to protect Aman paddy from the

attack of flashflood at the bank of Hail Haor. They

also adopt mixed cultivation combining paddy,

beans and vegetables for maximizing the utilization

of cultivable land. Farmers have developed their

own means to save their life and assets from cyclone

and tidal wave. They announce with a chunga-mike

to alert the neighbors and they also use the mike of

the mosque for the same purpose. The agricultural

production system of this Haor relies mostly upon



45

local practices which have deep root within the

Haor-land, environment and local people.

7. Concluding Remarks Subsistence agriculture, commercial farming,

fisheries, cattle grazing, livestock activities in Hail

Haor have appeared as the dominant sources of

livelihood which are seriously impacted by climate

change. Against the impacts of climatic

irregularities, respondents have adopted various

strategies to cope with the new circumstance. The

importance of the use of local perception for

sustainable development has been gaining

recognition and momentum worldwide. There are

many examples in Bangladesh of development

schemes that have failed because they have not

listened to local people, nor tried to understand the

society within which they are working. However,

some recommendations hereunder from the local

perspective to overcome adverse effect of climate

change may be insightful.

First, Paddy production can never reach the

expected amount due to early rainfall and flash-

flood. To mitigate the frequent loss in paddy sector,

district agricultural officers should promote high

value crops, with the help of DAE (Department of

Agricultural Extension) which can initiate a joint

venture that would enable local peasants to ensure

maximum utilization of available resources under

climate change and also should facilitate

communities to practice low external input based

sustainable agriculture & integrate biodiversity

concerns.

Second, it is a fact that population of Haor is

increasing. Adaptation strategy will not be

sustainable if it only refers to agricultural sector.

Non-agro activities also should be emphasized in the

planning of adaptation strategy. The richness of

Haor ecosystem in terms of fish should be

considered to be an advantage where government

loan or incentives should be given to establish

export-oriented fisheries processing industries. The

processed fish could be exported to countries like

UK & USA where there is a cluster of Bangladeshi

Diaspora who have migrated from greater Haor

region.

Third, livestock farmers should take advantage

of the flourishing urbanization and developing

transportation. Local entrepreneur can invest in the

milk pasteurization trade. It will create a diversified

employment opportunity which also facilitates

communities to enhance capacity and practice

alternative livelihood strategies.

Fourth, the adolescent and the youth who

dropped out from education should be brought under

vocational training or technical skill enhancement

program so that they may get jobs or could be

successful entrepreneurs.

Fifth, early warning on heavy rainfall and flash-

flood in Haor basin should be a priority. We can

reduce the losses by improving national forecasting

system. For better performance, early warning with

a high time of about 24 to 48 hours would be a good

initiative. Local radio station and FM (frequency

modulation radios) can play a good role by

broadcasting such weather updates in right time in

right language to Haor based communities. Farmers

have their own knowledge to save their assets and

almost-ripe paddy; that knowledge should be shared

and disseminated.

The environmental problems that can result

from imported technology such as the destruction of

soil structure through foreign cultivation techniques,

irrigation tools, establishment of embankment and

culvert, could be avoided if locally derived

techniques were given the value they deserve. Local

knowledge alternatives have a far higher up-take

because they are in keeping with local socio-cultural

norms and because in general they are more

affordable and sustainable.

This study tries to understand how different

socio-economic features would affect vulnerability

and socio-economic thresholds for change, such as

economic non-viability and unacceptable task.

Systematically documenting and disseminating

information related to the impact of natural

resources activities on the global climate and vice

versa is an important task. Identifying appropriate

technological and policy interventions and area

specific cultural knowledge to mitigate global

climate change is crucial at the local and national

level. On the final note, this study suggests to initiate

a new integrative Haor management policy by

incorporating indigenous environmental knowledge

and appreciating the local adaptive strategies for

facing the challenges led by climate change.

References

Bates, D.G. (2005). Human adaptive strategies:

ecology, culture, and politics (3rd edition).

New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Burton, I. et al. (2002). From impacts assessments to

adaptation priorities: the shaping of

adaptation policy. Climate Policy,

2, 145-159.

Chakraborty, T. R. (2005) Management of Haors,

Baors, and Beels in Bangladesh: Lessons

for Lake Basin Management. Kusatsu:

Integrated Lake Development Commttee

Foundation.

Retrieved from

http://wldb.ilec.or.jp/ILBMTrainingMateri

als/resources/Bangladesh.pdf

Erickson, N. J., Ahmed, K. Q. and Chowdhury, R.

A. (1993). Socio-economic implications of

climate change for Bangladesh.

Dhaka: Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad

(BUP).

http://wldb.ilec.or.jp/ILBMTrainingMaterials/resources/Bangladesh.pdf

http://wldb.ilec.or.jp/ILBMTrainingMaterials/resources/Bangladesh.pdf



46

Haque, M. I. (2008). Water resources management

in Bangladesh. Dhaka: Charu Ferdousi

Naima for Anushilan.

Khan, M.S., Haq, E., Huq, S., Rahman, A.A.,

Rashid, S.M.A. and Ahmed, H. (1994).

Wetlands of Bangladesh. Dhaka:

BCAS in association with Nature

Conservation Movement.

Moran, E.F. (2000). Human adaptability (2nd

edition).

NON-STATE MARKET INSTRUMENTS FOR

RESPONSIBLE OIL AND GAS

PRODUCTION: A HISTORICAL STUDY OF

EQUITABLE ORIGIN EO100TM

CERTIFICATION SCHEME

Banjo Afeez Edu Research Assistant and Graduate Student,

Environmental Policy Institute, Memorial

University, Canada [email protected]

Abstract Environmental certification is a voluntary

complementary policy tool championed by non-state

actors and supported by the state. This paper

explores the historical development of a novel

certification scheme for the oil and gas industry.

Although the literature is rich with research into

certification schemes, however, there exists no

literature on the Equitable Origin (EO) certification

scheme for the oil and gas industry, thus underlining

the importance of the historical approach adopted

in this paper. EO certification scheme is an example

of a non-state actor; EO adopts a market-based

incentive approach to environmental regulation in

the oil and gas industry which involves an

independent audit of individual production sites

based on six key principles. When a site attains

certification, consumers are granted the power of

choice to reward responsible production by only

purchasing labeled petroleum products. The paper

also explores the role of NSAs’ in environmental

regulation and uses the incentive theory of

motivation to explain how a well-structured market

instrument certification scheme can facilitate

responsible oil and gas production. This paper does

not address the effectiveness of this scheme because,

as a novel scheme in its nascent stage of

development, it is imperative to have the holistic

grasp of its history and promises before the

literature can address its effectiveness. This paper is

anticipated to open up future research into the

weaknesses and effectiveness of the scheme in

encouraging responsible oil and gas production.

Keywords: market Instruments, equitable origin,

certification, labeling, oil and gas industry, non-

state actors, incentive theory of motivation.

Alternative citation (online): Edu, B.A. (2015)

“Non-State Market Instruments for Responsible Oil

and Gas Production: A Historical Study of Equitable

Origin EO100TM Certification Scheme” JWHSD,

1(4), 6-20. Available at:

http://wwhsdc.org/jwhsd/articles/.

1. Introduction

Public resource managers are receiving growing

environmental pressure from various stakeholder

groups such as customers, governments and

shareholders (Berry and Rondinelli, 1998) to be

more responsible and accountable. Easy access to

information has altered the attitude of consumers,

who have prioritized the protection of the natural

environment over economic growth in some cases

(Mainieri et al., 1997). On the other hand,

shareholders and investors involved with public-

resource extracting companies are also becoming

more and more reluctant to assume environmental

risks (Waddock, Bodwell and Graves, 2003). As

consequence, environmental management has

become an unavoidable issue for responsible public

resource management.

The ubiquitous nature of environmental

challenges changed the nature of environmental

policy making in the 1970s, to include non-state

actors (NSA). The Stockholm Conference,

organized by the United Nations in 1972 gave

recognition and impetus to NSA as collaborators in

the quest for developing sustainable and responsible

public resource management schemes in solving

environmental challenges. This phenomenon gave

rise to a policy shift from regulative resource

management to a focus on incentivizing responsible

public resource management by stimulating positive

public perception and consumer preference

(Cashore, 2002). For example, the Forest

Stewardship Council (FSC) was created in 1993 to

tackle tropical deforestation (FSC.org, 2015). The

Marine Stewardship Council was created in 1996 to

mitigate the future occurrence of issues like the

Grand Banks Cod Fish collapse (MSC.org, 2015)

and a host of other non-state initiatives like coffee

(Fair Trade.org) to food production (Food Alliance)

and even tourism all in the renewable resource strata.

Methodologically, the paper adopts a historical

approach. Extensive literature was reviewed based

on previous research into market-based instruments,

and internet resources for the certification scheme.

The dependence on internet materials for the

certification scheme is premised on the novelty of

the scheme and the dearth of scholarly papers

discussing it.

The paper is organised into six parts. This first

part introduces the paper, and the second part

outlines the theory of motivation as a guide. The

third part focuses on non-state actors and their role

in environmental regulation. The fourth part

examines market instruments as one of the tools

adopted by non-state actors (NSAs) for

environmental regulation. The fifth part focuses on

a historical understanding of Equitable Origin (EO).



47

The sixth section then provides an analysis of the

arguments for why and how the EO scheme could

facilitate responsible oil and gas production.

2. Theoretical Underpinning: Incentive Theory

of Motivation

The rationale for environmental

certification as a complementary tool for

environmental policymaking can be explained using

incentive theory of motivation. This theory is from

the field of behavioral psychology.

Incentive theories emerged in the 1940s

and 1950s (Hockenbury and Hockenbury, 2003).

The Incentive Theory of Motivation is supported by

many behavioral psychologists, the most prominent

one being B.F. Skinner. Alternatively called the

Reward Motivation Theory, it posits that motivation

is driven by the prospect of an external reward or

incentive (Bernstein, 2011). An incentive is a

stimulus that encourages an individual to perform an

action in the absence of any apparent physiological

need. In business, an incentive can be monetary i.e.

tax breaks, increasing stock or shareholder value,

asset worth or market share. The incentive can also

be non-monetary such as performance reputation,

public perception, and goodwill. What is necessary

is for the reward to be given after the performance

of an action or behavior with the specific intention

of eliciting the repeated performance of the same

behavior (psychology.com, 2015). It focuses on the

relationship between motivation and behavior.

Borrowed from the field of behavioral

psychology, Skinner and other behaviorists believe

that a person will more likely do an action that is

positively received; as such a person will avoid an

action that is negatively received. People are pulled

towards behavior that offer positive incentives and

pushed away from behavior associated with negative

incentives. In other words, differences in actions

from one person to another or from one situation to

another can be traced to the incentives available and

the value a person places on those incentives at the

time (Bernstein, 2011). The theory hinges on the

following assumptions; (i) Incentives can be used to

get people to engage in certain behaviors, but they

can also be used to get people to stop performing

certain actions. (ii) Incentives only become effective

if the individual places importance on the reward.

(iii) Rewards have to be obtainable to be motivating

(explorable.com, 2015).

3. Non-State Actors and Environmental

Regulation

Environmental policy is as a system of laws,

regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding

priorities concerning the environment, promulgated

by a governmental entity or its representatives

(Dean, 2000). Environmental policy instruments

broadly defined are tools by which governments,

and in some cases NSAs move from the

identification of problems to the actual

implementation of policy responses. This paper

focuses on the historical development of EO as a

market-based (MB) environmental policy

instrument.

MBIs are proxies for market signals in the form

of change to relative prices and financial transfer

between polluters and society (Sprenger, 2000).

Unlike the command and control regulatory regime,

which places linear constraints on the polluter, a

market-based instrument acts via economic signals

or incentives to which polluters are expected to

respond to.

Before the 1970s, the initiative for

environmental pollution control was championed by

the state. This state-centric initiative is, however,

changing with the emergence of environmental

issues as international concern in the 1960s

prompted by a growing sense that state-level action

has not been sufficient in dealing effectively with

this burgeoning problem (Barry, 2007). An example

of this was the failure of states at the United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development in

1992, to reach a consensus on creating a sustainable

forest policy. This failure led to the creation of the

FSC in 1993, by non-state actors to help tackle

accelerating tropical deforestation, environmental

degradation and social exclusion (Vogt et al., 2000)

In reaction to this phenomenon, Barry (2007) posits

that there was a drive by government to include

NSAs in the path to finding innovative solutions to

human-induced environmental issues. This inclusive

process consequently facilitated the emergence of

domestic and transnational private governance

systems, which derived their policy-making

authority not from the state, but from the

manipulation of global markets and attention to

customer preferences (Cashore, 2002).

The FSC certification scheme is an

example of a tool adopted by non-state actors in

influencing and regulating environmental activities;

it is in most cases voluntary and has incentives

attached to it (Cashore, 2002). According to the

United Nations and FAO Forest Products Annual

Market Review (2009-2010), FSC is the fastest-

growing forest certification system in the world with

over 180 million ha forest, in 80 countries, certified

to FSC Standard. The forest is a renewable natural

resource, and in Canada alone, over 50 million ha

has been certified to the FSC forest management

standard, making up 31% of global forests certified

in Canada (FSC.org, 2015).

Conversely, petroleum, being a non-

renewable resource, is bereft of a similar innovative

initiative in a drive to operate more responsibly. The

rise of former importers of crude oil to the

committee of petroleum exporting countries with the

use of unconventional exploration techniques has

compounded current environmental issues in this

sector (Li and Carlson, 2014). As of today, the



48

United States is experiencing its most rapid

expansion in oil and gas production in four decades,

owing mainly to the implementation of new

extraction technology policies such as horizontal

drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing. The

environmental impacts of this innovation, from its

effect on water quality to the influence of increased

methane leakage on climate, have been a matter of

intense debate (Li and Carlson, 2014). Similarly, the

petroleum industry has been fraught with many

challenges that have spanned from accidents to

perceived negligence (Edman, 2015). The industry

has had critical performance problems like the Santa

Barbara oil spill in 1969, the Piper Alpha platform

explosion in 1988, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in

1989, the Macondo blowout in 2010, and the British

Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to name a

few. The industry’s ability to prevent and respond to

these environmental and human disasters has not

met public expectation (Edman, 2015). This

situation has historically resulted in lengthy and not

very productive litigation battles

(Equitableorigin.org, 2015). Cashore (2002)

echoing this point, opined that an important task

facing governments, non-governmental

organizations (NGOs), business, and global civil

societies in the 21st century is the need to develop

effective environmental policy instruments for

encouraging the environmentally sensitive behavior

needed for sustainable development.

4. Market-Based Instruments and

Environmental Regulation

In the last two decades, the field of

environmental science and policy has made

increasing efforts to value ecosystem services in

monetary terms, articulating such values through

markets to create economic incentives for

conservation (Balmford et al., 2002). Some

countries and institutions now accept that the way to

protect the environment is to price nature’s services

and trade these services within a global market

(Daily, 1997; Anderson and Leal, 2001). These price

mechanisms have however in practice been

Pigovian, which is to say government centered

(Baggethun and Perez, 2011). However, consumers

are now emerging as important agents in choosing to

exercise collective power to boycott polluters and

poor labor practices and purchasing products from

companies with better environmental and social

standards. These new schemes are often coordinated

by transnational NGOs (Elkington and Hailes, 1993)

and are called the Coasean solution where a

privately driven market exists, and ecosystem

services can be priced, bought, and sold (Baggethun

and Perez, 2011).

In theory, Stavins (2001) opined that if

properly designed and implemented, market-based

instruments (like certification schemes) can

facilitate pollution clean-up at the lowest overall

cost to society, by providing incentives rather than

equalizing pollution levels among firms as with

uniform emission standards. Pigovian market-based

instruments are designed to force producers and

consumers to take account of the environmental

implications of their action. This approach gives

producers the freedom to choose and adopt their

activities, enabling them to apply least-cost

solutions and create a dynamic, which encourages

the search for and the application of better and more

affordable means of maintaining and improving

environmental quality (Andersen Et al, 2000).

However in practice as Stavins (2001) notes, this has

not been the result, as these instruments have not

achieved what they claimed.

5. Equitable Origin EO 100TM

Certification: Historical Development of a Novel

Approach to Responsible Oil and Gas

Production 5.1.Setting the Pace

Equitable Origin was founded as a market-

based tool that seeks to complement contemporary

regulatory policy instruments by David Poritz, a

lawyer from the United States, and Manuel Pallares,

an Ecuadorian biologist and authority on the

relationship between resource extraction and

Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon Basin in 2009.

They worked for nearly a decade to empower local

and indigenous communities in Ecuador to protect

themselves and their lands from the often damaging

practices of irresponsible operators in the extractive

Oil and Gas industries. Recognizing that litigation

did not produce timely results or consistently

effective action, Poritz realized the need for a

market-based mechanism to incentivize oil and gas

companies to operate with the highest levels of

social and environmental performance (Equitable

Origin, 2014).

The idea was born in January 2009 and as

at May 2014, Equitable Origin spearheaded an effort

that brought together various stakeholders, who

negotiated and influenced the creation of the

EO100™ Standard. This initiative is driven by

passion for greater transparency and credibility in

the oil and gas industry; through independent, third-

party verification of best practices and market

incentives.

5.2.A Timeline of the Process The first step was to create a multi-stakeholder

group in February 2009, to develop a consultation

draft of the EO100™ Standard; the group was also

to create a rating system for social and

environmental responsibility in oil and gas

exploration and production activities. The multi-

stakeholder group comprised oil and gas companies,

governments, local and indigenous communities,

academia, environmental and social NGOs in

Ecuador.



49

(Table created by author showing stakeholders

consulted during the development of the EO100TM )

By December of 2009 the first consultation

draft of the EO100™ Standard was made public.

With this success, over 70 workshops were held with

local and indigenous communities affected by oil

and gas exploration and production in Ecuador.

Many of these workshops took place in Ecuador's

hydrocarbon regions. Also, through the

Coordinating Organization of Indigenous

Communities of the Amazon Basin (C.O.I.C.A) and

Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon

Basin of Ecuador

(C.O.N.F.E.N.I.A.E), consultations were

held with representatives of Indigenous

Peoples’ Organizations

(I.P.O) like the Achuar, Sápara, Shiviar,

and Shuar. Between June and November

2010, Equitable Origin held public

comment sessions and over 1,300

comments were collected from

stakeholders.

Moving to the next stage in

January 2012, a document titled EO100

Standard was presented to industry

specialists in Washington D.C., Paris and

Manaus on one hand, and international

NGOs including the Nature Conservancy,

Wildlife Conservation Society,

Conservation International, and the

International Union of Conservation for

Nature on the other. Other institutions

consulted include experts in International

Standards from Accountability (I.S.A),

the International Finance Corporation of

the World Bank, the Inter-American

Development Bank, International

Standard Organisation (ISO) and

International Social and Environmental

Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL).

Similarly, a formal Stakeholder

Consultation Committee was formed with

representatives from four stakeholder

groups: Oil and Gas producers,

Government Agencies, Local and

Indigenous communities, environmental

and development NGOs and Academia.

This committee was charged with the

responsibility of communicating

deliberations to all stakeholders and

providing a conduit for feedback.

Important to note also is the fact that by

December 2012, Equitable Origin

Stakeholder Council and Technical

Committee was established; EO is also a

full member of ISEAL as at May 2014.

The current revised version of the

EO100™ Standard was made public in

February 2014.

5.3.Developing the EO 100TM: The multi-stakeholder consultations revealed

the need to address issues like labor rights, cultural

rights, income, social services, value chains, water,

soil, biodiversity, and energy to ensure

sustainability. They further streamlined these issues

into Social, Environmental, and Economic impact of

oil and gas operations in extractive locations. The

end product of the stakeholder process resulted in

the creation of a standard certification document

called EO100TM that is the foundation on which the

Equitable Origin System exist (EO100TM Standard,

2012).

Type of

Organization

List of participants

Government

Agencies

Ecuador

Ministry of

Environment

Ministry of

Mining and

Energy

National Hydrocarbon Agency

Country Brand Colombia

Oil and Gas

Industry and

Service

Providers

Ivanhoe Energy Ecuador

Petroamazonas EP

Walsh Ecuador

Auditoria Ambiental

Indigenous

Peoples’

Organizations

Coordinating Organization of Indigenous

Communities of the Amazon

Basin (COICA)

Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the

Amazon Basin of Ecuador

(CONFENIAE)

Organization of Kichua Communities of Napo

(FIKAE)

NGOs and

Academia

Fundación Pachamama

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ)

Universidad de las Américas (UDLA)

Standard

Organizations

International Standard Organisation (ISO)

International Social and Environmental

Accreditation and Labelling

(ISEAL)



50

EO100TM outlines six sustainability principles

that will serve as a benchmark for assessing

responsible production practices in the oil and gas

industry. The first principle is strictly social in scope

and seeks to scrutinize business practices. It is called

Corporate Governance, Accountability, and Ethics.

It has the objectives of auditing the integrity,

transparency and conformance practices of an oil

company within its host environment. The second

principle is social and economic in scope, scrutinizes

labor and cultural rights, income, value chain and

social services. It is called Human Rights, Social

Impact, and

Community Development principle. It has the

objective of auditing an organization’s respect for

the fundamental human right and dignity of the

individual, according to the United Nations

declaration on human rights, community

development, and stakeholder engagement. The

third principle also has a social and economic scope,

with a particular focus on the employees. It is called

Fair Labor & Working Conditions principle. The

audit is on an employer’s compliance with

International Labor Organization

(ILO) conventions number 29, 87, 95, 105, 111, 138

and 182 which are core standards covered by the

1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles

and Rights at work, and its follow-up.

The fourth principle is also social in scope. It is

centered on cultural rights. It is called Indigenous

Peoples’ Right principle. The audit of this principle

is based on ensuring that development projects

recognize indigenous people’s rights as determined

in the Union Nations Declaration on Human Rights

of Indigenous People ILO Conventio169, and to

assure Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of

affected Indigenes.

The fifth Principle is environmental in scope; it

is centered on sustainable practices around Water,

soil, biodiversity, energy carbon. This principle is

called Climate Change, Biodiversity & Environment

principle. The certification audits practices towards

the protection of the biophysical environment and

ensuring that environmental and social impacts are

clearly addressed throughout the project life cycle,

with negative impacts avoided or minimized and

opportunities for positive impacts identified and

implemented.

The sixth principle is also environmental in

scope and is focused on natural resources. It is called

Project Life Cycle Management. The audit of this

principle is to ensure the adoption and use of

organizational and operations management systems

and mechanisms. This audit is to assess project risks,

including risk to communities, stakeholders, and

business partners, and ensure systems manage and

improve ethical, human rights, social and

environmental business practices associated with

Principles 1 through 5 of the EO100 Standard.

5.4.Verification, performance, measurement

and scoring of the principles These principles are to be used as a

benchmark and performance measure in the audit

and certification of production sites, by trained third-

party independent auditors. According to the

EO100TM document, independent auditors are

employed to inspect and certify production sites for

ethical, social and environmental business practices

that align with the EO100TM six principles. This

auditing or verification process generates a numeric

score for operators, representing the degree to which

its operations meet the performance targets of the

EO100TM standards. There are three levels of

performance target verification ranked against these

principles as contained in the EO document.

Performance Target One is the minimum criteria a

production site needs to pass to be certified. It is

awarded for a project that meets industry norms for

good policy and performance practice regarding all

six principles outlined above. Performance Target

Two and Three are however not explicitly defined in

the document, but it is a performance target scoring

for using innovative solutions to solve the

challenges the above six principles may not be able

to address. Once a site is certified as compliant with

the above six principles, a tradable logo is awarded

which can be traded with consumers in the EO

market; this process is called Payment for

Ecosystem Services. P.E.S is the conditioned and

voluntary transaction between at least one provider

and one beneficiary of well-defined ecosystem

services (Wunder, 2005). The underlying rationale

is that beneficiaries of ecosystem services should

compensate the stewards that maintain or protect the

environment from which they benefit.

In summary, as a voluntary market

instrument, it seeks to enable consumers to reward

responsible oil and gas producers through a

certificate trading platform that returns sales revenue

generated from end-users of oil and gas products to

a certified project site to invest back into community

development and environmental protection. A

certified production site generates EO Certificates,

each representing one barrel of crude oil which can

be purchased by consumers who want to match their

consumption of oil or gas products to responsible

production. Revenue from certificate sales goes

toward social or environmental improvement

projects at certified production sites

(equitableorigin.com).

5.5.Using a practical example: A Case Study

of the Quifa and Rubiales fields The Quifa and Rubiales fields are located in

Orinoquia region, a vast, inter-tropical savannah

intersected by relatively high-biodiversity gallery

forests. The forests function as biogeographic

corridors for wildlife. The forest is excluded from all

operation activities in consideration of the high



51

density and diversity of species in the area. Pacific

Rubiales has since 2012 committed to adopting the

EO100™ Standard at the Quifa and Rubiales fields.

The oil and gas firm spent over 18 months in

implementing various provisions of the certification

scheme in preparation for a certification audit in

2014. The audit was conducted over two weeks in

late spring and early summer of 2014 by a team

assembled by the EO-approved Certification Body

Deloitte & Touche Ltd, Bogota, Colombia. The

private independent audit team from Deloitte &

Touche Ltd. consisted of two auditors and one lead

auditor. In addition to reviewing policies &

procedures, the auditors observed operations and

spoke with workers, contractors, and the company’s

management. They also spent significant time in the

field, interviewing representatives from local NGOs,

churches, union leaders, members of surrounding

communities, and indigenous leaders to verify and

contextualize findings on the site.

The EO100™ Standard incentivizes continual

improvement of practices at certified sites, and the

Pacific and Rubiales sites will be audited annually

by Equitable Origin-approved organizations to

monitor the progress. The Quifa and Rubiales sites

achieved a 100 percent EO100™ Certification Score

with six areas of improvement identified. In addition

to their 100 percent certification score, the sites

received an EO Leadership Rating of Bronze,

indicating that the operations went beyond best

practices in occupational health and safety, workers’

rights, ethical conduct, human rights, and

engagement with indigenous people.

5.6.Prospects and Challenges Market instruments generally and

environmental certification, in particular, come with

the promise of benefits; this motivates and

incentivizes businesses to adopt them. They could

span from increased market shares, or price

premium from carrying a logo, to better relationship

with shareholders.

As a non-renewable natural resource, oil and

gas exploration comes with a considerable amount

of production externalities. These externalities

cannot be differentiated by consumers when they

purchase end products of petroleum and gas.

However with the introduction of the EO

certification logo, individually certified production

sites can differentiate their products in the market.

This differentiation is anticipated to avail logo

carries an avenue to charge an extra premium for

their products from environmental conscious end

users. This process, in theory, is anticipated to

incentivise oil and gas companies to be more ethical

and responsible in their operations by creating a

reward system for compliance.

Inherently, market instruments have some

weaknesses; however this does not preclude its

potential as useful complementary policy tools.

Stavins and Whitehead (2005) posit a focus on

improving the design of the market instruments to

counter the resistance from private firms, to calm

fears of environmental groups and to ensure that cost

saving is achieved as such policy tools have

promised. Thus, this paper opens up the debate for

further empirical research to provide a scientifically

sound assessment of the weaknesses and

effectiveness of certification and labeling schemes

in enhancing responsible oil and gas production

standards.

6. Conclusion

This paper has provided a historical perspective

on the development of a novel market-based

certification scheme (Equitable Origin) for

responsible oil and gas production activities. The

paper has also explored the potential of the

certification scheme to facilitate responsible oil and

gas production using the incentive theory of

motivation. The incentive is a driving factor for

business activities; the more incentivising a

regulation is, the higher the chances of compliance.

The promise of compliance benefits is what market

instruments like certification schemes bring to the

environmental policy toolkit.

The EO certification scheme in theory

holds the promise of encouraging responsible oil and

gas production. Be that as it may, the effectiveness

of this certification scheme in the oil and gas

industry needs further research. However, it can be

submitted that if calibrated properly as opined by

scholars like Stavins and Whitehead, a market-based

certification scheme in the oil and gas industry could

hold the potential to facilitate responsible oil and gas

production.

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A CASE BASED ANALYSIS OF

NEOLIBERAL APPROACHES TO WATER

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN

INDONESIA, BOLIVIA, CANADA, AND THE

UNITED KINGDOM

Dylan Emerson Odd

Graduate Assistant and Research Assistant,

Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of

Newfoundland

[email protected]

Abstract

Within the last several decades governments around

the world have been experimenting with neoliberal

approaches to water resource management in an

effort to alleviate financial and operational

constraints of public sector management. As these

socioeconomic political experiments go unnoticed in

a broader global context, important questions arise

regarding the aggregate outcome of similar policies.

Determining whether such policies have net positive

impacts necessitates a case based analysis of

neoliberal experiments. Though limited by

secondary analysis, the findings of this paper

conclude that neoliberal approaches to water

resource management have had a largely negative

impact on populations where implemented. These

findings, though not exhaustive, suggest that

neoliberal approaches to water resource

management should be a bastion of last resort for

governments, especially where regulatory

mechanisms are weak or unenforced.

Keyword: water resources; resource management

policy; neoliberalism; commodification;

sustainability; sustainable development

Alternative citation (online): Odd, D.E. (2015) “A

Case Based Analysis of Neoliberal Approaches to

Water Resources Management in Indonesia,

Bolivia, Canada, and the United Kingdom”

JWHSD, 1(4), 40-54. Available at:

http://wwhsdc.org/jwhsd/articles/.

1. Introduction

Environmental governance has become one of

the most interesting and engaging areas of policy

development in the past several decades. A major

reason for this is the need for original approaches to

old problems. Consideration of the environment in

human decision-making adds another facet to issues

which were already made complicated by social and

economic dimensions. Academics from a variety of

fields have engaged in debate focusing on adapting

both old and new ideological tenants for modern

environmental management problems (see Bakker,

2005, 2007, 2010, 2013; Castree, 2008, 2010, 2011;

McCarthy & Prudham, 2004). Though no discourse

can be declared the dominant global force,

neoliberalism may be a strong contender (Anderson,

2000; Peck, 2001).

The flow of resources and environmental

services from public control into the private sector

ownership is occurring at a rapid rate (Bakker, 2013;

Bailey, 2005; Castree, 2008). Private corporations

are gaining ownership of resources, taking control of

environmental management in entire geographic

regions, and acquiring the rights to regulate key

services including water and waste management

(Peck, 2001; Bailey, 2005). Mirroring these

transitions is the growing body of literature debating

the merits and flaws of this trend (see Bakker 2013;

Bailey, 2005; Castree, 2008).

Proponents of the market based oversight of

nature and natural resource management argue that

it provides the necessary tools to improve

management practices, increase the quality of

deliverables, spur markets in environmental proxies

such as carbon permits, and reduce the economic

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54

load on the private sector (Anderson, & Leal, 1992;

Bailey, 2005). Opponents of this trend discard the

notions of societal and environmental benefit

(Prudham, 2004). Instead, they see this as the

corporate capture of environmental resources,

regions, and services, and argue that governance by

profit-driven entities will increase stress brought to

bear on the environment, society and human health

(see Anderson, 2000; Bakker, 2010).

This paper analyzes existing literature on the

neoliberalization of water services monitoring and

management. The theoretical argument of this work

is grounded in Polanyi’s (2001) theories of the

‘fictitious commodity’ and ‘double movement’ and

contextualized through case-based analysis. The

literature focuses on privatization of water supply

services in several different regions via case studies

of Jakarta, Indonesia; Cochabamba, Bolivia;

Walkerton, Ontario, Canada; and England and

Wales. Though the scope of this commentary is

relatively narrow and limited by the number of cases

explored, the lesson is broad, far reaching and

starkly evident in the small sample of neoliberal

experiments explored herein.

This work provides the reader with an overview

of the historical roots and ideological tenets of

neoliberalism and its relationship with

environmental issues in a broad sense. It then

discusses the benefits and pitfalls of

neoliberalization of water resources and services

noted in specific case studies which focus on various

regions, geographies, economies, and states. The

analysis focuses largely on the negative implications

of poorly executed policies to highlight the

importance of robust and responsive policy

frameworks when relying upon market actors. It

intends to explore the consequences of various styles

and ‘levels’ of neoliberalization, identify

reoccurring themes, and highlight problem areas and

prescriptive policies within the ideology. It is

beyond the scope of this work to determine what – if

any – neoliberal policies would facilitate successful

water resource monitoring and management, instead

this work highlights the vast array of circumstances

under which such policies miss the mark. The goal

of this paper is to demonstrate that neoliberalization

fails to provide a socially equitable and

environmentally sustainable framework from which

to deliver water resource management.

2. Overview of Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism can be described as a political

ideology dedicated to reducing the size and scope of

government while simultaneously increasing market

omnipotence (Liverman, & Vilas, 2003). As it is

simply put by Noel Castree (2010), “[neoliberalism]

designates an approach to the conduct of human

affairs in which the so-called ‘free market’ is given

priority” (p.1726). The concept of neoliberalism

stems from thinkers such as Milton Friedman and

Friedrich von Hayek. These individuals vehemently

condemned protectionist economic practices and the

welfare states that arose out of the end of the Second

World War (Castree, 2010). In opposition to

prevailing trends of western society during the

period, these academics proposed more libertarian

policies which empowered ‘capable individuals’ and

freed markets to dictate flows of wealth and

investment (Anderson, & Leal, 1992).

Though influenced by the said academics,

contemporary neoliberal policies are most often

traced to the late 1970s – early 80s when Margaret

Thatcher and Ronald Reagan embraced the tenets of

the ideology. The two championed free-market

policies, favoring practices that pushed ‘the market’

into realms previously under governmental control,

and increased its power in traditional territories

(Rees, 1998). As a result, Britain and the United

States projected neoliberal tenets throughout the

world in the form of international trade agreements

and reform packages, foreign direct investment,

competitive market-friendly regulations, and

individualist rhetoric (Cohen, 2007). The

international nature of neoliberalism is part of what

many academics argue differentiates it from

previous liberal capitalist endeavors (Anderson,

2000).

Proponents of neoliberalism then and now assert

that government ownership and management of the

commons is not optimized for social progress;

therefore it fails to meet society’s standards

(Andersson, 1991). These positions center around

several key arguments, which denounce public

control and ownership because governments are

insulated from the competitive nature of free

markets, susceptible to undue influence from special

interest groups, and lack the proper checks and

balances to permit effective use of public recourse

when the needs of society are not met (Andersson,

1991; Rees, 1998).

Castree (2010) provides an easily digestible

breakdown of the characteristics of neoliberalism in

his paper entitled “Neoliberalism and the

Biophysical Environment 1”. Essentially he argues

that neoliberalism can be broken down into seven

practices, which include: privatization,

marketization, deregulation, market-friendly

regulation, market-mimicking government policies,

encouragement of flanking mechanisms, and

promoting individual and community empowerment

(Castree, 2010). Though these seven practices are

endorsed by neoliberal proponents, one should not



55

assume that they are uniform or even present in

every instance of neoliberal restructuring (Bakker,

2010). Neoliberalism is employed to varying degrees

– with varying amounts of success – in states

throughout the world. Therefore, this paper focuses

on several cases of neoliberal restructuring in an

effort to identify reoccurring issues and trends in its

implementation.

3. Water Supply Challenges

In developing nations and developed nations

alike, water supply services are an ongoing and often

insurmountable undertaking. Projects to increase

access to water, prevent the contamination of water

sources, and regulate water usage have spanned

several decades and stretched many societies to the

breaking point (see the case of Bolivia in Liverman,

& Vilas, 2006). Proponents of the privatization of

water as well as water supply services and

mechanisms argue that privatization is a means of

improving the amount resources delivered, as well

as their quality and cost-efficiency; all while

reducing tax burdens and governmental

mismanagement (Andersson, 1991; Bakker, 2013;

Rees, 1998). Neoliberal proponents claim that the

restructuring of water systems will have positive

benefits for all stakeholders; however a review of

case studies pertaining to its implementation

throughout the world suggests that there are many

pertinent factors at play.

3.1.Indonesia

Karen Bakker (2007) conducted an analysis of

private sector participation in the water supply

systems of Jakarta, Indonesia during the period

between 1998 and 2005. Jakarta has suffered the fate

of many large urban centers in developing nations.

The city rapidly increased in population over the past

several decades, from 6.5 million in 1980 to an

estimated 18 million in the mid-2000s (Bakker,

2007). The population consists of a high percentage

of urban poor; the tax base to facilitate the growing

demand for infrastructure has been all but

unavailable. Bakker, (2007) notes that the Jakarta

water sector was caught up in a cycle of “low cost

recovery, low revenue, low investment, and low

levels of service” (p.857), with less than half the

residents having access to water infrastructure.

In response to these issues, the government

turned to private sector investment and

marketorientated restructuring of the water sector,

going as far as commoditizing water rights, and

1 Private companies were paid by municipal tax dollars so the

corporations focused on regions with high tax revenues to ensure

their repayments occurred. See Bakker, 2007, p. 862.

establishing a tradable water-permit system (Bakker,

2007). The goal was to invite private companies into

the fray, as they would engender private investment,

improve efficiency in the system, and increase

access to the resource in poor communities (Bakker,

2013). The neoliberal problem solving in Jakarta

attracted Thames Water International and Ondeo;

British and French water services respectfully.

Unfortunately, the process of private sector

integration was wrought with collusion, and focused

more on individual empowerment than structural

security (Bakker, 2007). Without strong governance

models and checks on decision makers, the

marketization of water permits degraded into an

oligopoly held by the aforementioned international

corporations (Bakker, 2007). The contracts also took

planning out of the hands of government, and failed

to include direct stipulations to increase

infrastructure in poor regions of Jakarta, thus

corporations invested most of their time and money

into middle and upper class areas where their

investment would see guaranteed return.1 As such, it

is a program intended to be pro-poor refocused on

moneyed regions.

A key tenet of Neoliberalization is the

marketization of services. In the case of Jakarta, the

marketization of the water supply services

systematically disenfranchised the poor because

their buying power as consumers presented a fiscally

irresponsible investment for corporations.

Corporations identified opportunities to increase

revenue by investing in infrastructure in regions of

the city that had a higher relative income. Though

the actors were still investing the promised amount

of capital into the city, it was centralized on areas

where returns were guaranteed, meaning those

citizens who required infrastructure the most (i.e.

those living in regions with no water distribution

systems) went without (Bakker, 2013). Further, the

shift was not coupled with ‘flanking mechanisms’

(such as monitoring by social or environmental

NGOs) to facilitate civil engagement with industry.

In Jakarta the voice of the people was largely

marginalized by a weakened government and a

deregulated system. Without a robust framework to

report issues or concerns, those making up civil

society were left with few avenues for recourse

A key issue that influenced the rise of neoliberal

water management in Jakarta was the rampant

corruption within government. Reports of collusion

between the international firms that won the

contracts and national conglomerates owned by the



56

family of President Suharto tainted the contract

awarding process (Bakker, 2007). The process was

not transparent in any way and contracts were

designed to be lucrative for all parties involved

except civil society. Additionally, the government,

and thus the citizens, adopted the majority of the risk

(for more information see Bakker, 2007, p. 859-

860).

In short, neoliberal policy failed to effectively

institute a positive shift in Jakarta’s water services

issues because the socio-political situation was far

too complex –riddled with corruption,

underprivileged groups, disorganization, and elitism

– to be solved via private sector integration alone.

3.2.Bolivia

Latin American states have espoused various

neoliberal restructuring tools as well, often

pertaining to water resource and supply issues.

Advocates of the process have pushed for the

privatization of water to prompt private sector

investment in water provisions, though few full scale

privatization undertakings have occurred. The

Bolivian model, which was undertaken in the late

1990s, is one of the most ambitious neoliberal

approaches to water governance in Latin America to

date.

Under the influence of multilateral development

agencies, the Bolivian government developed a

neoliberal framework which would limit state

supervision, regulation, and planning, in favor of an

economic valuation of water resources. Thus

resources would be sold, mortgaged, and rented to

promote market oriented distribution (Assies, 2003).

Though the framework also included environmental

protection measures, it transferred the economic

responsibility over the resource to the private sector.

Critics argue that the resulting concession and

licensing program – though available to any legal

entity – highly favored corporations (Liverman, &

Vilas, 2006).

Unlike the case of Jakarta, the Bolivian

undertaking occurred on a national level. The State

established a framework to support concessional

relationships between major water rights holders and

individuals, and acknowledged that redistribution

for the poor was a necessary aspect of water supply

(Assies, 2003). Nonetheless, the privatization of

water meant that principles of economic efficiency

and financial capitalization outweighed human need.

Additionally, where private actors in Jakarta didn’t

succeed in privatizing ground water resources, the

Bolivian model made all water the commodity of the

regional rights holder, meaning off-grid supply

methods like water supply cooperatives were

required to pay concessions to private

concessionaires (Bakker, 2007; Assies, 2003).

The failure of the Bolivian model resulted from

strict adherence to neoliberal principles without

consideration of societal welfare. Policy granting

precedent to economic efficiency over social and

environmental issues was highly contested by the

citizenry. The city of Cochabamba was the site of

major anti-liberalization protests, which escalated

throughout the nation (Liverman, & Vilas, 2006).

Environmentalists, social activists, and the rural

as well as urban poor opposed the policies because

they made access to water difficult. In addition to

poorly executed economic incentives to prevent

pollution, and high infrastructural costs, the country

was left politically weak and void of a command and

control structure for water issues (Assies, 2003).

Unfeasible pricing, low water quality, weak

mechanisms for legal recourse against private

holders, and avenues for polluters to simply pay

away the damage inflicted on the environment were

all failures of the neoliberal policies (Liverman, &

Vilas, 2006). Citizens voiced their dissatisfaction

through non-state mechanisms (flanking

mechanisms); however neoliberal policies were not

abandoned until prolonged work stoppages and

violent protests resulted in heavy financial losses in

other sectors (Assies, 2003).

The commodification of water in Bolivia ran

aground for reasons outlined in Polanyi’s theory of

the ‘fictitious commodity’. Polanyi’s argument is

that ecological materials that sustain life cannot be

controlled by a self-regulating economy alone, as

they do not respond to price signals (Castree, 2008).

This places social necessities at odds with economic

necessities in a competition over access to

biophysical nature. The result of this competition is

often social unrest, for the reason that citizens

require access to these resources, regardless of their

‘free market price signal’ (Prudham, 2004).

3.3.Canada

Proponents of neoliberal undertakings in the

water sector may argue that the corruption and

insurmountable infrastructural issues were the

causes of the systems failure in the previously

explored case, or suggest that neoliberal policies

only have negative impacts in developing nations.

Conversely, opponents of the neoliberal policies

assert that the profit driven nature of corporate

entities and water supply programs resulted in the

social and environmental disparity of the

aforementioned cases, that is, unless those entities

are otherwise regulated and held accountable by

strict societal standards. Prudham (2004) makes this

argument in his case study of the water



57

contamination crisis in Walkerton, Ontario. The

crisis occurred in 2000 and resulted in seven deaths

and twenty three hundred cases of Escherichia coli

infections among the residents of the community

(Prudham, 2004). The author argues that the

incidents of death and infection are the direct result

of neoliberal reforms and weak regulations, which

were introduced by the neoconservative Ontario

government led by Mike Harris (Prudham, 2004, p.

344).

The major tenets of the Harris form of

neoliberalism were deregulation and privatization.

Cuts to water quality regulations and the Ministry of

Environment ensured that incidents of water

contamination were far more likely to occur, while

simultaneously reducing the likelihood that such

contamination would be detected (Prudham, 2004).

The Walkerton case highlights the fact that

deregulation and dependency on for-profit entities to

monitor environmental issues is inherently risk

oriented; “new environmental risks are often closely

tied to struggles over the apparatus of the state as a

source of capitalist market regulation” (Prudham,

2004, p. 345).

In 1995, funding for Ministry of Environment’s

provincial water testing facilities was removed,

forcing Ontario municipalities to hire private

contractors to test their water samples. In addition,

the provincial government failed to pass quality

standards or establish reporting mechanisms for

private water testing entities and municipal water

facilities, effectively relying on the concept of

corporate social responsibility to fill the void left by

weak regulatory standards (Prudham, 2004).

Without a strong regulatory framework to ensure the

quality of private entities servicing the provinces’

water supply, what Prudham (2004) describes as a

‘normal neoliberal failure’ occurred. The failure is

‘normal’ because marketization runs on competition,

meaning failure is necessary to direct investment to

private firms that can supply the best possible

service. The model works when searching for the

best coffee in town or a great burger; but the

Walkerton case demonstrates the inherent problems

that occur when shopping around for the best

supplier of an essentially service like water quality

testing.

3.4.United Kingdom

In the case of England and Wales explored by

Bakker, (2005) the state turned to private water and

sewage entities when government entities felt they

were incapable of providing water services to the

citizens of the country at an affordable rate. Though

the change itself had little to do with environmental

issues, the changing hands in resource ownership

from public to private has a major impact on

societies understanding of, and relationship with, the

resource in question. Castree (2011) argues that the

environmental effects of this change are dependent

upon the socio-cultural relationship with nature.

Bakker (2005) supports this claim, and argues that

socio-cultural relationship with water facilitated its

partial neoliberalization in England and Wales;

where the government succeeded in privatization

and commercialization, but failed commodification

of the resource (Bakker, 2005). Commodification

failed because the resource is difficult to create

competition around, even with government

intervention to introduce competition, the

monopolization of water services is a central

problem to the neoliberal dream of competitive

water supply markets (Bakker, 2005). Further,

Bakker (2005) found that even with the influence of

water markets, the value of clean water in England

and Wales is not high enough to effectively prevent

pollution through market environmentalism. Thus

the neoliberalization of water, even in the best-case

scenario, appears to require governmental

intervention via command and control regulatory

frameworks and public monitoring. Nonetheless, the

project highlights the merits of privatization.

England and Wales have streamlined water services

workforces and induced greater private stakeholder

investment through privatization and marketization

of the water supply (Bakker, 2005).

3.5.Theoretical Discussion

In contrast to issues brought forward by thinkers

critical of the privatization of water and neoliberal

approaches to water supply systems, many

academics support the use of such policies in

specific contexts. Anderson and Leal (1992) argue in

favor of neoliberal approaches to water control by

asserting that “markets for water will ensure correct

water prices, thereby promoting greater efficiency

and conservation” (p. 1). This is a common

theoretical argument, which stipulates that actors are

not motivated unless they have a ‘stake’ in the

outcome. It is based off the idea that absence of

motivation arises from lack of accountability – if the

official cannot be held responsible for the action then

the official will be unconcerned with externalities –

and an inability to properly understand the impact of

inaction –officials often depend on personal

valuations or special interest groups to determine the

value of a resource or service (Anderson, & Leal,

1992).

In response to these complaints, proponents of

neoliberalism argue for commodification.

Commodifying the resource theoretically creates a

stake or interest in the resource, while exposing it to



58

market pressure determines its value (Bailey, 2005).

Additionally, with property rights the intrinsic value

of resources can be realized, which theoretically

provides the requisite motivation to improve the

quality of the resource and necessary delivery

mechanisms (Anderson, & Leal, 1992). Finally,

threats to commodities are mitigated by property

rights (Anderson, & Leal, 1992).

Neoliberal Proponents argue that small scale

private water services are already supplying the poor

in developing countries with water, at prices far

higher than they suggest large scale private contracts

would charge, and without concern for health issues

and resource quality (Bailey, 2005; Bakker, 2007).

Additionally, governments in many nations are not

able and often not willing to supply everyone with

clean – or even non-potable – water, meaning access

to water at a price is better than the access that did

not occur prior to privatization (Bailey, 2005).

Neoliberal theories do not consider that water,

being a necessity of human life, is extremely difficult

– if not impossible – to commodify. Polyani argues

in his book, “The Great Transformation,” that

society will move to protect itself from market

conditions which subordinate the needs of society to

the will of the market (Polanyi, 2001). The

commodification of water resources and delivery

mechanisms fail when the cost of maintaining the

quality of the said ‘products’ exceeds what members

of the society are able – or sometimes willing – to

pay. Without societal control through government

mechanisms, the market creates winners and losers

out of water consumers. In doing so, markets force –

or tempt – private actors to restrict delivery or reduce

the quality of the product to maintain capital returns,

which impedes the society’s access to a necessity of

life. When faced with marketization dilemmas,

Polanyi (2001) argues that society will create a

countermovement in the interest of self-preservation

and take action to re-embed the fictitious commodity

within social controls – what Polanyi refers to as

double movement. Polanyi argues that increased

social protections will follow increased

marketization; therefore, the privatization of water

resources requires an exhaustive policy framework

to ensure the resource remains embedded within the

control of societal interests (Polanyi, 2001).

Otherwise, citizens will create countermovement to

regain control of the necessity, as evidenced in the

neoliberal experiments analyzed above.

6. Conclusion

As demonstrated in the cases explored

throughout this paper, neoliberal approaches to

water supply are varying and multifaceted. Every

locale, region and country exists in a unique

relationship with their biophysical surroundings,

meaning similar policies can be expected to have

very different socio-political impacts. Neoliberal

policies in Jakarta failed to achieve their desired

effectiveness as a result of political corruption, an

inability or unwillingness to market water to the

poor, and a lack of foreseeable profitability for

private actors. The people of Jakarta were not

inclined to use much water, meaning the water

supply infrastructure could not be constructed in a

manner that was both economically profitable and

financially appealing to the cities poor (Bakker,

2007). In Bolivia, regulatory frameworks were

designed to rein in the profit driven motives of

privatization. Unfortunately, the commodification

of water put environmental and social interests

behind those of the market. As a result, social unrest

toppled the neoliberal structure in order to provide

public control and equitable access. The case of

Ontario is perhaps the most telling example of the

inherent issues presented by the marketization of

water supplies. A void in regulation after

governmental water testing stations were shut down

meant that the caliber of water quality testing was

determined by market competition. The experiment

resulted in catastrophic failure, causing multiple

deaths and illnesses as a result of Walkerton

unknowingly purchasing a subpar service. Finally,

the case of England and Wales highlights the

importance of strong command and control

mechanisms when implementing market based

policies to managed ‘fictitious commodities’ like

water supply. When combined with strong

reregulation to control private entities and protect

social as well as environmental interests, private

entities can play a beneficial role. Although Bakker

(2005) notes that the government and business failed

to commodify water, they succeeded in reducing

cost burdens to society through privatization and

increased private investment in the industry.

Neoliberal policies are not an effective

alternative to state monitoring, regulation and

enforcement as they fail to provide a socially

equitable and environmentally sustainable

framework from which to deliver water resource

management. Though Bakker (2005) provides a

clear example of neoliberal polices at work in the

water sector, they are toothless by comparison to

those espoused in Jakarta, Bolivia, and Ontario.

Neoliberal water policies as presented by Anderson

and Leal (1992) have proven to be highly difficult to

coordinate. Such policies are prone to collusion and

catastrophe, and in all cases incapable of

establishing a value on water resources that is

simultaneously pleasing to citizens, yet capable of

rendering pollution economically unviable. The



59

neoliberal theory of commodification and market

environmentalism creates a system that is complex,

risk oriented, and adversarial. Balancing social,

environmental, and economic interests in water has

proven to be too difficult a task for the invisible hand

of the market.

Although heavily regulated ad toothless

neoliberal tactics have had moderate success when

tempered by iron-clad bureaucratic oversight, the

findings of this article assert that such success is an

exception to the rule. In fact, the lion’s share of

neoliberal experiments in water resources

management have been met with nothing less than

catastrophe, thereby aligning with Polanyi’s

argument that ecological materials that sustain life

cannot be controlled by a self-regulating economy

alone, as they do not respond to price signals. The

overwhelming conclusion is that neoliberal policies

cannot provide a framework from which to deliver

socially and environmentally accountable water

resource monitoring and management.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Dr. Paul Foley for

commenting on the draft of the manuscript.

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