ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
IN THE AMAZON
Dr. Chaone Mallory, Philosophy
Villanova University
K-12 “TEACH BRAZIL WORKSHOP,” OCTOBER 2, 2010
Definition of environment from U.S.
environmental justice movement: “The
environment is where we live, work, play,
pray, and learn.”
-WE ACT For Environmental Justice
•This definition does not separate humans
from the natural world.
What is environmental justice?
• Looks at correlations and connections
between social inequality and environmental
problems
• Connects histories of racism, colonialism,
gender discrimination, and classism to the
fact of the disproportionate impact of
environmental problems on marginalized
groups in the present.
The Global Environmental Justice
Movement
•
Not just focused on toxics or distributional equity (i.e. who gets the “goods” and who gets
the “bads”, takes a more expansive and inclusive understanding of “justice”
“ [E]nvironmental justice activists often see themselves as outside the cultural mainstream; as
such, their identities are devalued. This question of recognition is discussed in the movement
both at the personal level and at the level of community; misrecognition is experienced in
both realms. Additionally, the construction of inclusive, participatory decision-making
institutions is at the centre of environmental justice demands. Environmental justice activists
call for policy-making procedures that encourage active community participation,
institutionalize public participation, recognize community knowledge, and utilize crosscultural formats and exchanges to enable the participation of as much diversity as exists in a
community. Environmental justice groups consistently demand a ‘place at the table’ and the
right to ‘speak for ourselves’. “
- David Schlosberg, Professor of Political Science, Northern Arizona University (“Reconceiving
Environmental Justice” p. 523 in Environmental Politics Vol.13, No.3, Autumn 2004,)
Key Themes:
• Proponents are outside of dominant power structures and their interests and identities
excluded; opposition to “mainstream” social forces
• Demand for recognition of diverse peoples, cultures, and ways of interacting with the
environment
• Call for participatory decision-making at all levels
• Community involvement and recognition of community knowledge
• Those who are most affected by environmental decisions should get to take part in them
Looking at Brazil through the lens
of environmental justice
• Brazil is 2nd most powerful economy in Americas
• Predicted to be in top 6 in terms of GDP in the
next 15 years
• Site of many struggles over issues related to
development, deforestation, resource extraction,
and indigenous rights
• Amazonia is home to many indigenous tribes
opposed to development on their lands; and
other political groups such as the MST
(Movimento Sem Terre) who organize to
empower the marginalized.
Applying an
Environmental Justice
framework can raise
awareness of the often
overlooked eco-cultural
costs of development.
For example:
Pollution
• Toxic foam chokes Brazil's most polluted
waterway, the Tietê River, near Sao Paulo
Exacerbation of exploitation and poverty
Street kids of Sao Paulo
Environmental Impacts, especially on
the Amazonian Rainforest
Slash-and-burn deforestation to clear land in Brazil
Instances of Environmental
Injustice in the Amazon
• Oil and Gas Exploration
• Land Reform (American nun Dorothy Stang
murder in 2005)
• Deforestation
• Hydroelectric Dam Installation
However, many of those negatively affected by development
are protesting and resisting in the struggle for justice
Protest against dam building by coalition group
A dam being built on land and water utilized by the
Enawene Nawe
Fighting for Survival
The Enawene Nawe
http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/enawenenawe
BBC video on The Enawene Nawe
http://www.survivalinternational.org/films/bbcfourawa
Resistance to Environmental Injustice
• Movimento Sem Terra (MST)
What is the MST?
Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement, Movimento dos
Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) in Portuguese, is the
largest social movement in Latin America with an estimated 1.5
million landless members organized in 23 out 27 states. The
MST carries out long-overdue land reform in a country mired
by unjust land distribution. In Brazil, less than 3% of the
population owns two-thirds of the land on which crops could
be grown. (http://www.mstbrazil.org/)
Conclusion
• Environmental Justice in Brazil and the
Amazon requires attention to the effects of
development on indigenous tribes, women,
children, and the urban poor.
• Resistance groups in Brazil, like the MST, are
part of the struggle for global environmental
justice.