With a myriad of laws and regulations to navigate, investing in property can seem overwhelming even on your home turf. This is even truer if you are looking to purchase real estate overseas, where everything from the local customs to the legal requirements will be unfamiliar.
Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo credit: tripsgate.com
What are the laws international buyers are likely to encounter when hunting for real estate in some of the leading investment destinations in the emerging markets?
Asia: invest through leasehold, not freehold
At first glance, it may seem that buying property outright is out of the question in many countries. In the Philippines, for example, non-Filipinos are not permitted to own land. However, they can lease private land for a period of 50 years, and this lease can be renewed for a further 25 years. Additionally, the Condominium Act permits non-nationals to buy condominium units as long as total foreign ownership in the development does not exceed 40 percent.
Similarly, owning property outright in Indonesia is a right that is reserved for citizens. Hak Milik, or right of ownership, can only be held by Indonesian nationals. However, Hak Pakai, or right of use, can be issued to both foreign individuals residing in Indonesia and foreign-invested entities.
In Myanmar, a country which has attracted record levels of foreign investment following political and economic reforms, similar restrictions surrounding ownership apply. However, under the foreign investment law introduced in November 2012, international investors are eligible for land leases of up to 50 years, which can then be renewed for two 10-year periods.
Middle East: ownership allowed, with restrictions
In Saudi Arabia, foreigners can own property outright but should still expect to face some restrictions. Foreign companies must have a legal presence in the Kingdom, while individual investors have to live in the country and must also hold a permit from the Ministry of the Interior. An important exception is the holy cities of Mecca and Madinah, where only Saudi nationals are entitled to buy property.
In Jordan, similar rules apply. Individual foreign investors can buy property for residential purposes, provided that their country of residence has a reciprocal relationship. International buyers will need to seek approval from the Cabinet (Council of Ministers), as well as from the Minister of Finance or the General Director of the Survey Department. Investors from other Arab nations are exempt from this requirement.
Latin America: ownership restricted by location
In Mexico, whether a foreigner can buy property outright depends on the location. Restrictions are placed on foreign ownership of land in a prohibited zone which includes land that is within 50km of the coastline or 100km from the country’s international borders. The restriction is included in Mexico’s 1917 constitution and reflects fears from that time about the United States’ expansion. However, foreigners can still acquire property within this restricted zone through a bank trust, known as a fideicomiso.
Likewise, few restrictions exist for foreign buyers in Peru, unless the property is located within 50km of the country’s border. Elsewhere in Latin America, international investors face very few limitations.
In Colombia, foreigners looking to invest in property have the same ownership rights as citizens of the country. Even tourists can acquire property here without proof of residency.
Africa: mixed investment opportunities
Foreign investment in property in many African markets is restricted. One notable exception is Morocco, which is open and actively attracting foreign buyers. Foreigners are not required to hold residency in order to tap into the country’s booming property market. However, international investors looking to buy here should hire both a notary and a local lawyer to get expert advice for navigating the real estate market.
Elsewhere, buying property on a freehold basis is not an option for international investors. In Tanzania, where the bulk of the country’s real estate is government owned, foreigners can only occupy land when it is intended as an investment. This can be done by obtaining a right of occupancy through the Tanzania Investment Centre.
In other countries, foreign ownership is often restricted to a leasehold basis, such as in Kenya where international buyers can acquire property only on a 99-year lease.
In Nigeria, the Land Use Act restricts foreign acquisition to no more than a 25 year lease and also requires written approval from the state government.
National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) principal consultant, Emmanuel Osiegbu, has said that the agency has undertaken the process of testing all commercially packaged water in the country to make sure that they conform to the requisite standard for consumption.
DG of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii. Photo credit: thisdaylive.com
Addressing owners of water companies in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, Osiegbu said the agency cannot categorically say the percentage contribution of water to cancer, infant mortality and other water diseases because of lack of data.
“But from what we are seeing in the water that we have been analysing at least since we started this programme, we have seen lead and others and this are things that cause cancer and if you relate that with the high rate of cancer in the country. We are not saying water is the only cause of cancer but it is part of the things we have to take control.
“In terms of infant mortality if you go to the hospital every day you will see issues where diarrhoea, cholera and children are dying every day, so it is something that is related to water borne diseases and water. So the essence of this exercise is to exonerate the commercial packaged water so that people will know that the water that we produce is safe for human consumption.
On plans to tackle other sources of water, Osiegbu stated, “The agency has its own jurisdiction. But this is one area that the DG is looking into, we are starting with registered and commercial packaged water so that we can build up a data base and send the information to the National Assembly and say there is a problem let us look at it.
“Even with the water works we need the right equipment to conduct the analysis and that is what we want to see,” he said.
Kaduna State Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Samaila Aliyu, has facilitated the enrolment of 2,000 people into the Community-Based Social Health Insurance Scheme in Makarfi Local Government Area of the state.
Alhaji Samaila Aliyu
The Commissioner, who hails from the local government, also settled their contribution to enable them enjoy free access to health care services for the next one year.
He said, “Two thousand people have been enrolled into the Community-Based Social Health Insurance Scheme and their contribution have been settled to enable them enjoy free access to health care services for the next one year.
“Equally, 42 cooperative groups have also been mobilised and facilitated their registration with a bank account for each one of the with a sum of N50,000 as seed money to enable them take advantage of the KDSG-BOI and KDSG-BOA matching funds, as well as other funding windows designed to support the development of micro small and medium Enterprises in the state.
In line with the gesture of human capital development, government has distributed motorcycles, sewing machines to women and youth groups in Makarfi Local Government Area of the state. The commissioner said the gesture was to empower such groups to be self-dependent through job creation and support to small and medium scale enterprises.
Countries on Sunday in Geneva, Switzerland will begin a fresh round of UN climate change talks as they continue work to advance the draft text of a new, universal climate change agreement which they are due to conclude at the end of this year.
The UN Palais des Nations, Geneva.Photo credit: viator.com
It entails the meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) holding in the UN Palais des Nations. It will come to a close on Friday.
The ADP is the negotiating body tasked with building the new agreement, which governments are due to deliver at the end of the year in Paris.
The Paris agreement will come into effect only from 2020, so the ADP is also finding ways to increase immediate climate action to cover existing gaps in global ambition to respond effectively to the climate challenge.
The world needs to achieve a three-part goal, if it is to prevent average global temperatures from rising more than 2C degrees, beyond which increasingly unmanageable climate impacts on societies and economies are likely to occur.
“We must peak global greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, trigger a deep, de-carbonization of the global economy and eventually reach a climate neutral world in the second half of this century,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Geneva meeting follows the annual UN climate change conference in Lima last December where countries made progress towards the final text for the Paris agreement by capturing the elements of a draft negotiating text. This is referred to as the Lima Draft. The Lima Draft contains different options for the Paris climate agreement from all countries.
In Geneva, governments will also continue to consider how to increase climate action before 2020 though Technical Expert Meeting (TEMs). A series of such meetings took place in 2014, focusing on areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, cities and land use.
The French Government has recognised the crucial role played by civil society as key stakeholder in the ongoing dialogue process for a post-2020 climate change agreement.
Speaking recently at the “Policy Dialogue on Climate Change” held in the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nicolas Dasnois, from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, pointed out that views from all stakeholders should be considered if the world is to deliver an ambitious and all-inclusive deal for climate change.
Dasnois said that the next Conference of Parties (COP21) is the largest event the French Government has ever organised, and that “the momentum has already kicked off,’ he said at the joint event organised by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and Development Agency, Oxfam.
Participants at the Dialogue
Over the last couple of years, various civil society groups have directed their anger towards the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) over what they term as deliberate attempt to frustrate their participation and contribute to the negotiation processes.
Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) have observed that the progressive limitation of observer participants through quota system is meant to kill their vocal stand on some critical issues and sometimes the manner in which the negotiations are conducted.
Speaking at the side-event event, top African negotiator and Tanzanian head of delegation to the UNFCCC Richard Muyungi underscored the importance of unity among African stakeholders, including the civil society, saying that this was the only way to ensure the continent’s position is respected at the global level.
“Of course we have come from far and the African Group is the most formidable block in Negotiations, we must note that that the coordination framework among key African organs and initiatives has made our voices louder,” he told participants.
“I wish to thank the people of Ethiopia and particularly the Late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for steering the Conference of Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSOCC) which President JakayaKikwete took over. We now have the commitment of our political leaders at the highest level possible,” added Muyungi.
The event was held as part of policy dialogues on climate change spearheaded by PACJA and its partners to ensure African governments acknowledge the need and urgency for a progressively fair, equitable and ecologically just climate change deal in Paris that is responsive to African realities and aspirations.
The event also addressed by the African Climate Policy Centre’s Johnson Nkem and the Pan African Parliamentarians Network on Climate Change (PAPNCC) President Awudu Cyprian Mbaya was aimed at sharing reflections and perspectives on what the outcomes of COP20 means for Africa and its people as well as contributing to African Union’s debate and preparatory process in the countdown to COP21. Organisers also sought to strengthen coordination and relationship with African Union, particularly its organs and initiatives.
Lilongwe in Malawi is expected to achieve economic growth lower than 5.8 percent projected earlier for 2015.
President Peter Mutharika said in his state of the nation address regarding the current floods that preliminary assessment shows that the damage caused to the economy is estimated in million dollars, excluding the cost of the relief programmes.
Weeks of very heavy rainfall have triggered widespread flooding in Malawi. Photo credit: Water Journalists – Africa
Figures from Capitol Hill are enough evidence that business operations in Malawi have come to a halt due to heavy rains and floods. Problems of electricity, water and public infrastructure are huge and companies are feeling the pinch. While aid is being channelled to flood victims, the private sector is caught in untimely delivery or provision of goods and services.
The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) has since said floods have adversely affected businesses. It further says agriculture and mining sectors have been affected most as they are likely to experience low productivity in the 2015.
MCCCI chief executive officer chancellor Kaferapanjira said the damage to water supply has culminated into water shortages in cities and towns, electricity blackouts have led to companies using fuel generators. The private sector body adds that floods have also jeopardised irrigation systems, food storage and processing facilities of the various companies.
He added that insurance companies are likely to spend more on insurance claims. Suffice it to say that they have an obligation to assist the need through relief items.
“Some of this donation has come in kind, for example, Carlsberg donated water worth K80 million kwacha the time the city had no water in Blantyre and they had to use Mulunguzi Dam because there was no water in town,” said Kaferapanjira.
Field observations and follow-up rapid assessments by an Inter-Agency assessment team that comprises government UN agencies and others have shown that livestock and farmlands have been affected. This is enough a sign to economists that output in the sector will be reduced.
In his state of the disaster address last week, President Peter Mutharika alluded that heavy rains and floods will, therefore, bring many negative socioeconomic effects to the Malawian economy. Mutharika said the growth for Malawi is largely driven by agriculture, manufacturing, electricity, water and mining sectors.
“In essence, this means that the problem of food insecurity among households is heightened to levels that will put a lot of pressure on the budget, to assist the households affected by the floods across the country. In this case, the budget in excess of K3.6 billion will be required for replanting. Concerns of further flooding are high as rains are forecast to continue for some months,” he said
Meanwhile members of the private sector have predicted doom for their business as companies and people will not be able to pay back credits or insurances fees timely or else such companies will have to pay out insurance claims.
Prakash Patil, chief executive officer of the General Alliance Malawi, an insurance company explains that despite such developments, they would assist their clients and victims.
“We are saddened by the floods and we join the concerned families by donating the amount through the VPs office so they buy basic needs,” he said
The Malawi Government said it is estimated that around 116, 000 farmers country-wide have been affected with 35, 000 hectares of cropland impacted.
The President said maize, rice, groundnuts, cotton, and fish has been lost. It is also estimated that a total of K2.9 billion worth of livestock has been lost.
He added that total food production of households will be reduced during the 2014/15 agriculture season unless farmers re-plant their fields, meaning that a special budget would be needed for replanting.
Meanwhile, Malawi’s Response Plan is seeking US$81 million to address immediate needs of people who have been affected by the floods and the United Nations funds totalling $150,000 are being utilised to strengthen the operation and coordination capacity at district level.
It remains a fact that heavy rainstorms and floods hit 15 out of the 28 districts in Malawi such as Rumphi, Balaka, Karonga, Nsanje and Chikwawa, among other districts. The floods have killed many people and rendered more than 638,000 persons homeless.
However, Lilongwe says, these numbers are expected to rise as more information is received and analysed, and rains continue to fall.
Professional urban planners in Nigeria have adopted measures aimed at addressing pressing national issues of security and fraud perpetrated via physical development ventures. This comes in form of an omnibus and multi-use document acceptable to authorities in government and the corporate world.
President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Dr Femi Olomola (standing); with National Secretary of the NITP, Ogbodo Alex (left); representative of the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC), Daini Adeleke (right); and representative of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), Tayo Awomoso (extreme right)
Tagged “Land Use Planning Report,” the document will be prepared by members of the profession registered by the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC). When eventually operational, it will accompany applications for:
Building plan approval/permits;
Issuance of certificates of occupancy (C-of-Os);
Opening of Corporate accounts with banks; and,
Incorporation/registration of new companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
Dr Femi Olomola, President of the Nigerian Institute of Planners (NITP), who made the disclosure on Friday in Lagos during the inauguration of a seven-man committee to produce a model copy of the report, said: “The art, science and profession of town planning principally revolves around ensuring the orderly arrangement and use of land having absolute regard to overriding public interest.”
Committee members: from left: Hakeem Olatunji Badejo (chairman), Michael Simire, Toba Oyebanji, Hakeem Roy-Larinde, Mrs Claudia Akinyemi (secretary) and Bisi Adedire.
According to him, the concept of the report is novel and has never been done in any part of the world, and therefore requires creativity on the part of the committee members, which cut across public and private sector planners as well as those in the academia.
The committee comprises: Hakeem Badejo (chairman), Mrs Claudia Akinyemi (secretary), Bisi Adedire, Michael Simire, Toba Oyebanji, Dr Wale Alade and Hakeem Roy-Larinde.
Olomola explained that the envisaged universal professional use of the document calls for a robust and somewhat flexible Terms of Reference (TOR).
His words: “Your TOR is best contextualised in this scenario of our imagination of a plot of land measuring, say, 648 square metres (the usual 60 feet x 120 feet). The plot can either be developed or vacant. Imagine a minimum of 1,000 metres radius (say 55 plots) drawn round the plot thus giving a minimum area of 3,142,000 square metres (314 hectares approximately).
“A thorough Land Use Analysis Survey of this land must be carried out followed with the land use analysis map with all the identified land uses coded in the NITP-approved professional colour code. A 12- to 15-page report on the plot has to be written addressing the following:
Name of the owner of the plot; information on title to the land; type of existing development or proposed on the plot; building plan approval/permit number if there is an existing development on the plot and a detailed location plan of the site.
Statement on current government approved or proposed town planning Development Plan covering the area where the plot is located – regional/master/district/local plans as applicable.
Report on the Land Use Survey/Analysis.
Professional opinion on the proposed use of the plot in question.”
NITP Fellows at the forum: Mrs Catherine George (left), Bunmi Adeyeye and Makinde Ogunleye
A brain storming session that followed the inauguration raised questions related to using GPS to locate the plot of land in question, the report’s huge potential as a result of its potentially detailed information, fees to be charged, zoning density, as well as inter-professional competition/resistance.
The daylong event was graced by dignataries such as: the first national vice-president of the NITP, Luka Achi; national secretary, Ogbodo Alex; executive secretary, Barka Madziga; president of TOPREC, Prof. Layi Egunjobi (represented by Daini Adeleke); chairman of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), Moses Ogunleye (represented by Tayo Awomoso); Nigeria’s first female town planner and past chair of Lagos NITP, Mrs Catherine George; as well as Makinde Ogunleye and Bunmi Adeyeye (both past chair of Lagos NITP).
Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), in a recent presentation made in Lome, Togo explores the myriad of environmental challenges militating the African continent’s progress
Nnimmo Bassey
A reading of the theme of this ITUC New Year School, Organising and Mobilising Workers for Africa’s Development, indicates that this is a clarion call for workers to interrogate what we term development and then see how actions development actions impact on the environment. Beyond agreeing on what we call development we should work to determine the path we must take to achieve development as we define it and not notions of development that may not build our desired futures. Workers are indeed central to the progress of Africa and thus it is essential that workers grapple with the issues taken on at this School. Technological advances may reduce the amount of labour required for certain processes, but no matter how advanced, the human factor, the human labour, can only be negated at great peril.
Development is a highly politicised word. Ordinarily it should mean change from one form to another, as in metamorphosis or biological growth or as an improvement. When the term is used these days the tendency is to think about development as a linear process where progress is measured against what obtains in the so-called first world and the worst is seen in the so-called third world, better known as the Global South. This characterisation has built in the catch-up mentality among the nations of Africa. And the attempts to catch up has been consistently roadblocked through international financial instruments like the so-called Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) or more blatantly as we have seen in the case of Lumumba, Cabral, Sankara and other critically conscious post-colonial political leaders in Africa.
The catch-up mentality has led many leaders to see a jumping on the wagon of globalisation as the only way to make progress. Others have accepted that earning of foreign exchange, maintenance of foreign reserves and dependence on the Global North is the only way to ensure the inflow of foreign exchange and related goods that are often of the luxury sort. Thirdly, there has been a rigidly enforced notion and acceptance of neoliberal economic principles designed specifically to scuttle progress in nations that depend on raw materials exports for income.
Samir Amin’s statement on globalisation is good for to look at here: “The neo-colonial plan for Africa is indeed the worst pattern of integration in the global system. It cannot produce anything but the further decline in the capacity of African societies to meet the challenges of modern times… Globalisation does not offer to Africa any solutions to its own problems. Foreign direct private investments in Africa are, as everybody knows, negligible and exclusively concentrated in mineral and other natural resource sectors.”
Obviously there has to be another way of participating in the global system. According to Amin, Western agencies generally see countries that are dependent on foreign aid for survival of their state apparatus as “less developed.” We also note that when aid or certain supports are offered, nations fall over each other to prove that they are poor and highly indebted – if those are the conditions for qualification for a bailout.
In my book, To Cook a Continent, we looked at the pattern of infrastructural development in Africa and saw that the pattern remained one that aids exploitation and concluded that “Over the years the continent was charted for its usefulness, with railways and highways and ports facilitating extraction and packaging for waiting consumers and manufacturing plants in the North. This story remains the same to this day.”
Development and the Environment
Having clarity on the political underpinning of the concept of development is essential to understanding what drives the environmental actions of states and corporations. These are serious environmental implications associated with any development path nations adopt.
Dominant concepts of development have led to the division of the world into developed, developing or underdeveloped world. While a campaign for degrowth is rising in Europe due to the realisation that our planet cannot satisfy the current rate of production and consumption of goods, for us the struggle is for justice and the right to live in dignity. So, if we are talking of development in current terms we may as well be talking about imminent kicking in of post development in some societies and further underdevelopment in others.
If the industrialised nations will be incapable of securing resources to maintain present production and consumption, what is the probability that other regions, including Africa, would be reasonable to pursue a catch-up strategy by following a path that leads to a cul-de-sac. The question being grappled with in other spaces, especially in Latin America is whether we should be figuring out development alternatives or alternatives to development. This is the challenge we should tackle at this school also. Are there concepts and ways of life we have ignored while we accepted competition and exploitation as creeds? What doUbuntu, harambe, buen vivir, Kumak kawsay speak to us?
What yields progress: Improvement of material condition? Or is progress the path illuminated by accumulation of wealth through acting as middlemen such as by the lumpen bourgeois? The wealth and resources of our middlemen or agents of global capital are not linked to the material transformation of society that would lead to the building up of the infrastructure of the nation. Their wealth is mostly a function of one thing: playing the role of the middleman or the commission agent to facilitate national exploitation. One of the key thoughts of Frantz Fanon, for example, was that it is not enough to change our material conditions but that we must utilise our knowledge to build a new narrative for the future that we want.
Foreign direct investments make politicians rejoice while the people and the environment take a beating. Consider the case of the developments at Lamu in Kenya – where a seaport, railway lines, international airport and tourist resorts are a massive intrusion in an area with a rich historical and cultural history. With Lamu as in other areas across the continent, people want to know whose idea are our governments pushing and who would benefit from the execution of those ideas? Are inclusive environmental and socio-economic impact studies carried out before these projects are embarked upon or the studies when carried out at all are mere perfunctory exercises? Are impacted and displaced peoples resettled or adequately compensated?
The Land is not Neutral, Neither is the Seed
Many African communities refer to their citizens as sons or daughters of the soil. In some contexts we proudly declare that that the environment is our life. In fact one person declared that if you want to defeat a people all you need to do is to destroy their environment. This is particularly important to us, Africans, because our lives are bound to the environment, we are indeed sons and daughters of the soil.
Whereas some persons may see the environment as a neutral object to be appropriated, transformed and owned, it is not so for the African. Any disturbance of our soils and waters has impacts on our agriculture, health and socio-cultural wellbeing. The dislocation and alienation of citizens from their natural environment and the disruption of social safety networks create very traumatic situations for our peoples. These environmental impacts can be comparable to violent confrontations that they often directly translate into.
Our agriculture is part of our culture and serves us well. One big challenge to our agriculture is that Africa is a major frontier to the agricultural biotechnology industry. Most African governments and even labour leaders believe that industrial farming is the only way the world can hope to feed itself in the future. Many also believe that Africa cannot be fed by smallholder agriculture. Our governments and experts bemoan the opportunity Africa missed when the Green Revolution train passed her by. No wonder Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and their collaborators thought of an Alliance for Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) to bring about a new Green Revolution on the continent. This is arguably an ill-advised catch-up idea. However, a major multidisciplinary study by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) showed clearly that future food security actually lies in the hands of smallholder farmers who do not depend on massive chemical inputs. The report, Agriculture at Cross Roads, adopted in 2008, stated that the role of agricultural biotechnology would be very slim indeed, if at all.
Despite rigorous reports by scientists and rejection by farmers and consumers, the biotech industry with very powerful political backing continues to hack away at the resolve of the people to refuse this technology of which there is no proof of safety. In addition, governments pay scant attention to the Precautionary Principleof the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) – a principle that urges that caution be exercised when there is doubt about safety of actions that may jeopardise biosafety.
Africa has indeed been in the firing line of the biotech industry. In the early to mid -2000s the track was via food aid. We recall the huge political battles over efforts to introduce GMOs through food aid in Zambia (2002), Angola (2004) and Sudan (2004). These days the approach is through the argument that Africans are malnourished and lack vitamins needed to stem malnutrition, blindness and stunted growth (in children). So there is a new alliance to fight malnutrition in Africa and shameless governments have signed on rather than taking steps to solve the nutrition or even hunger gaps in their countries.
In Nigeria there have been field trials of genetically modifying cassava for enhanced vitamin E levels. Now they are working hard on a species of bananas with capacity to produce vitamin A aimed at Uganda. The industry targets major staple crops on the continent including cowpeas and potatoes. Genetically engineered cotton has been one approach to break through resistance by consumers and to show that GMOs can work with smallholder farmer. This attempt did not work in South Africa and today the poster child is Burkina Faso. We await independent studies to confirm if Burkina Faso is a real success or whether farmers are still enjoying start up packs and subsidies that would be withdrawn in the near future.
GMOs pose several environmental challenges including erosion of biodiversity, dependence on chemical inputs and genetic piracy or colonisation. To make matters worse, they neither yield more than natural varieties nor are they more nutritious. Once introduced into an environment the contamination becomes permanent.
Environmental Costs and Benefits of Development
Environmental costs are those costs that arise from damage done to the environment. They are not covered or find space on our national accounting books. When they appear at all on corporate balance sheets they are shown as corporate social responsibility (CSR) outlays. With CSR, those that cause environmental harm present a façade of care for impacted communities. Environmental costs are tolerated because the environmental benefits are reaped by powerful entities – be they state actors or corporations while those costs are externalised unto voiceless communities.
Market solutions to pollution emerged in the early 1960s by way of monetary compensations for environmental harm. The problems of externalities were solvable “through voluntary negotiations between the polluter and those adversely affected, leading to agreements about fair compensations from the polluter. This kind of transaction supposedly makes all parties better off. Polluters get their profits while those affected by the pollution get compensation that exceeds the value of the damage inflicted on them.” The problem is that you cannot really find the right monetary compensation for ecological damage as some of these are persistent and are irreversible.
This brings to mind the recent agreement by Shell, the oil company, to pay the sum of 55 million Pounds Sterling as compensation for huge oil spills from their pipelines in 1998 and 1999 at Bodo, Ogoniland in Nigeria. It was agreed that a chunk of the cash would go for social infrastructure in the community while the balance would be shared equally among the 15,600 fisherfolk that were directly impacted. The fact that each of those persons whose livelihood had been irreparably damaged would receive about N600,000 or about $3,200 raised some conversations on social media. One person sent a chat to me over twitter urging that fund managers should be approached to help the community folks handle the money – fearing that they may otherwise squander their sudden wealth. That sort of thinking indicates a shallow understanding of the value of local livelihoods. The compensation amount does not by any stretch of the imagination compare to what fisherfolk spend in buying fishing boats and equipment. And the pollution at Bodo, like in many other parts of Ogoniland, is so bad that up to 30 years of work will be needed to effect adequate remediation.
A troubling phenomenon is the trade in toxic wastes. Global trade is indeed so one sided that it would permit the dumping of toxic waste in poorer nations ostensibly to provide them avenue for foreign exchange earning. One particular leaked email by a World Bank claimed that Africa is under-polluted and that it would make economic sense to dump wastes in Africa since the death of men from postrate cancer was a long shot for Africans that would not live to the age of 65 (to worry about the disease) in the first instance.
Nature, Exploitation and Ecocide
The rise of market environmentalism sees nature as commodity and looks for ways to ameliorate environmental and social costs in terms of monetary compensation. Efforts are put into placing a price tag on life and if anything is considered worthless then it is fair game to destroy it. And things only have worth if humans know of what use to put them. The fact that Mother Earth is seen as a slave of man is a clear manifestation of ignorance and unreasonable haughtiness.
It is essential for us all to recognise that everything in Nature has intrinsic or existence value. They all have non-use value. This non-use value does not require that utility be derived from direct use of the resource because the value comes from the resource simply existing. Moreover, life is a web of relationships and everything or life forms are interconnected in this web of life. Trying to determine value simply on the premise of ‘service’ to humanity is absolutely unreasonable. The insistence that Nature most be seen in terms of monetary or exploitation value has been characterised as the reality of colonisation in the 21st century: not just the enslavement of people but of the planet.
A concept developed by HOMEF that can help us deepen this aspect of our conversation is that of Re-Source democracy. According to HOMEF, “Re-source democracy hinges on the recognition that a natural ‘resource’ fundamentally belongs to Nature and secondly to communities of species and peoples who live in the territory or have traditionally held the territory where the ‘resource’ such as forests, rivers or grazing lands exists. Re-source democracy is about stewardship that recognises the right of citizens to establish rules and to act in line with traditional as well as best available knowledge to safeguard the soil, trees, crops, water and wildlife first as gifts of Nature and secondly to enjoy the gifts as necessary provisions that support their lives and livelihoods as well as those of future generations. Re-source democracy calls on us to re-source, to re-connect with Earth – our source of life – and to respect her as a living being with inherent rights, and not just a ‘resource’ to be exploited.”
Climate Crisis and the rise of False Solutions
Africa is arguably the most vulnerable continent to climate change. The visible impacts include floods from unusually heavy rainfalls, droughts and increased desertification. Climate change will usher in new dimensions of water stress on the continent and more citizens will be forced into becoming climate refugees. It portends more conflicts.
Sea level rise is also a threat. Weak infrastructure and cities located on low-lying coastal areas are all vulnerable. It is very important to note that for every global temperature rise, Africa experiences 50 per cent rise higher than the global average. It is also known that to put the planet on a course that would keep global average temperature rise at not more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels up to 80 per cent of known fossil fuel reserves must be left in the ground. By the way, when we speak of a global average of 2 degrees Celsius for Africa that means 3 degrees. Food production capacity may reduce by 50 per cent in some cases by 2020 and will be severely compromised in all cases if high temperature rise happens.
Current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) of parties negotiations have failed to give any hope that temperature increase above pre-industrial levels will remain within acceptable levels. To compound matters, climate negotiations focus on market mechanisms that allow for carbon offsets rather than having measurable, legally binding emissions cuts at source as required by science. What we have had is the promotion of voluntary emissions reduction since the Climate COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009. As we speak, the world is on course to have catastrophic temperature increases if nothing substantial happens at the forthcoming Climate COP21 in Paris in December 2015. One of the requirements to curb temperature rise is to leave at least 80% of known fossil fuels reserves underground. Is this something that countries that have fossil fuel resources would agree to? How about those that are going into extreme extraction such as fracking rather than leaving known conventional reserves untapped?
Whatever is the case, it is clear that there must be an urgent transition from dirty energy as represented mostly by fossil fuel sources. This transition does not necessarily mean job losses but may actually lead to the creation of more jobs that are also cleaner and safer.
The enthronement of false solutions to climate change poses direct sources of environmental challenges in Africa by way of problem shifting from the Global North to the Global South. One example is the investment in production of raw materials for biofuel production that has meant the grabbing of lands on the continent for cultivation of crops including jathropha. Another example is the introduction of the concept of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) and other market solutions that allow polluters to keep polluting once the can pay for a carbon stock in a designated and colonised forest somewhere in Africa or elsewhere. REDD forests often mean violence, human rights abuses, displacement and impoverishment of forest communities, despite all the safeguards introduced. One example is what the Sengwer peoples are suffering in Kenya as we speak.
Energy and Power Grids
As is evident in the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) agreed by the African Union in 2012, there is no reference to renewable energy development on the continent. The emphasis is on fossil fuel driven energy supply and national or mega grid lines. It is not surprising that this should be so, because the drivers of the PIDA process are multinational extractive companies, oil companies and international and private financial institutions. Rather than invest on green energy and autonomous supply systems that do not rely on problematic national grids emphasis is made for the construction of coal fired plants, gas plants and probably nuclear plants. Big dams rather than micro ones will probably be on the cards. We must not ignore the fact that Africa has abundant solar, thermal and other resources needed from providing green and renewable energy on the continent. Investment on renewables is certain to generate more jobs than the enclave extractive sector jobs would ever do.
Continent Grab
One response to the food crisis has been a rise in speculations and a massive land grabbing in Africa. According to the World Bank by 2010 fully half of the cropland acquisition projects by foreign interests in the world were on lands in Africa. Beyond the number of acquisitions the quantum of land grabbed was also larger because the unit areas for projects in Africa tended to be higher than those elsewhere. They amounted to about two thirds of all land acquired then. In 2009 DRC promised some 7 million acres of land to ZTE, a Chinese firm, and also gave 1.2 million acres to Atama Plantation, a Malaysian firm, for oil palm plantations. Considering that African lands have been acquired at what has been termed “basement prices” what is happening here amounts to nothing short of a continent grab.
Environmental Corruption and Workers Safety
Weak governance structures and systems engender resource corruption beyond the popular financial corruption. Resources get corrupted when governments run lax environmental regulations and thus permit reckless exploitation of natural resources all in the bid to earn more foreign exchange. Superficial approaches to local content development can also lead to lax laws or non-enforcement of laws. These scenarios have direct implications for the safety of workers involved in the extractive or production sectors.
Lax laws are not given only to corporations such as those in the mining and petroleum sectors; they also pertain to the execution of projects such as highways, airports, seaports, housing developments and other structures donated by foreign governments. Some African governments also prefer foreign donors, like the Chinese, that do not have open conditionalities and do not ask political questions when making offers of assistance in exchange for the natural resources they crave for. By keeping a wilful blind eye such donors can support countries that are notorious for human and environmental rights abuses.
Technological advancements have tried to make more efficient products as well as increasing the rate of recycling and reuse of materials. The problem has been that energy efficiency, for example, does not curtail the rate of consumption of energy as people simply appear to love using more and more rather than less. It has been said also that cheaper gasoline prices may make Americans drive more and worry less about the fuel efficiency level of the automobiles they own. That is a scenario where economy and environmental imperatives clash.
A major trend, however, tends to be in the direction of making disposable products or those with inbuilt obsolescence. What this means is that as products are rapidly superseded by newer models they have to be disposed us. The disposal sites for these products are often found in the Global South were they are sold as cheap items for a people desirous to live the sort of lives advertised on television and glamourized in movies. Thus it can be said that globally, “economic benefits of resource efficiency measures in manufacturing sectors are dissatisfactory as long as the corresponding products end up as hazardous waste in poorer regions.” These products also indicate to us that a whole lot of the mining going on is simply not needed.
The rampant exploitation of the environment goes in tandem with the exploitation of labour. Just as the previously hidden market forces now openly drive the supply of goods, so do the market forces blatantly drive the exploitation of labour. We can even add that in this age of disposable goods, it appears that labour can be disposed of with little thought. Let us say this in other words. The environment and the labour force take a beating in the drive for nature’s resources to be supplied to the highest bidder. Workers get dispensed with because of the teeming pool of the unemployed and because poor workers are not the market for most of the goods they (workers) produce.
Cases where workers have been disposed of with little care include those that were mowed down at Marikina, South Africa and some 13 Zambian workers that were shot dead by their Chinese colleagues. If we add atrocities against informal workers we call to mind the about 52 artisanal miners reportedly buried alive in Bulyanhulu mining area in 1996.
Other acts of wilful and harmful deception against workers include cases where workers are given doses of milk in the supposition that it is an antidote to pollution that fills certain workplaces. Rampant violence against women at workplace speaks volumes on gender inequalities and related exploitation.
The point is that labour, just like the local communities where polluting activities happen, suffers double violence – one from repression and the other from pollution. Workers in the extractive sector, especially those in uranium and other mines, are as exposed to toxic pollutants as communities are. It could even be argued that unsuspecting workers may unwittingly expose themselves to more harm than that suffered by polluted communities. This could happen because of the fact that workers are often closer to these pollutants as they work with or in them. The same is the case with industries where environment health measures are not given prime of place.
It is important that labour unions give attention to the quality of the environment in which their members work or live. Environmental health concerns if adequately taken care of could cut down on the frequency and types of illnesses that are experienced at the workplace.
Environmental Intensity
Extraction of minerals is often resource intensive. It has been reported that vast amounts of water used in fracking, for example, cannot be returned to natural water cycles because it is loaded with a toxic cocktail of chemicals. Such waste waters have to be stored in retention tanks in perpetuity – a clear impossibility. One metal that is crucial for industrialisation is copper. Its extraction is considered to rank among the top 10 environmentally intensive materials. Deposits of the metal have been largely depleted and mostly very poor grades involving large volumes of ore, with huge disposal problems, are being mined these days. Acid mine drainage is a huge problem associated with gold mining and directly affect ground water. Mines are abandoned without proper decommissioning. Mining communities enjoy the least benefits of resources extracted from their territory: Niger Delta (Crude Oil), Kono, Sierra Leone (Diamond), Obuasi, Ghana (Gold), Witbank communities, South Africa (Coal) – to mention a few.
Stuck in the Crude (Niger Delta)
Since crude oil and natural gas are being explored and exploited virtually everywhere on the continent, it would not be out of place to end this short discussion with a focus on that sector. The environmental challenges of petroleum resources exploration and exploitation are wide and well known.
Women have the power to put India on the course to a green sustainable future, specifically, poor rural women working in the agriculture sector.
Manmohan Singh, Indian Prime Minister. Photo credit: macedonianonline.eu
India’s economy is predominately agrarian and increasingly female dominated. 80% of all economically-active women are employed by the agricultural sector.
As men are migrating to urban areas for employment opportunities, partly as farming is now a more risky business, the women are staying back and keeping the homes and farms afloat.
Aditi Kapoor from Alternative Futures has labelled this the ‘feminisation’ of the agriculture sector, with a 7.6% increase in the proportion of workers in the sector in India being women over the last two decades.
According to the Government’s own assessment, the agriculture sector is facing serious risks due to the current impacts of climate change: increasing temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns and a higher number and severity of floods, droughts and cyclones.
A number of studies project that unless India adapts to the impacts of climate change, there is a probability of 10-40% loss in crop production in India by 2080- 2100 due to global warming. Economic growth, food security and fighting poverty stand to lose.
Women are at the front line of these impacts. Not only due to their involvement in the agriculture sector, but also because they face the burden of the household tasks such as fetching water, fuel wood and fodder.
As these resources become scarcer, they struggle more to provide for their families.At the same time they often face more restricted access to key assets such as land, money or political voice, than men. Different gender roles and status thus shape people’s opportunities and capacities to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
As agricultural work has become increasingly ‘women’s work,’ land ownership has been increasingly masculinised. In terms of both the number of landholdings, and the size of the land, there is a growing gender gap. This has serious implications for women’s access to credit to invest in adaptation technologies or set up new sources of livelihood. In some cases it also limits their ability to participate in local decision-making bodies and support systems.
As climate change makes its impact felt in India, the central and State Governments are formulating their plans and policies for adapting to these new environment. However, for these to be successful, the specific opportunities and challenges that women face in adapting to the impacts of climate change need to be understood and addressed.
For example, organic farming is being promoted by many State Governments in India for both environmental and food security reasons. However, what is often ignored is that it requires more manual labour, and this extra burden falls predominately on women. At the same time, women have less access to the support and inputs being offered by the Government to transition to organic farming, mainly due to the lack of land rights. Without specific efforts to promote labour-reduction measures for organic farming, and work through women’s groups to promote them, the policy could fail and/or have negative consequences for women empowerment.
Aditi Kapoor has shown that India’s climate plans and investments are not in general ‘gender aware’. For example, her in-depth study of four State Action Plans on Climate Change reveals that there is little or low priority given to women agriculture. Even when efforts have been made, for example by setting a target of 33% female participation in training programmes, they reveal ignorance about the reality of women’s role in the sector.
CDKN has commissioned a short documentary that gives a voice to these ‘missing’ women in India’s climate plans. Rather than portraying women as victims of climate change, it shows how women should be considered and supported as positive and crucial agents for delivering climate compatible development.
The film’s director, Krishnendu Bose, gained the trust of a group of local women in the hill state of Uttarakhand, and trained them in basic filmmaking techniques. The Nayi women then told their story about how women can be leaders in the fight against climate change.
The women have benefited from a State Government initiative to set up ‘Van Panchayats’ (forest community governments) which bring together forest department officers and villages to jointly manage village forests. A third of the members of the executive committee and half of the general body members are mandated to be women.
“In 2005, after the policy came in, we together with the panchayat (village government) and sarpanch (village leaders) made our own rules and regulations….cutting grass would be 500 INR fine (GBP 5)…chopping green leaves, 100 INR fine (GBP 1) … and the defaulting person deposits her sickle, and we auction it”
“This way, we women protected our forest”
The women have also formed a cooperative, taking knowledge from local NGOs and gather dry leaves to use for organic farming. The products are then shared within the community, contributing to food security. At the same time, they are bringing to life traditional farming practices as they have seen how commercial farming has been affected by climate change.
These strong, pro-active women are taking charge of their community.
“The 2005 rule said that a woman could become the sarpanch (village leader). The men protested against this. But, a women sarpanch was elected. This is good for the forest. And we women benefit from it. Now even men have started supporting us.”
Their message to the government is that this is just the first step. For true empowerment, other power hierarchies must be tackled, such as providing women with land ownership. Enhancing such capacities will help women, as well as the rest of their communities, cope and better adapt to climate change and fight environmental degradation.
By Elizabeth Gogoi (CDKN) (Published courtesy: Lead International)
