Island historical-political ecologies: ecologically unequal exchange,

landesque capital and environmental/social justice on

Taiwan’s small islands

Eric Clark

Lund University

Department of Human Geography

and

Lund University Centre of Excellence for Integration of Social and Natural Dimensions of Sustainability (LUCID)

International Conference on Environmental Conflicts and Justice, organized by ICTA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2-3 July 2010

Aims

to systematically explore regional and global power inequalities as constitutive of processes of landscape change,

to develop and refine a theoretical framework: global historical-political ecology, and

to assess policies of sustainable development.

Power, Land and Materiality:Global studies in historical-political ecology as a framework for assessing policies for sustainable development

Research framework Lead Researcher: Alf Hornborg

Piers Blaikie & Harold Brookfield:

“any investment in land with an anticipated life well beyond that of the present crop, or crop cycle”

(1987) Land Degradation and Society

Historical political ecologyLandesque capital

► terracing► irrigation► raised fields► stone clearance► anthropogenic soils► planted trees

Increasing capacity of land

Historical political ecologyLandesque capital

“Just as human use can have the effect of stripping and gullying soils, so it can also create enduring beneficial changes that yield capital for use by future generations.”

(Brookfield 2001)

Sustainability vs degradation

“landesque capital … confronts stereotyped images of relations between humans and nature… it acknowledges the role of humankind in improving ’natural’ conditions… humans may have altered conditions for future sustainable use for the better, and not only for the worse, as is often the unproven assumption in much writing on environmental history.” (Widgren 2007)

Mats Widgren

Sustainability vs degradation

Critical question

There is an assumption that landesque capital is consistent with sustainability and the opposite of degradation. ”Enduring beneficial change” creeps into the very definition of landesque capital.

What about “investments in land with an anticipated life well beyond that of the present crop” which result in stripping and gullying soils, and exploitative investments in land characterized more by extract-and-move-on than by soil husbandry or sustainable niche construction?

Improvement is the Juggernaut of capitalist expansion.

Karl Polanyi (1944 [2001]) The great transformation

Kinmen

Penghu

Pongso-no-Dawo (Orchid

Island)

Tao = Tao = Pongso no TaoPongso no TaoSpanish = Spanish = Botel TobagoBotel Tobago

Japanese = Japanese = Koto-sho shimaKoto-sho shimaHan Chinese = Han Chinese = LanyuLanyu

Hong-tou yuHong-tou yu (Redhead Island)(Redhead Island) English = English = Orchid IslandOrchid Island

Tao = Tao = Pongso no TaoPongso no TaoSpanish = Spanish = Botel TobagoBotel Tobago

Japanese = Japanese = Koto-sho shimaKoto-sho shimaHan Chinese = Han Chinese = LanyuLanyu

Hong-tou yuHong-tou yu (Redhead Island)(Redhead Island) English = English = Orchid IslandOrchid Island

Tao = Pongso no TaoSpanish = Botel Tobago

Japanese = Koto-sho shimaHan Chinese = Lanyu

Hong-tou yu (Redhead Island) English = Orchid Island

Tao = Pongso no TaoSpanish = Botel Tobago

Japanese = Koto-sho shimaHan Chinese = Lanyu

Hong-tou yu (Redhead Island) English = Orchid Island

Indigenous backyard

(Davidson 1901)

1901

Yayo

Iraralai

Iranumiruk

Ivarinu

ImurudIratai

*

Pongso no TaoOrchid Islandarea: 47 KM2

Population: 30006 villages

Becoming civilized►First regular contacts: Japanese from 1910s►Schools for ”savage children” 1923, 1934►Taiwan dispossession (99.5%) 1948►Military prison from 1958 – 1979►’Modern’ dwellings (90%) 1966 – 1975 ►Tourism and transport infrastructure 1970s►Strip-logged half the forest 1970s►Nuclear waste site since 1982►National Park proposal 1985►Compensation money 2001

forest

Afforested woods 1970-1980

Rain forest

grass landshrubs

Marks on the selected wood for building boats

Why can’t we allow the Tao people to decide for themselves what constitutes an improvement … and what shall flow in and out from their home?