Transcript Powerpoint

Environmental, Health and
Resource Geopolitics
Environmental Determinism
Chernobyl and environments beyond borders
Oil and Resource Wars
Food scares
Infectious diseases - Ebola
Climate Change
Environmental Determinism
1890s Geopolitics
1990s-2000s Environmental Geopolitics
Physical differences cause economic and political
differences, i.e. with development
or, environmental problems are the direct result of simply
understood political or economic phenomena (i.e.
capitalism)
Since World War Two shift to recognise
human impact on earth
But discussed as major topic only relatively
recently (c25 years)
1940s- present nuclear weapon testing
1963 atmospheric test ban treaty
Pesticides
Mercury poisoning
Oil spills – Exxon Valdez in Alaska. March
24, 1989, 11m gallons
Chernobyl
April 26, 1986 at 01:23
a.m
Steam explosion that
resulted in a nuclear
meltdown, a series of
additional explosions,
and a fire
Fire and rescue workers
not warned about
dangers
237 people with acute
radiation sickness
Chernobyl
May 12th 1986 contamination
cloud
First reports came from
Finland and Sweden, where
radiation was detected at a
nuclear plant that had not
leaked.
The Chernobyl Forum
estimated 4000 deaths, plus
up to 9000 extra predicted
from cancer; other put this
much higher – 30-60,000 by
alternative report; 200,000 in
Greenpeace study
Beyond borders
Environmental hazards produced in one
state but felt in another – acid rain, polluted
air, or rivers
Environmental side effects of other
processes (economic, political etc.)
Ozone layer depletion, CFCs
Beyond Sovereign Territory
‘Global warming’ (climate change)
Nuclear and biochemical weapons and accidents
‘nuclear-free zones’
Over-fishing
Genetically modified foods imported
“Dangers from ‘over there’ are now potentially ‘in
here’” (Simon Dalby)
Military security
Gulf War syndrome (1991-)
Anthrax (2001)
Disposal of nuclear weapons in USSR and
elsewhere
– More general issues of disposal of nuclear fuel
anywhere, and other toxic waste
Deliberate sabotage
– Jan 23 1991, Iraq opened oil terminal and dumped oil
in Gulf
– Burning oil wells in Kuwait
Oil
Oil crisis of 1973
Oil embargo of OPEC
Manipulation of prices
Iranian revolution 1979
Carter doctrine
Gulf War 1991
War in Iraq 2003
‘How did our oil get under their sands?’
‘No blood for oil’
Peak Oil
National Energy Policy (The Cheney Report) May
2001
– Didn’t stress conservation or renewable energy
– Domestic oil production in decline so lead to more
imports (from which areas?)
– US energy independence (i.e. exploit resources in
Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve)
Flows of wealth
Resource rich countries
New elites
Wider disparities between rich and poor
Low social indicators, tendency to be
authoritarian, corrupt, ineffective, prioritise
military expenditure and more likely to be
involved in conflict (Philippe le Billon)
Materiality and illicit economies
Minerals hard to extract, easy to smuggle
Illegal logging of trees for timber
Drug trade
– Colombia
– Afghanistan
Oil
Resource Wars
Michael Klare, Resource
Wars (2001) and
Blood and Oil (2004)
Philippe de Billon,
Fuelling War: Natural
Resources and Armed
Conflict (2005)
Oil
‘conflict diamonds’
Agriculture
Water
Israel and neighbours
Singapore/Malaysia
Spratly
Islands
Caspian Sea
https://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/resources/arctic/
South Atlantic claims https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ibru/south_
atlantic_maritime_claims.pdf
Food Scares
Genetically modified foods (GM foods)
Fertilisers and pesticides vs. ‘organic’
BSE – animals eating parts of other animals
Foot and mouth
Infectious diseases
Bird flu
SARS
HIV/AIDS
– 5-6000 people die a day
– two thirds in sub Saharan Africa
The multiple geographies of Ebola
Checkpoint Newton
Isolation unit, Arab hospital
Health-worker training
Macauley Street Clinic cleaners
Student nurses
Ambulance at Macauley Street Clinic
“The Kerry Town complex includes an 80 bed treatment
centre to be managed by Save the Children and a 12 bed
centre staffed by British Army medics specifically for health
care workers and international staff responding to the Ebola
crisis”.
Bombali community care centre
BBC
News
Staff training at
Bombali
Community mobilisation – Jonah and Chief Lugbu
Special courts command
centre
Ebola Virus Disease cemetery
http://healthmap.org/ebola/#timeline
Four geopolitical themes
1. Porous borders; closing borders
2. Transport networks – flights (closing, who
flies), roads
3. Militarisation of aid response
4. Logistics
Climate Change
May produce warming, but also cooling
Sea level rise
Gulf stream
Kyoto and Paris
Emissions trading
Carbon off-setting
Common but differentiated
responsibilities
Developed countries originated the problem
(industrial revolution)
Developing countries still relatively low in
terms of emissions (per head)
Share of emissions allowed should reflect
development
Therefore China and India largely exempt
Scepticism and Inaction
It isn’t happening
It is, but humans didn’t cause it
Humans caused it, but we can’t do anything
What we do doesn’t matter – look at China
and India…
The Day After Tomorrow…
Environmental
catastrophe
North becomes
uninhabitable
Mass migration to the
south