Vulnerability.
This is what climate change is generating, this is the state in which communities lead their lives today. The environment has been changing drastically over the past decades, and although many initiatives have been targeted to mitigate the outrageous consequences of climate change, perhaps adaptation and a recognition of the suffering of individuals due to these drastic shifts is necessary.
Environmental challenges are left unspoken most of the time. Individuals are not sure how to identify the sources of pollution and arrive to agreements to tackle these problems. Additionally, economic outcomes might be more important to several countries, and political actors shift their interest and concerns in order to ‘develop’ and grow faster. Climate change has been seen as an issue that belongs to everyone and no one at the same time. We are all responsible for climate change, yet there is no name behind the consequences. But how would you react, if you realized that environmental justice often depends on governments rather than humanity as a whole? What if some of the strongest actions that leave individuals at risk and extreme conditions of vulnerability were done in the name of profit?
The Sarawak forest in Borneo. The third biggest Island in the world; located between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, also known as Bumi Kenyalang, “Land of the Hornbills”, is the largest state in Malaysia. Borneo’s virgin forest is home to tens of thousand of insects, hundreds of bird species, and many mammals that are found nowhere else. It has long been one of the six world regions with the highest biodiversity, and a single hectare of the forest supports more tree species than all of Europe. However today, around 90 percent of the forest has been destroyed due to timber extractions and has become a monoculture, where only palm oil is being massively grown. In fact, by 2005 palm oil plantations covered 42 thousand square kilometers in Malaysia – more than the land area of Switzerland.
Beginning in the 1960s, rapid industrialization hit the island and a small group of politicians and businesspeople saw the profit every piece of timber could bring. Today, it is estimated that the profit of timber extraction is up to $15 billion. Businessman have been savagely logging rainforests and natural regions in Borneo. The consequences of these actions are enormous, and the impacts are being felt in the short term. This is not only dangerous for the environment and the vulnerable and unique rainforests, but for the people who live here. What happens to the communities that live near the areas? Studies have shown that they’re being culturally, socially, and mentally affected.
Indigenous peoples who have lived with the forest for more than 40 thousand years are being left with no history, memory, and dignity. They have been massively displaced and forced to leave their culture and homes behind. As the timber industry generates immense profit, the people that live in the area are only becoming poorer. Most of them have moved to bigger cities in search of a way to make a living, but challenges are only getting bigger. Individuals tend to separate social challenges from environmental challenges, but most of the time, division is not even necessary. They are one.
The Borneo case has been considered the ‘greatest financial Scandal’, as well as the ‘biggest environmental crisis’, leading to major protests and several activists working together to create awareness and change. In a country where the media is monopolized, it has been hard to create a collective conscience and generate a message other than the one driven by profit and power, but Indigenous communities have taken the lead. They united and undertook several activism projects. They stood firmly on logging roads and blocked projects, preventing the displacement of approximately 20 thousand people. Additionally, the case has been taken to the international stage, spotlighted by the documentary ‘the Borneo Case’, where investigative journalists, activists, and filmmakers deeply investigated where the money from damaging the rainforests was going, portraying the impacts it has on our planet as a whole and the people in nearby communities.
Environmental justice goes beyond being ethical and treating our planet fairly. It’s also about treating our people fairly. It’s about enabling everyone to partake in the decisions that affect our environment and the way people live. It’s about ensuring protection, and protecting a space where everyone can learn and grow while healthy and safe. Environmental justice is crucial to recognize, as it doesn’t only concern far-off people and the environment as a whole, it concerns you. In cases such as Borneo, the deforestation is responsible for more toxic emissions than the pollution emitted into the atmosphere by all the airlines in the world. Even if this case seems distant from North America, it affects how our planet operates and how we are responding to social and environmental inequalities as a global community.
By Daniela Mallarino
Please note that opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views and values of The Blank Page.
