Conflicting Narratives on Development and Environment in Argentina

Source: Photo credits ‘no-al-litio’: Ramiro Barreiro, Latfem.org

Conflicting Narratives on Development and Environment in Argentina. What can we learn from lithium exploitation in Argentina?

Written by Mariana Paterlini

Argentina is an unequal country where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening, while its economy still depends on large-scale agriculture for export. However, since the 90s, and influenced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, mining has emerged as a potential source of economic growth. Furthermore, in the last ten years, the Northwest region has gained visibility as part of the "lithium triangle". Along with Bolivia and Chile, this area concentrates 85% of the world's reserves of this crucial metal for the energy transition. Simultaneously, the consolidation of different actors questioning the benefits and negative impacts of the dominant development model has increased over the last twenty years, giving rise to a national scenario populated by environmental conflicts.

Lithium is often presented as a critical mineral in the transition to renewable energy. Currently, governments in the North promote its exploration and, in line with their international environmental commitments, link it to sustainable mining contributing to decarbonisation. Thus, it reproduces a Modernity discourse that conceives the environment and its resources as commodities ready to serve the human economic organisation. However, its extraction implies intensive water use that alters soil conditions and negatively impacts the ecosystem, thus an exploitation of the environment. Furthermore, this practice often violates the rights of local communities. Specifically, indigenous peoples who have remained marginalised since colonial times.

This research, conducted as the dissertation to finish an International Development MA at the University of Warwick, examined cultural products related to lithium exploitation circulating in national media, guided by a transdisciplinary theoretical framework that merges postcolonial development studies, political ecology, and sociology of culture, through discourse analysis. This approach made it possible to engage with how diverse actors conceptualise their relationships with the environment differently and consider Argentina's position in relation to the current centres of economic power. Then, five development narratives were identified while observing the relation of each model with the environment, the reproduction of colonialism each one entails and their efforts towards an ideal of emancipation for the country.

Here culture is thought of as a historical process anchored in common sense, habits, and beliefs which materialise the social relations of inequality between different groups involved. Therefore, exploring the cultural dynamics in the case of lithium exploitation makes it possible to decentre the hegemonic development narrative and expand the political imagination presenting alternative possibilities at stake.

The five development narratives identified through this exercise -orthodox extractivism, extractivism with industrialisation, green new deal (GND), degrowth, and community autonomism-shape heterogeneous ways of materialising human relations with nature. Moreover, they entail fields of possibilities and practices with which different groups can identify and between which relations of opposition or articulation are established, considering the power disputes across them. Therefore, based on the frequency of circulation, the actors legitimising the narratives and the media outlet in which they circulate, orthodox extractivism and extractivism with industrialisation are residual narratives, GND is the dominant one, and degrowth and community autonomism are the emergent.

Regarding the environment, whereas residual models assimilate it as natural resources intended to be exploited intensively (lithium appears as a commodity that brings in foreign currency, referred to as the "new oil", "white gold", or a "hidden treasure", allowing local communities to leave their "primitive" original state), the dominant model frames this exploitation within environmental standards that remain unclear (lithium appears as key for an energy transition, and refer as part of a "sustainable mining" linked to accountability and efficiency). In contrast, the emergent narratives understand the environment as the co-creation of a relationship between the biophysical and its inhabitants, entailing caring relationships (indigenous peoples expose how their identities and culture disappear if their ecosystem dies). Connected to this arises the question of its management. While the residual and the dominant narratives discuss it in terms of strategic resources that provincial or national governments may administer, the emerging models stress recognising the legitimate participation of indigenous communities and organised civil society in the debate.

Regarding emancipation, orthodox extractivism is the only narrative that does not envision emancipation and reproduces colonial relations between the North and the South, assimilating development to economic growth. On the other hand, extractivism with industrialisation, GND, degrowth and community autonomism include an emancipatory aspect. Nonetheless, their understanding of emancipation differs; the two former links it to improving Argentina's position in the global market, neglecting power inequalities within the country, and understanding economic growth as the basis of development. The latter consider emancipation from a bottom-up perspective, undervaluing economic growth as the basis of development and connecting it to a shift in the relationship with the environment.

Finally, in the residual and dominant narratives, it is possible to trace persistence of the Modernity discourse with nuances, reproducing the marginalisation of local communities and focusing on the country's position within global dynamics. In this way, they neglect the differentiated impact these dynamics have in different sectors, particularly the negative consequences on already marginalised communities. On the other hand, the emergent models openly challenge this discourse, emphasising the reinforcement of local aspects to reverse the undesired effects of the current global ones.

This study showed that although emergent narratives usually appear on critical and alternative media outlets, they circulate in mainstream media to a lesser extent. Therefore, it made it possible to think that new futures, engaged with alternative development models, can be shaped by the massification of some unusual alliances already occurring in this arena. Thus, it might be relevant to delve deeper into the strategies for consolidating these unusual alliances while generating evidence to identify whether they effectively contribute to counteracting the reproduction of inequality.

Whilst the hegemonic development discourse aims to improve Argentina's position in the global system, it reproduces mechanisms that exacerbate the differentiated impact of this development model on different sectors of the population, producing environmental damages and more inequality. This analysis sought to deepen understanding of this situation and demonstrate alternative ways forward. The final goal remains on the side of hope and advocates for the plural construction of a development model intersected by the values of social justice, in which the motto of the Sustainable Development Goals becomes a reality: leaving no one behind.

Author Bio

Mariana Paterlini has recently graduated with an MA in International Development at the University of Warwick. She is a human rights activist whose practice has focused on feminism, gender rights, economic, social, and cultural rights and, more recently, the right to the future. Her master's dissertation addressed continuities and ruptures traceable in the narratives circulating in the public debate on development and the environment in Argentina. She was a Chevening scholar, and this piece was made possible by funding from the Chevening Scholarships, the UK government's global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Mouzayian Khalil : 09 Oct 2023 13:26 |  Tags: Argentina Development Development Discourse Environment Lithium Extraction |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Lurching from crisis to crisis: A reflection of ‘neglect’ and Ebola in Uganda

Lurching from crisis to crisis: A reflection of ‘neglect’ and Ebola in Uganda

Source: Flickr (UNMEER)

Written by: Sharifah Sekalala

On 21 December 2022, the president of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, declared Uganda Ebola free, because it hadn’t reported a new case for 42 days – the criterion set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Although the Ugandan Ebola crisis had, since 20 September, infected 142 people, 55 confirmed dead, including 8 school children and 7 health workers, the ‘end’ of the crisis didn’t even make many international headlines. It is true that these numbers are relatively small, but monkey pox which garnered huge global headlines killed only 22 people.

The paradox of perpetual crisis and neglect in global health

Uganda has faced five previous Ebola crises (2000-2001, 2007-2008, 2011, 2012-2013, 2018-2020). Patient zero for the 2022 crisis was a young man with the Sudan variant which had no known vaccine. Before 2016, when a mass outbreak in West Africa spread to many European countries, Ebola crises were primarily ignored by the international community. In the aftermath of the 2016 crisis, Joao Nunes used the term neglect to refer to diseases such as Ebola which are only recognised as a threat when they spread to life in the global north.

At the crux of this neglect is the way in which global health law recognises crises. In order to meet the WHO’s threshold for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a disease must cross borders. Therefore, countries like Uganda, which have managed to contain numerous public health crises within their borders, are often ignored.

Reaching the threshold of a PHEIC not only garners international attention but also allows developing countries to access funding, such as pandemic bonds. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, when the World Bank initially refused to pay, Bangin Brim and Clare Wenham accused the World Bank’s financing facility of being focused on paying out to investors over countries in need and creating a threshold in which the only realistic way in which poor countries can claim from this fund is if diseases spread across national borders.

Additionally, as Patricia Kingori has argued, the language of crises is framed within narratives with a singular beginning and end, which ignores the fact that some countries and communities remain in perpetual health crisis. This framing of crises that have a singular beginning and end neglects the experiences of huge parts of the world whose crises are becoming more frequent and more complex as zoonotic diseases spread from animals to humans, diseases mutate and spread faster due to globalisation but also due to increased environmental impacts from climate change in many parts of the world.

The crisis of care amidst depleted systems

The Ebola crisis in Uganda was also a crisis within broader social economic crises. The country was still struggling with the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, with only 13 million people out of 50 million people fully vaccinated, other infectious diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV on the rise, and an economic crises caused by a prolonged period of lockdown.

Health workers were particularly affected with them forming 26 percent of infections. Yet again, the Ebola Crisis in Uganda resuscitated old debates about the adequacy of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline workers. Frontline workers also accused the government of failing to pay them appropriately. 17 percent of all those infected were children which led to early school closures, with schools being closed two weeks early. This had a huge impact, as children in Uganda had already been subjected to the longest period of school closures in the world.

Countries that are perpetually in crisis rely on families for care, especially women. In Uganda, women are often the main caregivers in their homes, communities, and health facilities, which puts them at higher risk of illness. Rai et al. use the term ‘depletion’ to refer to the way in which the human energy needed for caring is hard to replenish. Low- and Middle-Income Countries like Uganda face depletion during crises, not only of frontline workers but also of women who continue to care when systems such as schools can no longer continue.

Vaccines and global neglect

Although Ebola was discovered more than 19 years ago, the vaccines that had been developed for the previous Ebola crisis were not effective on the Sudan Strain. The ways in which vaccines are researched, produced and distributed has come under increasing scrutiny, with rich countries being accused of vaccine colonialism, because although many countries took part in vaccine trials, once they were produced, rich countries hoarded vaccine doses, leaving many countries in the global south without access.

The proposed vaccine trials for the new Sudan variant highlights these global inequalities. Although the WHO lauded the fact that it took only 79 days to deliver trial vaccines, the vaccine trial which cost 9 million dollars has now been put on hold. As the prestigious journal Science had observed, ‘Uganda’s disappearing Ebola outbreak challenges vaccine testing.’ Because Uganda had done so well containing the Ebola outbreak, the waning number of cases made it difficult to create a ring trial, which is only effective if given to contacts of known cases.

The absence of a vaccine for the Sudan strain raises broader questions about the research and production of vaccines for diseases that are neglected. Although the trial included Ugandan scientists, the trial vaccines were produced in the global north, and the international community needed to raise US$9 million for a disease that has been endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. This leaves the entire global community still vulnerable to a disease for which we may have had a cure if were not for neglect.

Author Bio

Sharifah Sekalala is a Professor of Global Health Law at the University of Warwick. Prof Sekalala is primarily interested in global health crises and the impact of law in curbing inequalities. Her research is focused primarily on Sub Saharan Africa and she is currently PI on a Wellcome-Trust-funded project on digital health apps in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prof Sekalala also serves as an Associate Fellow of Chatham House’s Global Health Program and the Chair of the Human Rights Working Group of the Global Health Law Consortium. This piece was made possible by funding from the Connaught Foundation Grant No: 512634 and Warwick Law School’s Impact Fund.

Mouzayian Khalil : 11 Jan 2023 09:17 |  Tags: Depletion Ebola Global Health Health Crisis Uganda |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Data–based humanitarianism in Nigeria and South Sudan

Source: Data and Displacement Project Fieldwork

Written by: Funke Fayehun, Briony Jones, Leben Moro and Vicki Squire

This blog from members of the Data and Displacement team explores barriers that emerge in the context of data-driven approaches to humanitarian protection.ⁱ

How far can a data-driven approach to humanitarian protection foster increased participation and improved outcomes for IDPs? We address this question based on an analysis of interviews with displaced persons (IDPs) and stakeholders in Northeastern Nigeria and South Sudan. Our findings highlight the ways that the production and use of data in itself generates challenges for the participation of affected communities, with protection outcomes compromised by a range of contextual, specific and systemic barriers.

Northeastern Nigeria and South Sudan

Northeastern Nigeria has seen terrorism and armed conflict over a number of years, including insurgencies by the Boko Haram sect in the 1990s, later allied with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). This has led to deaths, the loss of livelihood and key support systems, and multiple displacements. Findings from our research suggest that there are lapses in the data ecosystems in Nigeria, with likely consequences of imprecise and inaccurate data on humanitarian assistance and planning.

South Sudan gained independence on 9 July 2011, enabling the return of millions of displaced persons. However, due to the outbreak of civil war in 2013, ongoing political battles and intense violence, largely along ethnic lines, has caused catastrophic repercussions for civilians. As of 2021, 2.34 million South Sudanese were refugees in neighboring countries while another 1.615 million were IDPs. Despite resolution in 2018, our research indicates that the generation and management of data on IDPs in the country have significant shortcomings.

Exploring the Challenges:

1. Technological and infrastructural barriers

In Northeastern Nigeria, there are both personnel and equipment gaps, which limit capacities for data collection and storage. The lack of equipment and well-trained personnel limits the coherence of data storage and handling processes, which differ across organizations. Divergent data banks across institutions and actors, along with reliability and systematisation issues in some cases, mean that there is a multiplicity of data.

Most South Sudanese NGOs do not generate sufficient and reliable financial resources by which to acquire the necessary expertise and material resources. UN agencies and international organisations are better positioned to acquire and deploy the required capacity to generate and manage data. Representatives of international organisations that we interviewed confirmed use of tablets to undertake headcounts and profiling for returns.

2. Procedural and Administrative barriers in defining vulnerability

Both stakeholders and IDPs highlight irregularities in the classification and identification of the most vulnerable IDPs in camps in Northeastern Nigeria. Many ‘fall through the cracks’ of protection because classification issues both at the point of registration and within the data subsequently collected for planning purposes lead to many needing help being overlooked.

While some stakeholders in South Sudan are involved in projects targeting vulnerable groups as well as general protection needs, many IDPs who we interviewed in camps suggest that the needs of some vulnerable people are not addressed. Those likely to ‘fall through the cracks’ of protection are victims of sexual violence, which is a significant but culturally sensitive issue in South Sudan.

3. Ethical barriers

There is an inconsistent and inappropriate ethical system for data collection from IDPs in Northeastern Nigeria. Many IDPs describe consent as verbal, without proper recording or written documentation and with limited information. In some instances, data collectors do not directly obtain consent from IDPs, but instead, go ahead with data collection after stating the purpose and approval from higher authorities.

In South Sudan some IDPs interviewed for this study expressed distrust or fear about people coming to collect data from them. Some IDPs agreed to give consent because their community leaders agreed to the data collection, and some complain that those who collect data from them do not return and fail to provide feedback.

4. Systemic barriers

Technological innovations intersect with donor pressure, donor agendas, and our research highlights the role of inter-agency competition over finite resources and funding. Data-driven humanitarian assistance is clearly a contested terrain with implications for IDP participation and humanitarian outcomes. Our research indicates that IDPs often have different understandings to humanitarian practitioners of the value of sharing data and expectations of what it should be used for. One told us:

‘I did not ask them. I would want to ask them, but I did not, they came to collect data like you are doing now, but they disappeared’

Conclusion

In reviewing data-driven humanitarian assistance in IDP camps in Northeastern Nigeria and South Sudan, our research points to a range of barriers to improving protection outcomes: technological and infrastructural, procedural and administrative, as well as ethical. Our findings suggest that this requires further investment in personnel and technological infrastructure, more careful attention to classification processes in the identification of vulnerability and need, plus improved ethical practices that take informed consent seriously.

Profile of Authors:

Funke Fayehun, Associate Professor and Head of Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan

Briony Jones, Reader of International Development, Politics and International Studies Department, University of Warwick.

Leben Moro, Director of the Directorate of Scientific and Cultural External Relations, University of Juba.

Vicki Squire, Professor of International Studies, Politics and International Studies Department, University of Warwick.

Notes:

[i] Data and Displacement: Assessing the Practical and Ethical Implications of Targetting Humanitarian Protection is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (AHRC-FCDO) Collaborative Humanitarian Protection Programme (grant AH/T007516/1). We would like to thank the wider research team for their work on this project, including João Porto de Albuquerque, Dallal Stevens, Rob Trigwell, Ọláyínká Àkànle, Modesta Alozie, Kuyang Harriet Logo, Prithvi Hirani, Grant Tregonning, Stephanie Whitehead, HajjaKaka Alhaji Mai, Abubakar Adam, Omolara Popoola, Silvia De Michelis, Ewajesu Opeyemi Okewumi, Mauricio Palma-Gutiérrez, Funke Caroline Williams and Oluwafunto Abimbola. The project team undertook a total of 140 semi-structured qualitative interviews in Northeastern Nigeria and South Sudan, 100 with IDPs and 40 with practitioners, split equally across the two locations. The team has also conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with a total of 42 humanitarians who have expertise in data and information management, from across a range of international organisations and NGOs. We would also like to extend our thanks to Annika Sirikulthada, a University of Warwick Research Assistant who suported preparation of the blog.

Mouzayian Khalil : 15 Dec 2022 15:27 |  Tags: Data-Driven Approach Displacement Humanitarianism Migration Nigeria South Sudan |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem