Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The harm principle as it is used in green criminology (Beirne and South 2007; Sol-
lund 2008; Kangaspunta and Marshall 2009; White 2010) applies fittingly to land-use
change and land conflicts in tropical regions. In the first place, these processes cause
human harm. Several communities in the areas under study are directly threatened by
changing land use. They are threatened, chased away or choose to leave their com-
munities as the forests around them disappear. Likewise, they are evicted or watch as
their land is grabbed from them. This includes traditional, afro-descendent, indige-
nous, peasant and river populations, most of which can be found in both of the areas
in which the LAR project operates.
In addition to humans, many non-humans are threatened by tropical deforestation.
This is due to the fact that tropical rainforests contain more than half of the planet's
biodiversity. In the words of well-known biologist Edward Wilson, who introduced
the term biodiversity:
The headquarters of global diversity are the tropical rainforests. Although they
cover only about six percent of the land surface, their terrestrial and aquatic habi-
tats contain more than half of the known species and organisms. They are also
the leading abattoir of extinction, shattered into fragments that are then being
severely adulterated or erased one by one. (Wilson 2002: 59)
One result of this annuitization of nature is the “accelerating extinction of natural
ecosystems and species'' (Wilson 2002: 150). Wilson explains that the “damage already
done cannot be repaired within any period of time that has meaning for the human
mind,'' and subsequently poses the question, “Why, our descendants will ask, by
needlessly extinguishing the lives of other species, did we permanently impoverish our
own?'' (Wilson 2002: 150).
More recently, Rob White (2011) has carefully formulated an eco-global crimino-
logical agenda that combines an orientation towards ecology and justice (eco-justice)
with global studies (White 2011: 19). Environmental harm is also best seen here
in terms of
justice
, based on notions of human or social (environmental rights and
justice), ecological (ecological citizenship and justice) and animal rights (species jus-
tice), as well as egalitarian concerns (White 2011: 23). This strong link between
socio-environmental harms (victims) and justice (rights) is explicit from a green crim-
inological approach and forms one of the theoretical pillars of the LAR project. Any
attempt to enhance or realize any form of environmental justice in practice (by dealing
with harm created by land-use change, with issues concerning social inequality, access
to territory andwater, etc.) should start by recognizing and protecting economic, social,
cultural and environmental rights that are violated in the process of exploiting natural
resources for the benefit of few.
6.4 THE HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED PERSPECTIVE
In addition to a green criminological approach, a human rights-based approach is
applied within the LAR project, particularly by the human rights organization FIAN
International. A HRBA is founded on the conviction that each and every human being,
by virtue of being human, is a holder of certain rights. By definition, human rights
are universal, interdependent, indivisible and interrelated, and seek to protect human
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