Conservation, ecological justice and harm to nature - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 93

their basic rights. As Abel and Blaikie (1986: 748) so aptly put it: 'We
do not accept the social value of maintaining islands of ecological
integrity in a sea of social and ecological degradation, particularly if
the islands are maintained at the expense of the sea.'
Much of the groundwork for present day expulsions from traditional
lands was laid during the European colonial era, which saw numerous
groups pushed off their ancestral lands to make way for new foreign
settlers. Colonial rule, however, was not just about land ownership and
land use, it also involved the re-conceptualisation and relabelling of
traditional practices associated with living on the land.
In contrast to their own activities, colonial authorities often
outlawed hunting with the use of snares and traps, which
effectively criminalized the subsistence hunting practices
of local communities. For example, in British colonies
hunting using traps and snares was outlawed. In effect this
meant that hunting by African communities was instantly
redefined as a criminal act (poaching) while hunting for
sport, leisure and trade by Europeans was defined as legal and
acceptable. European hunters were presented as sportsmen
engaged in noble activities; it could be said that they were
proto-conservationists because they wanted wildlife to be
conserved so they could hunt it for pleasure. (Duffy, 2010:
85)
Ironically, such processes of re-conceptualisation also work in reverse
as well, especially when it comes to (lack of) acknowledgement of
indigenous technologies and knowledge.
For example, the notion of bio-piracy is premised upon racist and
colonialist interpretations and portrayals of traditional people. Bio-
piracy refers to exploitation of third world resources and third world
peoples and knowledge, and specifically the usurpation of ownership
and control over plants using western legal and political institutional
mechanisms and forums. As explained by Mgbeoji (2006), corporate
interests have used two methods to take what they want: institutional
and juridical mechanisms (such as patents) and gendered and racist
constructions of non-western contributions to plant development and
use (such as 'traditional' methods versus 'scientific').
Most important, the legal and policy factors that facilitate
the appropriation of indigenous peoples' knowledge
operate within a cultural context that subtly but persistently