Green imperialism or eco-imperialism or eco-colonialism or environmental imperialism is a derogatory epithet alluding to what is perceived as a Western strategy to influence the internal affairs of mostly

developing nation A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

s in the name of

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...

Etymology

The sceptical perception of the

Brundtland Brundtland is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Gro Harlem Brundtland (born 1939), Norwegian politician, diplomat, physician, and international leader in sustainable development and public health * Torbjørn Brundtland (born 19 ...

report by the

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

elites was summarized as ''green imperialism'' by Helge Ole Bergesen in 1988. In 1999, the same meaning was used by

Deepak Lal Deepak Kumar Lal (1940 – 30 April 2020) was an Indian-born British author, professor and consultant focused on the subject of liberal economics. Best known for his 1983 book, "The Poverty of Development Economics", Lal was also known for buc ...

in his book ''"Green Imperialism: A Prescription for Misery and War in the World's Poorest Countries"''. Nonetheless, the same term is used differently in

Richard Grove Richard Hugh Grove (21 July 1955 – 25 June 2020) was a British historian, environmental activist, and one of the contemporary founders of environmental history as an academic field. His prizewinning book, ''Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansi ...

's book ''"Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism 1600–1860"'' in 1995. In Grove's book, it means the impact of

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...

tropical islands on European data-driven scientists resulting in early environmentalism. The first mentions of the terms environmental colonialism or eco-colonialism appeared in connection with

debt-for-nature swap Debt-for-nature swaps are financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation's foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures. History The debt-for-nature swaps concept was first giv ...

s since 1989. It was feared that the however well-intentioned environmental protection programs could be perceived as middlesome and imperialistic. The establishment of

national parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

in Africa has in some cases led to the impoverishment and displacement of local populations. Eco-imperialism also known as ecoimperialism was originally an abbreviation for

ecological imperialism Ecological imperialism is the theory, advanced first by Alfred Crosby, that European settlers were successful in colonization of other regions because of their accidental or deliberate introduction of animals, plants, and disease leading to major ...

as in the book by Alfred Cosby, but changed its meaning after the publication of Paul Driessen's book ''"Eco-Imperialism: Green Power Black Death"'' in 2003. Cosby's eco-imperialism is interference with a degrading effect on the environment of targeted countries, while Driessen's eco-imperialism is interference with a degrading effect on the economy in the name of environmental improvement.

Potential examples

Several European governments announced boycotts of Malaysian timber due to unsustainable deforestation in Malaysia. Malaysia's Prime Minister,

Mahathir Mohamed Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

, opposed the boycotts, arguing that ''"we are not exploiting the forests for no good reason. We need money. We have to export wood because we need the foreign exchange without which we cannot buy what we want"'' During "Battle in Seattle" in 1999, media presented environmentalism as a new form of imperialism. The rich, developed countries impose their environmental preferences and priorities on the developing countries. In 2009, Germany called French proposal of

carbon tariff An eco-tariff, also known as an environmental tariff or carbon tariff, is a trade barrier erected for the purpose of reducing pollution and improving the environment. These trade barriers may take the form of import or export taxes on products th ...

s as eco-imperialism. Back then, greenhouse tariffs met strong opposition from developing countries such as India and China, since these tariffs would impact their exports. In 2014, Joji Morishita, a Japanese commissioner, expressed his concerns about calls of sustainable whaling from the

International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation of ...

by the words ''"The whaling issue is seen as a symbol of a larger issue sometimes in Japan... You might have heard the word 'eco-imperialism'"''. The approval of the World Bank loan of $3.05bn (£2.4bn loan) for 4,764 MW

Medupi Power Station Medupi Power Station is a dry-cooled coal-fired power station built by Eskom near Lephalale in Limpopo province, South Africa. The name chosen for the station, Medupi, is a Sepedi word which means "gentle rain". With an installed capacity of 4,7 ...

drew criticism for supporting increased global emissions of

greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs and Emission (electromagnetic radiation), emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse ...

es. If the coal plant was not built, there would have been significant limitations placed on industrial development in the country.

Relation to neoliberalism

It is sometimes described as a combination of global environmental and broad

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

agendas. Eco-imperialism is perceived to result in a policy of

commodification Within a capitalist economic system, commodification is the transformation of things such as goods, services, ideas, nature, personal information, people or animals into objects of trade or commodities.For animals"United Nations Commodity Trad ...

of all resources of earth. This tendency of

commodification of nature The commodification of nature is an area of research within critical environmental studies that is concerned with the ways in which natural entities and processes are made exchangeable through the market, and the implications thereof. Drawing upon ...

for environmental goals is also known as ''"selling nature to save it"''.

Political debates

Critical voices depreciate environmentalism as an excuse for hindering economic development of

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

. Critics see alternative energy sources as far from realistic, and

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...

s as the key to lifting entire populations out of poverty. Developing nations, led by Brazil, India and Singapore, opposed entangling global trade with pollution controls in 1994, calling them hidden protectionism, which will keep jobs in the developed countries and deprive poor nations of their competitive advantages. The agenda of environmentalist NGOs is called neo-colonialism and eco-imperialism in 2022 by Japan, Peru, South Africa, Kenya and Bolivia. According to Anil Agarwal, a 1990 study by the

World Resources Institute The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research non-profit organization established in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. WRI's activities are focused on seven areas: food, fore ...

allocated responsibility for global warming to developing countries. Agarwal considered this study to be flawed, politically motivated, and unjust, and saw it more as exacerbating the North-South divide. In his 1991 paper, he called this an example of environmental colonialism and blamed U.S.

overconsumption Overconsumption describes a situation where a consumer overuses their available goods and services to where they can't, or don't want to, replenish or reuse them. In microeconomics, this may be described as the point where the marginal cost of a ...

for global warming. Environmental colonialism became a subject in the book ''" Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All"'' by Michael Shellenberger. In ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', John Tierney, a long-standing critic of environmentalism, wrote that "Shellenberger makes a persuasive case, lucidly blending research data and policy analysis with a history of the green movement and vignettes of people in poor countries suffering the consequences of “environmental colonialism.”"

References

External links