preface: nature for sale
meena raman, chairperson, friends of
the earth international
Since colonial times, natural resources
have been exported from developing
countries to feed the ever growing
consumption needs of people in rich,
industrialized countries. To secure this
system, northern governments ended their
colonial rule by imposing an economic
system upon the old colonies that would
ensure the continuing flow of natural
resources, at almost no cost.
Today, as economic globalization gathers
pace, this unsustainable and inequitable
pattern of consumption is being cemented
into place. Impoverished countries, under
pressure from richer states and
multilateral institutions such as the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF),
are further locked into world trading,
financial and investment systems aimed at
securing the cheap transfer of natural
resources. They depend on the transnational
corporations for imports of components and
expensive new technology and pay for these
inputs by exporting even more natural
resources, sacrificing yet more
biodiversity.
Because of their size and because they
are often supported by government
subsidies, transnational corporations are
dominating the natural resource trading
world. Small and medium-sized domestic
enterprises in the South find it impossible
to compete with these powerful newcomers
and have little hope for the future. The
system results in profit for some and huge
losses and destruction for many. In the
third world, people are losing their
forests, fish, and mineral resources at a
rapid rate. They and their children are
losing access to a sustainable livelihood.
Even the land and labour resources of the
poor seem to be at the disposal of the
rich. All of this to support the
consumption patterns of the rich, which are
not sustainable and need urgent change.
The prospect for the future as designed
by economic policy makers at the World
Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank
and other financial institutions that are
dominated by Northern and corporate
interests does not look bright. As it is
now, the poorest countries in the world
will continue to provide the majority of
the natural and human resources required
for industrial activity – and receive
little by way of reward. Indeed, as global
markets become over-supplied, commodities
become ever cheaper - good for rich
importing countries, but bad for poor
exporting countries. As a result, the rich
will continue to get richer, the poor will
slide further down into poverty and all of
us find ourselves increasingly confronted
with the effects of the environmental
destruction caused by the
over-exploitation. There is no logic in
this system; there is no justice in it.
Friends of the Earth International
(FoEI) challenges the system and promotes
alternatives that are environmentally
sustainable and socially just for all. We
challenge the governments that insist on
pursuing the same old economic strategies
and relentlessly reward those transnational
companies that so far have benefited from
environmental and economic destruction. We
fight trade and investment agreements that
continue to be designed with the purpose of
increasing corporate access to biological
resources - even in those regions that may
be considered the last frontiers of
biodiversity. And FoEI calls on northern
governments not to use the ‘war against
terror’ as an excuse to access and control
the resources of oil-rich countries.
As an alternative to this ‘Nature for
Sale’, FoEI supports ideas, proposals and
systems that aim to secure environmental
justice for all. We promote community
management of and control over
biodiversity. We pursue the development of
collective rights for local communities and
Indigenous Peoples (whether or not such
rights are recognized by States) and seek
the recognition and repayment of the
ecological debt that has been accumulated
by biopiracy and other predatory
practices.
