March, 2022, Issue 1
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En-gendered Environmental Conflict Transformation
Preface En-genderd Environmental Conflict Transformation is a an outcome of intersectional interests between ecology, gender, ethnicities and how these subjectivities contribute to conflict transformation and peace building. Environmental peacebuilding embedded in engendered narratives can be explored in inter-disciplinary framework. With the belief and advocacy for constructive recommendations, this issue of En-genderd Environmental Conflict Transformation takes off with 3 articles, a book review and a poem all written by the creator of this magazine. I am grateful to all the photographers who have given open access to their visual creations. Thank you readers, for taking out your precious time to read this labour of love.
Vani Bhardwaj (Creator of ‘En-gendered Environmental Conflict Transformation’ Magazine)
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Table of Contents 1. Environmental-Gendered Challenges For Asia-Pacific 2. Sustainable Development Conundrum for a Postcolonial Periphery
3. Gender Security in Public Policy: The Upcoming Decade
4. Book Review: Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropoobscene:Interruptions and Possibilities 5. Poetry: Ruminating Solitude
About the Author
Photo by Gary Ellis on Unsplash
ENVIRONMENTAL-GENDERED CHALLENGES FOR ASIAPACIFIC The underground volcanic explosion brought tsunami warnings to entire Western Pacific and of course, island nations in the entire ring of fire. The devastation in Tonga seemed like a slight throwback to the devastating tsunami in Indonesia and across the Indian Ocean in 2004. How natural are the impacts of such natural disasters?
Earthquakes and volcanoes are tectonic, but the entire disaster risk reduction and rehabilitation continuum approach is completely anthropogenic. The curious and inquiring minds of changemakers must not skip the following pertinent questions and their ominous answers. The following commentary looks at the intersecting challenges of environmental and gender security facing the coastal and Island nationstates in Asia Pacific. It brings the focus in Asia-Pacific maritime to security issues embedded in environment and gendered aspects that are getting subsumed under hyper geo-strategic rhetoric of hard power.
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Photo by yang wewe on Unsplash
All alarming realities of the changing face of Asian-Pacific maritime space Shifting of Indonesian capital to Nusantara the plight of the Rohingya refugees – uprooted and living on a makeshift, frequently flooded island oil spills in Indian Ocean near Malaysia and Sri Lanka destruction of biodiversity in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to incorporate development of island territories in congruence with the mainland India bleaching of coral systems along Australian coastline monoculture plantations destroying the Borneo biodiversity and forests
Which dreadful impacts are positioning the entire Pacific and Indian Ocean into ecological emergency across the column and strata of sea depths?
The poor health of mangroves the bleaching of coral systems the warming of the oceans creating dead zones, the biomagnification of microplastics within marine organisms due to unsustainable beach, scuba diving and surfing tourism the exploration of renewable energy via offshore hydrocarbon policies Oceanic Thermal Energy and exploration of methane gas hydrates
Who are the stakeholders who need to be adequately represented in formulation of disaster reduction and rehabilitation strategies?
The humans who find their livelihoods connected directly to marine and coastal ecosystems are the ones impacted most devastatingly. Women led households along coastal areas where the men have migrated to different cities to look for a living the fishing community that are battling not only the turning tides of climate change but also social parameters of class and caste the insecurity faced by children who are displaced and face disruption in their education
the acceleration and proliferation of water borne diseases among coastal communities as they consume toxic sea food
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What can the stakeholders commit to? 1) Intensive use of biotechnology and marine engineering must be deployed, not for exploitation for marine minerals, but for conducting studies regarding bio-marine flora, fauna and biodiversity of the seafloor. The preservation of biodiversity of hotspots must not be made subservient to using the epithet of development and constructing geopolitical leverage at the cost of biodiversity conservation. 2) Respective national forest services should have inter-country mangrove and coral system restoration meetings and symposiums. 3) Increase in the number of internally displaced environmental migrants and environmental refugees, requires a legal multilateral regime spearheaded by small island nation states. 4) Sustainable urbanization within deltaic regions of countries require in-depth understanding of river systems and river beds. Most of knowledge resides within oral traditions of local population. Localized knowledge that has stood the test of vagaries of nature can constructively contribute in developing of national action plans for their respective coastal regions. Photo by Alenka Skvarc on Unsplash
5) Enduring positive peace can be built on greater transnational networking of local feminisms as economically deprived women are the most impacted with vanishing of resources, displacements of lives and sporadic ruptures in community living. Grassroots public action of collectives of local women can bring the voices of ‘lived experiences’. Social science researchers must take field studies and understand their lives from the outside-in.
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6) Local communities are getting completely uprooted from places they have lived in for generations altogether and transitioning to a life that is unknown, where they are always on the move. This creates a striking psychosocial mental health impact on entire families, young and old minds. Of extreme importance will be the recording of oral histories of these marginalized community locals, as the lives they lived only a decade or two ago are at the brink of extinction and an entirely uncertain and oscillating way of daily living is about to engulf them. As coastal communities relocate further into the interior of their countries, entire nation-states have responsibility to alleviate them from their multiple deprivations. Optimal utilization of Artificial Intelligence for pre-disaster early warning systems are already in place and that has been a major positive development ex-post the 2004 tsunami destruction. The localized production of knowledge provide the solutions via transnational policy dialogues.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONUNDRUM FOR A POSTCOLONIAL PERIPHERY The advancement of the rare earth economy is juxtaposing gendered geopolitics at the local level to state and commercial interests. The impending conundrum of hydropolitics at the periphery of Indian geography highlights the limitations of political cartography.
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The geopolitical de-centering of policy making would require not only the
minority and suppressed tribal groups to get a louder voice, but also requires a gender transformative execution of gender in development (GID) rather than
“…..Frontier is both a boundary and a gender and development (GAD). device for social exclusion, a zone of transition and a new cultural The annual flooding of the Brahmaputra imaginary”(Redclift, 2006). River, the building of run-of-the river The residue of colonial legacy perpetuates in nuanced contexts of transborder conflicts, intensive resource competition and subdued voices of the subaltern population, particularly women and children. The ‘Act East’ policy of India finds itself in a dilemma of contested spaces and competing and troubled identities at the periphery.
small hydroelectric projects across major
rivers in the Tibetan plateau by China has pushed aside the inhabitants of their own spatiality. Transboundary environmental impact assessments, trans-frontier cooperation in undefined
territories, stakeholder based
disaggregated glocal standardized operating procedures are all missing in the planning, consultation and implementation level. In the quest for providing rigidity to geopolitical categories, the nation states of China and India continue to formulate their hydro-politics within the template of binaries; something that postmodern feminists like Judith Butler problematize. The hyper-masculinist approach to nation building has shoved the feminist geopolitics into oblivion. Resource nationalism is backed by rhetoric of jingoism, while dissidence by the locals is perceived as endangering the national project. The colonial remnants in the discourse of development have concomitantly given space for post-development critique to develop, wherein meshworks of alter globalization social movements (AGSMs) have sprung up across the Global South as noted by Arturo Escobar. The villainization of local styles of agricultural production of nomadic populations by positioning monoculture palm oil cultivation as part of commercial forestry is putting the soil health and biodiversity survival at risk. Localized resource wars are only going to be amplified by the discovery of rare earth minerals in the entire
North Eastern region of India. For Vandana Shiva, the ecofeminist who has been working for decades on the indigenous seed revolution in South Asia, the problem is inherent in Cartesian duality of science which provides protection to ‘mother nature; through masculinist rational and logic. For E.F. Schumacher, “the whole crux of economic life is the constant reconciliation of opposites” and he was among first to highlight the ‘Bacon spiritedness’ of Enlightenment. ‘Nature has to be hounded in her wanderings, bound into service and made a slave’. The allegory being the female body, the Westphalian nation states are in fact doing the same in the name of realpolitik in anarchical state of nature and chaos in international system (la Hobbesian state of nature) But as Schumacher highlights, systems are like nature – in a cycle of decay and regeneration. What might facilitate policymakers is a template of nonduality rather than duality-based psychosis. The looming catastrophe in trans-state, intra-state water politics can only be remedied when China, India and Bangladesh converge their ideas, interests and institutions to remedy the
climate change induced travesties in the north-eastern region of India. Unlike Ethiopia, India is both an upper and lower riparian state, sandwiched between China and Bangladesh and not merely a black and white binary. The resource geopolitics globally should be of imminent interest to India because the stance it morphs in Amazon related forest fires, Egypt-Ethiopia dam construction over Nile is going to ring loud echoes on the impending inflexion point of river systems of its most troubled and conflict-absorbed periphery. The disparities within environmental peacebuilding involves the silencing of gendered narratives of the women at the grassroots, who are subjugated and silenced in the name of law and order, ‘disturbed areas’ and disappearance of intangible cultural heritage that are linked to ‘mother nature’ such as sacred groves, the non-hegemonic ‘tribal cults’. The atrocities on nature translates into violence on the allegorical feminine represented by ecology. The ecosystem approach as advanced by numerous scholars like Fritjof Capra, Adrienne Rich, Hazel Henderson. In fact, Henderson problematizes the entire discipline of economics by questioning
entire models based on utilities, incomes and productivity. She places energy to be the main focal point that will drive economics and in fact it does. Bhutan in fact could contribute to South Asian policy making by being an exemplar case study in greening domestic and transboundary production. UN organizations such as UNDP and UNICEF have undertaken disaggregated, gender and child sensitive matrices for analysing risks at the national and regional levels; but until the cooperation among the nation states involved remains elusive, the international agencies can only sit out as avid observers. The hyperrealist politics of the Indian Ocean region has engulfed the entire Asian geo-strategist circles, but Indian geopolitics must serve its ‘peripheral’ and ‘softer’ issues. Bangladesh is already enduring the consequences of the climate emergency with rising sea levels and disappearing islands,
Photo by Shane
Photo by Emma a futuristic paradigm can certainly not Gossett on Unsplash be replete only with droughts, displacement, abruption in health, education and nutrition of communities. In consonance with SDG 4 and SDG 16, the need of the hour is to assess and operationalize environment-cum-gender sensitive peacebuilding and conflict resolution measures in fragile contexts. The psycho social wellbeing of displaced communities due to economic and environmental disparities and insecurities require the ethics of ‘care and well being’. The engendered nature of psychosocial trauma in micro and macro conflict contexts is going to be inherited by a large population of North east India if biodiversity is not made a priority over gender and ecology-blind Bibliography economics and development.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/ india/exploration-results-showing-depositsThe uncertainty for Tibet, North east of-uranium-lithium-helium-and-rare-earthIndia and entire Bangladesh is elements-in-arunachalincreasing exponentially at the behest of pradesh/articleshow/85419507.cms
templates of neo-extractivism and destruction of the ‘feminine’ in ecology under the guise of renewable and clean energy. If development is not feminized thoroughly, a thorough devastation of ecology is inevitable.
M. Redclift, “Frontiers, Histories of Civil Society and Nature” (London: MIT Press 2006) pp. viii. Hickel,J. ”The anti-colonial politics of degrowth” in ‘Political Geography’ Volume 88 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.10240 4
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GENDER SECURITY IN PUBLIC POLICY: THE UPCOMING DECADE A tribal woman living in the coastal region, physically handicapped and economically and socially deprived – represents the gory structural constraints that hang over the most marginalized of Indian demographic profile at the
beginning of this decade. Emergence of Alter-Globalization Social movement (AGSMs) meshworks as Arturo Escobar (Asher, Wainwright, 2018) highlights in his postdevelopmentalist critique of neoliberal globalization are occurring at interstices of indigenous, LGBTQIA+, environmentalist, women, subaltern
identities positioned in template of ‘glocalities’.
In the following paragraphs, this author will delineate, possible risks that Indian administration seems unprepared for and suggests corresponding constructive remedial measures. Even as the government remains aware of policy domains that present fresh challenges, all of the latter must be tackled synergistically and from a gendered lens.
The following commentary reflects upon the scope for India in domestic, regional and international policy lacunae assisted by the lenses of SDGs. Firstly,
climate
induced
droughts,
floods, cyclones will displace entire communities – impacting women across all
inter-sectionalities
of
disability,
socio-economic parameters. This may aggravate internal security issues on an
inter-district, intra-state and inter-state basis. Clash of cultural norms or their diffusion depends on gender sensitive responses from a society. Proliferation of conflict zones due to climate change induced psycho-social and economic displacement will enhance economic, ecological
and
social
deprivations.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Prevention in a lifecycle approach under Photo by Ken kahiri on Unsplash
Sendai Framework must focus on trauma
counselling
–
particularly
women leaders must engage with local women police to produce innovative
oriented towards women and LGBTQI+
community engagement exercises. This
community during and post-disaster
shall provide political voice for
phases.
survivors of gender-based violence in
Secondly,
conflict –
diplomacy domestically
preventive
transnationally must
areas and insurgency fuelled environs.
proactively
Thirdly, System of Environmental
pursued in harmony with SDG 16.
Economic accounting while being
Transmutation of conflict zones into
conflated with SDGs must also
rehabilitative
incorporate disaggregated data for
and
be
and
conflict afflicted areas such as in naxal
re-integrated
communities at a domestic level is
social impact on transgender
possible by Indian bureaucracy.
community. Sex disaggregated data
For
this
the
administration
must
coordinate training modules and mid-
career training with UN for All-India officers. The issue of naxal insurgency can
be tackled
by providing re-
must also be enriched in NFHS-5 data regarding transgenders. Thus, India must create inclusive data sets via its statistical system, for a data driven future.
integration strategies by mainstreaming
Fourthly, 57% of women in India are
women
anaemic (NFHS-5, Government of
related
employment
opportunities. Local women leaders
India, 2019-21). Severe nutrition
must be mobilized that bring to the fore
insecurity will harm maternal foetal
concerns of tribal injustice. Such
health. Unsustainable change in dietary
patterns will conflate nutrition insecurity and be a risk to climate security. Stocking of State procured grains loses its nutritional impact while sitting in godowns for long (Boss, Pradhan, 2020). Meanwhile lack of crop diversification
will deplete groundwater and irrigation resources and cause land degradation. Fifthly, unscientific afforestation is surely converting drylands, scrublands and
grasslands via blindly carrying out plantation drives; but scientific forestry augurs that landscape appropriate species must be planted in an eco-systemic manner. Scientific planting of new saplings and trees will rehabilitate aquifers, wetlands and entire ecosystems. Healthy cropping pattern, that containing nutri-cereals and water efficient crops, is thus linked to maternal and child health of our entire country across economic pyramids. Thereby, micro-ecosystems must not be demolished.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unspla
Sixthly, total fertility rate now achieved in majority of states in India– meta son preference is the next challenge along with booming geriatric impediments in healthcare and social security systems. A weak state led social security system for
old age may further fuel preference for sons among the current working age population. Both India and China ironically face similar demographic testing points in the upcoming decade. Increased migration from, say UP and Bihar, states having TFR higher than replacement level (as per NFHS-5; 2.4 for UP, 3.0 for Bihar) will have long term effects on cultural norms of destination state. We
still do not know how adversely it will further transform gender roles in UP and Bihar themselves as migration flows increase exponentially in an outward manner to southern states. Seventhly, the long list of SDG Goals and indicators remain silent not only on cultural norms and Artificial Intelligence, but also how Industry 4.0 is essentially
occurring for the top echelon of the global demographic. Majority of the population may not have access to electricity or Information Technology, thus stuck in Industry 2.0 and Industry 3.0, but the privileged minority is racing towards the next level of automated inventions and machine world. Most harmful of impacts are going to be on people still struggling to alleviate themselves out of
basic economic, energy, literacy and health poverty.
Eighthly,
absence
of
AI
related Ninthly, embedded in a universalist
international treaties will prove to be liberal paradigm, the language and impediment in outer space diplomacy, objectives non-conventional transformation
warfare of
of
SDGs
surpass
the
strategies, emphasis on conflict management and
human
security peace building. All it limits itself is to
challenges. Automated weaponry is restrict trafficking and exploitation, it hyper-masculinizing our territorialities. never problematizes what it means by Hyper-masculinist
embodiment
of ‘justice’ and ‘peace’. Engendering of
artificial intelligence will push gender peace
and
justice
across
cultural
transformative diplomacy and politics contexts will require greater policy from
incrementally
advancing
the sensitivity from governments of Global
meagre foothold it had managed in this South like India. SDG 5 conveniently is century. This is the looming challenge oblivious
for
multilateralism
representative
and
politics.
gender community,
goal
Intelligence.
related
global
let
transgender
alone
coloured
Sustainable transgendered community.
Development Goals do not mention any policy
of
to
Artificial
Tenthly, changing demand of workforce from the industry of the country and novel challenges should ensure to
provide space to gender sensitive, gender
responsive
and
gender
transformative job profiles. Conflict
transformation,
trauma
counsellors, sociological re-integration
specialist,
gender
advisors
across
being empathetic to gendered aspects of
policy segments will have to be
conflict zones within India – will have a
deployed horizontally and vertically in
positive multiplier effect on a doubly or
all public sector initiatives. Besides
triply
from introducing robotics in school
children, transgenders. As resource
curriculum,
the
competition gets exaggerated under
Policy,2020
must
New
Education
highlight
how
climate
marginalized
change,
women,
girl
unsustainable
intersectional feminism is equally
urbanization and development; civil
important and science as a discipline
gender advisors are essential at every
can have less masculinist undertones.
policy brainstorming and execution.
Most importantly, regional action plans regarding implementation of SDGs must be enacted; for instance, a South Asian action plan adopted by these countries will by default handle issues of climate related migrants and insurgency related cross border money laundering. Policy flows in a duo-directional manner but also across network of
stakeholders it involves. Feminizing the geopolitical space, international diplomacy
and
domestic
Bibliography: Asher, ‘After
K.,
Wainwright,J.,
(2018)
Post-Development:
Capitalism,
Difference,
On and
Representation’, Antipode Vol. 51 No.
1 2019 ISSN 0066-4812, pp. 25–44 https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12430 Acosta, A., Demaria,F. (et al., eds.) (2019)
‘Pluriverse:
A
Post-
Development Dictionary’ Tulika Books National Family Health Survey -5, (2019-21), Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Government of India Boss,R., Pradhan,M., (2020), ‘Storage
Facilities
Matter:
Post-harvest
Management and Farm Outcomes’ in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 55, Issue No. 16, 18 Apr, 2020 https://www.epw.in/journal/2020/16/co mmentary/post-harvest-managementand-farm-outcomes.html
BOOK REVIEW Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo-obscene: Interruptions and Possibilities Challenging the meta narrative and homogenizing tendency of the geological scientism of the Anthropocene discourse, the book delves into the obscenity in the Anthropocene. The narratives that become invisible based on multiple deprivations such as class, gender, caste disparities challenge the scientific in climate science. Questioning the act of depoliticizing Urban Political Ecology by the Anthropocene, the authors seek to situate UPE with practical emancipatory politics to comprehend subaltern urbanism. The prismatic society with their flexible governance systems go beyond binaries of Cartesian dualism and explore the transitional zones. Provincializing UPE in the Global North and excavating marginalized narratives in urban carbon governance will create coalition building among critical activists-cum-theorists. The authors call such activity as ‘kynical practice’. Approaching sustainability with is the
Edited by Henrik Ernston and Erik Swyngedouw (2018), Routledge, 290 pages, ISBN 9781138629196
BOOK REVIEW novel feature of this edition of critical Urban Political Ecology. Concomitantly, the book is amenable for students and learners of all disciplines. criticality, the authors question the technological climate adaptation techniques in urbanization and how they subdue the discourses of those afflicted with socio-ecological violence. What do we find when we look around the aerotropolis, visiting the cemeteries, drainage systems on peripheries of a city? These are the hidden, ‘offstaged’ corners of urbanized space that the book elucidates upon remarkably well. Giving academic voice to the subaltern, critiquing the unquestioned is the novel feature of this edition of critical Urban Political Ecology. Concomitantly, the book is amenable for students and learners of all disciplines.
Ruminating Solitude Flow of river and of time,
chains of perception around human life Quietly it meanders, in its prime; ecology is beauty – this dirt, this grime. Marshes from where I bloom, from atrocities I grow Inter-subjective paralysis of subjugation, the lotus in me; redefines the high and low.
Now the ink has dried and the elixir of life is gone It has started to fade away but there’s no spell to retrieve it with the swish of a wand Everything stands in front of me as real as it can be; Forcing me to leave behind the faded ink of fantasies
About the author
Vani Bhardwaj has completed her M.A. in International Relations and Area Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and B.A. (Hons.) in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi. She has been awarded Randhir Singh Prize for Political Analysis in her under-graduation. Currently she is pursuing M.A. in Gender and Development from IGNOU, Delhi.
En-gendered Environmental Conflict Transformation, March, 2022, Issue 1
