Time-Space%20Appropriations

1
Ecological Debt History, meaning and relevance
for environmental justice
2
The background

• Rio Earth Summit 1992
• Environmental movements
• 500 years of colonialism and resistance
• Third world debt trap

3
The movement

• SPEDCA and ENRED
• Jubilee Debt Campaign
• Copenhagen Climate Summit
• Cochabamba People's Summit

4
The activist argument

• Socio-ecological subsidy
• Cancellation of South's financial debt
• North's consumption is unsustainable
• The ecological debt must be paid

5
The academic concept

• The ecological debt of country A consists of
• 1. the ecological damage caused over time by
  country A in other countries or in areas under
  the jurisdiction of other countries through its
  production and consumption patterns, and/or
• 2. the ecological damage caused over time by
  country A to ecosystems beyond national
  jurisdiction through its consumption and
  production patterns, and/or
• 3. the exploitation or use of ecosystems and
  ecosystems goods and services over time by
  country A at the expense of the equitable rights
  to these ecosystems and ecosystem goods and
  services of other countries or individuals
• (Paredis et al. 2008149).

6
Three applications

• Ecological debt as a...
• Biophysical measure
• Ecological footprints
• Environmental space
• Social metabolism
• Climate/Carbon Debt
• Srinivasan et al The mounting climate damages
  impressed upon poor nations will in the end far
  exceed the current foreign debt

7
Three applications

• Ecological debt as a...
• Biophysical measure
• Legal instrument
• Several examples form UN agreements
• Litigation processes
• There will be a general obligation of
  industrialised nations under international law to
  compensate developing nations for damage
  resulting from anthropogenic climate change
• (Tol and Verheyen 20041109).

8
Three applications

• Ecological debt as a...
• Biophysical measure
• Legal instrument
• Distributional principle
• Historical responsibility
• Objections
• The beneficiary argument
• Non-responsibility for past emissions
• Problems of ignorance

9
The case study Carbon debt
Definition (a) over-emission of CO2 by country A
over time with respect to a sustainable level
i.e. emission levels that overshoot the
absorption capacity of the atmosphere and are
thus causing ecological impact in other countries
and ecosystems beyond national jurisdiction (b)
over-emission of CO2 by country A over time at
the expense of the equitable rights to the
absorption capacity of the atmosphere of other
countries or individuals. (Paredis et al.
2008150)
10
The case study Carbon debt
Carbon Debt (CD) HCD GCD Historical CD
intra-generational interstate debt referring to
inequalities between countries and populations
historically and today Generational CD
inter-generational debt that our generation owes
to coming generations, i.e. emissions above the
sustainable level
11
The case study Carbon debt

• Calculations for 154 states 1850-2011
• 70 countries are debtors
• 83 are creditors (Jamaica's net debt is 0)
• Total claim/HCD 291 239 Mt CO2
• Total GCD 190 137 CO2
• Total ned CD 481 376 CO2

12
The case study Carbon debt
Top ten total Carbon Debt (MtCO2) 1. USA
(323,983) 6. Canada (24,098) 2. Russia
(73,057) 7. France (18,726) 3. Germany
(64,866) 8. Ukraine (16,646) 4. UK
(55,398) 9. Poland (16,071) 5. Japan
(27,998) 10. Australia (12,486)
13
The case study Carbon debt
Top ten per capita Carbon Debt (tCO2) 1. USA
(1,040) 6. Estonia (719) 2. UK
(876) 7. Canada (702) 3. Belgium
(808) 8. Trinidad Tob (690) 4. Germany
(793) 9. Kuwait (571) 5. Czech Rep (753) 10.
Kazackhstan (563)
14
The case study Carbon debt
Top ten total Carbon Claim (MtCO2) 1. India
(100,923) 6. Ethiopia (7,008) 2. China
(49,414) 7. Vietnam (6,245) 3. Indonesia
(15,733) 8. Kongo (6,245) 4. Bangladesh
(15,488) 9. Phillipines (4,590) 5. Nigeria
(8,892) 10. Burma (4,584)
15
The case study Carbon debt
Top ten per capita Carbon Claim (tCO2)
1. Indonesia (645) 6. Sierra Leone
(99) 2. Nepal (110) 7. Guinnea Bissau
(97) 3. Lesotho (110) 8. Afghanistan (94)
4. Bangladesh (101) 9. Sri Lanka
(92) 5. Cambodia (100) 10. CAR (91)