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- Convenor:
-
Gabriel Tati
(University of the Western Cape)
Send message to Convenor
- Stream:
- Economy and Development
- Location:
- 50 George Square, G.02
- Sessions:
- Friday 14 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
The panel discusses the extractive patterns and transactional relations associated with non-state investors from Asia. It adopts a local level lens to assess both the transformative and disruptive effects of such investments in the exploitation of natural resources.
Long Abstract:
The involvement of non-state investors from Asia has been in the rise in sub-Saharan Africa over the past years of economic growth. The term non-state investors refers to private set-up and owned enterprises by Asian s The origins of investors are diverse but the dominant nationalities seem to be from China, India, Philippines, Malaysia and Pakistan. Operating as small medium enterprises at the interface of formal and informal spheres, the investments made have particularly targeted mining, fishing, timbering, groundwater bottling and tourism. The globalisation context has made it possible for Asian investors to connect directly with the actors at the local level through various and complex linkages. These investments generate new patterns in the extraction of natural resources to meet the demands at different spatial scales of consumption. They are often sources of tension at the local level as the modes of production can be disruptive and exploitative. Albeit the benefits they may also generate for the locals, the impacts of such Asian investments often create the conditions for the exclusion or the limited access of local communities to their usual means of livelihoods. Cases of this nature have proliferated across Sub-Saharan Africa. The panel provides a platform to interrogate the drivers of such investments; the localised transactional relations that emerge between the community members and the Asian investors; the extractive patterns of production (whether destructive, predatory or transformative) and their connections with the global commercialisation routes. The panel calls for abstracts from scholars or social activist working on or related issues from an African perspective.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 14 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
Our contribution analyzes the transformative and destructive mode of production of gold mining at Bocanda by emphasizing the impact of the connection of local actors with those of Asian origin.
Paper long abstract:
From the Rio de Janeiro Summit in 1992 to the Johannesburg Summit in 2002, "the environmental issue has given rise to many reflections and recommendations regarding its conservation, because the planet has never experienced such an ecological impoverishment". Identified by the United Nations in 2002 as one of the factors contributing to this degradation, the artisanal mining of gold is gaining ground. In Côte d'Ivoire, it is a real scourge favored by the generosity of nature in some parts of the country. The Department of Mines and Geology has at least 241 clandestins gold mining sites and a gold mining population of 23,400. The department of Bocanda located in the Center-East of Côte d'Ivoire is often cited as a favorite area for this illegal activity.
The means used, the extractive modes and the actors mobilized follow a connection of local with international investors often Asian. This type of gold panning generates extraction models, often at the base of the transformation of production relationships, modification of the relationship of individuals with the natural environment and disturbance of various equilibria. What is the expression visible in Bocanda?
Our contribution analyzes the transformative and destructive mode of production of gold mining at Bocanda by emphasizing the impact of the connection of local actors with those of Asian origin. The basic data are mainly based on field surveys and a compilation of information made available to us by the services of the Ministry of Mines and Geology of Côte d'Ivoire.
Paper short abstract:
This paper analyses the community transformation and emerging conflicts from Chinese mining exploration project in Angoche, Mozambican local community, and argues that the project contributes to destruction of community livelihoods with complicity of the authorities.
Paper long abstract:
After nearly 10 years of heavy mineral sands prospection in Mozambique by international companies, the Irish multinational Kenmare resources plc pioneered its exportation in 2007. The Chinese companies Jinan Yuxiao Group (2009) and Haiyu Mozambique Mining Company (2010) followed, seeking to explore one of the biggest heavy mineral sands deposits in Africa located along the Mozambique´s coast line. Nevertheless, early in the exploration process, the extractive patterns of the Asian company and their engagements with the local communities started revealing signs of depredation, thus leaving trails of conflicts. Analyzing the community transformations and emerging conflicts between these actors, this article investigates their potential causes through the emerging production relations among the community, the company and the state institutions alongside the pre-exploration and exploration phases. The article suggests that the patterns of the project implementation contributes for the destruction of the community livelihoods under the inert and complicity watch of the local authorities.
Paper short abstract:
Based in Gabon for twenty years, Olam first focused its activities on the exploitation of wood and put at heart the ambitious plan of diversification of its activities, agro-industry via the culture oil palm, rubber or food crops under the Seed program. There is land grabbing and degradation.
Paper long abstract:
Established in 1989 in Nigeria to export cashew nuts to India, Olam, now present in 66 countries, is majority owned by Japan's Mitsubishi and Temasek, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.Initially focused on logging, Olam (Singaporean group) has taken to heart the ambitious plan to diversify its activities, agribusiness via oil palm, rubber or still food crop under the Seed program, import-export and logistics via ports, through the ZES Nkok and its many industries, established in Gabon for twenty years the world giant agro -business Olam has become unavoidable. All these investments have not been directed towards projects aimed at improving the living conditions of the populations; on the contrary, they have been harmed. Similarly, we are seeing the degradation of Gabonese forests as a result of oil palm plantations. Gabonese NGOs and politicians have repeatedly denounced these actions and the absence of a lack of transparency in awarding contracts contracts won by Olam.In a memorandum addressed to both the public authorities and the operator, the communities in the areas impacted by the rubber plantation project in Woleu-Ntem, accused Olam of being in a process of land grabbing. This accusation is based on a number of observations. Is not Olam exempt or exempt from certain Gabonese standards?
Paper short abstract:
Despite the ban implemented in 2000, artisanal fishing of shark has intensified over the past years. The paper highlights the drivers of this fishing activity by bringing to the fore the disruptive market connections between the local and international actors.
Paper long abstract:
The paper examines the extent to which shark fishing has intensified over the past years and the involvement of local fishers and international traders in this process. Using visual observations carried out on landed sites and in-depth interviews, the paper identifies some of the drivers of the growing shark fishing at three levels. The first level is that of the local fishers involved in catching sharks at high sea. These are migrant fishermen and most of them have originated from West Africa. For many years, their fishing techniques were mainly artisanal and shark fishing was not their primary activity. With the depletion of catches of other fish species, they turned to more sophisticated and intensive fishing equipment to catch species like a shark at high sea. At the international level, and in recent years, shark catches have also been driven by demands for fin in distant Asian markets. As in most parts of Asia, shark fins have declined due to over exploitation of shark population and bans imposed on shark catches. For Asian traders, outsourcing the supply of shark fins to African locations has been an alternative to locally harvested ones. To overcome the ban imposed in Congo, Asian traders have arranged with local fishers to get supplies of thins in informal ways. This informal market of shark, therefore, connects local fishers to international markets in Asia. It is a market propelled by the absence of state control.