Paper short abstract:

This paper showcases how public national governments concentrate on implementing large scale economic and infrastructural development and at the same time face the challenges of considering climate, environmental and housing compatibilities.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to illustrate empirically how climate and environment-related activism and land governance protests are entangled in similar social dynamics on the ground. In the industrial zone of Burkina Faso’s capital city Ouagadougou, the residents of the village of Polsogo are affected by the expansion of the CIMFASO and CIM Burkina cement factories and the CIM Metal steelworks. After local protests, the legal action started in 2007, and Mouvement de Solidarité Pour le Droit au Logement (MSP-DRO.L) took over the case of the residents, who were supposed to be relocated in 2014. With regard to the environmental injustices from the noise and dust produced by the three factories, these affect mostly agro-pastoralist Fulani people who settle in the area for many generations based on a tacit agreement with the Mossi people who constitute the population majority in this area. The case concerns the historical processes of settlement and social organization among pastoral and farming communities, the inbound investment of processing industries and hitherto emerging environmental injustices affecting certain residential groups.

At the bottom of the line, this study showcases how public national governments concentrate on implementing large scale economic and infrastructural development and at the same time face the challenges of considering climate and housing compatibilities. The dissatisfaction and selective discrimination inherent to the developments described furthermore give rise to protest movements. These are mainly anchored in the local context, but relate strongly to issues that equally feature in the struggle of the more globally-oriented fight of climate activists.