Paper short abstract:

From 1912 to 1932, the second largest coal producing company of the French colonial empire was at the heart of two major environmental controversies with colonial administrative bodies, which accused it of deforestation and water pollution. I explore the making and unfolding of these controversies.

Paper long abstract:

From 1912 to 1932, the second largest coal producing company of the French colonial empire in terms of production, employees and profit, the Société des Charbonnages du Dong-Trieu (SCDT), was at the heart of two major environmental controversies. The Municipal Council of Haiphong (MCH), in charge of administrating the second most important town of Tonkin (northern Vietnam), accused the SCDT of polluting its supplying waters despite their legal sanctuarization. Meanwhile, the colonial forest administration in Tonkin blamed the SCDT for being the main responsible of the deforestation of a forest reserve.

On mostly hygienist and techno-solutionist grounds, and marginally environmental ones, the MCH requested from the SCDT the respect of the existing regulations, the implementation of preventive sanitary measures, and its financial participation to the creation of a sewage treatment plant. Meanwhile, on conservationist grounds, the forest administration in Tonkin required the respect of the existing forest regulations and the financial and material assistance of the SCDT in its struggle against illegal logging in the reserve.

The acceptation by the SCDT of these demands implied significant financial expenses without economic benefits in the short and medium term. There was thus an insurmountable contradiction between the interests of the SCDT and those of the other parties.

My contribution thus aims to explore the making and unfolding of two major environmental controversies in colonial Tonkin by looking at the conflicting interests, strategies, representations and discourses of the involved parties, as well as the arbitration of the controversies by the upper colonial administration.