Date of event: Friday
9h - 12h AM
Location: Alexandra Palace.
Venue:Prague. Map and more information on
the location can be found at: http://www.alexandrapalace.com/s/ap/page_289.htm
Speakers: Leida Rijnhout
(VODO); Teresa Martínez; Tara O'Leary
(FOE); Jaroslava Colajacomo (CRMB); Vinod
Raina (All India Peoples Science Network);
Moderation by Miquel Ortega (ODG)
Brief description:
The European ecological debt is the debt
acquired by the European countries and some
European actors (the European Transnational
Corporations, the European Export Credit
Agencies, the European Investment Bank,
etc.), towards the impoverished countries
and their poor population. It is produced
as a consequence of European over consumption
patterns,the environmental and social liabilities
of European activities outside of Europe,
and the European collaboration in the unfair
global trade system. The carbon debts, toxicity
debts, pollution debts, biopiracy debt,
the violation of human, civil and ecological
rights, the global violence against populations,
environment and local cultures, are some
of the responsibilities that have not been
yet considered. But we should take into
account all these ecological debts if a
better world is to be achieved. In this
seminar we want to show how local social
and environmental conflicts in the impoverished
countries are in many occasions directly
driven by European consumption patterns
and the mechanisms created to fulfill this
consumption. Oil wars, copper wars, gold
wars, eucaliptus wars in poor Southern countries
are in many cases just the final consequence
of an continuous increase of the European
ecological debt that should be stopped and
paid back. Communities around the world
are demanding reparations and compensations
that should be paid in both monetary and
non- monetary terms. Defining the actors
that increase the Ecological Debt, explain
who they are to the general public so that
European citizens can act as responsible
consumers, define the limits of European
actors when acting in the impoverished countries
but also when consuming in European countries,
explore the compensation mechanisms for
the damage already done, and show the European
Ecological Debt as an experience not to
be repeated by other countries or geographical
areas with emergent economies,are necessary
steps to address the roots of many conflicts
in Southern Countries in a Global Society.
Organisation:
