Shaping Conservation: The Many Lives of Colonialism

thefinalstandindia
Jun 9
4 min read

White settler colonialism of the latter half of the last millennium marked a fundamental transformation in interactions between people and the environment. The uprooting of indigenous agricultural and occupational traditions in favor of imperial commercialization have led to severe repercussions for post-colonial territories. This article aims to examine such examples of environmental degradation as facilitated through colonialism and highlights the importance of vocabulary rooted in the historicity and sociology of place with respect to discourses centred around climate change.

The introduction of commercial agriculture in colonies purported an exploitation of forest resources, which continues to transcend political independence. Colonization of African territories altered indigenous farming traditions with built-in mechanisms safeguarding against crop failure and land degradation in order to maximize the production of crops deemed more ‘valuable’. This in turn, was incentivized by monetary gain, marking a sharp contrast to the reflective native tradition.

While these indigenous cultivation practices were intuitive and spiritually connected to their geography, impositions by colonial settlers were capitalistic and industrially driven, thus creating a tension between opposing methodologies. The Industrial Revolution can be reflected on as a more expanded form of globalization wherein the traditional societies and ecologies of colonies were uprooted in order to facilitate the supply of material and labour to propel the development of the colonizer.

Crops local to African territories and suitable to the range of climatic conditions experienced by its various regions were forced under the colonial rule to be set aside in favor of cash crops such as cotton and indigo. This eventually led to the soil losing its moisture leading to desertification, which was blamed on shifting practices of migratory tribes.

After the success of sugarcane plantations in the Portuguese colonies of South America, the industry grew to the Caribbean and Indian colonies as well. Sugarcane production in these regions has been traced to land degradation, deforestation and water pollution due to the nature of intensive, monoculture farming.

This hyperfocus on export crops and industrialized agriculture has not only culminated in a loss of traditional knowledge and sustainable practices but also continues to hamper efforts towards ecological restoration and food security in many parts of the Global South.

Under the Forest Act of 1878, forests were integrated into the commercial circuit of timber production and customary use by rural populations was erased. Consequently, traditional conservation methods and environmental management systems formulated over generations were negatively impacted due to the displacement of forest-dwelling communities by the Act.

Colonization marked a transformation in human-environment relationships by drastically modifying or even prohibiting indigenous landscape management practices. Such modifications eventually became codified in policy, as with the case of the Native Americans of California, who were disempowered from following through with age-old cultivation and burning practices.

In Australia, aboriginal fire management practices were banned by British colonizers. This practice involved the deployment of low-intensity forest fires in order to get rid of highly inflammable, dry vegetation and was proven to enhance biodiversity. The repercussions of such bans have led to a tenfold increase in the frequency and intensity of wildfires in Australia during summer months.

Similarly, the commercialization of Himalayan Forest regions in India during the British rule, which replaced the native, wildfire-resistant oak and deodar forests for more profitable pine plantations has led to annual, calamitous destruction.

Jhum cultivation, which involved clearing and ploughing of forest patches in hilly areas on a rotatory basis, became a battleground between colonial authorities and local inhabitants. For the most part, this method was believed to allow for uncultivated, idle land to regenerate. Additionally, jhum served as a means of structuring tribal society. The colonial administration viewed it as primitive, unproductive and wasteful which led to gradual state intervention in favour of state forestry and market economies. This in turn had the effect of disrupting and devaluing age-old, ecologically sustainable practices. The criminalization of the native population and their land traditions further disturbed the balance between humans and the forest.

Renewable energy projects present the dichotomous ends of continued development on one hand and environmental conservation on the other. Such projects have been continuously opposed by local people due to the large-scale land dispossession caused by them. These projects are often undertaken in ecologically sensitive areas and severely affect the surroundings. Ironically, these areas are often remote villages with limited access to electricity themselves. These projects then end up competing with and uprooting local livelihoods with no net benefit to the people most afflicted.

The emergence of state conservation efforts catered almost wholly to the growing needs of industrial capitalism in Britain, which further swept away the habitats of forest dependent communities. Across landscapes scarred by colonial plunder, modern conservation efforts often echo the very ideologies that ravaged ecosystems in the first place. Top-down policies, such as those in Australia, often formulated far from the communities most dependent on the land, fail to recognize the intricate, age-old relationships indigenous peoples have nurtured with their environments. These communities are relegated to the role of passive bystanders at best and collateral damage at worst.

Instead of drawing upon this wealth of experience, conservation efforts often impose rigid, Western-centric models that alienate and disenfranchise. This indicates the continued perpetuation of colonial power structures in environmentalism and conservation research.

In their book ‘Pollution is Colonialism’, Max Liboiron argues that the dispossession of land and natural resources especially occurring in the Global South to facilitate continued enrichment of the Global North, the burden of which most significantly falls on marginalised communities, are a form of environmental violence that reproduces imperial forms of domination without actual, physical conquest. Effective conservation efforts, as argued by Liboiron, must move away from individualistic solutions, towards addressing and challenging systemic issues of power and highlighting the specificities of local contexts.

The colonial era cast a long shadow on the environmental landscapes of the Global South. It left behind a legacy of ecological inequality, where countries that were exploited for their resources now face the brunt of environmental challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. These communities, struggling with poverty and inadequate infrastructure, lack the resources to adapt to these challenges and are often disproportionately impacted by environmental disasters. Moreover, the historical marginalization of indigenous communities continues to hinder their participation in environmental decision-making, perpetuating a cycle of injustice.