Nickel mining in northern New Caledonia - a path to sustainable development?

Kowasch, Matthias

doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2018.09.006

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Weak sustainability means that the planet's natural capital can be substituted with economic (financial) or human capital. The essence of strong sustainability is that it views natural capital as fundamentally non-substitutable (Neumayer 2013;Kowasch 2018). Neumayer defines strong sustainability as the 'non-substitutability paradigm' (ibid 2013, 25).…”

Section: Sustainable Development and Sustainability Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral impasses in sustainability education? Empirical results from school geography in Austria and Germany

Kowasch

Lippe

2019

Environmental Education Research

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The expert-driven and normative character of sustainability education aims to promote societal transformation and global change. While some authors underline the ethical claims of education, others have criticized that there is a problematic tendency to prescribe certain actions beyond ethical education. The article aims to provide an empirical contribution, including students' and teachers' perspectives, and geography textbooks, to the debate. Based on the results of an empirical study with 1001 secondary school students in Austria and Germany, we discuss the "ethical turn" and the moral code in sustainability education. The questionnaires are completed with students' drawings, qualitative interviews with geography teachers and an analysis of geography textbooks. We argue that most students have a precise idea what sustainability and sustainable behavior means, but they harbor right-wrong binary perceptions of sustainable lifestyles. Many students lack knowledge of the interdependence of consumption and production networks, which impedes the understanding of complex sustainability patterns. Therefore, we recommend pluralistic and interconnected perspectives in sustainability, in the frame of school geography. A more democratic classroom contributes to develop an own moral compass. Additionally, passion and participatory approaches can help students reflect on their affective relationships with consumer goods and consider alternative consumption-production paradigms.

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Section: Sustainable Development and Sustainability Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral impasses in sustainability education? Empirical results from school geography in Austria and Germany

Kowasch

Lippe

2019

Environmental Education Research

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“…In rural areas the redistributed land often remains unexploited, because Kanak communities do not need it for their everyday livelihoods. Because land has symbolic value in terms of identity and land legitimacy, valorization and capital accumulation are not always the main goals (Kowasch 2018).…”

Section: Other "Development" Efforts Boundaries and Political Futuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

The geopolitical ecology of New Caledonia: territorial re-ordering, mining, and Indigenous economic development

Batterbury

Kowasch²,

Bouard

2020

Journal of Political Ecology

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In the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, conflict and difference between Indigenous Kanak people and European settlers has existed at least since the 1850s. We interrogate the geopolitical ecology of these islands, which is deeply wedded to natural resource extraction, is instrumentalized in political debate, power struggles, conflict, and the mining sector. Territoriality, including changes to political borders and access to land, has promoted the interests of the key actors in shaping the future of the islands. Violence in the 1980s was followed by the Matignon Accords (1988) and three provinces were established (North, South, Loyalty Islands). The South Province is governed by a party loyal to France, and the others are in the hands of the Indigenous Kanak independence movement seeking full decolonization and independence. The strengthened regional autonomy that emerged from the creation of provinces has permitted the Kanak-dominated ones to control certain political competencies as well as to guide economic development much more strongly than in other settler states, notably through a large nickel mining project in the North Province. Provincialization has not diminished ethnic divisions as French interests hoped, as signaled by voting in the close-run but unsuccessful 2018 referendum on independence from France. We explore the ironies of these efforts at territorial re-ordering, which are layered on significant spatial and racial disparities. Re-bordering has enabled resurgence of Kanak power in ways unanticipated by the architects of the Accords, but without a guarantee of eventual success.Key Words: New Caledonia, geopolitical ecology, politics of mining, decolonization, Kanak identity

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“…Sustainable development (SD), as a concept, was introduced at the end of the 20th century, being defined as "development that meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the Sustainability 2020, 12, 9791 2 of 20 ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [6]. It is a concept that describes a permanent change for a future situation [7,8]. The three pillars of sustainable development (society, economy, and the environment) are strongly interconnected and should be simultaneously applied [2,8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is a concept that describes a permanent change for a future situation [7,8]. The three pillars of sustainable development (society, economy, and the environment) are strongly interconnected and should be simultaneously applied [2,8,9]. The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 emphasized the relation between human development and environmental protection, with sustainable development becoming a guiding principle [8,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is There Sustainable Development after Mining? A Case Study of Three Mining Areas in the Apuseni Region (Romania)

Botezan

Constantin²,

Meltzer

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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The cessation or downsizing of mining activities induced complex challenges for entire regions in Romania, leading to depopulation, poverty, and pollution. Resource-dependency locked these regions in a mono-industry setting where it was difficult for new development paths to emerge. This paper presents a historical overview of a well-known Romanian mining region and identifies promising recovery opportunities that could shift the trajectory of its mining communities towards new sustainable paths. The research was based on official statistical data for the period 1965/1966–2018, complemented by qualitative data extracted from 39 semi-structured interviews with residents from the study area. The results revealed that the concentration of employment in the mining sector, together with other concurring factors, made it difficult for the communities to find sustainable ways of development while, at the same time, highlighting some possible revitalization and recovery opportunities. The findings contribute to a better understanding of mining communities, which will support the creation of tailored policies and planning strategies aimed towards their sustainable redevelopment.

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Nickel mining in northern New Caledonia - a path to sustainable development?

Cited by 20 publications

References 23 publications

Moral impasses in sustainability education? Empirical results from school geography in Austria and Germany

Moral impasses in sustainability education? Empirical results from school geography in Austria and Germany

The geopolitical ecology of New Caledonia: territorial re-ordering, mining, and Indigenous economic development

Is There Sustainable Development after Mining? A Case Study of Three Mining Areas in the Apuseni Region (Romania)

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