The Political Ecology of COVID-19 and Compounded Uncertainties in Marginal Environments

Abstract

In this paper, we use a political ecology lens to look at how COVID-19 adds to a set of existing uncertainties and challenges faced by vulnerable people in the marginal environments of coastal India. Over the last few decades, local people have been systematically dispossessed from resource commons in the name of industrial, urban and infrastructure development or conservation efforts, leading to livelihood loss. We build on our current research in the TAPESTRY (https://tapestry-project.org/) project in coastal Kutch and Mumbai to demonstrate how the pandemic has laid bare structural inequalities and unequal access to public goods and natural resources. The impacts of COVID-19 have intersected with ongoing food, water and climate crises in these marginal environments, threatening already fragile livelihoods, and compounding uncertainties and vulnerabilities. Extreme weather events such as cyclones, droughts, heatwaves and floods in the last couple of decades have also compounded the problems faced in these regions, affecting seasonal migration patterns. We demonstrate how responses from “above” have been inadequate, failing to address problems, or arriving too late. Authoritarian leaders have used the pandemic to “other” and victimise certain groups and polarise society along religious lines. Lockdowns and covid restrictions have been used to surreptitiously complete environmentally destructive infrastructure projects, while avoiding resistance and opposition from affected local communities, who have also been subject to increased surveillance and restrictions on movement. While state responses have often been unpredictable and inadequate, there has been an outburst of local forms of mutual aid, solidarity, and civic action. There are also many examples of resilience at the local level, especially amongst communities that have largely relied on subsistence production. Despite the acute suffering, COVID-19 has also prompted civic groups, activists, and local communities to reflect on the possibilities for reimagining transformative pathways towards just and sustainable futures.

A critical agrarian approach to food crises: Social distance as a specific food crisis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan

“…Just as the general food Crisis intersects with specific food crises, so too does the Covid-19 crisis introduce global dynamics that enact and respond to situated disruptions. The Covid-19 pandemic originated from a virus, but its impact soon extended beyond public health to encompass economic, food, and mental health crises that intersected with structural inequalities and discrimination that operate across racial, sexual, and geographic lines (Mehta et al, 2022;Pattenden et al, 2021;Sultana, 2021;van der Ploeg, 2020). Rather than enacting a single specific food crisis, Covid-19 can be better understood as triggering multiple specific food crises simultaneously.…”

“…Others have examined the pandemic's impact on food security in more localized contexts (Deaton and Deaton, 2020;Perry et al, 2021;Power et al, 2020;Sareen et al, 2021). Bereft of state support, vulnerable populations have sought to build new forms of solidarity in the face of Covid-19 (Mehta et al, 2022).…”

Evidence Review: COVID-19 Recovery in South Asian Urban Informal Settlements

“…13 Among the vulnerable fishing community of the Kolis in Mumbai, young people coordinated with neighbouring fishing villages to obtain data and organise supplies for migrants or others with limited access to support. 64 Support for migrant workers was 'inclusive and collectivised,' building on longstanding collective action among the Kolis. 64 Data on Karachi's informal settlements is limited.…”

“…64 Support for migrant workers was 'inclusive and collectivised,' building on longstanding collective action among the Kolis. 64 Data on Karachi's informal settlements is limited. Disaggregated data at the settlement level on social indicators such as health is rarely collected which makes it difficult for urban authorities to plan response in catchment areas (such as in district and ward levels) during emergencies.…”

Capitalism and infectious diseases spread? Narratives of COVID-19 in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

“…Specifically, they argue that the surge in CAnE leads to the exploitation of the natural environment − causing disturbances to wildlife habitats and engendering the crossover of pathogens from animals to humans. Human societies are exposed to the corridors of animal pathogens flows via CAnE and development (Mehta et al 2022;Sotiris 2020;Cárdenas-García et al 2021). CAnE has continued to cause the invasion of new spaces to expand, e.g., commercial agriculture and mining, plus enlarging even now congested conurbations, bringing humans in further closeness to nature, which exposes human populations to fauna that is displaced from their natural homes (Connolly et al 2020;Guo & Lee 2022;Nwankwo & Ayadiuno 2021).…”