Stories of change
24/03/22 01:24
Each week a small group of folks from our church meet to discuss the book “Climate Church, Climate World” by Jim Antal. Last night we were discussing how climate change exacerbates virtually every other social justice issue. We were especially aware of how some of the initiatives of our Mission and Justice Board are interconnected. Climate justice is a factor in the struggles for people for simple, decent, housing. It is a factor in the cost of living for some of our community’s most impoverished people. Communities of color are more severely affected by climate change than white communities.
The conversation got me to thinking about two stories about which I know a little bit. Both are of people who live on the continent of Africa.
In Uganda, the indigenous Batwa people used to live in the area now designated as Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. They gathered honey. They hunted bush-pig and several types of antelope. For centuries they lived off the forests of the mountainous regions on the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as hunter-gatherers. But in the 1990s, the Ugandan Batwa were evicted from the Bwindi, Mgahinga and Echuya forests as those areas became wildlife parks, primarily for the protection of rare mountain gorillas.
Human encroachments on the traditional habitat of the mountain gorillas was threatening the survival of the great apes. People from around the globe began to advocate for the creation of protected habitat to save the gorillas from extinction. Their efforts led to the establishment of wildlife parks that in turn led to the eviction of the Batwa people from their homes. It also resulted in the destruction of their way of life. They were no longer allowed to congregate in a special cave to worship. Young people were no longer allowed to engage in traditional courtship rituals. The people could no longer gather honey or hunt for animals for food. Displaced from their homes, they moved to urban areas like Kisoro. Some are learning to farm. Most continue to squat on public land, living in homes made from cardboard and tarps.
The conservation efforts have been successful. Uganda’s mountain gorilla population has risen from a low of 459 to more than 1,000. They are no longer listed as critically endangered. While education and farming have been beneficial to some Batwa, the effects have been generally devastating. Their culture has been largely erased. The people are losing traditional survival skills. The poverty and unemployment has been devastating.
That is one story. Here is another:
The Jane Goodall Institute, whose work began with the chimpanzee research of Jane Goodall in Tanzania, claims responsibility for the establishment of 3.4 million acres of habitat protection. Alongside those conservation efforts more than 130 communities have been engaged in partnerships to protect the habitat of the chimpanzees. To date 179 people have been trained in the use of forest monitoring technology, 600 girls have returned to school after receiving mentorship from peer educators, scholarships have been provided to support education of members of indigenous communities. Rather than move the communities, the Institute has focused on shifting the local economies so that people are engaged in the process of protecting the local ecology. No longer dependent upon burning forests to expand their farming for profit efforts, people are given other ways to earn their living and protect their cultural heritage.
Of course, I am sure that there are lots of details about both stories that I do not know. On the surface, however, there seem to be great differences between the ways in which environmental protection is taking place in the two areas. Around the globe colonization has resulted in the displacement of people and the destruction of traditional and indigenous cultures. When environmental destruction has resulted in the reduction of habitat for critical species, governments have continued to respond in colonial fashion in some spaces. Making a national park and removing the human residents in a particular area is one approach. It has produced rapid results to problems that seem to be in need of immediate change. On the other hand, long-lasting change has also been affected by working with the people who live in an area and helping them to shift their culture and economy to invest more deeply in the process of conservation. When people are given jobs and the means to support themselves, they become supporters of conservation efforts. In both of the areas from which these stories have arisen, tourism is becoming an important part of the local economy. Eco-tourism is popular and as the world begins to emerge from a pandemic, there is no shortage of people who are eager to travel to remote places and see rare animals. Protecting the forest from the effects of tourism and even guiding the tourists themselves provide jobs for people and a means of sustaining traditional culture.
As we work for change in our world in the light of the crisis that global climate change is producing, we need to remain aware of the effects of our efforts on other people. In our discussion last night, stories were told about the differences in the way people of wealth and poor people have emerged from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA was a great help to people of means who could afford to rebuild or relocate. For those who had little and lost everything, there has been far less help. Many have been forced to relocate - told that the places where their families have lived for generations are no longer inhabitable. They have been left without the means to obtain decent housing or recover from the losses caused by the storm and its aftermath.
It is clear that our economy needs to shift in order for us to engage in more sustainable ways of living. The failure to change will be a betrayal of our children and grandchildren, who are already paying the price for our overconsumption. But as we make those changes, we need to continue to be aware of the impact of those changes on the lives of everyday people. We are all in this together. Being aware of and standing with “the least of these” is not only our heritage of faith. It is a mandate for every change we make.
The conversation got me to thinking about two stories about which I know a little bit. Both are of people who live on the continent of Africa.
In Uganda, the indigenous Batwa people used to live in the area now designated as Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. They gathered honey. They hunted bush-pig and several types of antelope. For centuries they lived off the forests of the mountainous regions on the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as hunter-gatherers. But in the 1990s, the Ugandan Batwa were evicted from the Bwindi, Mgahinga and Echuya forests as those areas became wildlife parks, primarily for the protection of rare mountain gorillas.
Human encroachments on the traditional habitat of the mountain gorillas was threatening the survival of the great apes. People from around the globe began to advocate for the creation of protected habitat to save the gorillas from extinction. Their efforts led to the establishment of wildlife parks that in turn led to the eviction of the Batwa people from their homes. It also resulted in the destruction of their way of life. They were no longer allowed to congregate in a special cave to worship. Young people were no longer allowed to engage in traditional courtship rituals. The people could no longer gather honey or hunt for animals for food. Displaced from their homes, they moved to urban areas like Kisoro. Some are learning to farm. Most continue to squat on public land, living in homes made from cardboard and tarps.
The conservation efforts have been successful. Uganda’s mountain gorilla population has risen from a low of 459 to more than 1,000. They are no longer listed as critically endangered. While education and farming have been beneficial to some Batwa, the effects have been generally devastating. Their culture has been largely erased. The people are losing traditional survival skills. The poverty and unemployment has been devastating.
That is one story. Here is another:
The Jane Goodall Institute, whose work began with the chimpanzee research of Jane Goodall in Tanzania, claims responsibility for the establishment of 3.4 million acres of habitat protection. Alongside those conservation efforts more than 130 communities have been engaged in partnerships to protect the habitat of the chimpanzees. To date 179 people have been trained in the use of forest monitoring technology, 600 girls have returned to school after receiving mentorship from peer educators, scholarships have been provided to support education of members of indigenous communities. Rather than move the communities, the Institute has focused on shifting the local economies so that people are engaged in the process of protecting the local ecology. No longer dependent upon burning forests to expand their farming for profit efforts, people are given other ways to earn their living and protect their cultural heritage.
Of course, I am sure that there are lots of details about both stories that I do not know. On the surface, however, there seem to be great differences between the ways in which environmental protection is taking place in the two areas. Around the globe colonization has resulted in the displacement of people and the destruction of traditional and indigenous cultures. When environmental destruction has resulted in the reduction of habitat for critical species, governments have continued to respond in colonial fashion in some spaces. Making a national park and removing the human residents in a particular area is one approach. It has produced rapid results to problems that seem to be in need of immediate change. On the other hand, long-lasting change has also been affected by working with the people who live in an area and helping them to shift their culture and economy to invest more deeply in the process of conservation. When people are given jobs and the means to support themselves, they become supporters of conservation efforts. In both of the areas from which these stories have arisen, tourism is becoming an important part of the local economy. Eco-tourism is popular and as the world begins to emerge from a pandemic, there is no shortage of people who are eager to travel to remote places and see rare animals. Protecting the forest from the effects of tourism and even guiding the tourists themselves provide jobs for people and a means of sustaining traditional culture.
As we work for change in our world in the light of the crisis that global climate change is producing, we need to remain aware of the effects of our efforts on other people. In our discussion last night, stories were told about the differences in the way people of wealth and poor people have emerged from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA was a great help to people of means who could afford to rebuild or relocate. For those who had little and lost everything, there has been far less help. Many have been forced to relocate - told that the places where their families have lived for generations are no longer inhabitable. They have been left without the means to obtain decent housing or recover from the losses caused by the storm and its aftermath.
It is clear that our economy needs to shift in order for us to engage in more sustainable ways of living. The failure to change will be a betrayal of our children and grandchildren, who are already paying the price for our overconsumption. But as we make those changes, we need to continue to be aware of the impact of those changes on the lives of everyday people. We are all in this together. Being aware of and standing with “the least of these” is not only our heritage of faith. It is a mandate for every change we make.
