The Right to Say ‘No’ in Ecuador: the #QuitoSinMineria campaign

Collecting 200.000 signatures by October 2022, this is the goal of the ongoing campaign “Quito sin mineria”. The campaign was launched in March 2022 by a group of organizations, collectives and people from the towns in the northwest of Quito who want to defend the Metropolitan District of Quito (MDQ) from mining. With the campaign they want to collect enough signatures to let the inhabitants of northwestern Quito decide for themselves whether they agree or not with mining in Ecuador’s Chocó Andino Biosphere reserve. Although seeking public consultation is a constitutional right in the country, the campaign is a large undertaking, especially given Ecuador’s mining favorite climate and the ongoing violations against environmental and human rights defenders. 

The Chocó Andino: one of the most biodiverse places in the world

So, what is the Chocó Andino and why is it so important to protect it? The Chocó Andino is located in northern Ecuador, in the Pichincha province, north-west of the capital city of Quito. It is one of the last remaining forests in Quito, designated by UNESCO as biosphere reserve in 2018 [1]. Biosphere reserves are sites where core protected areas are combined with zones where sustainable development is fostered. These sites are great spaces for ‘understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity’ [2].

Photo of the region threatened by mining. Credit: Antonella Calle Avilés

The Chocó Andino region has received this UNESCO designation because it is a very particular area, covering the humid forest lowlands of the Chocó – Darien (which extend from Panama to the Ecuadorian West) and the Northern Andean Mountain Forests [3]. With an area of 286,805 hectares, the Chocó Andino represents 83% of the Metropolitan District of Quito and constitutes the lungs of the Ecuadorian capital and its surrounding areas. Its forests remove at least 266,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere annually, which helps to reduce global warming [4]. 

It is an area of global importance for its biodiversity, which includes nine protected forests, four conservation and sustainable use areas, the Ecological Corridor for the Andean Bear [5] and more than 35 nature reserves. It is home to an estimated 150 species of mammals (21% of which are in danger of extinction), 90 species of reptiles (57% of which are in danger of extinction), 120 species of amphibians (51% which could become extinct in the future, 640 species of birds (20% of which are also in danger of extinction) and more than 3,000 species of plants (representing 12% of all plants in Ecuador of which more than 80% could disappear) [6]. 

Photo of the region threatened by mining. Credit: Antonella Calle Avilés

The region has more than 21.000 inhabitants and includes the parishes of Calacalí, Nono, Nanegal, Nanegalito, Gualea and Pacto, which form the Mancomunidad del Chocó Andino, as well as the cantons of San Miguel de los Bancos and Pedro Vicente Maldonado [7]. Quito’s Chocó Andino Region also has a very important cultural heritage, especially of the indigenous Yumbo, KituKara and Inca peoples. At least 528 archaeological sites have been found in the area [8]. 

The Chocó Andino under threat

Despite the unique characteristics of the region and its vital importance, the region is under imminent threat. Currently, 12 metallic mining concessions have been granted, occupying 17.863 hectares and another 6 concessions are in process, occupying 9.899 hectares within the Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve [9]. Developing mining activities in such sensitive areas as the Chocó Andino can have very serious environmental and social impacts that could permanently affect biodiversity and the territory [10]. 

This has already been shown in areas of similar ecological significance in Ecuador, for example in the Cordillera del Condor (located in the province of Zamora Chinchipe). In 2012, the Ecuadorian State signed a contract for large-scale mining with EcuaCorriente SA, which enabled the exploration and production of copper in one of Ecuador’s other mega-diverse and fragile ecosystems [11]. For years, environmental organizations and critics have raised concerns about the numerous social and environmental impacts resulting from the Condor Mirador mining project [12]. Since 2014, more than 30 families have been displaced from their land and the threat of eviction haunts families to this day [13]. Major environmental problems include the treatment of residues, water pollution and deforestation of the Cordillera del Condor’s biodiverse mountain areas [14]. A study by Dr. Steven H. Emerman, for example, revealed the environmental risks of one of the tailings dams. The slope and height of the dam (with its 260 meters – the highest tailings dam in the world), he says,  will inevitably lead to an ecological and social disaster, as it will not withstand earthquakes or floods, which are common in this region of Ecuador [15].

However, in the Chocó Andino, as in other regions in Ecuador, various economic alternatives exist that could replace the need for extractive mining. The Chocó Andino area is known for its organic agriculture, as more than 450 organic products are produced in Quito’s Chocó Andino, several of which are exported abroad: coffee, chocolate, milk, fruits, and panela [16]. Another source of income and way of living is agro-ecological tourism, with 72 tourist attractions in the area. Twenty-five of those are cultural attractions and 47 are natural sites [17].

Towards a Consulta Popular in Quito

The campaign “Quito sin mineria” opposes mining projects in the Metropolitan District of Quito and the Chocó Andino region. But first and foremost, the initiators of the campaign want the people of northwestern Quito to be able to decide for themselves, through public consultation, whether or not they agree with mining in the region. 

Photo: Mobilisation for the referendum. Credit: Antonella Calle Avilés

The ‘consulta popular’ or referendum is one of the mechanisms that is provided for in the Ecuadorian Constitution (article 104) to guarantee both the right to participate in matters of public interest and the right to be consulted. This may be requested by citizens as well as by the President of the Republic and the decentralized autonomous governments and its result is “mandatory and immediately enforceable” [18]. 

The organizations, collectives and people behind the Quito Sin Minería campaign, find it important to make their voices heard on issues that affect their lives and their futures.

According to Acción Ecológia, Ecuador’s leading environmental organisation, “the role of the State is one of collusion, complicity and negligence in the destruction of alternative life systems to mining development” [19]. The campaign therefore sees a referendum as “the only effective procedure they have left to try to stop mining in their territories” [20] as they will not allow the destruction of one of the most biodiverse areas of the country [21].

To start the process of the referendum, the ‘Quito Sin Mineria’ alliance sent four questions to the Constitutional Court for approval the 12th of january 2022. The Constitutional Court approved the questions on the 4th of may 2022. The questions included in the referendum are the following: 

“Do you agree with the prohibition of large-scale metallic mining within the Metropolitan Subsystem of Natural Protected Areas of the Metropolitan District of Quito; and, within the Area of Ecological, Cultural and Sustainable Productive Development Importance, formed by the territories of the parishes of Nono, Calacalí, Nanegal, Nanegalito, Gualea and Pacto, which make up the Commonwealth of the Andean Chocó?” This question is repeated three more times for the levels of artisanal, small-scale and medium-scale metal mining [22].

Collection of signatures in progress

Photo: Collecting signatures for the referendum. Credit: Antonella Calle Avilés

The inhabitants of the six parishes have now begun to collect signatures throughout the metropolitan district of Quito. Ten percent of the electoral roll (2 million voters) is needed and this means they must gather about 200,000 signatures. “But as there will always be signatures rejected for whatever reason, the goal is to collect around 400,000,” says Ivonne Ramos of Acción Ecológica [23].

However, the collection of signatures is a huge undertaking. On different occasions, municipality officials have already been reported to prevent the collection of signatures in public spaces. The municipality officials either not allowed them to set up the collection spaces and even evicted them from public spaces. All this, while those collecting the signatures are merely exercising their (constitutional) right to seek public consultation [24].

Limitations of the Consulta Popular

As mentioned above, within the Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve, 12 metallic mining concessions have already been granted and another 6 are in process [25]. The consulta popular will not be able to stop those concessions. However, if the inhabitants of Metropolitan District of Quito vote in favor of the mining ban in Quito, this would at least stop future concessions. 

The “Quito sin minería” campaign in context

From the start of his Presidency, it was quite clear that the economic policy of President Guillermo Lasso’s government would be based on extractivism. The aim of its policy is to increase mining exports and make Ecuador more attractive for foreign investors.

“The economic policy of Ecuadors’ government, based on the deepening of a neoliberal, privatizing, open-minded, extractivist model, which grants enormous privileges to large corporations through Free Trade Agreements and Investment Protection Treaties, can only be achieved through violence against communities, peoples and nature”, writes Acción Ecológica [26].

Photo: Quito Sin Minería (Pacto)

President Lasso strongly believes in mining as one of the most important activities for Ecuador’s economy, emphasizing that “Ecuador fundamentally needs the jobs generated by sustainable mining and the economic resources for programs such as the one undertaken against Chronic Childhood Malnutrition (CCD) or solidarity bonds for those who need them most” [27].

The idea that mining will lift communities out of poverty and create jobs, however, is a myth. Large-scale mining only represents 1.65% of the Gross Domestic Product and employs only 0.12% of the economically active population, while it destroys tens of thousands of jobs linked to agriculture or tourism; The mining sector barely pays taxes but causes serious damage in community territories [28]. Official figures show that the total income from all mining projects would be no more than 0.8% of the money coming into the State. On the other hand, the money produced by mining is very volatile because it depends on international prices. In addition, mining concentrates wealth in the hands of a few [29].

Mining does produce jobs, but very few and of very poor quality. In 2019, the then energy minister said that the mega-mining sector will generate 32 thousand jobs, this is not a big number. Tourism, for example, generates 12 times more jobs. For the construction stage of the mine, mining generates poor quality employment, temporary, long working hours and minimal payments, without considering the effects that the mine generates on the health of workers [30].

The Ecuadorian Government also claims to only support ‘sustainable mining’ i.e. mining which is environmentally responsible and economically beneficial to the country. However, there is no such thing as ‘responsible’ or ‘sustainable’ mining because the pollution caused is inevitable. Even with the use of the most advanced technology, pollution is still one of the biggest problems in mining [31].

Criminalization of environmental defenders

In Ecuador, human rights, collective rights and rights of nature are violated every day. Every day, mining companies continue to devastate natural spaces, contaminating rivers, stripping communities of their sources of livelihood and their ancestral territories [32]. Human rights defenders working to protect the environment, increasingly find themselves targeted and in need of protection. At the beginning of this year, Ecuador’s National Assembly granted amnesty to over 260 environmental, social, indigenous and human rights leaders in the country. While the decision was welcomed by human rights organizations, the granting of amnesty wouldn’t have been necessary if the State had fulfilled its obligations to protect and guarantee the rights of its citizens and the work of human, collective, and nature defenders [33]. Moreover, defenders denounce that despite this, criminalization persists [34]. Since the decision of the National Assembly, there have been more than 100 new criminalizations of defenders in the territories where extractive activities take place. This is also the case in the Chocó Andino region, where those defending the rights of nature and their communities continue to be intimidated, threatened, harassed and persecuted. Already 32 defenders have been criminalized. 

 The Quito sin Mineria campaign: what’s next? . 

Once the period for collecting signatures is over, the National Electoral Council (CNE) must validate the signatures. If the threshold is passed, the entity will have to set a date for the referendum and guarantee the resources for the voting day [35]. The signatures are required to include this consulta popular in the mid-term elections in 2023. This will hopefully allow the inhabitants to exercise their right to public consultation and to safeguard the Metropolitan District of Quito and the Chocó Andino from mining once and for all. 

You can support the campaign by following their networks and share their content to give more visibility to their struggles: 

Twitter: @Quitosinminería

Facebook: @Quitosinminería

Instagram: @Quitosinminería

You can also contribute by donating directly to their campaign account:  https://www.quitosinmineria.com/unete/ 

Written by Catapista Nicky Broeckhoven

Footnotes

[1] https://en.unesco.org/biosphere/lac/choco-andino-pichincha

[2] https://en.unesco.org/biosphere/about

[3] https://en.unesco.org/biosphere/lac/choco-andino-pichincha

[4] https://www.wwf.org.ec/noticiasec/?uNewsID=373970

[5] corredordelosoandino.com 

[6] https://es.mongabay.com/2021/04/piden-consulta-popular-para-prohibir-la-mineria-en-quito/; https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/ 

[7] https://www.labarraespaciadora.com/medio-ambiente/el-choco-andino-el-peligro-de-minar-a-los-pulmones-de-quito/?fbclid=IwAR2JTyMIbAkW261t8xhk0bcrP2kgmM79jcLl6xLflFs89sxBK4yQYprr_bE \

[8] https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/

[9] https://es.mongabay.com/2021/04/piden-consulta-popular-para-prohibir-la-mineria-en-quito/ 

[10] https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/

[11] https://catapa.be/en/proyecto-mirador-mining-in-cordillera-del-condor-ecuador/

[12] https://ceecec.net/case-studies/mining-conflict-in-cordillera-del-condor/#3.2

[13] https://es.mongabay.com/2022/04/ecuador-proyecto-minero-mirador-genera-amenazas-de-desalojo/

[14] https://www.planv.com.ec/investigacion/investigacion/la-otra-historia-mirador

[15] Emerman, Steven H., Evaluación del Diseño y de la Construcción de las Presas de Relaves para la Mina Mirador, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador. Consulted on https://drive.google.com/file/d/16NXX3gReSzkFDpAurGqHdtSi0QPXuyvk/view

[16] Unrefined whole cane sugar

[17] https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/

[18] https://revistas.usfq.edu.ec/index.php/lawreview/article/view/2324/2994

[19] https://www.accionecologica.org/serie-por-que-nos-movilizamos-no-3-por-que-las-comunidades-amenazadas-por-la-mineria-participan-en-el-paro-nacional/

[20] https://es.mongabay.com/2021/04/piden-consulta-popular-para-prohibir-la-mineria-en-quito/

[21] https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/

[22] https://es.mongabay.com/2021/04/piden-consulta-popular-para-prohibir-la-mineria-en-quito/

[23] https://www.accionecologica.org/investigacion-la-gran-farsa-de-la-anulacion-de-las-firmas-de-la-consulta-por-el-yasuni/

[24] Some of these instances have been shared on the campaign’s twitter account: https://twitter.com/quitosinmineria 

[25] https://es.mongabay.com/2021/04/piden-consulta-popular-para-prohibir-la-mineria-en-quito/

[26] https://www.accionecologica.org/pronunciamiento-de-accion-ecologica-frente-a-las-politicas-neoliberales-y-de-represion-del-gobierno/

[27]  https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/actualidad/44/ecuador-mineria-legal-guillermo-lasso; https://www.ecuadorchequea.com/guillermo-lasso-dijo-que-no-se-puede-dejar-de-explotar-petroleo-ni-minerales/

[28] https://www.accionecologica.org/serie-por-que-nos-movilizamos-no-3-por-que-las-comunidades-amenazadas-por-la-mineria-participan-en-el-paro-nacional/

[29] https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/

[30] https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/ 

[31] https://www.quitosinmineria.com/preguntas-frecuentes/

[32] Serie ¿Por qué nos movilizamos? – No. 3: ¿Por qué las comunidades amenazadas por la minería participan en el paro nacional? – Acción Ecológica (accionecologica.org) 

[33] https://ddhhecuador.org/sites/default/files/documentos/2022-03/PRONUNCIAMIENTO%20AMNIST%C3%8DAS%20CONCEDIDAS%20POR%20LA%20ASAMBLEA%20NACIONAL%20SON%20UN%20PRECEDENTE%20HIST%C3%93RICO%20CONTRA%20LA%20CRIMINALIZACI%C3%93N%20Y%20PERSECUCI%C3%93N%20A%20PERSONAS%20DEFENSORAS%20DE%20DERECHOS.%2021.03.22_0.pdf 

[34] https://es.mongabay.com/2022/04/asamblea-dio-amnistia-a-268-defensores-pero-la-criminalizacion-persiste-en-ecuador/

[35] https://es.mongabay.com/2021/04/piden-consulta-popular-para-prohibir-la-mineria-en-quito/

(E)WASTEFUL INSTALLATION: we have a <del>dream</del> plan!

What a fruitful first part of the (e)wasteful installation design trajectory! 

With a visionary team of volunteers we brainstormed, reflected and shared our thoughts. We placed ourselves into the minds of good and bad designers, economists, consumers and politicians. We invented fairy tales about planned obsolescence (almost as ridiculous as reality!). With the help of Gust, who is leading the project, we explored how vacuum cleaners and other electronics are designed to fail. Just one piece of plastic breaking is enough to make a vacuum cleaner entirely useless – who designed this?! We dreamt about machines that represent planned obsolescence. 

The crazy ideas kept on coming. It wasn’t always easy to make a decision, to choose the best of many wild ideas, or to turn our uncontainable imagination into more concrete plans. But we succeeded. We have a plan. This is the plan: 

We will create a machine that lays bare the (intentionally) short lifespan of electronics and the destructive impact of our take, make, waste economic system on our planet. Visually it will be clear that the machine is slowly depleting the earth, whilst the conveyor belt strains under a growing mountain of e-waste. The aim is for the installation to be interactive. For example, passers-by will be able to speed up or slow down how fast electronics are becoming obsolete.

Now it’s time for action! In the 2nd part of the trajectory we’re going to build the installation out of e-waste. Ready to get stuck in and get your hands dirty? 🔧 In August we’re gathering for two days in the headquarters of Nerdlab to create the installation. Weren’t involved before but excited to join? Fill in this doodle to pick the dates and send an email with your contact details to connor.cashell[a]catapa.be.

Let’s build this thing!

City of Ghent puts a stop to planned obsolescence!

After Mechelen, last week the city of Ghent was the second city to sign our CTRL-ALT-DEL charter. By doing so, the city supports our campaign for stronger regulation on circular electronics. For this special occasion, Catapistas came together with deputy minister for international solidarity and purchasing policy Hafsa El-Bazioui, deputy minister for environment and circular economy Tine Heyse and Conny Van Achte of District09, the ICT partner of the City of Ghent. 

By signing this agreement, the City of Ghent commits itself to setting a good example in the field of circular ICT. On the one hand by continuing to support the local repair and manufacturing economy. On the other hand, by purchasing sustainable electronics and using these devices in a circular manner. The city is already taking huge steps in this direction. Among other things, by joining Electronics Watch. It’s no coincidence that District 09 was the winner of CATAPA’s Fair ICT Awards in 2021. So signing our charter was a logical step! 

Stop #ExpresDefect

Catapistas in front of the city hall of Ghent.

Stop Planned Obsolescence – Take action!

In our previous blog article you could find out why mining can never be made ‘green’ or done ‘responsibly’. That’s why we should drastically reduce our need for new raw materials. We cannot continue to extract more and more metals and minerals. We should end practices like ‘planned obsolescence’ immediately. This practice, sadly commonly used in our “throwaway” system, means that electronic products are designed to make repair difficult or unfeasible, with a limited lifespan. It leads to enormous waste and increases the need for the extraction of raw materials.

Let us imagine an alternative future, one where non-renewable resources are kept in the soil where they belong. Let us convince our policy makers to Go Circular and stop planned obsolescence. 

Solutions and challenges on EU level

Elements of the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI) proposal are promising, including the extension of minimum eco-design requirements to the ‘widest range of products’. Requirements will include product aspects such as repairability, durability, and carbon and environmental footprints. 

However, the EU must go further. Sustainability in the SPI is confined to environmental impacts, disregarding the social dimension. Products that pass proposed eco-design criteria, but are made in terrible human rights conditions, are by the European Commission’s own definition ‘sustainable’. The current proposal lacks ambition. The Commission plans to only introduce four product regulations per year, starting in 2024. Despite being responsible for around a quarter of the EU’s 2020 emissions reduction targets, eco-design and energy labelling rules have historically been beset by repeated delays and a lack of adequate resources. 

Flanders: Setting the example? 

Since Flanders presents itself as a leader in Europe in the field of circularity, we believe that the Flemish government should be at the head of the pack for a strong regulation at the European level for circular ICT. Repairability, consumer support, control and recyclability are strong mechanisms to achieve this. Check out our demands for the Flemish government. By implementing these, Flanders would be a frontrunner on circularity in Europe and can send clear signs to our European politicians. 

CTRL ALT DELETE, reset the system

Through our Ctrl Alt Delete: Stop Planned Obsolescence campaign we are advocating for strict regulations to ensure electronic products are eco-designed, repairable, and made to last. Eighty percent of the impact of a product’s life-cycle is locked in during the design phase. CATAPA demands a CTRL ALT DELETE, a reset of the system: 

CTRL – CONTROL & transparency of electronic product manufacturing
ALT – ALTERNATIVE legislation restricting planned obsolescence
DEL – DELETE the production of electronic products with too short a life span

TAKE ACTION

Do you want to take action yourself? 

Call on your municipality to sign our CTRL ALT DEL charter. This will give our campaign more weight and you will fight together with us to counteract planned obsolescence and all its negative effects. By signing the charter, the city or municipality commits to setting a ‘good example’ by purchasing sustainable ICT and using ICT in a well-considered way. They also commit to boosting the recovery and manufacturing economy in their city or municipality. 

You can also file a complaint about your broken electronic devices on our website. The complaints will be gathered to raise awareness and put pressure on the Flemish government and the EU to implement strong regulations. 

Ready to take action? Join our movement or engage yourself in one of the mentioned actions. 

More information on how to take action, you find here. 

CATAPA takes over the Ghelamco Arena: GO CIRCULAR – STOP #EXPRESDEFECT.

From 30 May to 5 June, the Ghelamco Arena in Ghent will for once not be showing an advertisement by KAA Gent. However, it will be a slogan that fits in with CATAPA’s CTRL ALT DEL campaign. This takes place in the context of the ‘European Green Week’, an initiative of the European Commission that is held in Brussels on the same days. 

With our campaign, which we are conducting in Flanders and Brussels, we want to tackle ‘planned obsolescence’ and preferably make it disappear as soon as possible. Planned obsolescence is a method mainly used in the ICT sector, where products are deliberately designed with a limited lifespan. Who has not experienced that a mobile phone suddenly functions much slower after an update? Or another example: the printer that breaks down and the repair costs are higher than buying a new one. There are countless methods used by the industry to get you to buy as many new devices as possible. Hence our hashtag #expresdefect. In Dutch ‘expres’ refers to ‘deliberately’ and defect has the same meaning in English. 

The main thing to remember is that all those electronics cost you a lot of money and contain many rare (critical) metals. More on that later. But what does this have to do with Europe and European Green Week? The European Green Week will focus on three important aspects of the ‘Green Deal’, namely; circular economy, zero emissions and biodiversity. At first sight, this initiative can only be applauded, but there is something fishy about it (and it smells really bad).

 

 

The ‘Green Deal’: A solution that is not there

About the Green Deal, the European Commission says it is a path to a ‘sustainable and transformative growth strategy’. And that is where it goes wrong, we have learned from the past two hundred years that economical growth and sustainability do not go together. On the contrary, growth means plundering the earth in order to obtain the raw materials needed to sustain this endless growth. The extraction of these raw materials leads to ecological, climatic and social disasters.

So what exactly does the EU Commission mean by ‘transformative’ growth? Well, the Commission is making the right decision to leave the fossil fuel era behind. But only to exchange it for an era in which large-scale mining will become the driving force of the growth economy. As mentioned before, the mining of raw materials such as gold, copper, lithium, borate, coltan … (the list is endless) causes great harm to people and the environment. Witness the many accidents involving toxic substances used in the mining industry, which have rendered hundreds of hectares of land uninhabitable, polluted rivers and poisoned people.

Maria Nyuberg stated at the (Re)mining Symposium that “Even if we succeed in dramatically increasing the recycling of critical metals, it will still not be enough to meet the demand required to make the green transition possible“. So we trade one evil (fossil fuels) for another (extracting rare earths). Yet there are plenty of signs that the growth scenario has a dead end. For example, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) published a report stating that Europe must reduce its material consumption 65% by 2050 if we want to avoid a climate catastrophe. 

Dependence on critical metals and strategic autonomy

We now know that Europe will not abandon the ‘endless growth scenario’ and that we will need huge quantities of critical raw metals to make that work. The question is, of course: where are we going to get them? Europe has long realised that depending on other continents for raw materials is not a good idea. Look what has happened to our energy prices since the war between Russia and Ukraine started. That is why the European Commission has decided that we have to tap our own (read European) reserves of critical metals. Or in other words, more mining on the European continent. 

Sustainable and responsible mining, the fairy tale that just won’t go away

According to the mining industry and the European Commission, mining can be done in a sustainable way with respect for the environment and people. Studies and reports prove otherwise. Rio Tinto, a mining giant that has been in the news negatively several times (google ‘Mining Rio Tinto accident’) and owner of the Serbian ‘Jadar Lithium Mine’, has bought up 40% of all the land around the possible mining site. This was possible through collaboration with the Loznica city council, which expropriated land and changed its zoning from ‘agriculture or forestry’ to ‘industrial land’. Another tactic to chase away the inhabitants was to raise the land tax significantly. This happened even before the mining project was approved. In response, citizens protested and took to the streets for days until President Vučić was forced to revoke the mining project’s permit. 

The events surrounding mining in countries like Northern Ireland, Serbia (but also Spain and Greece) show that mining always results in damage. If not for the environment, then for the communities that are the victims of mining. Conclusion? Green mining or sustainable mining does not exist at all, it’s a dangerous fairy tale.

Want to know more about the alternatives and what you can do in Flanders or Brussels? Find it out in our next blog.

En El Nombre Del Litio – Clean Energy, For Who?

En El Nombre Del Litio: Clean Energy, For Who?

I’m the one who goes meandering through the hills

Watching life grow

With eyes of water that see the birth and death of time

I am healing the wounds of being

Don’t kill me or poison me

Don’t make me part of that suffering

You are death, I am life

You are the lithium, I am the feeling of the pacha

CATAPA held a screening of the documentary ‘En el Nombre del Litio’ at Studio Skoop, Gent on the 29th March as part of Belmundo Festival 2022. 

Eighty percent of the world’s lithium reserves are located in the ‘Lithium Triangle’; the salt flats that connect Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. The film depicts the disastrous consequences of lithium extraction for the indigenous communities of the Salares Grandes. Producing a single ton of lithium carbonate requires two million litres of water. And where is this lithium going? Each electric vehicle, central to the EU’s ‘green transition’ away from petrol and diesel based private transport, contains 4.5 kilograms of lithium.

“¿Energía limpia para quién?” (Clean energy for who?) (Clemente Flores, El Moreno)

After the screening, participants were challenged by Yblin Escobar Roman (CATAPA)  to think about the connections between the documentary and material consumption within the European Union and Belgium. Under the guise of ‘green mining’, the EU’s Critical Raw Materials list outlines a strategy for the resourcing of over thirty mined resources, such as lithium, deemed ‘necessary’ for the green transition. To fund the ‘green transition’, by 2050 the EU will require sixty times more lithium for electric vehicle batteries and energy storage versus current supply. 

Electric vehicles are not the solution to our climate crisis. Our push for ‘green mobility’ is steeped in the same extractivist logic that views our planet as an inexhaustible resource to be mined and dominated by humankind. But this fails to understand the fundamental contradiction: 

 

We cannot mine our way out of the climate crisis

This contradiction is at the heart of ‘El Nombre Del Litio’. Due to the harsh conditions, only microorganisms are adapted to survive within the Salar basin. Living under the salars, colonies, or ‘forests’ of microorganisms engaging in photosynthesis, have served as a carbon sink for over 3.5 billion years, releasing oxygen and creating our ozone layer. Yet, in the name of tackling the climate crisis, transnational corporations are extracting vast quantities of water from the basin, starving and destroying the very microorganisms that allow our continued existence on Mother Earth.

A Just Transition to Accessible, Carbon Zero Transport

Rather than maintaining the status quo by switching to electric cars, a just transition requires a fundamental re-organisation of our cities and communities towards zero emission public, not private transportation. Transportation accounts for 27% of global emissions.C40 Cities argue limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius requires doubling public transport use within cities by 2030. 

Despite this, De Lijn’s latest plans will oversee the removal of 1 in 7 bus stops in Ghent – around 200 in total. Zonder Bushalte Straat, an action group campaigning against these changes, argues this will inevitably prevent older and less mobile citizens from accessing and traversing the city. 

A Just Transition to the Right to Say No

The documentary also emphasises that a just transition requires indigenous and local communities having the Right to Say No to mining. Local communities must not only have the decisive, legally binding say over the fate of mining projects, this must be respected. 

I was born in the countryside,

I am the son of a peasant

I defend my tradition,

Of all the Argentine north

My father is the Chañi mountain

My mother the white Salar

During the documentary, the indigenous communities discuss Kachi-Yupi (literal translation: salt tracks), a document they collectively produced for the consultation process.Together with international laws on Free, Prior and Informed Consent, this document demands mining companies must seek approval from all of the indigenous communities of the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc basin before proceeding with an activity or project. Despite promises, the document was never formalised into an official decree. Instead, the Argentinian state transferred ownership of the lands to JEMSE to pursue lithium extraction for the sake of ‘development’ without consent.

“If communities aren’t participating actively in the state, the state is meaningless’ (Clemente Flores, El Moreno)

Companies also seek ‘Social Licence to Operate’ by dividing communities with false promises of jobs, development and security. In the documentary, EXAR promised lithium mining would directly and indirectly provide around eight hundred jobs to the local community for over thirty years.

Whilst large-scale mining projects may provide jobs in the short term, the long-term destruction is incomparable. The loss of water is disrupting pastoral agriculture, an activity the community has relied on for thousands of years. Once mining projects are completed, the jobs are also taken with them, leaving behind a community contaminated and fractured by violence and conflict.

“Mining is bread for today, but hunger for tomorrow” (Gil Cruz, Susques)

In response, the indigenous communities of the Salinas Grandes and Guayatayoc Lagoon mobilised to protest the violation of international law on indigenous rights, the failure to consult the collective assembly by lithium mining companies operating in Quebraleña territory and to demand an end to all mining activities in the area. 

“I give my life for the Salar. I cannot accept this.If you want, kill me first. Then you will pass through the Salar.” (Veronica Chavez, Santuario Tres Pozos)

Our transition to sustainable energy must only be green, but just. This cannot be achieved through our current path of continued extractivism, which promises nothing but destruction. We are at a crossroads. Rather than extracting lithium for electric cars, our society must be based on social and environmental justice where the extraction of non-renewable resources is no longer necessary.

Water, little water

They call me and they think of me

Water, little water,

They say to me as I pass by

Protect our place

Well chayadita my soul will remain

With the dance of the suris I’ll stop

With the trot of the vicuñas I will follow

With the condor I will fly

In the rain over the Andes I will return

Jallalla! 

En El Nombre del Litio is produced by Calme Cine & FARN, and directed by Tian Cartier, Martín Longo and Pía Marchegiani. You can read more about the film and indigenous communities fighting against lithium mining on their website: https://enelnombredellitio.org.ar

*This documentary was screened as part of Cinema Belmundo 2022. Cinema Belmundo is a collaboration between various organisations that show films to make an impact. This year, the collaboration consists of Studio Skoop Cinema, 11.11.11, Amnesty International, BOS+, Broederlijk Delen, Dierenartsen Zonder Grenzen, FOS ngo and JEF.

Written by Catapista Connor Cashell

Sources:

An Van Bost (2021) ‘Ghent action group fights to preserve bus stops in and around Ghent with symbolic action’, VRT, 21 June. Available at: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2021/06/21/een-deel-bushaltes-in-en-rond-gent-dreigt-te-verdwijnen/ [Accessed 30 March 2022].

Bankwatch Network (2021). Raw Deal: Does the new EU development model mean more of the same destructive mining? Available at: https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/RAW_DEAL.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2022].

C40 Cities, International Transport Workers’ Federation (2021). Public transport global coalition statement. Available at: https://www.c40.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Global-coalition-statement-ENG.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2022]

En El Nombre Del Litio (2021) Directed by T. Cartier, Longo. M and Marchegiani.Pía [Film]. El Salvador, Argentina: Calme Cine.

European Commission (2020) ‘Critical Raw Materials Resilience: Charting a Path towards greater Security and Sustainability’. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0474 [Accessed 30 March 2022]

European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth Europe (2021) 

‘Green mining is a myth’: the case of cutting EU resource consumption. 

Available at: https://eeb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Green-mining-report_EEB-FoEE-2021.pdf 

[Accessed 22 March 2022].

FARN & Calma Cine (2021) En el Nombre Del Litio. Available at: https://enelnombredellitio.org.ar/home-2-en/. [Accessed: 30 March 2022].

Kachi-Yupi (2015) Salt Traces: Free, Prior and Informed Consultation and Consent Procedure for the Indigenous Communities of the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc Basin. Available at: https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Kachi-Yupi-Huellas.pdf [Accessed 30 March 2022]. 

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Indigenous Peoples (2016) Free Prior and Informed Consent – An Indigenous Peoples’ right and a good practice for local communities – FAO. Available at: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/publications/2016/10/free-prior-and-informed-consent-an-indigenous-peoples-right-and-a-good-practice-for-local-communities-fao/ [Accessed 30 March 2022]

Zonder Bushalte Straat (2022) [Facebook]. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/zonderbushaltestraat/ [Accessed 30 March 2022].

Summary MEP day speakers tour 2022

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS MEET WITH MEP’S

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS, INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATIVES OF COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY MINING MEET WITH MEP’S REGARDING EU DUE DILIGENCE LEGISLATION

Our Peruvian environmental defenders, alongside indigenous representatives from Russia and Guatemala, met with MEP’s on Thursday 4th March to share their stories of fighting on the frontlines to defend their communities from destructive mining projects. 

International voluntary standards on responsible corporate conduct have failed to have an impact on environmental and human rights abuses along supply chains.

They demanded tougher battery and due diligence legislation that centres the voices and experiences of impacted communities. Under the ‘social licence to operate’ (SLO), a non-binding voluntary commitment to ‘good practice’, corporations are able to greenwash their operations. International voluntary standards on responsible corporate conduct have failed to have an impact on environmental and human rights abuses along supply chains.

Our Peruvian defenders were part of a delegation that met with the assistants of French MEP Manon Aubry - GUE/NGL (pictured above) and Dutch MEP Antonius Manders (EEP)
Our Peruvian defenders were part of a delegation that met with the assistants of French MEP Manon Aubry - GUE/NGL (pictured above) and Dutch MEP Antonius Manders (EEP)

The delegation emphasised the importance of retaining copper, bauxite and iron within proposed due diligence obligations. They also brought attention to the need to include obligations towards climate impacts.

Current Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence proposals only require EU mining companies with more than 250 employees and an annual turnover of 40 million euros to prevent human rights and environmental abuses along their supply chains. This applies to less than 0.2% of EU companies. 

Companies will also only be required to prevent the impact of so-called ‘established’ business partners. This fails to cover short-term relationships, incentivising companies to regularly switch suppliers to avoid liability. 

The proposed law also fails to remove serious legal hurdles that prevent transnational cases being brought against companies, such as costs, short time-limits, lack of access to evidence and a disproportionate burden of proof. 

Beyond corporate sustainability, our environmental defenders pushed for a fundamental transformation of our society and relationship with nature. Our current linear model of consumption and production is a driving cause of the climate crisis. In this “throwaway” model, the pursuit of limitless growth, production and consumption are destroying our biodiversity, polluting our rivers and killing those who defend us.

Overconsumption in the EU is directly tied to destructive mining projects in Peru and Latin America. The EU’s material footprint is 14.5 tonnes per capita (of which 20% is imported from outside of the EU). This is double the just limit of consumption and is using up to 97% of the planet’s ‘safe operating space’. 

After visiting the EU Parliament, our environmental defenders met with other indigenous representatives, CSOs and MEPs for dinner to build and strengthen links of solidarity between their fights for justice.

This meeting occurred in collaboration with the EEB, as part of the Speaker’s Tour 2022.

Written by catapista Connor Cashell.

Sources: 

Business and Human Rights Centre Resource Centre., (2019). 
Brumadinho dam collapse: lessons in corporate due diligence and remedy for harm done. 
Available at: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/blog/brumadinho-dam-collapse-lessons-in-corporate-due-diligence-and-remedy-for-harm-done/ 
[Accessed 22 March 2022].

Cockburn, H. (2020) ‘Climate crisis: 
global temperature rise of 2C ‘would release billions of tonnes of soil carbon’, Independent, 2 November 2020. 
Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/soil-carbon-climate-crisis-global-warming-b1534409.html 
[Accessed 22 March 2022].

European Commission (2021) ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 
on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937’. 
Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/1_1_183885_prop_dir_susta_en.pdf 
[Accessed 22 March 2022].

European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth Europe (2021). 
Green mining is a myth’: the case of cutting EU resource consumption. 
Available at: https://eeb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Green-mining-report_EEB-FoEE-2021.pdf 
[Accessed 22 March 2022].

MEP Antonius Manders (2021), Report on the liability of companies for environmental damage (2020/2027(INI)) 
Committee on Legal Affairs. 
Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2021-0112_EN.pdf 
[Accessed 22 March 2022].

OECD (2011), Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2011 update), 
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264115415-en 
[Accessed 22 March 2022].

United Nations (2011), Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: 
Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework. 
Available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf 
[Accessed 22 March 2022].
Thank you volunteers!

Volunteers’ Week

This week it’s Volunteers’ Week in Belgium, a time to think about and thank the work of all the volunteers who have been collaborating for years to make the CATAPA project possible.

Thanks in a million!!!!

As every year, we have the opportunity to welcome two volunteers in the framework of the European Solidarity Corps, a programme funded by the European Commission that brings young people the opportunity to volunteer around Europe in social and environmental projects. It offers an inspiring and empowering experience for young people who want to help, learn and develop.

Currently, in Belgium, there are a large number of volunteers working on multiple projects, which are managed by JINT (Nationaal Agentschap voor Erasmus+ Jeugd).  

Our two 2021-22 ESC volunteers, Connor and Laura, were invited to participate these days in a gathering with them. A space for volunteer training, to explore the interculturality of the group, to meet international people and to have a meaningful and educational experience.

During the training, bonding activities took place among the volunteers as well as reflection sessions about the volunteer tasks in order to learn from each other.

Do you have nice #catapistas pictures yourself? Send them to communication.sc@vzw.catapa.be! Or share them via social media with #catapistas & don’t forget to tag us on Instagram @catapa_vzw or on Facebook @catapa.belgium.

Are you a catapista yourself? We’d love to hear what you would like us to organise in the future! Share your ideas via this form.

Become a Catapa Volunteer!

Thanks a lot & see you soon!

Speaker’s Tour 2022 – Overview activities

CATAPA’s next Speakers Tour is coming up!

From the 3rd until the 13th of March we have two Peruvian guests visiting us in Belgium: Rosas Duran Carrera, a farmer and activist from the Valle de Condebamba in Cajamarca, and Mirtha Villanueava, director of our partner organisation GRUFIDES. 

Their days will be filled with awareness raising, networking and lobbying events. They are here to share their struggle against large-scale mining in Peru and how standing up for their rights comes with the risk and fear of being intimidated, stigmatized and persecuted. During their visit, they will talk to students, local and European politicians, the press, civil society organizations and interested citizens. 

Here you can find an overview of activities in which you are able to meet them personally:

 

4.03: Kick-Off Speaker’s Tour + Public Action

4 March 2022, 18h45, Ghent. 

We start with an internal reception to give a warm welcome to our speakers with our movement, as well as a celebration to kick-off the speaker’s tour. Old and new Catapistas and CATAPA’s partners are invited. Didn’t inscribe yet? Fill in this form: https://forms.gle/v1DBtAh72NNGLqFw8

The Kick Off starts at 19h30, but before that (at 18h45) we already gather at Sint-Pietersplein in Ghent for a public action! During this action we will sing Cajamarcan protest songs, play music and call for the protection of our environmental defenders and for the implementation of the Right to Say No! If you register for the kick off, you will receive all the information about the action too. 

 

06.03: Ontbijt met een Rebel 

6 March 2022, 9h30, Ghent

It has become a tradition, our annual Breakfast with a Rebel! After a coronabreak last year, we are going for it again this year! Come and listen to five rebels on 6 March with inspiring stories from all corners of the world, while you can feast on the vegetarian breakfast buffet.

More information here.

 

8.03: Round Table: DEFENSORAS. Tierras que resisten en manos de mujeres

8 March 2022, 19h30, Brussels

Being a woman and defending the land is the double threat faced by women environmental defenders all over the world.

On March 8, we will listen to the testimony of defensoras from Peru, Colombia and The Netherlands/Bolivia. They will share stories about climate activism and their experiences and struggles within the defense of their territories, in order to promote solidarity and to connect different struggles for justice. They’ll also talk about the vital role of women in activism.

Join our cozy round table conversation and get strengthened by stories of hope and resistance of these inspiring Defensoras!

More information about the event here.

 

 

7, 9 & 10.03: Student events 

Our guests will go to three universities to talk in four events about their experiences with students. All these testimonies will be followed by an interactive session, in which we will determine some links between the universities and issues related to mining. Together we will brainstorm about solutions and think of ways to present these solutions to the rector!

Three of those four events are public! Also non-students are welcome to take part. Here’s an overview: 

 

12.03: Re-Connect Restart Party

12 March 2022, 14h, Antwerp

Rosas & Mirtha will share their testimonies at the Re-Connect Restart Party on the 12th of March! This is a Repair Café with all kinds of interesting workshops and sessions, which takes place at Circuit in Antwerp. Rosas & Mirtha will explain why the Right to Repair and going towards a more circular way to produce and consume metals is important to reduce our need for newly extracted raw materials. 

More information here. 

 

This year CATAPA is collaborating with Gent Fair Trade for the Speaker Tour activities that take place in Ghent. 

LINK TO ALL EVENTS