8th Forests & Livelihoods: Assessment, Research, and Engagement (FLARE) Annual Meeting
8-10 October 2022
University of Notre Dame, Rome
Maria Brockhaus, Grace Wong, Ayami Kan, Alain Fabrice Mfoulou, Aristide Chacgom, Daisuke
Naito, Helena Varkkey, Niina Pietarinen, Samuel Assembe Mvondo
Infrastructures of inequality in the development of forest and forestland in Malaysia and Cameroon
Abstract:
Tropical forests and forestlands are being claimed for a myriad of interconnected global, national and local interests. On the ground, plantations for timber, biomass resources, and the production of commodities such as rubber and oil palm are physical structures representing these interests. Here, government authorities, private sector actors, conservationists, communities, environmental defenders and other members of civil society execute their agency and negotiate divergent interests. Yet, there are persistent power imbalances among these actors, shaped by politics and institutions and often to the disadvantage of local people and environments, resulting in intersecting ‘infra-structures of inequality’ related to geographies, gender, class, ethnicity and age. We take a historical comparative analytical approach to examine infrastructures of inequality in two cases from Kribi, Cameroon and Sabah, Malaysia. Both regions are extensively deforested for plantations, often under the guise of green development or green recovery plans, and rife with conflicts relating to customary rights over forest and land. Building on critical reviews of policies and media, and interviews with diverse actors, we ask: who – and whose society – benefit from forests and development of forestlands? What are the mechanisms and infrastructures that create inequality? Our initial findings show that trade and investment patterns and discursive practices are intertwined with the establishment and persistence of plantations since colonial times, and that flows of material, finance and information/ideas connect certain actors, institutions and limiting plantation ideals. In addition, there are trade-offs among the different and often conflicting objectives across levels of governance. With this research, we aim to contribute to an emerging body of literature by Tania Li, Anna Tsing, Donna Haraway and others on inequality infrastructures and the plantationocene approach to advance understanding of inequality and social justice in forests. We do so mainly through a critical analysis of discursive practices, incentive structures and power relations within the larger forest and land use arena. We argue that we need this understanding to tackle one of the most fundamental questions for social-environmental justice in the forest: what are enabling conditions that can help to break and transform long-standing institutional infra-structures towards more just and equitable futures?
This paper is in progress. If you would like more information about this paper and presentation, please email ayami.kan@chikyu.ac.jp