Study 3: Ecodestruction and the Right to Food: The Cases of Water ...

Starving the Future Study 3
i. Marine and coastal systems : Dramatic loss of fragile and rich habitats
Case 6 (Orissa/India, 1993)
Chilika Lagoon : a unique ecosystem menaced
Lake Chilika is the largest lagoon in Asia, covers about 100,000 ha of land on the Indian east coast. It is
located on the coast of Orissa state with a surface area of 916 square kilometers. It is connected to the
Bay of Bengal by way of a narrow channel of 35 km length. It belongs to the six sites in India classified as
wetlands of international importance by the Ramsar convention because of its very rich biodiversity.
This huge brackisch lake is indeed the habitat of more than 400 vertebrates, including several
endangered, threatened, and vulnerable species. Furthermore, the lake hosts more than one million
migratory waterfowl and shore birds during winter. 28 The importance of the lake in terms of biodiversity
is also illustrated by the classification of numerous species in the IUCN Red List of threatened Animals.
According to figures mentioned by the organization Worldlakes, some 225 fish species along with a
variety of phytoplankton, algae and aquatic plants are listed. Moreover, data collected in the framework
of the 1985-87 study of the Zoological Survey of India, more than 800 species in and around the lake
are recorded. The Nalaban Island within the Lake is classified a Bird Sanctuary under Wildlife
(Protection) Act and the lagoon is also identified as a priority site by the National Wetland coral reefs
Committee of Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India. 29 Despite this clear importance
of the lagoon and the necessity (and in fact legal obligation to protect it under the Ramsar Convention),
the Orissa government started In the early 90s to lease out land on the lake to Tata Corporation, the
biggest corporate giant of India, and eventually formed a joint venture with Tata Steel and Tata Oil Mills to
develop large scale industrial prawn breeding in the lake by using enormous quantities of water polluted
with high protein feed, fertilisers, chemicals and pesticides. Industrial shrimp aquaculture totally
disregards the particular nature of Lake Chilika. At the same time it destroyed the means of subsistence
of more than 100,000 traditional fishers in some 120 fishing villages surrounding the lake, who live off the
lake from times immemorial as an integral part of the Chilika ecosystem. There is a large land mass of
about 1400 acres within the lagoon. It serves as grazing grounds for herds of cattle, and in the rainy
season when covered with water it is used for natural prawn breeding by the traditional fisherfolk. Protests
(including FIAN’s) made Tata withdraw from the project – but the local “mafia” continued its investments
with the blessings of local and state authorities who (at one point) shot down protesting fisherfolk.
ii. Forest ecosystem: Conversion and destruction through industrial
projects
Case 7 (ARCO Block 10/Ecuador, 1993)
Threats to biodiversity through oil extraction
The area of Villano and Morete Cocha in the Province of Pastaza is one of the last ecologically surviving
regions of the Ecuadorian Amazone. It is full of genetic resources and inhabited by the indigenous
communities of the Quichua, Shiwiar, Zaparo and Ashuar peoples.
In Napo, the province north of Pastaza, the rain forest and the territories of the indigenous peoples have
been devastated during the past decade by massive and ruthless oil exploitation and the subsequent
uncoordinated and destructive colonisation. It used to take the indigenous communities only one day of
hunting or gathering to secure the food supplies, which now take a week or two, since the once plentiful
flora and fauna is on the retreat. Today hunger, malnutrition and desease are spreading in the very
same communities. The responsibility for this disaster rests not only with the transnational oil
corporations and the Ecuadorian government, but also with the international community of "donor"
countries and agencies, unwilling to solve Ecuador's debt problem, and evading their responsabilities
FIAN International 130
June 2002