CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW IN GENERAL
2.3 Development-induced displacement
2.3.3 Types of development projects causing displacement
It has to be noted that the types of development projects causing displacement range across a wide spectrum. In this study such types of projects have been divided into three categories, namely, dams, urban renewal and development and natural resource extraction.
Dams
As reported before that development-induced displacement occurs throughout the world, two countries of note in the Asian region are China and India. Calculations by the National Research Centre for Resettlement is that in China alone over 45 million people were displaced by dam projects between 1950 and 2000 (Fuggle et al, 200). Whereas in the history of India, it is estimated that 21 million to 40 million displacement has taken place due to dam projects alone (Taneja and Takkar, 2000). The other most talked about project involves the Narmada Sardar Sarovar Dam Project in India, which is set to displace about 127 000people (Fuggle et al, 2000).
He further states that China’s Three Gorges Dam Project is set to displace about 1.2 million people.
Africa is not spared the adverse effect of the development-induced displacement and resettlement. While countries like China and India lead the whole world in the number of people who are displaced by development projects, the proportion population and territory
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affected by even the largest of projects in these countries is much lower than in some projects in African countries (Downing, 2002). In Ghana for example, approximately 1 per cent of the country’s population was affected when the Akosombo Dam displaced about 80 000 people, while roughly 0.013 per cent of the country of India’s population could be affected, whereby 127 000 people will be displaced through the erection of Narmada Sardar Sarovar Dam (Taneja and Takkar, 2000). He further reports that another difference in flooding modes, when the reservoir of the Ghana’s Akosombo Dam flooded 3.5 per cent of land, while that of the Narmada Sardar Sarovar Dam in India will flood only 0.01 per cent territory.
The Kariba Dam project in Zambia displaced approximately 57,000 people and created the Kariba resettlement scheme on the Gwembe Tonga (Stanley, 2014). The other displacement of note is the Aswan High Dam Project in Egypt, which displaced close to 100,000 people in both Egypt and Sudan countries (Stanley, 2014). This displacement saw the dam’s reservoir inundated the summer resources previously used by nomadic groups in the Nubian region. This led to the huge population being adversely affected, whereby resettlement and compensation schemes failed to consider their plight (Downing, 2002).
Urban infrastructure and transportation
It consists of several projects that work towards its fulfilment. This will include projects for slum clearance and upgrading, the establishment of industrial and commercial estates, the building and upgrading of sewerage systems, schools, hospitals, ports and the construction of communication and transportation networks, including those connecting different urban centres. All these aspects will lead to the urban displacement and resettlement. (Fuggle et al, 2000) estimates that about 60 per cent of development-induced displacement takes place every year, of which about 6 million people get affected. All this is due to urban infrastructure and transportation projects. He further states that in 1993 alone 22.6 per cent of displacement was caused by urban and transportation projects. Among the largest urban displacements on record are the Indonesia’s Jabotabek project, which displaced between 40,000 and 50,000 people, and India’s Hyderbad Water Supply Project, which ousted 50,000 people (Fuggle et al, 2000).
Meanwhile, the displacement from individual urban development projects is reported to be lower than that of the large infrastructure projects. However, while displacement from individual urban development projects is low, the frequency of such projects is higher than in some other sectors which results in a high overall number of displaced people (Stanley, 2014).
It has to be noted though that the amount of land appropriated for individual urban projects is
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often minimal compared to that acquired for individual large dam or irrigation projects, the ratio of people displaced per unit of expropriated land is usually higher as a result of high urban population densities. This trend gets worse when looking at the global trend of urbanisation growth. Also, rural development projects have played their own role in this rise, as many displaced people have either been relocated to cities or have migrated there from poor resettlement sites in search of employment (Stanley, 214). In Mozambique, the resettlement of 130 families happened in two separate urban relocation operations of which together generated space for an urban renewal project (Downing, 2002). In Cameroon, the displacement and resettlement aimed at restructuring and improving conditions in an urban ‘spontaneous’
settlement affected roughly 45,000 people in the Nylon Urban Upgrading Project in Douala (Downing, 2002). To vindicate the point, as is the case in most cases of DIDR, many displaced people in the Nylon project were amongst the city’s poorest residents (Downing, 2002).
Natural resource extraction
This category of projects is about the extraction of mineral and oil. The evidence and figures from World Bank projects suggest that displacement in such projects is much lower than in many dam and urban renewal and development projects. The DIDR literature on mining and oil projects is sparse compared to that on dams and urban renewal and development projects.
According to (Stanley, 2014) this is likely due to two factors, firstly, mining and oil projects cause only limited displacement compared to large infrastructure projects. The second factor is that the displacement caused by such projects is often indirect, that is, spillage from an oil pipeline might cause drinking-water contamination and the destruction of farmland, thus, leading families to abandon their homes and looks for safer conditions elsewhere. Since such indirect forms of displacement are less apparent as compared to the direct displacement caused by many large infrastructure projects, it therefore seldom leads to formal resettlement operations.
The Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) in its report (1999) highlights on oil extraction activities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The report details the abuse of local dwellers’ human rights by the Nigerian government and participating corporations in their efforts to quell local opposition to the extraction projects (Fuggle et al, 2000). The project leads to the environmental degradation stemming from regular oil spills and the construction of roads and canals, which contribute to the displacement of some from the region. While the Amnesty International’s report (2000) highlights the oil industry and its role in human rights abuses in Sudan which
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also leads to the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of people from their homes (Downing, 2002). The most worrying act in this case, sees the Government using its troops to engage in bombings, helicopter gunships, and mass executions as tools to ensure that people flee the region (Downing, 2002).
Therefore, development can lead to displacement as shown above.
This chapter has brought some elucidation into how different types of internal development affect the community in a region. Again, the details of push-pull factors have been highlighted.
The nastiness of authoritative states forcefully removes their communities through conflict, while others remove them in the name of development. However, this chapter has proven that either way the community gets adversely affected through forced removals and resettled to new environments not conducive to their living standards, may it be social and/or places of work.
In all instances where the negotiations for the implementation of such removals has taken place, the community concern is excluded. Hence, such removals result in conflicts, which ultimately produce human rights violation.
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CHAPTER 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
As the previous chapter (2) presented a literature review on the internal displacement which happens through forceful removal, this chapter narrates on the theory upon which this study is based, which is a Marxist theory. Marxist theory in this study will further be complemented through the anti-colonial theory. The argument will be about those who possess power, the colonisers and those who have nothing, the colonised. In the same vein, the conflict ensued, which is called the class struggle.