http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hazel-guardado/nicaraguas-proposed-inter_b_6083274.html
On the forefront on Latin America's environmental issues is the new construction of the Nicaragua canal that will link the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific ocean. Wang Jing lawyer is paving the way for Hong Kong Based Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co LTD (HKND) to build this canal. Pro arguments include helping to lift the country out of poverty by creating over 50,000 jobs during the construction and 200,000 more once the construction is complete. Additionally, they are predicting the canal to cause economic growth within the country of up to 14% per year.
As we already know, globalization has been linked to environmental dilemmas including global warming. Similarly, the Nicaraguan people are not content with a Chinese investor stepping into their country and harming their environment. Additionally, "the project was granted to the HKND without any current environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies. Furthermore, rather than conducting these studies itself, the government will rely on the HKND to do so. " The new canal project is set to displace multiple indigenous people, harm the wetlands, remove forests and destroy natural habitats. The indigenous people have been left with no resort but to bring their case forth to the Inter-American court, claiming violations of international labour standards. Overall, it brings us back to the same question. Do the benefits outweigh the means and is globalization truly a good thing?
In terms of the human impact, the construction of the canal is clearly a net positive. Giving hundreds of thousands of people jobs seems to obviously outweigh the displacement of "multiple people", but the damage to Lake Nicaragua in particular could lead to the loss of employment. Water in Lake Nicaragua is used by both fishermen and farmers, and the inevitable loss usable water than would occur from its use as a shipping channel could be detrimental to the Nicaraguan economy.
ReplyDeleteI think overall this could be a positive situation for Nicaragua. While there could be some fisherman and farmers that lose their jobs during this process like Noah mentioned but I feel that the jobs that are created during the project and after it will be greater and have a better impact on the Nicaraguan economy.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a situation in which the increased human productivity and job opportunities are offset by potential water pollution and increased fossil fuel dependence (a traditional side effect of development). If we are focusing specifically on the economic gains of this situation, it is a safe investment for Nicaragua as the new jobs allow for the stimulation of the economy. However, the price that they will have to pay environmentally needs to be determined by an environmental impact assessment.
ReplyDeleteAs everyone has already pointed out, this article discusses the classic economic v. environment argument. It is really hard to determine if the economic benefits of this canal outweigh the environmental problems but I think that it is a situation that still needs to be looked at and from what I can see, the HKND doesn't really seem to care. They are circumventing laws placed to protect the environment, which I think is testing Nicaraguan sovereignty. It seems as though the government is actually willing to forgo prior commitments to its people for economic gain. I think I wouldn't feel as strongly if the HKND had partnered more with Nicaraguan companies but this is not the case. A foreign agency is coming in and profiting disproportionality from exploiting Nicaragua's resources.
ReplyDeleteGrace, I also would feel far more comfortable with this if it seemed that HKND or the Nicaraguan government made more efforts to reduce environmental implications as much as possible instead of simply pushing it to the side as it seems they are doing. It's really hard to tell at this point if the economic gain will outweigh the environmental damage that this will cause.
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