Next Tuesday, December 17th, the ODG and Cooperacció will organize a dialogue on ecofeminist resistances to green extractivism with Zo Randriamaro, coordinator of CRAAD-OI Madagascar.
In a context of climate emergency, energy crisis, wars and increasing inequalities, the institutions of the global North have made a shift towards the language of securitization while promoting the “green” transition. In the European Union, the green transition has been presented as a twin, green and digital transition, which must be led by large corporations. This transition requires a huge amount of raw materials to manufacture the devices that allow capturing renewable energies, electrifying and digitizing. Many of these raw materials are also necessary for the manufacture of armaments.
Thus, interest in the green transition business has intensified, to capture the stages of the value chain of “green” and digital technologies, and a race has begun for critical raw materials (such as lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt or rare earths). Many of the territories rich in these resources are in the global South, and governments and companies have become the focus of interest to ensure the influx of critical issues for the transition. However, the extraction of raw materials is generating numerous socio-environmental conflicts.
In Madagascar there are several mines and extraction projects: graphite, nickel, cobalt, ilmenite and rare earths, all critical minerals used by green technologies. The impacts of extraction are already being seen in the territories near the mines, with environmental, social and gender consequences that directly impact a population that was already suffering situations of extreme poverty and the effects of climate change. For years, however, communities have been organizing in opposition to extraction projects and there are many actions of protest and resistance that have been carried out.
We will talk about all this with Zo Randriamaro, coordinator of CRAAD-OI (Centre de Recherches et d’Appui pour les Alternatives de Développment – Océan Indien), researcher and ecofeminist activist in Madagascar. With extensive experience in gender, development and sociology, she has been part of numerous research and advocacy processes, as well as publications on macroeconomics, trade, investments, development policies and environmental governance from a gender perspective. She is the founder of CRAAD-OI, a pan-African organization located in Madagascar that offers support to women, young people and local communities to defend their fundamental rights, as well as to promote alternatives based on economic, social and ecological justice. We will count on the moderation of Maria Sanz, a feminist journalist.
Translation and daycare services available. Register now.