CWM

Living in the shadow of a global giant

Thursday, 31 July 2008 14:10

When CWM's Nick Curley travelled to Orissa, India, to meet the rural communities struggling to save their land and their homes from a global mining giant, he wasn't prepared for the lasting impression they would leave him with. He talks to Zoe Hussain about his visit and how these tenacious people gained his respect.

Standing at the edge of a vast artificial lake choked thick with mine-dump, nothing could have prepared CWM's Nick Curley for the shock of seeing the effects of large-scale globalisation face to face.

Targeted for the last 20 years by mining corporation, Nalco, for its plentiful supply of Bauxite - a material used to produce aluminium - the rural landscape of Orissa has undergone a number of changes at the hands of the international giant.

On a recent visit to learn more about the lives of the village communities there, Curley, from the Mission Programme team at Council for World Mission, witnessed the battle native people face to win back their land from the miners - and he didn't like what he saw.

These people face a very real possibility that they could be forcibly displaced from the only homes they've ever known

Globalisation close-up
"I've seen newspaper reports and television documentaries on globalisation, but nothing prepared me for seeing this kind of thing firsthand - it was a complete shock," he says.

"This type of mining is happening all throughout Orissa and its just unbelievable. We only saw one community that was affected but there are dozens more.

"The land is rich in bauxite and that's what the mining corporation are after. They've built a huge road for their JCBs and lorries and there's a 28km police-manned conveyor belt ferrying bauxite across the land. There are vast manmade resevoirs being used as mine dumps and filled with waste"

Invited by WIDA (Integrated Rural Development of Weaker Section in India), the rural development agency that has been instrumental in supporting the village communities in their battle, Curley stayed in the town of Semiliguda where the Nalco mine is located.

Under threat
In the nearby village of Bodamanjari he joined the villagers in planting trees as part of their reforestation programme. He also got the chance to sit with them and hear about their daily struggles and how they are resisting the government coalitions and corporations which threaten their way of life.

Curley says: "The villagers are worried about the effect the mine is having on their environment. They have sustainable lifestyles and look after the land, they even plant new trees to counteract logging.

"In the town itself the mine provides some jobs but for the people in the villages, it's different. They could be forced to move out of their homes at any time to make way for the mining. They feel they don't have any right over their land, their environment or their homes."

Set up in 1981 as a public sector enterprise of the Government of India, National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) is Asia's largest integrated aluminium complex. The corporation also handles alumina refining, aluminium smelting and casting, power generation, rail and port operations.

By December 2008 the Orissa mines will have almost trebled in capacity to 6,300,000 tonnes per annum from 2,400,000 tpa when work first started.

Green credentials
Nalco claims it takes adequate steps for pollution control and effective environment management and that it has passed all statutory environmental clearances before it started work in the region.

The corporation's website promotes its environmental and social credentials. Following the 1999 Orissa cyclone it provided almost 200 shelters, and the corporation has donated to India's Chief Minister's Relief Fund and Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

But Curley says the messages do not match up with what he saw: "Nalco has signs all over the place encouraging people to take care of the environment," he says. "But it's strange, the company says it's trying to protect the environment and yet it's obvious that the mining is affecting the land."

Rural development agency WIDA (Integrated Rural Development of Weaker Section in India), has been driving the communities' fight to save their homes and land. In turn, CWM is backing WIDA's efforts where possible to help give the local people a voice.

But as the mine works continue, there is a chance the communities will be forced to move on without compensation or help to resettle.

"These people face the possibility of being forcibly displaced from the only homes they've ever known," Curley says. "They wouldn't know where to go or what to do if they were moved, but it has already happened to other communities across Orissa and displaced people have ended up in ramshackle slums."

He added: "WIDA is doing what it can. I don't know whether they'll win their battle in the end or not. It's a bit like David and Goliath. But for these people protecting their homes has become the sole focus of their lives and the focus of the churches there. This is the top priority for them now - it's everything."