In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis points to our collective responsibility to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.
The impact on the local community of the extraction of
minerals in Madagascar by the London-based mining giant Rio Tinto
graphically illustrates the message of Laudato Si’, which was officially
published seven years ago, on 18 June 2015.
“Every day I see a line of people around a public fountain because
they do not have a water supply at home. It never used to be that bad.”
This is the experience of Mialy Randrianirinaaly, who works at Arrupe
Social Centre in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.
Testimonies
such as Mialy’s are increasingly common. People in the poorest parts of
the world are already suffering from the effects of climate change,
whether through drought, extreme weather events or soil degradation.
Seven years on from the publication of Pope Francis’ landmark
encyclical, Laudato Si’, responding to the cry of the Earth and the cry
of the poor is taking on an ever-increasing urgency.
Too often
the interconnectedness between the economies of the wealthier countries
and the precarity of people in poorer communities is not fully
appreciated, either in terms of the natural world or its people.
Last
month, Br Stephen Power SJ, who manages the British Jesuits’ ethical
investment strategy, and I attended the annual general meeting in London
of the global mining giant Rio Tinto. The Jesuits are institutional
investors. We expressed concern over the company’s practices in
Madagascar, which have resulted in a threat to the lives and livelihoods
of people in the region of Anosy, where the mine is located. While
mining companies are needed to enable the global green transition, there
are limiting factors in how they operate that will help the Jesuits in
Britain to decide whether or not to disinvest from Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto, based in London, is one of the world’s largest mining
companies. Its subsidiary, Qit Minerals Madagascar (QMM), has been
extracting ilmenite in the Anosy region of southern Madagascar since
2009. But the benefits of the mine to the local community and its
environmental impact are contentious. Ilmenite is a source of titanium
dioxide, which is used to create the white pigment found in the
production of consumer products, from cosmetics to paint. But the local
population has not always benefited from the work that the QMM mine has
created because many of the jobs have attracted applicants from other
parts of the country, rather than from Anosy.
Droughts in
2019-2021 created unparalleled conditions, resulting in famine in parts
of the region. According to the World Food Programme, in December 2021,
1.47 million people in southern Madagascar were in need of urgent
assistance. Subsequent cyclones this year have brought torrential rains
and flooding. These have affected the reliability of the mine tailings
dam at QMM. This is the barrier separating operational waste from the
local ecosystem. In recent months, this tailings dam has twice failed
and released a million cubic metres of excess mine water into the local
lakes and rivers, used for fishing and drinking. This resulted in
hundreds of dead fish being found floating in the lakes.
The local governor immediately placed a ban on fishing, due to
potential health risks, while state regulators undertook testing
exercises. The results are not publicly available and the fishing ban is
still officially in place. QMM has denied responsibility for the fish
deaths. But local communities hold QMM responsible for years of negative
impacts on their food security and livelihoods. In particular, rural
fishing communities say QMM has contaminated local natural water
resources, with damaging consequences to subsistence fishing and
people’s health.
The fishing ban has triggered months of protest
and civil unrest in the region. Clashes between local military and
protesters came to a climax last month, and on 20 May negotiations took
place with four Malagasy government ministers, community
representatives, QMM and local authorities.
An agreement was
signed that will require QMM to review and respond to villagers’ claims
for compensation. The details are still being worked out. The fishing
ban remains an unresolved issue.
Water is a vital resource, and
water quality has been a concern in the region for years. Publish What
You Pay in Madagascar has conducted two studies on the impact of the
mine. These suggest that 90 per cent of villagers living around it say
they experience no benefits. Independent studies have determined that
QMM’s mine basin and process water contain elevated levels of uranium
and lead, 50 and 40 times higher than WHO safe drinking water
guidelines, respectively. Heavy metals such as these are harmful if
ingested. Uranium can cause kidney damage and lead can impede mental and
physical development in children.
This economic and human crisis illustrates the themes of Laudato Si’.
Pope Francis speaks about a “true ecological debt” between the global
north and south because of “commercial imbalances”. He points out the
“disproportionate use of natural resources by certain countries over
extended periods of time” and says: “The export of raw materials to
satisfy markets in the industrialised north has caused harm locally.”
The
Pope’s words have both practical and prophetic implications. The
extraction of minerals by Rio Tinto and its impact on both the natural
world and on the people of the regions where it operates shows the
interconnectedness of the crises we are facing. It is also a stark
reminder that the actions of those of us in the developed world can have
life-altering consequences for people in places we have never seen. In
an answer to one of Stephen Power’s questions at the AGM, Simon
Thompson, the English investment banker who is the chairman of Rio
Tinto, admitted that, “when you build a mine in an extremely poor
country … it does create inequalities”.
In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis points to our collective
responsibility to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor. We
must make our decisions in light of the common good. “This is especially
the case”, he says, “when a project may lead to a greater use of
natural resources, higher levels of emission or discharge, an increase
of refuse, or significant changes to the landscape.”
As
consumers and as citizens of the Earth, what we buy, wear or consume can
have a deadly impact on others. To create a sustainable world, we are
called to change our own behaviour and to speak out on behalf of those
whose voices are less well heard. Their current fate may foreshadow our
own future if we fail to do so.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Colm Fahy is Advocacy and Campaigns Officer at Jesuit Missions, the international development office of the British Jesuits.
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