Ecological Imperialism: A Georgist Alternative

Ecological imperialism has created property law and economic systems that function to dispossess Indigenous peoples from their traditional lands, territories, and resources. An application of Henry George’s perspectives on economic efficiency and individual liberties suggests that exchanges affecting Indigenous traditional areas are potentially inefficient and unjust if they fail to incorporate Indigenous perspectives of traditional wealth and connections to traditional space. In such circumstances, any loss of traditional lands and resources could be economically inefficient for the Indigenous community concerned, as the land or resource given up may be more valuable than any land or monetary compensation offered. Equally, this loss would deny the liberty of members of the community to associate and determine the use of their lands and resources in accordance with their own priorities. To an extent, this view is harmonious with the current international framework on Indigenous peoples’ rights. Accordingly, participatory legal protections that integrate two perspectives are suggested to prevent unjust exchanges of traditional Indigenous areas and to avoid the contemporary effects of ecological imperialism. Those two perspectives are: i) Georgist conceptions of economic efficiency and individual liberties; and ii) international Indigenous rights standards of free, prior, and informed consent and consultation. Despite the challenges in attaining the universal acceptance and implementation of the alternative represented by these perspectives, its further investigation is nonetheless potentially beneficial.