Third World Women and Their Effect on the Environment (With Emphasis on Illegal Wildlife Trafficking)

By Cailin Bader

Environmental Issues the World is Facing

Global Warming Pollution Loss of Water Deforestation Illegal Wildlife Trade Loss of Biodiversity

Water Pollution
Up to 2 billion have poor sanitation facilities worldwide. Of those 2 billion half of the people lack clean water all together. In many third world countries such as India and China, people still continue to dump raw sewage into their water systems. This leads to outbreaks of disease such as cholera and dysentery. Up to 80% of health problems in developing countries are caused by water borne disease.

Cholera outbreak in Haiti

Water Conservation
In continents such as Africa, many of the countries are projected to lose most of their water. The country of Yemen is projected to completely run out of water in the next few years. This will lead to a decline in agriculture, a decline in the little money people make, and will contribute to starvation. Dehydration will also follow leading to the deaths of millions.

Role of Women

Women in developing countries are often treated as second class citizens with minimal rights. Women are pushed to perform domestic chores and child rearing, this has lead women to be the biggest delegators of water because they are the ones that must walk many miles to collect water for their families. Unfortunately this water ends up being contaminated and helps facilitate disease spread. Since women generally do not hold down jobs, their income is very poor and this often forces them to use polluted water or receive it from outside sources that are responsible for water loss. Low income also prevents women from investing in technology that could help sanitize and conserve water. Water is a politically charged entity where upper and middle class men (a very tiny percent) often control access to clean water as a means of controlling a city or country. This puts women at an even bigger disadvantage due to their low social standing. Collecting water also reinforces gender stratification by keeping young girls at home instead of school to watch their siblings while their mother goes out collect water. Women that collect water are often gone for hours to perform water fetching tasks, which further takes away time for them to hold down a job.

Role of Women (Cont.)

Women are generally the largest food producers in developing countries and thus need access to a large amount of water for irrigation. However men are the ones that allow access to irrigation water, often water that is unsustainable and when gone uncheck can lead to the depletion of aquifers, ground water and lakes. They are also the ones who control the income from agriculture, while women are the unheard farmers and micromanagers. This leads to a vicious cycle of women depending on men for water, and being unable to have a voice in water conservation laws and practices that could end up creating safe and sustainable water practices.

The Aral Sea Crisis

Located in Central Asia, the Aral Sea is one of the biggest ecological disasters of the century. Fed by two rivers, Amu Darya and Syr Darya, it was the fourth largest saline lake. Many people who lived around the lake subsisted off the income they got from fishing. In the 1960s the Soviet Union used irresponsible irrigation practices that drained the lake to the point that it is practically a desert now. Toxic particles are whipped up from the lake bed by wind and carried over to the few that remain within the communities. Which have been linked to higher infant mortality

Aral Sea Crisis (Cont.)

What is Being Done?

Many organizations such as Karachi Water Partnership (KWP) and Care2 are voicing advocacy for womens rights to water in third world countries. Workshops are held to help educate women on sanitation, conservation and practices on water sustainability. This leads to women having more of a voice in the political arena when it comes to fighting for stronger water protocols and make people aware of their problems they are facing. Allowing women to participate in water conservation practices also creates more equality between men and women as they work together to fix these issues. Women can finally focus on getting jobs and income instead of spending hours focused on collecting water.

Illegal Wildlife Trafficking

Illegal wildlife trafficking is the lucrative business of harvesting plants and animals for bush meat, skin, pets, and traditional medicine. Nearly impossible to track the animal parts or the revenue generated, but it is projected to be in the billions, only second to drugs and weapons. Laws regulating wildlife trade are often weak and poorly enforced. Is responsible for the endangerment of thousands of species such as, elephants, tigers, rhinos, and many bird species. Contributes to deforestation as timber is harvested. Most trafficking occurs in third world nations found in Asia and Africa. It is an unsustainable practice that will eventually lead to the extinction of most species and the loss of precious revenue for people.

Role of Women
Women are the becoming the primary retailers, consumers, wholesalers and even smugglers of wildlife. This is due to few job options for women because they are forced to perform domestic chores and childcare. Sometimes their husbands will do the poaching and she in turn will sell or smuggle the species. Other times women are forced to turn to this crime because they have no money and need income to care for their families. Poachers know this and take advantage of the situation. In cases of smuggling, it can be very profitable in which a single animal can fetch up to thousands of dollars even if most of the animals die in the process. Many of the women understand that its an unsustainable practice but are often silenced by their male counterparts or simply have no choice.

Loss of Biodiversity
Trafficking of wildlife leads to decreases in population and even extinction. Decreases in population mean a lower genetic pool and the likelihood of lifethreatening deformities occurring. Lowered biodiversity also leaves wildlife susceptible to being wiped out by disease, or weather related events. Lowered biodiversity in plants means less shelter, food, and oxygen for animal species. Removing species can have a domino effect on the whole ecosystem causing it to collapse.

Removal of Apex Predators

Removal of apex predators create disruption with in an ecosystem. Case in point: The Removal of the Grey Wolf in America When the wolf was removed as the apex predator, white tailed deer and elk had no other natural enemies and began to over populate. This leads to increased stress and competition between other animals and the plants that are being grazed. Plants such as Yellow Aspen trees could not grow because they were being fed on by elk. This led to less shade and nutrients being generated in streams which then led to decreases in beaver and fish populations. When the wolf was reinstated in Yellowstone, many of these animals returned and the elk and deer population became more regulated. This scenario can be applied to any apex predator such as the tiger or lion, in which the same occurrence could happen in lakes and rivers. Overproduction of algae could also occur, which then dies off and destroys any oxygen found within a lake. This leads to mass die-offs and stagnant, contaminated water that disease carrying mosquitos can breed in.

Disease
Illegal trafficking helps facilitate the spread of disease overseas and open air markets. They can also spread to humans and livestock that people consume. Have the very real possibility of becoming an epidemic. A good example was the SARS outbreak in 2003 that was linked to markets that dealt with illegal animals particularly palm civets. Monkeys and great apes hunted for food are also linked to the Ebola virus and even HIV.

Invasive Species
Organisms can end up escaping into other ecosystems during the smuggling process, or people release them after they have grown tired of them as pets. Removal of plant and animal species can also make it easier for invasives to out compete what ever natives are left, because there are less obstacles to overcome when they try and establish. This further perpetuates loss in biodiversity. This leaves the chance of them becoming invasive and taking over an entire ecosystem, competing with native species. Invasive species can cause structural damage, spread disease, and destroy crops and species that humans consume and use. An example is the Burmese Python that was brought over from Thailand and Vietnam to be used in the pet trade, but then they got too big for their owners who then released them into the wild. Florida now has a problem with the pythons outcompeting other predators and eating everything in sight.

The Nile Perch

Was introduced into Lake Victoria in the 1960s as a game fish. Quickly ate up almost all other fish species found within the lake, causing a decimation of the surrounding villages income and food source. Other companies capitalized on the fishs size and set up factories to harvest and export fish, contributing further to the villages poverty. A disturbing trend soon developed in which the men continued to fish for whatever food they could find and the women were forced to offer sexual services to receive some of the fish from the men. The women would then use the fish as food for their families or they would sell it at markets. However to get to these markets they had to prostitute themselves to the bus drivers to enable guaranteed transportation. This practice has helped spread AIDS throughout the entire community. The introduction of the invasive Nile Perch not only destroyed lakeside villages but also inadvertently created a gender gap.

What is Being Done?

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network is working with women with womens groups in indigenous forests plagued by poaching. They understand that women are an invaluable resource in evaluating changes that happen in the forest as well as listening to their concerns about sustainability. Just like with water resources, officials are giving women a chance to vocalize their opinions on the wildlife trade and empower themselves to make changes that can create a happy medium between conservationists and people who survive on wildlife trade income. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) helps regulate the international wildlife trade to make sure that the species that are permitted to be sold are being taken at a sustainable pace. They also deal in confiscating endangered wildlife. They do have laws that allow certain species that are endangered to be taken, but only in certain numbers and only in very few instances. These guidelines help create a happy medium in which people can still make money selling bush meat without the fear of the animals dying out. This also reduces the chances of men and women getting involved in dangerous situations with the black market.

Through a Third World Lens

Women in developing nations have to contend with preconceived notions of themselves that western feminism has perpetuated. Much of western feminism literature paints third world women as uneducated, traditional, and unwilling to empower themselves. While this has been proven to be beyond false, it makes it harder for third world women to be heard for fear of being ridiculed or ignored. This makes it difficult for women to advocate for rights in their own countries. Westerners also have trouble understanding that environmental issues are not solved by the simple solution of Dont do that! Many political, socio-economic, gender, and cultural factors play a role in issues like distribution of water and wild life trade, with gender being one of the most unheard. People in these countries dont have a choice in the matter when dealing with the environment, if it comes down to sparing a few monkeys or feeding the family that night most sane people are going to choose caring for the family.

Fear of Westernization
Thanks to colonialism, apartheid, slavery and many other social factors instilled on third world nations by the west, most of those nations have a severe distrust of anything considered Western. Many nations, particularly in Africa, are still trying to recover from colonialism. Feminist theory is often considered a western ideal, this makes it very hard for countries primarily run by men to accept the notion of feminism and will reject it out right. Most tend to fear that their women will either become poisoned by feminism and turn on the men, or possibly flee to the west never to be seen again. This leads to even more restrictions on women when feminism is introduced.

Traditional Medicine
Distrust of western medicine is also prevalent in many communities, this pushes the demand for traditional medicine up. Traditional medicine usually encompasses using various plant and animal parts as a means to cure certain ailments. Traditional medicine is one of the biggest drivers of the wildlife trade business. For instance, rhino horns are often ground up and the powder is thought to play a role in cancer. Other people will consume the genitalia from a tiger in the hopes of increasing their sexual prowess. While most scientific studies have proven that most traditional medicine doesnt work, most people have been following these practices for thousands of years and have no intention of stopping now.

Solutions???
Before steps can truly be taken to fix environmental damage in developing nations, there must be a friendly connection made between the west and third world countries. Projects that bring both sides together can help educate and bridge the gap between both genders by giving everyone an equal voice in the matter. Hopefully feminism can then reach in and empower women even more without the angry backlash from fearful nations. With empowerment comes more pushing for legislation that can keep the environment safe and sustainable while also giving women more income and access to safer water and food. The added plus of slowly mixing in western medicine and taking out some of the more destructive traditional medicine cures will also help save wildlife that has no reason to be killed.

Thank You For Watching

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