One of the primary concerns in environmental issues is how wealth, resources and energy must be distributed in a community. We can think of the global and regional community issues, national, family and individual concerns. While economic disparities remain a fact of life, we as citizens of community must appreciate that a widening gap between the rich and poor, between men and women, or between the present and future generations must be manipulated if social justice is to be achieved.
Rights to land, water, food and housing are all a part of the environment that we all share. However, while some live unsustainable lifestyles with high consumption patterns; many others live well below the poverty line. Even in a developing country such as ours, there are enormous economic inequalities. This requires an ethic in which an equitable distribution becomes a part of everyone’s thinking.
The right to the use of natural resources that the environment holds is an essential component of human rights. It is related to disparities in the amount of resources available to different sectors of society. People who live in wilderness communities are referred to as ‘ecosystem people’. They collect food, fuel wood, and NTFP’s catch fish in aquatic ecosystems, or hunt for food in forests and grasslands.
When land use patterns change from natural ecosystems to more intensively used farmland and pastureland the rights of these indigenous people are usually sacrificed. Take the case of the subsidies given to the pulp and paper industry for bamboo, which makes it several times cheaper for the industry than for a rural individual who uses it to build his home.
There are serious conflicts between the rights of rural communities for even basic resources, such as water, and the industrial sector that requires large amounts of water for sustaining its productivity. The right to land or common property resources of tribal people is infringed upon by large development projects such as dams and mining. Movements to protect the rights of indigenous peoples are growing worldwide.
