Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement: Causes, Consequences, and Socio-Legal Context

The end of interblock rivalry as well as the emergence of the concept of human security during the nineties raised hope for the development of theoretical studies on the causes of internal displacement other than violent armed conflict. Ethnic conflicts in the region of the African Great Lakes and on the Balkan peninsula, however, revealed that the mass displacement caused by escalation of violence is the most important problem from a humanitarian point of view. Research on population displacements caused by natural disasters and long-term environmental changes has nevertheless developed very successfully. It was undertaken inter alia on the basis of public international law, in connection with rising sea levels and the threatened deterritorialization of small archipelagic countries in Oceania, along with border changes to the bigger states. Finally, within the last few years, we have observed one more very important process from the theoretical point of view. I am thinking of the theoretical separation of displacement caused by sudden natural disasters and industrial accidents from that associated with slow-onset environmental processes, including climate change. In many studies of the eighties and nineties these problems were considered together. It is worth noting that the nature of internal displacement caused by long-term environmental processes such as desertification, soil erosion and rising sea levels is significantly different from that of displacement caused by natural disasters. Forced migrations caused by slow-onset environmental changes usually have more planned character and constitute part of the long-term adaptation strategy to the changing environmental conditions. Population displacement associated with natural disasters can be understood as the attempt to sudden remove from the previously inhabited area, associated with an attempt to prevent a strong decline in the fundamental aspects of human security. Disaster-induced displacements are associated with the immediate threat, while development-induced displacement and resettlement can be associated with both decreasing level of human security and administrative compulsion to leave particular territory. The term "disaster-induced displacement" had already appeared in the scientific literature in the mid and late nineties. The real explosion of scientific studies in this area, however, occurred in the aftermath of the major natural disasters of recent years: the earthquake-generated tsunami in South Asia (December 2004), Hurricane Katrina in the US (August 2005), and the tsunami on the coast of Japan and its associated nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima (March 2011). These catastrophes brought home to global public opinion and international institutions the fact that natural disaster may become a cause of forced migrations, both internal and international, on a massive scale, in many parts of the globe. Although more than 90 percent of all people displaced by natural disasters live in the developing countries, the issue of disaster-induced displacement cannot be reduced to developing countries. Natural disasters in recent years have caused the greatest amount of internal displacement worldwide. According to IDMC estimates, natural disasters expelled 42 million people from their homes in 2010, 14,9 million people in 2011, and finally 32,4 million people in 2012. Recent disasters have shown, moreover, that even highly developed countries are not free from the danger of forced migrations caused by sudden natural hazards. Scientific institutions such as the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Brookings Institution have devoted increasing attention to the internal displacement caused by natural disasters. The IDMC statistics, from studies conducted in recent years, are the best source of knowledge about the extent of the problem of disaster-induced displacement worldwide. Taking into account recent scientific studies it seems reasonable to distinguish between population displacements associated with sudden natural natural hazards and industrial accidents (disaster-induced displacement) and those caused by more long-term and slow-onset environmental transformations (environmentally-induced displacement).

The arena of internal population displacement is a country, territory limited by static boundaries. However, taking into account causes, consequences and humanitarian context, the impact of internal displacement significantly exceeds the borders. Internal displacement caused by the tsunami waves and progressive environmental disruptions affecting large territories (such as desertification and drought) can be hardly considered as only an internal phenomenon limited by the state boundaries. Tsunami waves generated by offshore earthquakes are humanitarian threats in a very strong way affecting the level of stability and security of entire nations and continents, which in only a few hours may lead to the displacement of several million inhabitants of coastal regions of South Asia and Africa. Tsunami-generated population displacement within a few hours can lead to a much larger scale of internal displacement and humanitarian threats than internal conflicts lasting decades. Also displacement caused by desertification, prolonged drought, and potential rise in sea level in the future, are more transnational than purely internal phenomena. The long-lasting environmental changes, which are difficult to prevent, may become a cause of forced international migrations. I am thinking not only on transnational survival migrations, observed during the Sahelian Drought in the 1980s, but also on forecasted migrations of archipelagic populations associated with sea level rise and the risk of permanent flooding of large areas of such states[6]. Nowadays, even long-term forecasts of a rise in sea level may become a factor influencing the dynamics of transnational mobility, as in the case of increasing economic migration of Tuvalu citizens. Internal conflicts on ethnic and political backgrounds may lead to increased dynamics of refugee movements to neighboring countries. Recently observed revolutions in the Arab world have shown the risks associated with the export of internal conflict from one country to another. The domino effect of political transformations creates a spiral of internal displacement and international refugee movements affecting whole regions, which is very difficult to stop. Thus, it can be said that political conflicts observed in Tunisia and later in Egypt and Libya have had a creative influence on the recently observed internal displacement and refugee flows from Syria.

Generally speaking, population displacement caused by environmental factors and sudden escalation of violence may become a much more international phenomenon than those caused by the implementation of development projects. The consequence of that fact is treatment of development-caused displacement and resettlement as a strictly internal issue, which nowadays characterizes many international bodies dealing with humanitarian protection and assistance.

Relocations caused by economic development are usually considered as an internal issue, which is little dependent on the international context. Almost all demographic and economic consequences of development projects are limited to the territory of country of its implementation. The autonomy of state authorities to create patterns of economic development means that DIDR is seen primarily as an internal issue. However, we should take into account that in realities of globalization the international economic relations strongly affect the dynamics of development-caused resettlement. Transnational corporations operating in many countries are responsible not only for implementation of development projects but also for standards of associated resettlement. Financing of development projects and export of technologies of its implementation almost always influenced the standards of accompanying resettlement.

We can mention a few examples of development-caused resettlements which resulted in international economic migrations, refugee flows, and even contributed to the unprecedented economic development in third countries. One of the most important date in the contemporary history of Brighton is associated with the construction of the Mangla Dam in Pakistan. More than 100,000 people were involuntarily resettled as a consequence of this project. Part of them after receiving compensation have emigrated to the UK and settled in Brighton, effectively contributing to the change of the image of this city in the following decades[7]. This migration was one of the biggest waves of migration during the 1950s and 1960s, which effects to this date continue to transform the second biggest British located in the industrial heartland of the UK. Development-induced displacement can therefore contribute to economic development and social transformations of territories located thousands of miles away. On the other hand, displacement can also contribute to the growing scale of international refugee flows. The consequences of the creation of Kaptai Dam in Bangladesh (1962) for the Chakma community are the best-known example of international refugee flow caused by dam construction. The vast majority of more than 100,000 displaced Chakma people did not receive any compensation. More than 35,000 of them took refugee in Arunachal Pradesh in India, where their economic problems were not solved[8]. We can list many examples of development projects implemented through bilateral cooperation. The construction of the Itaipú Dam, Yacyretá Dam, Kariba Dam, and the Aswan High Dam are only the most spectacular cases when implementation of development project resulted in mass-scale displacement in two countries.

So how can we characterize the current image of this problem and state of the art in research on internal displacement throughout the world? In recent years, the interest of the scientific community has been focused on virtually all causes of forced displacement, as reflected in the very rapid development of detailed classification of causes of internal displacement. Terms such as "dam-induced displacement" ("hydropower-induced displacement"), "mining-induced displacement", "conservation-induced displacement", and "oil development-induced displacement" have permanently entered into the scientific discourse. Recently conducted research on internal displacement is focused on the following issues: 1. analysis of the causes and consequences of internal displacement, 2. relations between this issue and areas of security, human rights, and development studies, 3. gender and ethnic dimensions of internal displacement, 4. analysis of ways to minimize negative consequences of displacement, together with mechanisms of humanitarian assistance for affected people, 5. integration of displaced persons within host communities and their lives within closed structures such as camps for displaced people (IDP camps), 6. the relations between internal displacement and stability, conflict and post-conflict peacebuilding, 7. analysis of several categories of actors involved in internal displacement, and 8. internal displacement in urban areas. Particularly important and well-developed areas of IDPs discourse include research on the psychological consequences of displacement for individuals affected by this problem, and on the interrelations of conflict, displacement and security.

The dominant classification of internal displacement, but one rarely applied in the scientific literature, distinguishes four root causes of this process. They include conflict-induced displacement, environmentally-induced displacement (associated with slow-onset changes in the environment), disaster-induced displacement and development-induced displacement. Despite its theoretical usefulness as a basis for broad considerations, this classification somehow very rarely appears in the literature. Nor do the recently adopted international documents promoting protection and assistance for IDPs, such as the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement (1998), the Great Lakes Pact (2006) and the Kampala Convention (2009), refer to this classification of the causes of displacement[9]. This omission seems to be a direct consequence of two theoretical problems we may encounter when analyzing internal displacements. The first is the difficulty of precisely determining the meaning of the term "conflict-induced displacement".

According to the most common understanding of the term, conflict-induced displacement refers to people who are forced to leave their habitual place of residence as a result of current escalation of internal violence. Such a narrow understanding of the problem is therefore similar to the overall meaning of the term "internally displaced persons" (IDPs), as encountered in the text of many international instruments. Also, in the ordinary sense of the term, internally displaced people are mainly associated with victims of internal violence who are forced to move to another place. Contrary to general opinion, escalation of internal violence is by no means the largest quantitative cause of internal displacement. It is estimated that the current population of conflict-induced displaced people comprises more than 20 million people worldwide. But the annual growth rate in the number of people forced to leave their places of residence as a result of current internal conflicts amounts to only a few million people. According to IDMC estimations, over 3.5 million people were newly displaced by conflicts in 2011, which is a few times less than even an underrated number of persons temporarily uprooted by natural disasters, or permanently resettled by development projects, within the same period of time. The vast majority of the population of conflict-induced displaced people is thus of longtime character. It can be seen from the figures that the escalation of internal violence is a much slighter cause of displacement than the consequences of economic development (approximately 15 million people displaced by development projects per year).

However, let us remember that the term "conflict-induced displaced people" may also refer to a much broader population than only those individuals forced to leave their homes following internal armed conflicts. The most fundamental cause of displacement is the presence of dynamic conflict among several categories of actors within a static and limited territory. The desire to take control over a certain territory and its resources becomes a cause of conflict which forces its residents to leave their current homes. Each of the already mentioned causes of displacement involves certain antagonisms. The kind most visible and easy to analyze are displacements associated with conflict over resources or antagonisms based on political and ethnic background. In the case of development-induced displacement or conservation-induced displacement, territory becomes an arena of specific conflicts between the interests of the public or private sector and the needs of people displaced or affected by particular development decisions. Development-caused displacement is often associated with conflict over resources which has led to landlessness and consequent problems (joblessness, homelessness, food insecurity, and social disarticulation). Displacement is primarily a phenomenon associated with the loss of land, which is a fundamental point of economic, social and cultural reference. In each of these cases the largest single cost of the conflict is paid by affected individuals and communities, who in many cases are not even the subject of the dispute leading to their displacement.

People forced to leave their place of current residence are not always the active subject of the processes leading to their displacement. The civilian population may be merely a passive observer and victim of internal conflicts which lead to deportation. A similar situation can be observed in the category of displacement caused by development projects. In countries with an authoritarian form of government, such decisions rarely take into account the interests of the people living in the project's immediate vicinity. Due to their limited political participation, lack of social consultation prior to investment, and legal discrimination, they are rarely involved in decisions affecting their future. A limited degree of autonomy also characterizes people displaced or forced to evacuate in the aftermath of natural disasters or more permanent environmental processes. Usually, they leave their homes as a result of the strong influence of environmental hazards, or are forced to evacuate as part of an organized action carried out by the local authority.

Natural disasters are currently the cause of internal displacement on the largest scale worldwide. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) report, natural disasters led to at least temporary displacement of over 42 million people in 2010 and 14.9 million in the following year. These displacements are mostly related to weather events such as floods and storms. As of 2011, 89% of the displacements occurred in Asia. In 2012 98 % of all disaster-induced displacement was related to climate and weather-related events[10]. However, let us remember that the majority of these were short-term evacuations, which do not have far-reaching social consequences. At the same time we are observing natural disasters inducing long-term displacement to areas far from the original place of residence. The particularly high potential for long-term damage is characteristically found in natural disasters, such as tsunamis and atmospheric events, affecting densely populated Asian countries. We are still noticing a lack of accurate statistics on long-term displacement caused by natural disasters.

Another significant cause of involuntary internal mobility is displacement or forced migration associated with slow-onset environmental changes. Migrations over the centuries are primarily a history of human emancipation from the dictates of the forces of nature along with the increasing adaptation of biological and social skills to make possible the colonization of hostile areas. Long-term changes in the environment have been the most important reasons for human mobility throughout history. Biological evolution, accompanied by the development of tool production and hunting techniques and the formation of proto-language, were the root conditions which allowed the early Homo species to undertake distant migrations. The earliest displacements were strongly affected by progressive environmental changes and declining resources. When resources shrank below the minimal level required for existence, the only solution was to relocate elsewhere.

Among progressive environmental problems leading to forced migration we can mention land degradation, desertification, progressive temperature increase in the area, and the possibility of rising sea levels in future. In my view it is necessary to clearly distinguish displacements caused by slow-onset environmental changes (including climate change) from those associated with sudden natural disasters, which usually present greater threats to security and more visible humanitarian problems. There are several factors underlying the distinction. The displacement caused by natural disasters is characterized by spontaneous or organized flight from the place of current residence without specific plans for the future. The key goal of people displaced and evacuated following natural disasters is immediate departure from the area of strong human security risks. After the natural disaster has run its course, people affected by it very often return to their homes or former immediate environment. Only natural disasters involving massive devastation throughout the territory or chemical contamination of a large area lead to more irreversible displacement. The aim of displacement or migration caused by long-term environmental change is relinquishment of current residence in order to maximize the level of human security, which had been reduced by the consequences of those changes. Each of the categories of displacement reviewed here, therefore, has a different motivation. Mobility caused by long-term environmental change often takes the form of a planned compulsory migration, rather than spontaneous displacement or evacuation carried out by the state authorities. Migrations caused by slow-onset environmental change are strongly linked to and coexist with other categories of human mobility, such as economic migrations and all categories of internal displacement. Changing environmental conditions can significantly undermine the economic basis of existence. In many cases of migration observed in developing countries, economic and environmental motives of migrants are very difficult to separate. Long-term environmental changes often reduce the amount of vital resources (water, agricultural land) in the particular territory. Declining resources and conflicts over their acquisition very often lead to population displacement. Slow-onset environmental change is therefore a very important cause of displacement in several regions of the globe. I am thinking both of migrations directly resulting from the negative effects of environmental changes in a particular territory, and of displacement caused by earlier conflicts over resources.

Progressive climate change is an obvious source of many natural hazards which create the dynamics of disaster-induced displacement. Further relationships, which are difficult to delimit precisely, may combine economic development with displacement caused by long-term environmental change. A usual consequence of development projects is progressive land degradation in their vicinity. Creation of large dams significantly affects the landscape, ecology, and animal populations. We know of examples of the construction of a dam leading to water pollution along the river's entire course and thus to deterioration in the economic situation of local residents. Environmental problems are a common consequence of exploitation of mineral resources, in particular through the creation of large open-cast mines. The environmental costs of development projects therefore lead to a significant decline in the living conditions of many communities and the subsequent de facto forced migration from rural to urban areas. In many cases, precise identification of the motives guiding migrants turns out to be impossible. Particularly strong interconnection of the various causes of internal displacement is observed in failed states, those ruled in a totalitarian or authoritarian manner, and those strongly affected by ethnic antagonisms. Let us mention here at least some of the difficulties in the delimitation of individual causes of internal displacement in Sudan. The totalitarian or authoritarian governance model significantly affects the increasing dynamism of internal displacement. Displacements in countries ruled in an undemocratic manner may be associated with the following, at a minimum: 1. harassment of and discrimination against powerless communities, 2. compulsory implementation of population redistribution schemes such as the Transmigrasi in Indonesia and the politics of villagization in many African countries, 3. implementation of mega-projects leading to mass displacement and a drastic deterioration in the living conditions of the local community.

The subject of this book and the dominant problem addressed by the following analyses is internal displacement and resettlement caused by the consequences of economic development. It is estimated that this problem may directly affect over 15 million people each year. When we take into account that much disaster-induced displacement consists of long-term and reversible evacuations, the problem of development-induced displacement emerges as perhaps the world's largest statistical category of internal displacement.

Within historical analysis, development-induced displacement and conservation-induced displacement are the "youngest" categories of forced migration. The massive scale of these processes has been observed only from the late forties of the last century. For most of human history, the root causes of forced migrations were natural disasters and long-term negative environmental processes, or population growth and the consequent decrease in the amount of resources. The Neolithic revolution and the associated development of social organization played a major role in the greater diversity of the causes of displacement worldwide. The growing population and associated demographic pressure caused additional voluntary migrations in pursuit of new resources and better living conditions. New forms of settlement, such as the establishment of towns near large rivers, together with the development of agriculture, gradually freed people from the dictates of the forces of nature. Ancient times saw the beginning of resettlement motivated by political factors. We can at least mention here the deportation of the Israelites (the so-called Babylonian captivity). The vast majority of conflicts in the ancient Middle East were indeed associated with environmentally-caused migratory pressure and the struggle for resources (water, agricultural land). In contrast to these processes, displacement associated with economic development is a very young phenomenon.