3rd World Congress of Environmental History

Socio-environmental consecuentes of the belt and road initiative

• In Event: Resistances from Local Ecological Knowledge from the Global South. Experiences from America, Asia and the Middle East

Abstract

The Belt and Road —OBOR, presented by the Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2013— Initiative purpose is to economically —and, in consequence— politically connect Europe, África, the Middle East, Central and South-East Asia within Chinese development model, resurrecting the ancient Silk Roads routes, and building new ones —as the maritime Silk Road—. The project affects 60 countries, which GDP is estimated to increase, as well as infrastructures created, and cultural exchanges promoted.
Of course, the development plan proposed by the Chinese government hides socio-environmental consequences on the territories and the populations touched by the OBOR, not just farther from China borders, but within them, too. The aim of this study is to analyze how the OBOR affects the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region —XUAR—, its indigenous population, and how their cultural, religious, territorial and economic identity are shaped and repressed by the Chinese nation state in order to fit in the official narratives about the OBOR beneficial objectives, as well as the conflicts generated by the governmental appropriation of their natural and human resources. 

Author

• Chiara Olivieri, Universidad de Granada