Living beyond the Pale: Environmental Justice and the Roma Minority

Contents

Contents List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ixi List of Tables xii List of Figures xiii Acknowledgements xv Introduction 1 CHAPTER ONE Environment, Poverty and the Roma 5 Points of Departure 8 Setting of the Story 14 PART I CHAPTER TWO Environmental Justice and Entitlements 19 Distribution and Procedures 20 What Can We Learn from the Justice Struggles? 25 Central and Eastern Europe 34 Entitlements: Resources and Control 38 CHAPTER THREE The Roma of Slovakia 45 The Past and the Present 48 New Regime and Old Tricks 51 Villages and Shantytowns 58 Situation and Trends 61 PART II CHAPTER FOUR Rudňany: A Tale of the Old Liabilities 69 The Village and the People 71 The Roma in Rudňany 76 A Story of Contaminated Land 78 vi Contents Roma Coping Strategies 82 Entitlements and Resources 84 People and the Power 89 Roma and the Environment 93 Environmental Injustice 96 CHAPTER FIVE The Svinka River: People, Water and the Environment 99 People, Housing and Segregation 102 Hermanovce 107 Jarovnice 109 Svinia 111 A Tale of Water 114 Floods 120 Environment and Coping Strategies 125 Land, Entitlements and Environmental Justice 128 CHAPTER SIX A Regional Snapshot Overview 131 Exposure to Toxic and Waste 133 Access to Water and Sanitation 136 Exposure to Flood 137 The Land: Access and Entitlements 139 Risks and the People 146 PART III CHAPTER SEVEN Patterns of Environmental (In)justice 151 Pattern 1: Exposure to Hazardous Waste and Chemicals 153 Pattern 2: Vulnerability to Floods 154 Pattern 3: Differentiated Access to Potable Water 157 Pattern 4: Discriminatory Waste Management Practice 159 The Patterns and the Impacts 160 CHAPTER EIGHT Roma? Not in My Backyard 165 Economic Interests 168 Spatial Distance and “Not in My Backyard” Syndrome 170 Changes in Local Economy 172 “Beyond the Pale” Construction 174 Symbolic, Cultural, and Social Capital 176 Competition and Conflicts 178 CHAPTER NINE Trends and Reverting the Trends 183 Doom Scenario: From Competition to Conflict 184 Contents vii Optimistic Scenario: From Competition to Cooperation 187 Short-term Measures: The Key Challenge of Housing 188 Long-term Opportunities: What is Environmental is Also Economic and Social 192 Green Employment 199 From Entitlements and Involvement into Development 204 Planning, Struggling, and Stakeholders 209 Living beyond the Pale? Challenges and Conclusions 212 Annex. Shifts in Approaches 219 References 223 Index 233 ...