4 ms·

Namibia, China signs pact for its biggest solar plant

7 points by Capstanlqc 2y ago

ciconia 2y ago
https://archive.ph/xoSy8 https://archive.ph/xoSy8
defrost 2y ago
This will almost certainly include traditional lands seized or acquired by "paperwork theft" from multi generational family ownership (with no deeds in the western sense). That and land "acquired" by colonial settlement during the past century by equally dubious means. eg: https://africasacountry.com/2018/12/the-battles-over-land-in-namibia https://africasacountry.com/2018/12/the-battles-over-land-in... and: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/namibian-communities-demand-return-land-dispute-over-german-genocide-legacy-2024-03-07/ https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/namibian-communities-de... Fighting the good fight on behalf of benevolant Chinese overlords will no doubt be USofA PMC's (private military contractors) such as Betsy DeVos's brother Erik Prince's Frontier Services Group (or however he's burying his ownerships and interests these days). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Services_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Services_Group I have no position here other than recognising that such shady machinations are commonplace and under the carpet in 21st century neo colonialism.
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  How would you solve this potential equity issue for the 800 acres in question? (utility scale solar usually requires 5-7 acres per MW, but I am erring on the high side; 8 acres * 100MW)
  - defrost 2y ago
    It's not something I'm required to solve. Local activists in Africa have a low success rate but do have some wins, in advance of such projects happening they can alert communities to join together and resist individuals being forced from land their families have held for many generations, work to get judges that haven't been bought off to have oversight in various districts being targetted, etc. There's about 20 minutes of coverage of the land issues in The Grab (2022) IIRC https://revealnews.org/the-grab/ https://revealnews.org/the-grab/ On a greater scale a team would be needed to track outside owned projects being launched in a region and invest in community education and activism in order to counter the opposing teams being funded to faux-legally grift land away and the enforcers being bought in (or locals paid) to strong arm evictions, etc.
    - toomuchtodo 2y ago
      Even if unsolvable, I appreciate the context provided. The More You Know.

7 points by Capstanlqc 2y ago

https://archive.ph/xoSy8 https://archive.ph/xoSy8

This will almost certainly include traditional lands seized or acquired by "paperwork theft" from multi generational family ownership (with no deeds in the western sense). That and land "acquired" by colonial settlement during the past century by equally dubious means. eg: https://africasacountry.com/2018/12/the-battles-over-land-in-namibia https://africasacountry.com/2018/12/the-battles-over-land-in... and: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/namibian-communities-demand-return-land-dispute-over-german-genocide-legacy-2024-03-07/ https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/namibian-communities-de... Fighting the good fight on behalf of benevolant Chinese overlords will no doubt be USofA PMC's (private military contractors) such as Betsy DeVos's brother Erik Prince's Frontier Services Group (or however he's burying his ownerships and interests these days). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Services_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Services_Group I have no position here other than recognising that such shady machinations are commonplace and under the carpet in 21st century neo colonialism.

toomuchtodo 2y ago
How would you solve this potential equity issue for the 800 acres in question? (utility scale solar usually requires 5-7 acres per MW, but I am erring on the high side; 8 acres * 100MW)
- defrost 2y ago
  It's not something I'm required to solve. Local activists in Africa have a low success rate but do have some wins, in advance of such projects happening they can alert communities to join together and resist individuals being forced from land their families have held for many generations, work to get judges that haven't been bought off to have oversight in various districts being targetted, etc. There's about 20 minutes of coverage of the land issues in The Grab (2022) IIRC https://revealnews.org/the-grab/ https://revealnews.org/the-grab/ On a greater scale a team would be needed to track outside owned projects being launched in a region and invest in community education and activism in order to counter the opposing teams being funded to faux-legally grift land away and the enforcers being bought in (or locals paid) to strong arm evictions, etc.
  - toomuchtodo 2y ago
    Even if unsolvable, I appreciate the context provided. The More You Know.