Indigenous and Overseas Territory Movements

Kanaky Environmental Sovereignty

In New Caledonia, the indigenous Kanak independence movement has long incorporated environmental dimensions. Opposition to nickel mining connects ecological destruction to colonial exploitation. The slogan "Kanaky will be green or will not be" expresses how environmental protection is inseparable from self-determination.

Kanak activists have developed sophisticated strategies combining customary law, international indigenous rights frameworks, and direct action. The 2014 blockade of the Vale nickel plant united environmental and labor demands. Protesters highlighted how mining polluted lagoons, destroyed sacred sites, and provided few benefits to local communities while enriching multinational corporations.

Antillean Struggles Against Pollution

The chlordecone scandal in Guadeloupe and Martinique exemplifies environmental racism in French overseas territories. This pesticide, banned in mainland France in 1990, continued poisoning banana plantations until 1993, contaminating soil and water for generations.

Grassroots movements led by groups like ASSAUPAMAR have demanded justice for affected communities, predominantly descendants of enslaved Africans. They connect contemporary pollution to plantation legacies, showing how colonial agricultural systems continue damaging land and bodies. These movements challenge metropolitan environmentalism to address its colonial blind spots.