CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE

The document defines 'ecological debt' as the cumulative responsibility of industrialised countries for environmental destruction caused by their production and consumption patterns. It argues that the Global North has exceeded its 'environmental space' through looting, damaging natural environments, overusing greenhouse gas sinks, dumping toxic waste, and biopiracy. To address this, the text advocates for a 'popular education' approach—rooted in the work of Paulo Freire—to build solidarity between Scottish communities facing environmental injustice and those in the Global South. The handbook includes local Scottish examples of debt repayment (such as the Jubilee Scotland and Slow Food movements) and international case studies illustrating ecological debt in banana production, hydroelectric projects in Uganda, industrial agriculture in India, mining in Canada, and oil extraction in Ecuador. It concludes with a toolbox of interactive games designed to facilitate workshops on resource consumption and global inequality.

• Ecological debt is defined as the "cumulative responsibility of industrialised countries for the destruction caused by their production and consumption patterns".
• The Global North accrues ecological debt through five primary mechanisms: looting natural resources without payment, damaging environments during the production of goods for the North, overusing the earth's capacity to absorb greenhouse gases, shipping toxic waste to the South, and biopiracy of traditional knowledge for pharmaceuticals.
• The document argues that a sustainable future requires nations to live within their 'environmental space', but the North has exceeded this for centuries, creating a debt that must be recognised and repaid to allow the South to build sustainable economies.
• Repayment of ecological debt is not suggested as a simple financial transaction, as this would not counter the underlying processes of exploitation; instead, proposed methods include the cancellation of the South's financial debts and legal action against damaging companies.
• The project employs 'popular education', a methodology based on Paulo Freire's work, which uses a process of action and reflection to liberate students and build solidarity between communities of struggle in Scotland and abroad.
• Conventional banana production in the tropical Americas, Caribbean, and West Africa creates significant ecological debt through the destruction of primary tropical rainforests, the use of over 400 different agrochemicals, and the generation of massive amounts of plastic and chemical waste.
• The Bujagali hydroelectric plant in Uganda is cited as a project that accumulates ecological debt by displacing 820 people, destroying valuable forest and wetland habitats, and increasing Uganda's external financial debt.
• In Andhra Pradesh, India, the 'Vision 2020' programme promotes intensive, export-oriented agriculture and genetic engineering, which the document claims leads to soil salinization, a freshwater crisis, and the displacement of millions of small-scale farmers.
• Mining in Northern Canada, specifically affecting the Cree people, has resulted in the destruction of burial grounds, pollution of lakes and rivers with heavy metals like mercury, and the displacement of indigenous communities from their traditional territories.
• In Ecuador, the Cofan and Secoya Indians sued Texaco for $800 million, alleging the company destroyed over one million hectares of tropical forest and dumped 18 million litres of toxic waste.

APA

Kelso, J., Scandrett, E., & Lagden, S. (2003). CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HB_ecodebt.pdf

Chicago

Kelso, Judy, Eurig Scandrett, and Sarah Lagden. CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE. Friends of the Earth International, 2003. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HB_ecodebt.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kelso |first1=Judy |last2=Scandrett |first2=Eurig |last3=Lagden |first3=Sarah |title=CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=September 2003 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HB_ecodebt.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kelso2003credit, author = {Kelso, Judy and Scandrett, Eurig and Lagden, Sarah}, title = {{CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2003}, month = sep, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HB_ecodebt.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }