A/77/549 21. In South Asia, Indigenous peoples and those subject to caste-based discrimination face environmental devastation from development projects over which they have limited free, prior and informed consent. In Indonesia, the legacy of colonial-era racist urban planning, combined with excessive ground water extraction and pro-capital adaptive responses, subjects low-income residents of Kampungs in Jakarta to flooding and to the threat of forced displacement. 39 Throughout South-East Asia, rampant industrial activity has transferred the harms of environmental degradation and toxic waste from industrial hotspots in the global North to non-white communities in the global South. 40 22. A number of submissions highlighted the prevalence of racial sacrifice zones in the United States. 41 For example, “Cancer Alley” is a petrochemical corridor along the Mississippi River, where 150 petrochemical facilities operate. With a predominantly African American population, it is a region with the highest rates of multiple forms of cancers in the United States. Racist legacies loom large over Cancer Alley. It was originally called Plantation Country, a place where enslaved Africans were forced to labour. New facilities like the “Sunshine Project” stretch over at least four ancestral burial grounds and are concentrated in the Fifth District, whose residents are 86.3 per cent African American. The land use plan for the District has been changed from “residential” to “residential/future industrial” without notice, allowing for one of the largest plastics facilities to be approved. By contrast, chemical companies are barred from constructing new facilities in the Third District, whose residents are 78.4 per cent white. 42 23. A 1987 study revealed a nationwide pattern, with racially marginalized communities in the United States five times more likely than white communities to live near toxic waste. 43 As noted in a submission, these disparities cannot be explained solely on the basis of income inequality: an in-depth study in 2008 found that Black people in the United States with an annual household income o f $50,000 to $60,000 live in neighbourhoods subject to greater pollution than the average white people with household incomes under 10,000 dollars. 44 24. In one submission it was reported that, in Canada, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation is surrounded by Sarnia, Ontario’s so-called “Chemical Valley”. Residents experience low air quality and high rates of negative health outcomes, such as miscarriages, childhood asthma and cancer. 45 25. Throughout Europe, Roma communities are forced to live n ear hazardous waste sites or in areas that are prone to climate change-related disasters, often to make way for industrial development or tourism. At the same time, Irish Travellers often lack access to culturally specific accommodation and are denied reli able access to water, __________________ 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 8/24 Michelle Kooy and Karen Bakker, “Splintered networks: the colonial and contemporary waters of Jakarta”, Geoforum, vol. 39, No. 6 (November 2008); Jeroen Frank Warner and Hanne Wiegel, “Displacement induced by climate change adaptation: the case of ‘climate buffer’ infrastructure”, Sustainability, vol. 13, No. 16 (August 2021); and Kian Goh, “Urban waterscapes: the hydro politics of flooding in a sinking city”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 43, No. 2 (March 2019). Benedetta Cotta, “What goes around, comes around? Access and allocation problems in Global North-South waste trade”, International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, vol. 20 (2020). Submissions from Ms. Shirley and Heinrich Böll Foundation. See submission from Human Rights Advocacy Project; and communication No. JAL USA 33/2020. United Church of Christ, “Toxic wastes and race in the United States: a national report on the racial and socio-economic characteristics of communities with hazardous waste sites”, 1987. Liam Downey and Brian Hawkins, “Race, income, and environmental inequality in the Unite d States”, Sociological Perspectives, vol. 51, No. 4 (December 2008). See submission from Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights; and A/HRC/49/53. 22-24043