The Footprint of Colonialism: Attributing biodiversity loss and GHG emissions from colonial land change processes

What are the environmental legacies of colonialism?
Despite independence, the global development divide between post-colonial countries and their former colonial rulers still resembles colonial-era power imbalances. This persistent inequality is evident environmentally, where past exploitative resource management continues to shape ecological conditions across the Global South. The concept of a "colonial environmental footprint" is proposed to measure the cumulative environmental impact resulting from these colonial land legacies.

The ultimate goal is to determine whether colonialism produced lasting ecological and economic effects in post-colonial countries. The research aims to analyse colonial commodities as drivers of land change, noting how the production and distribution of these goods fueled colonial economies while transforming landscapes through deforestation, monoculture plantations, soil degradation, biodiversity loss and the creation of carbon sources.

Quantifying the environmental impact of colonialism
The PhD research focus is on quantifying a "colonial environmental footprint" by examining how European colonialism altered landscapes through the extraction of resources in former colonies. This will be achieved by combining historical data from multiple sources to track the environmental changes introduced by colonialism. This primarily includes records from colonial institutions like the Dutch VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) and British East India Company alongside the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) for land change and population reconstructions. The methodology enables the tracking of colonial commodity flows and land change practices while facilitating comparisons between colonial and post-colonial footprints.

Stepping forward
By using footprint analysis, this research intends to advance the understanding of how colonialism has left a lasting imprint on the environment. It supports the idea of linking past colonial activities to present-day environmental justice initiatives - possibly providing scientific evidence that could inform compensation discussions for past ecological losses in post-colonial countries.

Sri Lanka will be the focus of the first case study. Located in the Indian Ocean, the island has experienced three waves of European colonisation since the 16th century by the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, then the British before finally securing independence in 1948. The first knowledge gap to fill is reconstructing land use practices during this period from historical archives.