Lesotho and Honduras (but mostly Lesotho)

The small country of Lesotho is a little heard of state completely surrounded by South Africa. I could tell you that it is a completely isolated, insular country that relies almost completely on subsistence agriculture for survival. The country unfortunately suffers from a lack of natural resources, and this is viewed as the primary source of its citizenry's poverty. And all of this would be false. Instead of agriculture, a majority of the household income is from wage labor in South Africa, which revolves around mining in its neighbor. The lack of natural resources comes from the theft of good Basotho (the people of Lesotho) land by colonial Europeans. The so called "isolation" it suffers has not been true since the mid-1800s at least. All of these aspects serve to add a layer of complexity to Lesotho's issues, and highlight the interconnectedness of the world I talked about last week.
Despite these truths, the false statements mentioned above are what several countries and NGOs used to decide to give developmental aid to Lesotho. In the process, they decided to view the Lesotho government as merely an effective and competent tool to advance the country's development. No thought was given to any political agendas that may be possessed by the national government. Long story short, the failure to understand the true nature of Lesotho's challenges and take into account governmental goals resulted only in an increase in governmental control in an isolated district of the country, something not appreciated by the local populace.
The challenges developers in Lesotho had to overcome had no easy solution from apolitical ecology. The environment didn't change, land resources were being used relatively effectively. Nonetheless, the project was still a failure. From a political ecology viewpoint, more influential changes could be made. Since the majority of income comes from wage laborers in a different country, ways to increase average income would require an agreement of some sorts between both countries, not an easy feat in general, and something made more complex by the fact that mining concerns have very different interests than the agricultural ones the planners were there for, not to mention that mining doesn't look as good for environmental sustainability as farming does. Furthermore, in Honduras the expansion of the cotton and cattle industry resulted in an increase in income disparity in its southern region. While this can be viewed apolitically as economic development, in reality it hurts marginal groups, pushing them even farther to the periphery of society. When the people that are trying to be helped, either in economic or environmental development, end up worst for wear, then something needs be changed. The inclusions that political ecology allows for is essential in the Anthropocene, and should be added to the arsenal of changes needed if we want to protect our planet.