Neoliberal Conservation Research Papers

Extractive capitalism has long been the driving force of settler colonialism in Canada, and continues to threaten the sovereignty, lands and waters of Indigenous nations across the country. While ostensibly counterposed to extractivism,... more

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- by Faisal Moola
- •
- 15
  Conservation, Political Ecology, Indigenous Peoples, Protected areas

Part of a broader interest in the escalating securitization of conservation practice, scholars are beginning to take note of an emerging relationship between conservation–securitization, capital accumulation, and dispossession. We develop... more

Plenary address, given with Mike Hannis, at the workshop 'Ecological accounts: Making non-human worlds (in)visible during moments of socio-ecological transformation', University of St Andrews.

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- by Sian Sullivan and +1
  Mike Hannis
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- 5
  Environmental Accounting, Anthropology Of Nature, REDD+, Natural Capital

A PARADOX ... When I reflect on CBNRM in southern Africa, I find myself caught between two views or positions. I genuinely do not know what to make of the paradox that thereby arises. On the one hand, I am full of admiration for how the... more

RESUMO: O presente estudo examina transformações relativas à emergência da política de manejo integrado do fogo na conservação ambiental brasileira, refletindo sobre os domínios do técnico, do vital e do político desde uma abordagem... more

RESUMO: O presente estudo examina transformações relativas à emergência da política de manejo integrado do fogo na conservação ambiental brasileira, refletindo sobre os domínios do técnico, do vital e do político desde uma abordagem antropológica. A etnografia enfoca uma das Unidades de Conservação do bioma Cerrado que serviu de experiência piloto desta política de conservação. Mais especificamente, a Estação Ecológica Serra Geral do Tocantins, localizada na região do Jalapão (TO), que abarca uma grande porção da paisagem centro-brasileira chamada de gerais. Lá, gestores ambientais convivem com comunidades quilombolas cujas atividades de caça, coleta do capim-dourado (Syngonanthus nitens) e criação de gado no regime de solta são exercidas através de variadas práticas de queima. O estudo se baseia em incursões etnográficas e engajamentos audiovisuais junto a quatro modos de relação com o fogo, quais sejam: habitar, combater, prevenir e manejar. Demonstra-se em detalhe como o nascimento do manejo do fogo repercute em transformações tanto nos modos de ação sobre o fenômeno quanto junto às formas de vida humanas e não humanas que dependem das áreas queimadas. Analisadas desde a antropologia da técnica, em suas interfaces com a antropologia da vida e a tradição de estudos biopolíticos, estas transformações são qualificadas não apenas como políticas, mas também, ou primordialmente, como técnicas. Isso porque elas modulam ritmos e processos vitais, conformando paisagens e promovendo certas formas de vida. Além de fornecer uma teoria etnográfica dos fogos gerais e suas transformações, este estudo também baliza caminhos metodológicos para o exame da tecnicidade das políticas de conservação ambiental.

ABSTRACT: The present study deals with transformations related to the emergence of the integrated fire management policy in Brazilian environmental conservation, reflecting on the domains of the technical, the vital and the political from an anthropological approach. The ethnography focuses on one of the Natural Parks of the Cerrado biome that served as a pilot experience of this conservation policy. More specifically, the Estação Ecológica Serra Geral do Tocantins, located in the Jalapão region (TO), which encompasses a large portion of the central Brazilian landscape called the gerais. There, environmental managers live with Quilombolas communities whose activities of hunting, gathering of goldengrass (Syngonanthus nitens) and cattle breeding in the extensive regime called solta are exercised through various burning practices. The study is based on ethnographic incursions and audiovisual engagements together with four modes of relation with fire: dwelling, fighting, preventing and managing. It is demonstrated in detail how the birth of fire management has repercussions on both the modes of action on the phenomenon and on the human and non-human forms of life that depend on the burned areas. Analyzed from the anthropology of technique, in its interfaces with the anthropology of life and the tradition of biopolitical studies, these transformations are qualified not only as political, but also, or primarily, as technical. This is so because they modulate rhythms and vital processes, shaping landscapes and promoting certain life forms. In addition to providing an ethnographic theory of gerais fires and their transformations, this study also outlines methodological ways to examine the technicity of environmental conservation policies

'People differ not only in their culture but also in their nature, or rather, in the way they construct relations between humans and non-humans.' (Latour 2009: 2) LOSS We hear a lot these days about loss. In April 2009, the... more

The contemporary moment of global crisis in both ecological and economic spheres is also the moment wherein ‘nature’ is being consolidated as ‘natural capital’. Through this, key interlocking elements are systematically joining the... more

The contemporary moment of global crisis in both ecological and economic spheres is also the moment wherein ‘nature’ is being consolidated as ‘natural capital’. Through this, key interlocking elements are systematically joining the previously rather distinct domains of economics, business and finance with ecology, environmentalism and conservation. The emerging ‘green economy’ assemblage of discourses, actors, institutions and calculative technologies underpins the creation of markets for ecosystem services, including carbon, and is critical in constituting the logic of REDD+ and associated financing. Following approaches in economic sociology that emphasise performative elements in creating what becomes treated as economic, and with particular reference to some proposed financing mechanisms for REDD+ and to strategies for materialising environmental risk, this paper delineates four key shifts enabling external nonhuman natures to become legible and leverage-able as ‘natural capital’. These are: 1. a discursive shift, through which both conservation practice and understandings of nonhuman natures are reframed in economic and financial terms (amongst which ‘natural capital’ and ‘ecosystem services’ are paramount); 2. an institutional shift, in which networks and alliances are becoming constituted as an interlinked assemblage organised around making the core metaphor of nature as natural capital into the materialised reality of accounted for natural capital; 3. a calculative and accounting shift, through which relatively untransformed and restored natures are becoming technically inscribed through numerical signifiers of capital, such that these can be added to and offset against other forms of (ac)counted capital; and 4. a material shift, through which businesses and financiers are turning to accounted for conserved nonhuman nature as ‘natural capital’ assets that can be leveraged as the underlying asset on which financial investment is secured. In the concluding section I draw on selected works by theorists Bruno Latour, Mary Midgley, Michel Foucault and Paul Feyerabend to aid interpretation of these shifts and their world-making characteristics. In doing so, my aim is to enhance understanding regarding the structuring effects of these interventions and the occlusions they may necessitate.

La crisis económica y las políticas de austeridad de la última década han transformado la gestión del patrimonio natural. Mientras las administraciones públicas han aplicado recortes presupuestarios y de personal que limitan su acción,... more

This article explores the surprising closeness and apparent warmth of the relations between biodiversity conservation organisations and corporations. It argues that in this paradoxical engagement, conservationists are exhibiting an... more

'Who gives a chicken’s fart about the Garden of Eden and rural tranquillity and improbable things like that? No one thinks about that stuff any more. No one believes in it. All we care about is the next pay packet, the next meal, the next... more

'Who gives a chicken’s fart about the Garden of Eden and rural tranquillity and improbable things like that? No one thinks about that stuff any more. No one believes in it. All we care about is the next pay packet, the next meal, the next gratification, the next party, the next football match, the next sensation.' (Okri 2002: 7-8)

TRANSFORMATION
In 1944, as the Nazi Reich was drawing its final breaths, the economic historian Karl Polanyi wrote in The Great Transformation (2001[1944]: 187) that ‘[w]hat we call land is an element of nature inextricably interwoven with man’s [sic] institutions. To isolate it and form a market for it was perhaps the weirdest of all the undertakings of our ancestors’. He continued by noting that:
'... in the field of modern colonization ... the true significance of such
a venture becomes manifest. Whether the colonist needs land as a site
for the sake of the wealth buried in it, or whether he merely wishes to
constrain the native to produce a surplus of food and raw materials, is
often irrelevant; nor does it make much difference whether the native
works under the direct supervision of the colonist or only under some form of indirect compulsion, for in every and any case the social and cultural system of native life must first be shattered' (ibid.: 187-188).

In the same year, the free market economist Friedrich von Hayek published The Road to Serfdom (2007[1944]). This seminal work fixes the intellectual argument for a global self-regulating market economy, claiming that this is the only form of political economy that will avoid the serfdom and totalitarianism Hayek saw as flowing inevitably from any planned collectivist or centrally regulated productive system. The road instead was to be open for a capitalist trade of commodities, goods and services extending into all domains of the earth and directed by market prices, enfolded in a monetary system controlled by haute finance - an international banking coalition whose financial freedom was ensured through the release of money’s value from the material constraint of the gold standard. ...

A B S T R A C T After independence, and in accordance with global environmental policies, the government of Namibia partly transferred the responsibility for managing wildlife and water to local communities. In this article, we use the... more

This paper explores the collaboration of humans and elephants in South Indian wildlife conservation. Drawing on ethnography within the Indian forest department and among elephant handlers in Wayanad, Kerala, it highlights the largely... more

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- by Ursula Muenster
- •
- 23
  Anthropology, Conservation, Political Ecology, Environmental History

As argued recently in Forum for Development Studies, a ‘back to the barriers’ approach to biodiversity conservation is again prevalent, after some two decades of emphasis on ‘community-based’ initiatives. This involves the establishment... more

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- by Sian Sullivan
- •
- 12
  Tourism Studies, Globalization, Values, Environmental Anthropology

Current market logics in environmental governance for conservation and sustainability tend to disaggregate nonhuman natures into discrete units to which monetary value can attach, such that these new units may be released into markets of... more

When nature is viewed in monetary terms, is it the nature that is valued, or the money? And what implications does this have for ecosystems and equity, given a financialised economy that rewards money products and their brokers,... more

When nature is viewed in monetary terms, is it the nature that is valued, or the money? And what implications does this have for ecosystems and equity, given a financialised economy that rewards money products and their brokers, and that tends towards speculative and volatile dynamics?
The current biodiversity crisis is giving rise to calls for a massive mobilisation of financial resources to conserve remaining biodiversity, and to reduce the drivers of biodiversity loss. The possibility for ‘innovative mechanisms’ to assist with resource mobilisation needs is included in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity in 2011-2020 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This has generated a fizz of interest around what might constitute ‘innovative financing mechanisms’ for biodiversity. At the same time, much attention is directed to questions of how much nature is worth, and of how this worth might be signalled through prices that move decision-making in directions that are more environmentally benign. The recent EU and UN programme on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) gives added impetus to the incorporation of monetised ecological values into national and corporate decision-making and accounting practices, and is welcomed as such in the CBD’s current Strategic Plan.
This Briefing Paper traces the steps required for the incorporation of ecological health and harm into market-based and financialised mechanisms for biodiversity conservation. It presents a range of current and proposed examples in which nature as ‘natural capital’ is being leveraged as a money-bearing asset so as to generate a context in which nature appears to be saved through its trade in diverse ways. Several concerns are highlighted. Market-based mechanisms may act perversely to amplify activities that degrade nonhuman natures, and the raising of economic rents for land areas dwelled in by indigenous and local communities can cause displacement. Ideological embrace of capital markets as efficient allocators of environmental health and harm might be rash, given their potential for generating turbulence, systemic inequities and ecological upheaval.

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- by Andreas Scheba
- •
- 3
  Tanzania, REDD+, Neoliberal Conservation

Against the background of neoliberal conservation and green grabbing, this paper investigates an ecotourism initiative through the notion of ‘multiple environmentalities’ (neoliberal, disciplinary, sovereign and truth), which concerns the... more

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- by Stasja Koot
- •
- 10
  Ecotourism, Political Ecology, Governance, Indonesia

German energy giant and coal mine operator RWE makes two products: cheap electricity and 'pretty new landscapes'. These 'pretty new landscapes' are biodiversity offsets to compensate for the destruction of the ancient Hambacher Forest for... more

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- by Andrea Brock
- •
- 10
  Conservation, Coal Mining, Dissent, Greenwashing

Governments, multilateral organisations, and international conservation NGOs increasingly frame nature conservation in terms that emphasise the importance of technically managing and economically valuing nature, and introducing markets... more

The recent rapid proliferation of Private Protected Areas (PPAs) around the world has been attributed to the continuing process of neoliberalization and the commodification of nature. Although the numbers of PPAs have been growing in... more

The recent rapid proliferation of Private Protected Areas (PPAs) around the world has been attributed to the continuing process of neoliberalization and the commodification of nature. Although the numbers of PPAs have been growing in recent years, little research has been conducted on their everyday functions and particularly their interactions with local populations. Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this thesis focuses on a specific PPA, the Redonda Private Reserve in the Atlantic Forest region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and three local, surrounding communities, Jabá, Esperança and Bamba. Through this focus, the thesis examines a number of issues, including the incentives and motives which lead landowners to establish and administer private reserves and how these influence the pattern of relationship formation between the reserve and the local communities. The research also considers the main implications of such private reserves for local people and their livelihoods. Finally, the thesis considers whether and how local people’s perception of the environment and the way they use their surrounding natural resources have changed since the establishment of the private reserve.
A central contention of the thesis is that although often interpreted as ‘new’ or ‘modern’ and labelled as ‘contemporary’ solutions to common environmental problems, PPAs, particularly when considered in the context of their interaction with the affected local rural populations, cannot be analyzed in isolation from the wider socio-economic processes and local context where they are found. Thus, areas where PPAs emerge cannot be simply divorced from the past processes of territorialisation and land appropriation; rather, they must be understood as their continuation often reproducing pre-existing social and economic inequalities. For example, the proclaimed ‘modern’ way of relating to local men and women, such as through employment, can help to disguise the continuation of traditional social hierarchies, perpetuating unequal power and wealth distribution. The thesis also shows how local people are purposefully constructed by PPAs and their representatives to gain the sympathy of outside donors and thus secure the essential funding they depend on for their existence, facilitate control over the protected natural resources and eliminate or reduce local resentment. The implications of such social interactions are profound for both the involved rural communities and the natural environment that PPAs have been set up to protect.

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- by Peter Slovak
- •
- 6
  Brazil, Atlantic Forest, Nature Conservation, RPPN

Mainstream environmentalism and critical scholarship are abuzz with the promise and perils (respectively) of what we call for-profit biodiversity conservation: attempts to make conserving biodiverse ecosystems profitable to large-scale... more

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- by Jessica Dempsey
- •
- 6
  Neoliberalism, Biodiversity, Environmental Finance, Commodification

This dissertation analyzes how indigenous populations are politically included by or excluded from different forms of market-based conservation practices being implemented by state agencies, NGOs and international financial institutions... more

This dissertation analyzes how indigenous populations are politically included by or excluded from different forms of market-based conservation practices being implemented by state agencies, NGOs and international financial institutions (IFIs), in two adjacent Costa Rican indigenous territories: the Talamanca-Bribri and the Talamanca-Cabécar Indigenous Reserves (TBIR and TCIR, respectively). More precisely, this thesis explores the interaction between these indigenous peoples and
three green economy interventions oriented at conserving forest cover and biodiversity through: 1) the promotion of organic cacao production in agroforestry systems (AFS), 2) the financialization of forest carbon through payments of environmental services (PES) and 3) the design of new indigenous-minded forms of PES through REDD+.
While this thesis explores if the various economic, environmental and social promises of these interventions become materialized, attention is focused on explaining their political impact with regards to historical indigenous demands for autonomy, control over natural resource management and right to self-determination. In this sense, this thesis will conceptualize these interventions as ‘inclusive’ forms of neoliberal conservation oriented towards addressing the historical forms of social exclusion of the Bribri and Cabécar indigenous peoples from Costa Rican society. This thesis will show how the green economy has been embraced by conservation state agencies and NGOs in Costa Rica from an ambivalent stance, coming not from a stable consensus over the need of configuring forest governance under market logics, but due to neoliberal pressures to make protected areas financially self-supporting and capable of contributing to the wider national economy vis-à-vis other productive and social land uses. It will also explain how have the Bribri and the Cabécar managed to retain a strong territorial claim over their lands, leading state and NGO actors to introduce market-based conservation in the TBIR and TCIR as an effort towards modifying existing indigenous livelihoods, behavior and perspectives in favor of conservation, instead of forcefully imposing it.
Afterwards, this dissertation will characterize the manner in which the proponents of these forms of the green economy have attempted to gain legitimacy and promote “buy-in” for these interventions at a local level, while also highlighting how local participation is being shaped by discursive and material powers of the green economy. It will explain how these interventions simultaneously appropriate indigenous demands for political autonomy and self-determination and transform local
institutions handling natural resource governance. Drawing on literature about the relationship between indigenous politics and state formation, this thesis explains how this appropriation and transformation of indigenous demands lead to new forms of social exclusion.
Overall, this thesis is based on the concept of neoliberal multiculturalism, understood as a political project engrained within neoliberal forms of governance that seeks to selectively recognize indigenous rights with the objective of rendering these compatible to the wider ideas, interests and logics of capital. Using this concept as a key part of the analytical framework, this thesis demonstrates that the marketbased interventions in the TBIR and TCIR entail the disciplining of indigenous peoples and politics to livelihoods considered more compatible with the economic and political practices and ideas of the green economy, while still recognizing and supporting the traditions, rights and ideas of the Bribri and Cabécar inhabitants that are compatible to neoliberal conservation. So, viewed in a historical perspective, the gap between recognition and implementation of indigenous rights in Costa Rica is not being reduced through neoliberal conservation. While conservation state agencies and NGOs have begun to diversify environmental governance to accommodate to some indigenous ideas and culture, the overriding neoliberal mindsets of individualistic rationality, marginal optimization and environmental efficiency remain the unyielding project planning imperatives. Consequently, this thesis argues that while there is some effort to achieve inclusivity through these interventions, political exclusion remains an integral feature of the relationship between modern conservation and indigenous peoples in Costa Rica.

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- by Alonso Ramirez Cover
- •
- 5
  Sustainable Development, Neoliberalism, Indigenous Peoples, REDD+

In this paper I emphasise the financialisation of environmental conservation as 1. the turning of financiers to conservation parameters as a new frontier for investment, and 2. the rewriting of conservation practice and nonhuman worlds in... more

Mapping new administrative domains for integrating conservation and development, and defining rights in terms of both new policy and the citizenry governed thereby, are central to current neoliberal environment and development programmes... more

La participación pública se ha convertido en una cuestión central para la conservación ambiental. Tal es la difusión y popularidad que ha adquirido, que hoy no hay un solo foro, programa de trabajo o propuesta legislativa que no reconozca... more

La participación pública se ha convertido en una cuestión central para la conservación ambiental. Tal es la difusión y popularidad que ha adquirido, que hoy no hay un solo foro, programa de trabajo o propuesta legislativa que no reconozca la necesidad de implicar a la población local en la gestión de los espacios naturales protegidos. Sin embargo, este éxito reciente ha venido acompañado de formas cada vez más ambiguas y despolitizadas de abordar el debate de la participación en conservación, convirtiéndose en la práctica –como ya pasara con otros términos como el de sostenibilidad- en un significante vacío, que puede defenderse y reivindicarse desde posturas políticas muy diversas y ser instrumentalizado y puesto al servicio de fines muy dispares. Así pues, existe hoy una versión hegemónica de la participación, huérfana de sentido y significado específico, tras la que empiezan a aparecer instrumentalizaciones políticas que, gracias a estas ambigüedades, pretenden reconfigurar el terreno de disputas y conflictos en el que tienden a verse envueltas las políticas de conservación.

Para comprender estas instrumentalizaciones propongo hacer una revisión crítica de la genealogía de la participación en el terreno de la conservación y la gestión de los espacios naturales protegidos. Esto significa recorrer los diversos cambios de paradigma que se han planteado en las últimas tres décadas, los cuales no han sido sólo motivados por el cuestionamiento del carácter exclusivista y elitista de la conservación y sus impactos sociales, sino también por una serie de condicionantes estructurales directamente vinculados a la relación cambiante mantenida entre políticas de conservación y Estado. En concreto, propongo prestar especial atención al proceso de descentralización en el que se encuentra inmersa la gestión de la conservación en el presente contexto de crisis económica y políticas de austeridad; un contexto marcado por la desinversión por parte del Estado mediante recortes presupuestarios y reducción de personal. De este modo lograremos una mejor comprensión del actual enfoque simplista y, podríamos decir, fetichista que hoy domina en la participación, que la aborda como un fin en sí misma a través de la que cooptar este proceso descentralizador, en lugar de entenderla como un método orientado a la promoción de políticas de conservación más inclusivas, justas y equitativas.

Call for Paper Pollen Conference 2018
Accumulation by Restoration

This article explores how the rise of new markets for biodiversity has been facilitated by existing, non-market-based valuation practices within the field of biodiversity conservation. Where others have considered biodiversity markets in... more

In recent years, market-based conservation has emerged as the ‘panacea’ to the environmental crises we face today. A prominent example of this trend is REDD+, which turns terrestrial carbon in the global South into fictitious commodities... more

In the global neoliberal ecological discourse, trophy hunting proponents often articulate the economic benefits it creates for local communities, especially through jobs and meat. Trophy hunting revenues are also crucial to support the... more

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- by Stasja Koot
- •
- 12
  Conservation, Natural Resource Management, Neoliberalism, Affordances

Neoliberalism is many things to many people, perhaps too many things to too many people. As such it is a pertinent time to put neoliberalism under the microscope in order to examine whether it remains a useful concept to understand modern... more

A vibrant literature has emerged in recent years exploring moves towards neoliberal forms of conservation, with a reduced role for the state and an enhanced role for markets and private and civil society actors. Yet there is a need for... more

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- by George Holmes
- •
- 13
  Conservation Biology, Conservation, Neoliberalism, Chile

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- by Megan Youdelis
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- 10
  Ecotourism, Conservation, Political Ecology, Protected areas

In Malaysia, second largest palm oil producer worldwide, logging companies, palm oil corporations, and even responsible citizens can now compensate their biodiversity impacts by purchasing Biodiversity Conservation Certificates in an... more

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- by Andrea Brock
- •
- 6
  Political Economy, Neoliberalism, Biobanking, Biodiversity Offsetting

Some conservationists assert that multiple-use protected areas can accommodate competing claims for resource use, including extraction (e.g. mining and fisheries) and in-situ use (e.g. ecotourism). This is despite a growing number of... more

Some conservationists assert that multiple-use protected areas can accommodate competing claims for resource use, including extraction (e.g. mining and fisheries) and in-situ use (e.g. ecotourism). This is despite a growing number of studies showing how communities struggling with poverty, isolation, economic stagnation and environmental degradation experience limited benefits from ecotourism. This paper examines opposing claims over resource use (mining and ecotourism) in a World Heritage site in El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. It explores the idea that institutional processes can dis-incentivize both income generation from ecotourism and conservation if inequitable access to resources is not remedied. The article illustrates how ecotourism's contribution to socio-economic development of local communities can be circumscribed by: (1) the historical patterns of resource use; (2) misdirected interventions by state actors; (3) duplicitous actions of multi-national corporations, and (4) opaque governance processes with limited accountability. Findings support arguments that the capacity of ecotourism to reduce inequitable access to resources is limited and highlight why ecotourism cannot substitute for genuine institutional reform in protected area designation and management.

Certains protecteurs de l'environnement affirment que l'aménagement polyvalent de zones protégées permet des revendications concurrentes dans l'exploitation des ressources, y compris dans l'extraction minière et la pêche, ainsi que l'utilisation in situ (écotourisme). Celles-ci est malgré le fait que de nombreuses études démontrent que les communautés aux prises avec la pauvreté, l'isolement, la stagnation économique et la dégradation de l'environnement bénéficient de façon très limitée de l'écotourisme. Cet article examine les revendications conflictuelles à l'égard de l'utilisation des ressources dans le site du patrimoine mondial de la biosphère El Vizcaíno au Mexique. Il explore l'idée que si l'inégalité dans l'accès aux ressources n'est pas remédiée, les processus institutionnels peuvent empêcher à la fois la génération de revenus de l'écotourisme et la préservation de l'environnement. Cette article examine aussi comment la contribution de l'écotourisme au développement socio-économique est limitée par: (1) le modèle historique de l'exploitation des ressources; (2) les interventions mal dirigées a la part de l'État; (3) la duplicité dans les gestes des sociétés multinationales, et (4) les processus opaques de gouvernance sans obligation de rendre compte. Ces conclusions soutiennent l'argument que la capacité de l'écotourisme à réduire les inégalités dans l'accès aux ressources est limitée. Elles mettent aussi en évidence pourquoi l'écotourisme ne peut pas remplacer une réforme institutionnelle authentique dans l'aménagement et la désignation des zones protégées.

Algunos conservacionistas afirman que las áreas protegidas de múltiples usos, pueden acomodar las reclamaciones competidoras para el uso de los recursos, incluyendo la extracción (por ejemplo, minería y pesca) y conservación in situ (ej. Ecoturismo). Esto es a pesar de un creciente número de estudios que muestran cómo las comunidades luchan contra la pobreza, el aislamiento, el estancamiento económico y la degradación del medio ambiente experiencia limitados beneficios de ecoturismo. Este documento examina las reclamaciones sobre el uso de recursos (minería y ecoturismo) en un sitio del Patrimonio Mundial en la Reserva de la Biosfera El Vizcaíno, México. Se explora la idea de que los procesos institucionales pueden dis-incentivar la generación de ingresos a partir del ecoturismo y la conservación, si la inequidad en el acceso a los recursos no está solucionado. El documento ilustra cómo el ecoturismo su contribución al desarrollo socioeconómico de las comunidades locales pueden estar circunscrito por: (1) los patrones históricos de uso de los recursos; (2) confundió las intervenciones estatales; (3) las deshonestas acciones de corporaciones multinacionales, y (4) la opacidad de los procesos de gobernabilidad con una responsabilidad limitada. Conclusiones apoyan los argumentos de que el fomento del ecoturismo para reducir las desigualdades en el acceso a los recursos es limitado y resaltar por qué el ecoturismo no puede sustituir a una verdadera reforma institucional en el área protegida de designación y gestión.

Northeastern Peru is considered a global conservation priority due to high biodiversity and acute threats to natural habitat. Its non-indigenous migrant populations, known as campesinos, are presented by mainstream conservation agents as... more

Northeastern Peru is considered a global conservation priority due to high biodiversity and acute threats to natural habitat. Its non-indigenous migrant populations, known as campesinos, are presented by mainstream conservation agents as the major threat to this area, as environmentally destructive, apathetic to nature, and only responsive to economic and material incentives.
But the campesinos of Northeastern Peru often initiate their own conservation projects, justifying these actions with moral rationales. I divided these into anthropocentric and ecocentric categories. Justifications included an appreciation of nature's intrinsic values, religious or spiritual value, an aspiration for sustainability and a concern for future generations. I found that conservation is also seen as part of the struggle for social justice and recognition. Monetary incentives promoted by mainstream conservation agents were generally perceived in three ways: 1) as an opportunity for personal economic gain; 2) as an opportunity to sustain otherwise unaffordable conservation activities; 3) and when conservation was part of a social struggle economic incentives were perceived as unnecessary, undesirable or even a hindrance. Governmental legislation and outside conservation agents generally remain biased towards using economic justifications for local initiatives.
I used social methodologies to record campesino justifications for conservation and their interactions with conventional conservation. My aim was to categorize and analyze campesino views on conservation, highlighting those which challenge mainstream conservation, political ecologists' paradigms, and those that offer alternatives for collaboration with local populations towards shared goals.

Le Nord-Est du Pérou est considéré comme une priorité mondiale pour le conservation, en raison de sa grande biodiversité et menaces aiguës pour l'habitat. Les paysans, qui sont les migrants de la région et non- autochtones, sont présentées par des agents de conservation traditionnels comme la principale menace pour cette région: destructrice de l'environnement, apathique à la nature et seulement sensible aux incitations économiques et matérielles.
Mais les paysans du nord-est du Pérou initient souvent leurs propres projets de conservation, ce qui justifie ces actions avec les justifications morales. J'ai divisé ces derniers dans les catégories anthropocentriques et écocentrique. Leurs justifications compris une appréciation des valeurs intrinsèques de la nature, sa valeur religieuse ou spirituelle, et une aspiration à la durabilité et une préoccupation pour les générations futures. J'ai trouvé que la conservation est également considérée comme faisant partie de la lutte pour la justice sociale et la reconnaissance. Les incitations monétaires promus par des agents de conservation traditionnels sont généralement perçus de trois façons: 1) comme une opportunité pour le gain économique personnel; 2) comme une occasion de soutenir les activités de conservation autrement inabordables; 3) et parfois, des incitations économiques ont été perçus comme inutile, indésirable ou même une hinderance quand conservation faisait partie d'une lutte sociale. La législation du gouvernement et des organismes de conservation sont généralement biaisés vers l'utilisation de justifications économiques aux initiatives locales.
Ma méthode était d'enregistrer les justifications utilisées par les paysans pour la conservation, et de leurs interactions avec des projets de conservation conventionnels. Mon but était de catégoriser et d'analyser les points de vue des paysans, mettant en évidence ceux qui remettent en cause la pensée dominante de conservation, les paradigmes de écologistes politiques, et ceux qui offrent des solutions de collaboration avec les populations locales vers des objectifs communs.

biodiversidad y las graves amenazas que se presentan. Poblaciones migrantes, mestizos, conocidos como campesinos son presentados por los agentes de conservación convencional como la principal amenaza a este sector, destructores del medio ambiente, apáticos con la naturaleza y únicamente interesados en incentivos económicos y materialistas.
Los campesinos del noreste de Perú suelen iniciar sus propios proyectos de conservación, justificando estas acciones con argumentos morales. Dividí éstos en categorías antropocéntrica y ecocéntrica. Las justificaciones incluían una apreciación de los valores intrínsecos de la naturaleza, valor religioso o espiritual, aspiración a la sostenibilidad y preocupación por las generaciones futuras. He encontrado que la conservación también es vista como parte de la lucha por la justicia y el reconocimiento social. Los incentivos monetarios promovidos por los agentes de conservación convencional se perciben generalmente de tres maneras: 1) La oportunidad para obtener ganancias económicas personales, 2) Como una oportunidad para sostener las actividades de conservación de otro modo inalcanzables, 3) Cuando la conservación forma parte de un conflicto social, donde se perciben los incentivos económicos como innecesarios, indeseables o incluso como obstáculos. La legislación gubernamental y agentes de conservación externos, generalmente se encuentran inclinados a iniciativar las actvidades de conservacion local que tienen como proposito lucrar economicamente.
He utilizado metodologías sociales para recoger justificaciones de los campesinos sobre la conservación y sus interacciones con la conservación convencional. Mi objetivo fue categorizar y analizar los puntos de vista de los campesinos sobre la conservación, destacando aquellos que desafían las corrientes de conservación convencional así como los paradigmas de la ecológicia politica, que ofrecen alternativas de colaboración con la población local con metas unificadas.

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- by Journal of Political Ecology and +1
  Noga Shanee
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- 23
  Conservation, Political Ecology, Environmental Ethics, Peru

Mainstream environmentalism and critical scholarship are abuzz with the promise and perils (respectively) of what we call for-profit biodiversity conservation: attempts to make conserving biodiverse ecosystems profitable to large-scale... more

Biodiversity offsetting (BDO) is presented as capable of mitigating development-related harm to populations of species while simultaneously enhancing economic development. The technique involves constructing such harm as a result of... more

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- by Sian Sullivan and +1
  Mike Hannis
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- 5
  Philosophy of Nature, Nature Conservation, Biodiversity Offsetting, Neoliberal Conservation

Extractive capitalism has long been the driving force of settler colonialism in Canada, and continues to threaten the sovereignty, lands and waters of Indigenous nations across the country. While ostensibly counterposed to extractivism,... more

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- by Megan Youdelis
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- 16
  Conservation, Political Ecology, Indigenous Peoples, Protected areas

Extractive capitalism has long been the driving force of settler colonialism in Canada, and continues to threaten the sovereignty, lands and waters of Indigenous nations across the country. While ostensibly counterposed to extractivism,... more

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- by Megan Youdelis
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- 14
  Conservation, Political Ecology, Indigenous Peoples, Protected areas

We therefore call for an analytical framework that takes account of its multiple instantiations: in Spain, at least, participation is a novel governance strategy that reproduces preexisting power relations while channeling new economic... more

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- by Pablo Alonso González and +1
  Joan Roura-Expósito
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- 70
  Anthropology, Historical Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Political Participation

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- by Kean Birch
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- 196
  Critical Theory, Organizational Behavior, Economic History, Sociology

Although Canada has been applauded for its co-management arrangements in recently established national parks, it continues to struggle with its legacy of colonial dispossession of Indigenous peoples, especially in its older and more... more

Market-based strategies are promoted as neoliberal governance solutions to environmental problems, from local to global scales. Tradable mitigation schemes are proliferating. These include species banking, which enables payments for the... more

Mapping new administrative domains for integrating conservation and development, and defining rights in terms of both new policy and the citizenry governed thereby, have been central to postcolonial neoliberal environmental governance... more

Several notable controversies around private sector interests in national parks throughout Canada have erupted within the last five years. These controversies are arising within the context of budget cuts to Parks Canada and related... more

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- by Megan Youdelis
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- 8
  Conservation, Political Ecology, Privatization, Austerity

Neoliberal Conservation

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