The Politics of Conservation Thing, Sudeep Jana; Jones, Roy; Jones, Christina Birdsall
Conservation and society,
07/2017, Letnik:
15, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This paper problematises the recent participatory turn in nature conservation policy and practices through an ethnographic investigation of the experiences of the marginalisedSonaha(indigenous people ...of the region of Bardia where the national park is located) in relation to the conservation discourses, policies and practices of the Bardia National Park authorities in the Nepalese lowland. Since the mid-1990s, the country’s conservation thinking and policy paradigms have shifted away from an earlier protectionist and fortress conservation focus towards more participatory approaches. However, for theSonahawho are historically and culturally embedded in and derive their livelihoods from the riverscape in and around the Park, the pre-existing discourses and practices of strict nature conservation still impact adversely on their everyday lives. The paper argues that participatory reform, despite its strengths, has nevertheless reinforced the old conservation paradigm and hegemonic conservation discourses that normalised conservation violence and the marginalisation of theSonaha. Based on critical ethnographic work with theSonaha, we present a political ecology critique of conservation approaches. A case for rethinking contestations between indigenous peoples and national park managements is postulated.
This paper examines the transfer of management rights over forests and natural resources and exercise of such rights by various sections of local communities in Protected Area (PA) buffer zones in ...Nepal. The study is based on an extensive review of government policy documents, available published and grey materials. The paper has also been drawn from the long experiences of the authors working in PAs and buffer zones in various parts of the country. We found that Buffer Zone Community Forests (BZCFs) have so far made significant contribution to biodiversity conservation, local livelihoods and institutional building in buffer zones. However, we also found a range of critical challenges in realising clear, comprehensive and secure rights by the local communities. Effective functioning of buffer zone community forestry is undermined by ever-increasing demand of forest products, lack of needed management autonomy and support from the PA management authorities, absence of clear policy guideline, increasing human-wildlife conflict and persistence of social exclusion of women, poor and marginalised. We argue that a better understanding and attention to address tenure related challenges in BZCFs would aid both conservation and local livelihoods and thereby enhance socio-ecological resilience of buffer zone communities.
At the northern tip of the lower Karnali River Delta, adjacent to the Bardia National Park, the Sonaha people constructed a makeshift shelter on a river island. The location, locally known as ...Nakchikla, is a popular site for the Sonahas to take refuge away from their village settlement while fishing and panning for gold dust in the River Karnali. The river island, surrounded by the river, was not accessible without a canoe. It provided a safe refuge from human intruders and wildlife. The makeshift shelter was built on the edge of a huge log that had drifted onto the sand,
Heritage processes vary according to cultural, national,
geographical, and historical contexts. This volume is unique in
that it is dedicated to approaching the analysis of heritage
through the ...concepts of social movements. Adapting the latest
developments in the field of social movements, the chapters examine
the formation, use and contestation of heritage by various
official, non-official and activist players and the spaces where
such ongoing negotiations and contestation take place. By bringing
social movements into heritage studies, the book advocates a shift
of perspective in understanding heritage, one that is no longer
bound by (at times arbitrary) divisions such as those assumed
between the state and people or between experts and
non-experts.
This article examines Nepal's recently prepared Forestry Sector Strategy (FSS) (as of 2014) in terms of the use of scientific evidence and the quality of stakeholder participation. By reviewing the ...content and analyzing the context of its development during 2012–2014, we found that the transitional politics and overt influence of international development agencies dominated the process and content of the FSS. Although the FSS was developed through a significant stakeholder engagement, there was limited use of the available scientific evidence. The FSS was narrowly conceived as a deliverable of supporting aid programs, with limited demand for a politically meaningful policy processes. While civil society groups were consulted, they largely failed to present an independent voice due to their dependence on funding agencies. Our assessment calls for rethinking policy development in a way that facilitates assertive and independent participation by a range of actors and make better use of the available research.
This paper examines and uncovers the politics and debate emanating from and embedded in the contestations and negotiations around the establishment of protected areas (PAs) in Nepal. We take an ...example of one of the newly declared PAs – Gaurishankar Conservation Area (GCA)—and traverse through the politics and debate over its establishment. This paper is based on the ethnographic encounters and accounts of everyday dynamics, popular discourse and deliberations since the government’s declaration of GCA in central Nepal. It is driven by a political ecology approach to analyse state – community contestation around nature conservation. We argue that vigorous social campaign at different levels primarily led by Federation of Community Forest User Groups Nepal (FECOFUN) has been able to bring the state and powerful conservation actors on the negotiation table by contesting the hegemony of conservation and rhetoric of community based conservation. The contours of FECOFUN’s campaign around GCA suggest how the nature of contestation and conflict has evolved from a mere resistance and protests towards critical engagement and negotiation with the state conservation actors leading to a democratic governance of GCA. We suggest that concurrent adoption of constant struggle and critical engagement can produce negotiated arrangement of PA governance. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v10i1.8600 Journal of Forestry and Livelihood Vol.10(1) 2012 42-57
Based on the review of relevant literature, this paper investigates how forest authority is produced or reproduced in the course of forest policy change, by drawing on the past four decades of ...participatory forest policy reform in Nepal. We analyze various waves of deliberative politics that emerged in different contexts related to the Himalayan crisis, the flow of international aid for conservation and development projects, civil conflict and democratic transition, and most recently the policy responses to climate change. The analysis shows how such deliberative politics contributed to the change or continuity of conventional authorities around forest policy and practice. It shows that despite notable participatory policy reform, the conventional authority has become further re-entrenched. Based on this analysis, we argue that efforts to understand forest policy change can be more meaningful if attention is paid to whether and how deliberative politics emerge to challenge the hegemonic claims to power and knowledge about resource governance practices. Such approach to policy analysis can open new possibilities for understanding democratic policy reform by explicating the nuances of deliberation and policy politics occurring at multiple scales.
Based on the review of relevant literature, this paper investigates how forest authority is produced or reproduced in the course of forest policy change, by drawing on the past four decades of ...participatory forest policy reform in Nepal. We analyze various waves of deliberative politics that emerged in different contexts related to the Himalayan crisis, the flow of international aid for conservation and development projects, civil conflict and democratic transition, and most recently the policy responses to climate change. The analysis shows how such deliberative politics contributed to the change or continuity of conventional authorities around forest policy and practice. It shows that despite notable participatory policy reform, the conventional authority has become further re-entrenched. Based on this analysis, we argue that efforts to understand forest policy change can be more meaningful if attention is paid to whether and how deliberative politics emerge to challenge the hegemonic claims to power and knowledge about resource governance practices. Such approach to policy analysis can open new possibilities for understanding democratic policy reform by explicating the nuances of deliberation and policy politics occurring at multiple scales.
•We examine how forest authority is (re)produced in the course of forest policy change.•We identify different waves of deliberative politics linked to various forms of forest authorities in Nepal, and explain how and to what extent deliberative politics leads to change or reproduction of forest authorities.•Despite promising participatory reform, the conventional forest authority has become further re-entrenched in Nepal in subtler way than in the past.•Analysis of how deliberative politics emerge enriches our understanding of deliberation and negotiation around policy landscape.
The paper identifies and highlights gaps in protected area (PA) legal provisions in Nepal and makes a case for timely reformulation of legal framework to suit the new socioeconomic and political ...contexts. Laws concerning PAs are examined against the contexts of international agreements, conventions, and accepted standards as well as the local ground realities. The legal framework is critically analysed using seven analytical variables: the process of PA declaration, governance types, power sharing, management plan, tenure rights, benefit sharing, and compliance and law enforcement. Literature review, content analysis, interviews and participant observations were adopted in securing data. It is observed that the current legal framework either does not reflect the current contextual reality or stand only in paper or are not properly implemented as per the spirit of the law. It is argued that regulatory framework should reflect both the contemporary conservation discourses and should respond to the popular demands emerged in the post-conflict political context in Nepal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v10i1.8603 Journal of Forestry and Livelihood Vol.10(1) 2012 88-100
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