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10.15 - 10.30 10.30 - 10.45 BROSIUS, J. PETER, Department of Anthropology, 250 Baldwin Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-1619, USA, <pbrosius@arches.uga.edu> SEEING NATURAL AND CULTURAL COMMUNITIES: TECHNOLOGIES OF VISUALIZATION IN CONTEMPORARY CONSERVATION Conservation initiatives take shape because certain places or species are perceived to be at risk. What lies behind this observation is a series of questions concerning how and by whom such perceptions of risk are formed. Posing such questions is all the more critical today with the shift away from community-based approaches to conservation and toward ecoregional approaches. Ecoregional conservation is based upon a series of visualization methods designed to make natural and cultural communities "legible" (James Scott, "Seeing Like a State," 1998). For Scott, legibility - achieved through a series of "state simplifications" designed to reduce the opacity of the local - is the "central problem of statecraft." It is also the central problem of conservation. In this paper I examine several visualizing methodologies as they are applied in specific conservation initiatives. I consider how such methods produce topologies for environmental intervention while distancing "bioplanners" from the effects of their interventions. I also examine how these methodologies produce images of local communities as threats and lay the groundwork for environmental surveillance. Finally, I consider alternative ways that local communities can be written into conservation initiatives. 10.45 - 11.00 BERGLUND, EEVA, Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths College, New Cross, London SE14 6NW, UK, <e.berglund@gold.ac.uk> WHICH ENVIRONMENT? ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSIGHTS INTO NATURE AND ECONOMIC IMPERATIVES The paper is an anthropological, that is, people-centred critique of the way the economic environment takes priority over other definitions of environment in policy making. It examines the extent to which large-scale conservation is grounded in imperatives arising out of financial rather than natural or even social ‘environments’. Drawing on historical and ethnographic documentation, it investigates how conservation policy has been influenced by understandings of the economic environment. What cultural assumptions about people and their interests are incorporated in these understandings? The paper rehearses the argument according to which conservation is always a cultural intervention, but whereas cultural theory and social science have recently sought to demonstrate that the concepts of nature and natural science are themselves cultural constructs, this paper suggests that social science can focus profitably on analysing the ‘global economy’ as a cultural structure. Via a survey of the implementation of enclosures of natural resources, it will show that literal violence, but also conceptual inconsistency, has been invested in promoting prevailing beliefs about the naturalness of capitalism and of globalisation. ‘The global economic environment’ is shown to be culturally specific even though it has global reach and claims political-ethical neutrality. 11.00 - 11.15 CARRIER, JAMES G., 92 Spottiswoode St 2F2, Edinburgh EH9 1DJ, <jgc@jgcarrier.demon.co.uk>. SEEING THE WORLD: INSTITUTIONAL PRESSURES ON CONSERVATION ACTIVISTS AND MANAGERS IN JAMAICA When environmental activists become conservation managers, they confront a new environment, one made up of state and other institutions. This presentation is concerned with the consequences of this confrontation, as experienced by a handful of activists and managers in Montego Bay and Negril, the location of two national marine parks in Jamaica, and it is based on formal and informal dealings with them over three years late in the 1990s. The presentation particularly considers how their dealings with these institutions led these people to modify their understandings of the coastal waters that they are concerned to protect. Initially they appear to have seen those waters in both personal and scientific terms, as part of their lives and as part of a threatened ecosystem. However, institutional pressure obliged them also to see those waters in economic terms, as a resource to be exploited. Thus, this presentation points to the nature and consequences of the neoliberal market approach to conservation. 11.15 - 11.30 PYHALA, AILI, School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK, <a.pyhala@uea.ac.uk>. PARTICIPATION, INSTITUTIONS AND PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT IN PERUVIAN AMAZONIA This paper examines attempts to integrate conservation and development through protected area management in Peruvian Amazonia, looking at the case study of the Allpahuayo-Mishana reserve. It focuses on the concept of participation, a theme that currently appears in almost all conservation and development project plans, and is widely considered a crucial part in projects dealing with protected areas and local communities. It examines the degree of auto-mobilisation and participation of the local communities in creating the reserve and managing the natural resources, and how information or ‘misinformation’ been disseminated between different project stakeholders. Conflicts and limitations at the institutional level have constrained the degree of community participation in the creation of the protected area, and as a result caused failure in the overall management and ‘success’ of the reserve. 11.30 - 11.45 ROSENDO, SERGIO, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK, <s.rosendo@uea.ac.uk>. INSTITUTIONAL SYNERGIES IN EXTRACTIVE RESERVES IN AMAZONIA This paper examines the evolution and outcomes of extractive reserves as a natural resource management strategy that capitalises on potential synergies between local populations, the wider civil society, the state, donors and the market. Firstly, it presents a conceptual framework to clarify arguments advocating the need for institutions and multiple institutional scales in environmental management, especially of so-called ‘global commons’ such as tropical forests. It then assesses the impacts and outcomes of the interaction between key institutions at different scales or levels that share responsibility for or affect the development and conservation of extractive reserves, including local organisations, the government (local, regional and central), NGOs and aid donors. The paper argues that although extractive reserves represent a significant advance in participatory approaches to resource governance in Amazonia, strengthening organisational capabilities at the local level remains a major challenge. 11.45 - 12.00 ELLEN, Roy F., Department of Anthropology, Eliot College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NS, UK, < R.F.Ellen@ukc.ac.uk>. Discussant in the Symposium ‘Integrating People and Conservation: Interdisciplinary Approaches’ 12.00 - 12.15 Discussion 13.30 - 13.45 DORSEY, MICHAEL, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, <dorseym@umich.edu>. TRACKING POLITICAL ECONOMIES & ECOLOGIES IN THE UPPER AMAZON BASIN The Convention on Biological Diversity encourages various frameworks to regulate Access/Benefit-Sharing (ABS) of plant genetic resources on a global scale at local levels. The Convention Secretariat endorses market strategies vis-à-vis ABS measures. Case studies regarding ABS schemes have been authored, many per the directive of the Secretariat. These studies sparsely consider explicitly ethnographic approaches, political ecology or methods to consider the myriad relationships local communities maintain with biodiversity. This paper examines three field sites in Ecuador's upper Amazon Basin. The sites and their political economic and ecological variables occur in a multitude of dimensions, from local to global. The paper proposes an ethnographic approach to elicit how political and economic processes of bioprospecting in the Ecuadorian Amazon transform historical, dynamic relationships between local, human forest communities and "pharmaceutical actors". The paper places field data on the effects of bioprospecting on local, agricultural communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon into a broader regional, national and transnational perspective. This is a critical response to claims and counter-claims based upon sparse empirical data regarding what bioprospecting "does". The paper represents an effort to elaborate the complexities of resource politics in the Ecuadorian Amazon and contributes to the relatively new field of political ecology. 13.45 - 14.00 Filer, Colin and FLIP VAN HELDEN, Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia, <cfiler@coombs.anu.edu.au> (CF), Department of Nature Management, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries, The Hague, The Netherlands, <vanhelden-stocking@hetnet.nl> (FVH). INTEGRATED CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA This paper will review the manner in which conservationists have sought to persuade the customary landowners of Papua New Guinea to conserve the biological diversity of their natural resources. Specific attention will be paid to the way in which the extent of the power which is legally vested in the hands of customary landowners has influenced the design and delivery of 'integrated conservation and development projects', and to the way in which this experience reflects on current debates about the choice of incentives for conserving biodiversity. 14.00 - 14.15 FOALE, SIMON, Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia, <simonjf@bigpond.com>. TETEPARE (SOLOMON ISLANDS): CONSERVATION MAGNET AND CAN OF WORMS. Tetepare Island in the western Solomon Islands has long attracted interest from conservation groups due to its pristine-ness, and the fact that it is uninhabited. The island was deserted in the mid- to late- 19th century for reasons that are still obscure. Most of the inhabitants went to live on neighbouring islands and to this day none of the descendants of former Tetepare residents have gone back to live on Tetepare, despite its abundant natural resources. A court case in 1995 overturned an attempt by one group of Tetepare descendants to log the island’s old-growth rainforests in collaboration with an Asian multinational logging company. The island remains unlogged to date, but pressure to log it is still intense. This paper looks at the recent history of interest from various environmentalist groups in conserving and sustainably developing Tetepare, and discusses the considerable social and political obstacles to these objectives. The relationship between two formerly rival organisations of Tetepare landowners is also examined, along with broader governance issues in a country that is experiencing worsening financial mismanagement and increasing vulnerability to trans-national resource piracy. 14.15 - 14.30 TOMFORDE, MAREN, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Hamburg, Rothenbaumchaussee 64a, 20148 Hamburg, Germany, <marentomforde@web.de>. PEOPLE AND PARKS IN NORTHERN THAILAND: EXPERIENCES FROM COMPARATIVE ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH The paper shows to what extent two ethnic mountain groups (Karen and Hmong) participate in resource conservation in national parks in northern Thailand as well as the groups’ own potential for nature conservation. Comparative field research in three parks ascertained local perceptions of the environment and resource management systems of the two groups. Knowledge about these concepts and systems helps to ensure that local populations participate in nature conservation programs. Research was carried out using standard anthropological methods whilst working at the same time as an intermediary between conservation practitioners of a sustainable development project and the local people. A key result of the study shows that both ethnic groups, even though living in proximity to one another, have different cultural potential for nature conservation. However, their conservation potential is neither known nor employed to its full extent by conservation practitioners. Instead, local people are not fully integrated into resource conservation efforts. They are rather presented with disincentives for sustainable resource management through agriculture development projects. The paper concludes that people and parks are compatible if (a) local people participate fully in resource management and (b) conservation practitioners are open to assimilating local concepts and potential concerning resource conservation. 14.30 - 14.45 MORSELLO, CARLA, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK, <c.morsello@uea.ac.uk>. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND MARKET INTEGRATION: PARADISE, HELL OR PURGATORY IN BRAZIL? Indigenous lands have an outstanding importance for Amazonian forest conservation due to the large areas they occupy and the variety of preserved ecosystems they harbour. However, conservation resulting from traditional forms of indigenous resource use is now threatened by a new challenge: widespread and increasing market integration. To avoid this, some people believe it is better to enrol indigenous peoples on controlled or fair trade forms of marketing, whereas others argue this is a pact with the devil. This paper examines the socio-economic and natural resource use transformations brought by different market activities and the extent to which fair trade projects differ from more traditional markets. By analysing different market activities and their consequences in the Kayapó indigenous village of A’Ukre, the paper argues that market integration is neither a hell, nor a paradise, but an unavoidable purgatory. Through caution and the careful construction of appropriate institutions, it can be managed to minimise deleterious effects on the environment, on economies and on local cultures. 14.45 - 15.00 Discussion 15.30 - 15.45 HARA, MAFANISO, Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies, School of Government, University of the Western Cape, P/Bag X17, Bellville 7535, Republic of South Africa, <Mhara@uwc.ac.za>. CO-MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLE OF USERS IN DECISION-MAKING IN THE ARTISANAL FISHERIES SECTOR IN MALAWI The composition of organisations that represent users in co-management arrangements is an important determinant of both their legitimacy and effectiveness. In Malawi, in the artisanal fisheries sector, the majority of gear owners employ crewmembers to fish on their behalf. While the gear owners may be responsible for the strategic and management decisions for the fishing units, the operational decisions out on the fishing grounds are taken by the crewmembers. Since the benefit sharing systems within units are based on the daily amount/value of the catch and the crewmembers’ security of tenure depends on their performance, there is always great pressure on the crewmembers to increase catch in any way possible. Thus, the involvement of crewmembers in management bodies is vital for legitimate and effective user representative bodies. The greater the participation of vested interests, the greater the possibility of creating effective management bodies. Using case studies from Lakes Malombe, Chiuta and the Southeast Arm of Lake Malawi, the relevance of representivity of management bodies on their legitimacy and effectiveness will be demonstrated. 15.45 - 16.00 DOBSON, TRACY, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824-1222, USA, <dobson@msu.edu>. ADVANCING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION: THE NEED FOR NATIONAL POLICY AND EDUCATION FOR STAKEHOLDERS Community participation in natural resources management is often initiated on an ad hoc, pilot, or experimental basis. It may be terminated at the whim of its local promoters or sceptics in the absence of national policy. Adopting governmental mandates for co-management legitimises and so should strengthen its role in the natural resource management process. At the same time implementation and policy are necessary but insufficient for successful co-management. Training for stakeholders is another essential feature. Stakeholders include community members/resource users and also the government personnel involved. Using examples from Malawi and Nepal, it is shown that agency staff accustomed to command-and-control structures need to understand and buy into the philosophy, theory, and practice of co-management as well as receive training in new methods of interacting with their "partners." 16.00 - 16.15 PANT, RUCHI, Eastern Himalaya Programme, ATREE, Bungalow # 2, Bhujiapani, Bagdogra, District Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, <slg_ecoserve@sancharnet.in> CUSTOMS AND FOLK LAW IN NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION: CASES FROM NEPAL AND NORTH EAST INDIA Legal and policy frameworks emanating largely from scientific understandings of natural resources management has only partially resulted in sustainable practices. At this juncture it becomes pertinent to comparatively assess the value of indigenous practices and folk law in achieving conservation goals. New concepts of community forestry, joint forest management, community-based conservation and community-based wildlife management are gaining ground. However, this process of reform in statutory legislation is highly variable and complex among different nations and provinces within nations. In order to look at the efficacy of folk law and customs in conservation as against relying on formal law and judicial interventions of modern institutions in the management of biological resources, fieldwork was undertaken in Nepal and North East India spread over seven years. The author has documented customary practices, community-framed rules and decisions of indigenous institutions in the Annapurna Conservation Area of Nepal (a protected area encompassing an area of 3600 square kilometres, the management of which rests entirely with a non-government organization and community-based conservation committees) and in Arunachal Pradesh, a predominantly tribal state of India. Self-regulatory norms ensure better compliance with community members thus leading to better management of resources. 16.15 - 16.30 MACINTYRE, MARTHA and Simon Foale, Centre for the Study of Health and Society, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia, <marthamac@bigpond.com> (MM), Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia, <simonjf@bigpond.com>,(SF). BETWEEN ROCKS AND HARD PLACES: DEVELOPING LOCAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN PNG We examine the social and political implications of different understandings of environmental degradation in the context of a gold mining project on Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea. The deep-sea disposal of tailings from the mine is the main concern for Western environmental groups. Local people see problems differently, responding to environmental changes that impinge on their subsistence economy. While they worry about the effects on fishing, their claims focus on perceived changes in subsistence yields. Their interpretations of degradation draw on different understandings of chemical pollution and observations of changes associated with mining. Local views of impact are also influenced by the fact that the company pays compensation for environmental damage. The economic factors make them disinclined to accept scientific explanations of effects. We discuss our plan to develop an educational program to improve local understandings of scientific explanations and attempts to work with government agencies and the mining company to communicate information about environmental changes produced both by the mine and by the dramatic increase in the island population. 16.30 - 16.45 LEACH, MELISSA and James Fairhead, Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RE, <m.leach@ids.ac.uk> (ML), Anthropology, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RE, <J.R.Fairhead@sussex.ac.uk> (JF). LANDSCAPE HISTORIES AND CONSERVATION GRIDS: MEMORY AND NOSTALGIA IN THE WEST AFRICAN FOREST ZONE Humid forests in West Africa, as elsewhere, have complex histories whose pathways are shaped by interacting, non-equilibrial ecological, climatic and social processes, well established in the memories of their inhabitants. Yet conservation policies and programmes frequently seem to be informed less by history and memory than by nostalgia for an imagined natural forest vegetation with benign human influence, and aspiration for its re-instatement. This paper explores this contradiction, its devastating consequences for ICDPs, and some alternatives. It focuses on the Ziama forest reserve in the Republic of Guinea, and the contrasting perspectives held by different villagers, foresters, researchers and donors who have worked there in the context of a series of ICDP attempts during the last decade. It also considers the broader science/policy processes which have deterred an appreciation of forest history - and its strong implications for a 'lived-in-landscape' approach to biodiversity conservation - gaining much ground, despite the knowledge and concerns of a number of villagers, researchers and conservation professionals. 16.45 - 17.00 BROWN, KATRINA School of Development Studies and CSERGE, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK, <k.brown@uea.ac.uk>. TRANSFORMING INSTITUTIONS AND DECISION-MAKING FOR INTEGRATED CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT This paper provides an overview of approaches to integrating conservation and development and argues that we need to go beyond a mere extension of current protected areas and that new institutions and management processes are necessary if we are seriously committed to making people central to conservation efforts. Transformative, adaptive and inclusive institutions and processes are necessary which can accommodate differing and often conflicting interests. Attempts at ‘grassroots’ participation are not sufficient and more sophisticated frameworks for inclusion of multiple stakeholders is necessary. In order for this to come about, the processes of policy formulation and implementation, funding and decision-making need to be transformed. Building on the case studies presented in the symposium this paper suggests ways forward for more integrated conservation and development. 17.00 - 17.15 CHATTY, Dawn, Refugee Studies Programme, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, 21 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LA, UK,<dawn.chatty@qeh.ox.ac.uk>. Discussant in the Symposium ‘Integrating People and Conservation: Interdisciplinary Approaches’. 17.15 - 17.30 Discussion |