Neoliberal Conservation Flashcards
(38 cards)
Define neoliberalism (with reference)
A political and economic philosophy and approach to economics and policy that seeks to reduce state intervention and embrace the free market (Mackinnon and Cumbers, 2011)
Define capitalism (with reference)
Capitalism is a particular mode of production, based on private (as opposed to state) ownership of the means of production (Mackinnon and Cumbers, 2011)
What did Buscher et al. (2012) say about defining neoliberalism?
That we need to recognise neoliberalism as complex - it is a process rather than a thing, that means different things in different places and times It is a “broad political ideology”
Castree, 2010
Commentators often homogenise assumptions about both neoliberalism and conservation - treating them as one entity, whereas they are both very complicated and made up of lots of facets
Dear, 2000
A market is any structure that allows buyers and sellers to exchange any type of goods, services or information
What did conservation used to be seen as (in relation to capitalism)?
Was anti-neoliberal Was often seen in protest e.g. chaining themselves to fences outside big oil offices However some have argued that this has now markedly changed, wherein neoliberalism has entered conservation practice
What process is conservation undergoing?
It is being commoditised
Outline the commoditisation of conservation?
Capitalism sees conservation as a new frontier for capital accumulation - a new market that it can open up into In this way conservation is no longer an impediment to growth, but works as an opportunity - protecting nature is becoming a product to be sold on the market (Fairhead et al., 2012)
Why is the commoditisation of conservation inherently problematic?
It is inherently problematic as capitalism is at the heart of dramatic ecological changes and crises unleashed within the last two centuries (Buscher et al., 2012)
Fine, 2009
The values infusing conservation are those of neoliberal capitalism 1) It relies on implicit assumptions that people are rational maximisers of economic opportunity 2) it places emphasis on investment, profit, (natural) capital, growth etc.
Thrift, 2005
Capitalism is rarely mentioned explicitly Instead actors speak about engendering conservation through “economics”, “markets”, “payments” The language of neoliberal economics has become the common linguistic current - this frames interventions in specific directions, towards market and technological innovation
What sorts of things fall under “neoliberal” conservation?
PES Biodiversity off-setting Certification of “natural” products Eco-tourism Carbon markets Private protected areas
What is the history between conservation and capital?
Many of the schemes listed as “neoliberal” have been around long before the neoliberal turn of the 1980s
Hingston, 1931
National parks were an opportunity for commercialisation through tourism As exemplified by Yosemite Lodge, which opened in 1857
Brockington and Scholfield, 2010
Conservation was never a domain separate and set apart from capitalism
If conservation was never separate from capital, what makes neoliberal conservation new?
1) Mainstream conservation has now internalised the logic of capitalism to a historically unprecedented extent - increase in intensity and variety of capitalist conservation (Neumann, 2015) 2) Many more players, who are more deeply embedded in capitalist networks (Fairhead et al., 2012) 3) Shift towards the spectacularising of nature, to open new conservation spaces for capitalist expansion, whilst simultaneously masking the ecological and social contradictions (e.g. the fact that capitalism often leads to environmental degradation) (Buscher et al., 2012)
McAfee (1999)
Neoliberal conservation is an amalgamation of ideology and techniques that are informed by the premise that natures can only be “saved” through their submission to capital “Selling nature to save it”
Bryant and Bailey, 1997
Big International NGOs in the global south invoke both moral and scientific authority
Adams, 2001
The end of formal colonialism heightened the importance of transnational governance institutions like UNESCO and IUCN, who funnelled money, expertise and knowledge to support nature conservation in newly-independent states
Neumann, 2002
Organisations like UNESCO and IUCN subsequently supported the development of what would eventually become som of the largest NGOs, e.g. World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Igoe et al. (2010)
By the early 21st century, several BINGOs were able to annually distribute hundreds of millions of dollars to support nature conservation around the world as they internalised the logical of neoliberalisation: 1) partnerships with multinational corporations 2) Filling their leadership positions from the ranks of corporate CEOs 3) increasingly corporate organisational structures and cultures
Harvey, 2003, 2005
Accumulation by dispossession Builds on Marx’s theory of primitive accumulation Key part of neoliberalism - claims that ownership of capital becomes concentrated in the hands of those already holding capital through privatisation, financial inaction, management and manipulation of crises and state redistribution’s (e.g. neoliberal state favours business interests)
Benjaminsen et al., 2013
Conservation matches with accumulation by dispossession as it is carried out by the exclusion of groups, and the concentrating of wealth in the hands of a few However, in contrast to neoliberal literature, political ecology studies have suggested that this exclusion often comes from the state (e.g. the creation of National Parks - and is therefore inherently not neoliberal
Neumann, 2015
Despite reforms and movements towards private ownership, sovereignty in the Global South nevertheless remains largely located in state centres Non-state institutions benefit from the legitimacy that states bestow upon them in the name of nature conservation
