The Political Ecology perspective of this panel will focus on implications for the sustainability of environmental management practiced in Africa, of narratives concerning the environment, of power relationships supported by such narratives, and their consequences for economic, social and environmental development.
This panel will focus on the political ecology of the sustainable practice of environmental management in Africa. A focus on any aspect of the environment will be welcome. The unifying theme will be a political ecology perspective. We are broadly defining political ecology here as "a concern with tracing the genealogy of narratives concerning 'the environment', with identifying power relationships by such narratives, and with asserting the consequences of hegemony over, and within, these narratives for economic and social development" (Stott and Sullivan, 2000:2). Within the remit of this panel will be furtherance of the ongoing debates of the implications for sustainable environmental management in Africa of 'classical' scientific interpretations of the environment (i.e. based on, for example, principles of classification, equilibrium theories, and goal-directed development) compared with alternative paradigm (e.g. those which highlight the importance of scale-dependence, complexity and non-equilibrium systems). Papers based on both theoretical analysis and empirical field research will be welcome, and policy implications for improving the sustainability of the practice of managing the environment in Africa (whether this be through managing the sustainability of cultivation, pastoralism, forestry, tourism, urban development, etc.,) is the intended objective.
Food crop cultivation on vacant land in urban areas is widespread, and often an important self-help strategy of the poor in developing world cities, but never-the-less illegal for being contrary to environmental sustainability. The case study of Harare is typical where 1955 - 1994 cultivation expanded steadily from 1% to 33% vacant land area, despite formal governance measure to prohibit the practice. Narratives used as power between actors, resulting in a perpetual but stable conflict to the advantage of the more powerful is revealed, to which both the poor and environment are victims. Real challenges to conflict resolution for sustainable development become exposed.
Competing environmental narratives claim validity in Zimbabwe. Each views the landscape differently. The paper examines how four different ‘lenses’¾sets of analytical approaches advocated by different narratives¾capture the way Zimbabwe’s resettlement programme has altered the landscape over two decades. These lenses include: multi-temporal photography plus GIS techniques; long-term socio-economic fieldwork; technocratic assessments of ‘optimal’ land-use; and information on patterns of resource use, institutional control and management from local leaders. The paper highlights that aggregate outcomes are opaque and underpinned by multiple, multi-directional transitions that are significantly time- and scale-dependent. The paper closes with discussion of the relationship between analytical perspective and inferences about sustainability.
The relationship between local narratives on drought and the disparate distribution of drinking water is investigated, using water management in the Moroccan Higher Atlas Mountains as an empirical example. Narratives used to sustain and reproduce existing hierarchies among different ethnic groups and social ‘classes’ will be analysed. Means of reproducing power relations is seen in the context of profound socio-economic and political change in the rural society as its social order is being challenged by the once socially weak parts of the population. ‘Drought’ will be presented here in a constructivist perspective as the naturalization of discriminating water politics.
The Simen Mountains in Ethiopia represent a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is renowned for its outstanding biodiversity. Social representations of what constitutes the sustainable use of the park’s natural resources are heavily disputed among different stakeholders (subsistence agriculture vs. wildlife protection; conservation vs. infrastructure development etc.). Based on long-term field research in the Simen Mountains, this contribution critically reflects on the evolution of the discourses and resource management strategies by – among others – local communities, park administrators, and external actors. In conclusion, a number of points are raised addressing ways to negotiate clashing development goals and reconcile multiple knowledge systems.
The indigenous Ju/’hoansi people of Namibia have conditional rights to exploit wildlife in the Nyae Nyae conservancy, which is a registered community-based resource management organization. However, all subsurface resources are owned by the Namibian government. An intensive prospecting effort is currently taking place in the heart of the conservancy which is disconcerting from both a social and environmental perspective. This paper discusses the possibility of the Ju/’hoansi exerting greater control over mining and securing rights over their ancestral land. This may be the next major policy and legislative issue for the Namibian government to address.
In Eritrea, environmental issues especially land degradation and ecological problems such as drought and famine have become central issues causing serious public concerns. The rural communities of Eritrea suffer from ecological breakdowns. Forest, land, livestock, and agricultural resources are heavily depleted. The paradox of agricultural success and hunger is, however, a highly debated issue. The “State” implemented poorly studied environmental policies that aggravated the depletion of environmental resources. This paper will address issues of ecological concerns and politics at various times, and will asses the role of local knowledge on ecological issues as reflected by the customary laws in Eritrea.
This paper analyses functioning and outcomes of power relationships in the management of protected areas. I apply an actor-oriented approach to explore whether the disputes regarding the control of protected areas have been settled by policy and institutional reforms and how institutional and individual power relationships intervene and affect the implementation of conservation policies and what are the resulting “organizing practices” of forest control. The analysis and discussion draw from case studies conducted in the East Usambaras, Tanzania, which is one of the 25 global biodiversity “hotspots”. Global, national as well as local interests in the forests and their resources are reflected in the struggles over forest control and utilization that take place at both discursive and material levels. The power relationships between the community groups, as well as within the organizations involved in control, however, make the social and environmental outcomes of the policy and institutional changes often unpredictable.
In the Sahel, everything changes, usually at speed: environment, market, political context, people, narratives. Recent reports of possible greening, after decades of browning, remind us of changeability in many of these fields. Conceptualising sustainability in such fast-changing, unpredictable circumstances is difficult. To judge by what “sustainability” has done for the Sahel, it might soon join a long list of depressingly inadequate narratives: commercialisation, globalisation, modernisation, land degradation, desertification, equilibrium, even state-and-transition. I will illustrate the argument with data from the so-called “greening”, and a study in Niger.