ABSTRACT
The conservation of nature is unavoidably political. This chapter explores the political ecology of biodiversity conservation, and particularly the social and economic impacts of conservation policy. It opens with an explanation of the political nature of conservation action and a discussion of the evolution of conservation regimes internationally. It considers where ideas about conservation come from and the significance of ideas about nature and concepts like biodiversity. It then focuses on the most important conservation strategy, the declaration of protected areas, looking at the place of national parks (and ideas about nature and nation) and other kinds of protected areas. It then considers the social impacts of protected areas and the way concepts such as wilderness legitimise the exclusion of people, the evolution of ideas about people and parks towards more inclusive strategies, and the question of indigenous people and parks.
The chapter then discusses various attempts to bring conservation into the development mainstream, in combining conservation and poverty alleviation to create ‘conservation with development’ projects and integrated conservation and development projects. The final section of the chapter picks up the discussion of neoliberalism in Chapter 5 to consider the role of the private sector in conservation, the rise of ‘biodiversity offsetting’ and the growing corporate style and engagement of conservation organisations.
