ABSTRACT
Drylands have been affected by so-called green grabbing—that is, the dispossession or displacement of local communities in order to expand areas devoted to conservation, as well as the significant curtailment of access to natural resources by non-displaced groups. Conservation schemes often contribute to heighten political, economic, and even ecological tensions, adding further layers of contention in dryland areas already experiencing land conflicts and marginalizing local pre-existing common property management institutions. Within the political ecology theoretical framework, we analyse how different actors involved in conservation initiatives interact and how power and socioeconomic differences play out in the development of these schemes. We also pay attention to the new common property management institutions that may appear as part of the conservation programmes—the so-called new commons. These institutions, in addition to intended or unintended economic and environmental impacts and to local reactions to the new situation, can sometimes reframe, at least partially, the results of conservation schemes to the advantage of drylands communities. We aim to provide a general overview of the green grabbing processes in drylands, highlighting the most significant global trends and the main impacts on the affected populations, while paying attention to local, specific circumstances and avoiding undue generalizations.
