Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defiance
In response to the past decade's surge in the illegal hunting of rhinoceros for the global trade in their horn, conservation authorities in southern Africa have increased the securitization of protected area conservation. Political ecologists have warned that violent, militarized approaches are...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Arizona Libraries
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Journal of Political Ecology |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/2357/ |
| _version_ | 1811254010588430336 |
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| author | Rebecca Witter |
| author_facet | Rebecca Witter |
| author_sort | Rebecca Witter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In response to the past decade's surge in the illegal hunting of rhinoceros for the global trade in their horn, conservation authorities in southern Africa have increased the securitization of protected area conservation. Political ecologists have warned that violent, militarized approaches are counter-productive, because they fail to address the root causes of "poaching"and may provide the moral justification for those already marginalized by conservation to hunt wildlife illegally. This is a powerful set of critiques, but scholars have yet to provide an empirically derived explanation of how and why militarized conservation might contribute to, rather than prevent, environmental harms. This lack of explanation emerges from a concerning scarcity of scholarly attention to the people who are actually living with militarized conservation. In response to the increased monitoring and arrests that accompanied the securitization of Mozambique's Limpopo National Park (LNP), Park residents expressed fear, anger, and resentment. Yet they continued to engage in the illegal subsistence-based practices of fishing and hunting in the face of mounting enforcements against these practices. In interviews and public demonstrations, residents consistently questioned the legitimacy of rangers' actions and authority, neutralizing the problem of their own potential involvement in illegal activities by focusing instead on the unjust and morally questionable behaviors of rangers. According to defiance theory, environmental harms will increase as the legitimacy of conservation policies, tactics, and authority decline. As defiance figures into and informs residents' decisions to continue to engage in subsistence-based practices, it may also motivate and justify people's involvement in the more lucrative and harmful activity of hunting threatened and endangered wildlife for the global trade. This article demonstrates why there is a need to fundamentally rethink the increased securitization of protected area conservation and addresses the need for improved understandings of human agency in the face of militarized conservation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:00:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c03692d9833c473ba3e9863334fe8e72 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1073-0451 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:00:47Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | University of Arizona Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Political Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c03692d9833c473ba3e9863334fe8e722022-12-22T03:24:05ZengUniversity of Arizona LibrariesJournal of Political Ecology1073-04512021-04-0128110.2458/jpe.2357Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defianceRebecca Witter0 In response to the past decade's surge in the illegal hunting of rhinoceros for the global trade in their horn, conservation authorities in southern Africa have increased the securitization of protected area conservation. Political ecologists have warned that violent, militarized approaches are counter-productive, because they fail to address the root causes of "poaching"and may provide the moral justification for those already marginalized by conservation to hunt wildlife illegally. This is a powerful set of critiques, but scholars have yet to provide an empirically derived explanation of how and why militarized conservation might contribute to, rather than prevent, environmental harms. This lack of explanation emerges from a concerning scarcity of scholarly attention to the people who are actually living with militarized conservation. In response to the increased monitoring and arrests that accompanied the securitization of Mozambique's Limpopo National Park (LNP), Park residents expressed fear, anger, and resentment. Yet they continued to engage in the illegal subsistence-based practices of fishing and hunting in the face of mounting enforcements against these practices. In interviews and public demonstrations, residents consistently questioned the legitimacy of rangers' actions and authority, neutralizing the problem of their own potential involvement in illegal activities by focusing instead on the unjust and morally questionable behaviors of rangers. According to defiance theory, environmental harms will increase as the legitimacy of conservation policies, tactics, and authority decline. As defiance figures into and informs residents' decisions to continue to engage in subsistence-based practices, it may also motivate and justify people's involvement in the more lucrative and harmful activity of hunting threatened and endangered wildlife for the global trade. This article demonstrates why there is a need to fundamentally rethink the increased securitization of protected area conservation and addresses the need for improved understandings of human agency in the face of militarized conservation.http://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/2357/illegal wildlife huntingdefianceLimpopo National ParkMozambiquehuman agency |
| spellingShingle | Rebecca Witter Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defiance Journal of Political Ecology illegal wildlife hunting defiance Limpopo National Park Mozambique human agency |
| title | Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defiance |
| title_full | Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defiance |
| title_fullStr | Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defiance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defiance |
| title_short | Why militarized conservation may be counter-productive: illegal wildlife hunting as defiance |
| title_sort | why militarized conservation may be counter productive illegal wildlife hunting as defiance |
| topic | illegal wildlife hunting defiance Limpopo National Park Mozambique human agency |
| url | http://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/2357/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rebeccawitter whymilitarizedconservationmaybecounterproductiveillegalwildlifehuntingasdefiance |