Transfrontier Conservation Areas - People Living on the Edge
Edited by Jens A. Andersson, Michel de Garine-Wichatitsky, David H.M. Cumming, Vupenyu Dzingirai and Ken E. Giller.
Routledge, ISBN 978-1-84971-208-8, August 2012 – 216 pages
The book, a product of collaboration between Wageningen University (Netherlands), CIRAD (France) and the Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) of the University of Zimbabwe, sets out to criticize the new and rapidly growing trend of Transfrontier conservation areas in Southern Africa by focusing on the ‘forgotten people displaced by, or living on the edge’ of Transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) mainly in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and dispute the “dream of eco-tourism-fuelled development supporting nature conservation” or the “development of rural communities through cross-border collaboration”.
Unfortunately it is not always easy to detect the voice and direct opinions of the forgotten and displaced local people in this book. There is limited political analysis on the effects of capitalism and neo-imperialism in the design of TFCAs, the underlying economic motives and geopolitical forces. With some exceptions, the book has a general pro-business / pro-development line and the otherwise highly informative and detailed content reflects the research interests of the 24 contributors half of whom hail from the global north and the other are from South Africa and Zimbabwe: rural development sociology, tropical agronomy, smallholder farming and migration, park administration, ecology, veterinarian livestock-wildlife interactions, conservation, consultancy, social anthropology, sustainable intensification of smallholder farming systems. Surprisingly, after all parks are being discussed, there is no contributor specializing in tourism in parks, and as a result tourism seems to be given short-shrift throughout the book with “eco-tourism” ‘wildlife-based tourism” and “sport hunting” being occasionally and interchangeably mentioned. In a future edition, a chapter dealing with the forms and impacts, positive and negative, of tourism inside TFCAs would certainly increase the value of this book and expand its audience.
As duly explained in the foreword and introductory chapter, the idea of peace parks and Transfrontier parks go back to the colonial 1930s but the concept has been reintroduced in the early 21st century as an “apolitical” top-bottom, high-level exercise when the post-colonial paradigm of Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) became out of fashion, due to local ‘heterogeneity’, lack of ‘legal frameworks’ and “centralism”. Aimed as an antidote to the errors and absurdities of colonially drawn boundaries that have led to many wars and civil wars, the TFCAs were established and are managed, according to the authors, without consultation with local populations. Chapter 2 finds that people have been invisible in conservationist perspectives, often seen as an impediment and illustrates that the formation of TFCAs was a high-level process. CBNRM literature sometimes “idealizes” sometimes “victimizes” local people. Chapter 3 explores the meaning of the complex mosaic of soft and hard boundaries, from fences to overlapping jurisdictions to areas of customary authority. It accurately determines the origins of protected area boundaries as the leftovers of a process of land alienation that resulted in a racial division of land, directly serving the political and economic interests of white settlers. Chapter 4 describes the heterogeneity of livelihoods in TFCAs, population changes and the huge variety in livelihood pursuits, socio-cultural orientations and challenges. It disputes that TFCAs become honey pots in terms of population growth. Chapter 5 deals with ethnic and cultural heterogeneity in rural communities within TFCAs, which ‘impinges’ on efforts to collectively manage natural resources with some ethnic groups feeling that protected areas further encroach on their livelihoods. Chapter 6 analyzes the agro-ecological marginality of TFCAs, the relatively weak presence of the state, and the illegal activities that take place. TFCAs seem to increase the ‘curse of the edge’ rather than increase it by adding to the complexity. Chapter 7 focuses on wild and domestic animal movements across the boundaries of protected areas, the complexities of greater availability of grazing, woodland products and illegal hunting. Chapter 8 deals with the direct and indirect consequences of these movements. Farmers cannot claim for crop damages and livestock loss and are not normally compensated by governments, which is a major cause of dissatisfaction. Increased employment through tourism in the protected areas is contested. Chapter 9 studies opportunities for wildlife-based entreprises, the context for development and livelihood opportunities in TFCAs and welfare improvement possibilities. Unfortunately hunting is being greenwashed and authors treat wildlife as a resource that can be ‘harvested’. They also accept propose the provision of ecosystem services such as water and carbon sequestration.
The concluding Chapter 10 notes that the objectives of TFCAs, some of which are larger than some African countries need to be revisited so as to include development. The key message seems to be that old-style fortress conservation or conservation plus non-consumptive tourism cannot deliver the goods thus hunting and profit-hunting through realistic alternatives (read neoliberal recipes) such as water and carbon sequestration should be pursued, always for the sake of local communities.
It is difficult to agree with such a conclusion, indeed one that does not follow from the evidence provided in this worthwhile book, which is rich in historical details, bibliographical references and facts. A chapter considering the potential contribution of non-consumptive, ecological, community-owned tourism within TFCAs could have led to an alternative conclusion. Although the impact of tourism may be underestimated, one is convinced from the analysis in the book that most TFCAs in Southern Africa are a top-down bureaucratic and international donors exercise leading to paper parks and that the local communities do not benefit from their existence or actively take part in decision-making so as to change this. A move back to the colonial model of ‘fortress conservation’ is hopefully out of the question. It is however highly unlikely that a move towards neoliberal recipes such as REDD, water and carbon sequestration and an even greater hunting tourism, would contribute to local well-being and economic democracy. On the contrary, they would probably contribute, by increasing inequality and conflicting interests, to more subversion of protected areas by local people such as ‘illegal’ settlements, land invasion and poaching. An answer could be, smaller, community-owned and managed parks with active community, cultural and ecological tourism and subsistence agriculture bordering with other such smaller parks, rather than sprawling chaotic parks. But the longer term answer, as parks may not exist in a vacuum, is surely countries where social justice, ecology and direct democracy prevail everywhere (not just inside protected areas), which are on good terms with their neighbours, enabling open borders for local people, rather than for capital, rich donors, investors and hunters of all sorts from the global north. Genuine ‘peace parks’ may be the end result of such a process; at this point it is unclear if they are also the means.