The Global Politics of Local Conservation

Climate Change and Resource Governance in Namibia

verfasst von: Andrew Heffernan

Verlag: Springer Nature Switzerland

Buchreihe : Environmental Politics and Theory

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Über dieses Buch

This book examines the politics of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Namibia. CBNRM and similar forms of conservation across southern Africa have long been studied for their potential benefits as domestic policy tools to help improve sustainable development. However, they have often failed to achieve their stated goals. By assessing the initiation, design, implementation and outcomes of CBNRM, the book argues that communities are often unable to attain the degree of empowerment that these forms of resource governance promise. It also considers the impact of climate change on CBNRM programmes, and the responses of international actors involved in their governance. In doing so, the book demonstrates how the power imbalances that are built into the global political economy have ensured that those most marginalized in society are no better off as a result of this new form of resource governance. It will appeal to all those interested in CBNRM, conservation studies and environmental governance in Africa, as well political economy and international relations.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction

Abstract

Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) has emerged in Southern Africa as a form of resource governance that is intended to devolve control of natural resources to local populations. CBNRM has produced demonstrable benefits in attaining its three goals of economic development, environmental conservation, and community empowerment; however, over time success has seemingly dwindled which has been documented in the literature. This chapter introduces a number of complex issues linked to the question of resource governance and specifically CBNRM in Southern Africa. While often CBNRM is understood as a domestic policy issue for conservation, the global politics involved and its broader connections to the international political economy are essential for understanding how decision making and local-level politics play out on the ground.

Andrew Heffernan

2. Contemporary Evolutions in Global Environmental Governance

Abstract

As a result, various techniques of governing at a distance emerged and this included efforts to rebound society’s challenges back onto it, in order for society to become implicated directly in developing solutions. Part of what this has resulted in is shifts in the type of power that is exercised as well as the types of actors involved in governance. This includes conceptualizations of power beyond a traditional understanding of coercive power that is wielded by sovereign decree. Increasingly scholars have posited that power is more diffuse and produced by a variety of actors based on their social interactions. Following this brief macro-level analysis, the chapter looks more closely at the literature on CBNRM specifically that unpacks what this form of resource governance is, what its goals are, and how it is intended to accomplish these. It also briefly explores the history of CBNRM. The chapter also discusses why existing approaches have yet to explain the evolution of CBNRM in response to climate change. Ultimately, it will outline key gaps in the literature which include analyses of climate change and the evolution of the programme in order to adapt to these realities as well as the degree to which these evolutions serve to benefit local communities.

Andrew Heffernan

3. Assembling Evolutions in Governance

Abstract

In this chapter, I outline my theoretical framework, drawing on recent International Relations literature on global assemblages. I provide a brief overview of the more philosophical foundations of assemblage thinking, prior to discussing some of the ways it has evolved, specifically within the discipline of IR as well as ways it has been employed to understand various complex policy formations in the social world. The chapter goes on to discuss the ways scholars have developed global assemblages beyond a traditional theoretical framework and ontology, to also serve as a methodological approach for unpacking and analysing complex phenomenon. This methodology section will include an elaboration of Namibia as my case study, my approach to fieldwork, and process of data analysis and triangulation. Namibia was chosen for this study as the crucial case design as it is recognized as a global leader in CBNRM due to having devoted the highest percentage of land to this form of resource governance on earth, as well as having a recently drafted and progressive constitution with stipulations for environmental conservation written throughout its sections.

Andrew Heffernan

4. The Local Genesis of Global Environmental Governance in Namibia

Abstract

Next the book turns to the empirical chapters with this chapter outlining the genesis of CBNRM in Namibia which will include a brief history from the colonial period, through to the Apartheid era, and onto independence in 1990. This history will include key relevant background on the politics of the country including its de facto one-party state system that has emerged since independence. Through the genesis of CBNRM, this chapter begins unpacking the ways in which this form of resource governance is about much more than a straightforward devolution of state power to local communities. Beyond this, the chapter discusses questions of local-level corruption which are key to understanding the degree to which communities benefit from CBNRM. This form of resource governance was intended to circumvent the type of neopatrimonial practices and large-scale corruption that have often been seen at the state level in Africa.

Andrew Heffernan

5. Climate Change: Local Challenges, Global Opportunities?

Abstract

Namibia has been experiencing a severe and protracted drought for the better part of a decade and while droughts are a normal part of the hydrological cycle, their severity, duration, and frequency are all increasing which is threatening Namibians as well as the flora and fauna across the country. Decreasing precipitation patterns are making life more challenging for everyone and have begun to severely impact the ability of the CBNRM programme to produce benefits that had been enjoyed in the first 15 years of its implementation. This chapter will discuss widespread losses in livestock, veld food for domesticated livestock as well as wildlife, and the increasing pressure this all places on humans and wildlife living in close proximity—this being the essence of CBNRM. The chapter then turns to discuss opportunities that are being provided by some of the very same challenges discussed above. Despite its absence from much of the literature, the chapter demonstrates that people on the ground are acutely aware of the impacts of climate change and are active in efforts to both adapt to and mitigate further harmful effects.

Andrew Heffernan

6. Assembled Governance from the Local to the Global Community

Abstract

In the penultimate chapter, I discuss the ways in which CBNRM is able to adapt to a variety of forces and who benefits as a result of these evolutions. This chapter unpacks the actors that are key in driving the evolutions which are integral to understanding why, how, and in reaction to what the programmes adapt. Part of this adaptation is importantly with the make up of the programme itself in the sense of who holds positions of power and how these positions relate to questions of gender and race. In order to understand this, we must analyse power imbalances that exist between a variety of actors and specifically between local communities and more powerful global actors who are often able to realize their interests. These shifting fashions that emerge within the international community end up having substantial impacts on the ground regarding what types of activities are favoured and hence funded. It becomes clear that going local is not sufficient in itself to prevent corruption and as a result, politics and power relations must be analysed from both the global and local levels.

Andrew Heffernan

7. Development, Climate Change, and Global Assemblages

Abstract

While it is clear is that climate change has presented a number of challenges to the CBNRM programme, it has also presented a number of opportunities which are being harnessed by certain actors which among other benefits is helping to diversify those holding positions of power. Climate change is challenging the viability of the programme itself while also creating avenues for new types of actors such as the Green Climate Fund who are afforded legitimacy and funding by the international community, but who do not function in the same way as traditional multilateral organizations. Thus, long after communities were supposed to have become self-sufficient, what we are seeing is a proliferation of actors involved, and a failure for communities to attain autonomous self-governance. As a result, CBNRM might best be described as International Community-Based Natural Resource Governance in which a complex assemblage governs resources at the local level. While in some ways, ground continues to be gained on this path, in others, this autonomy seems to be a distant goal that will remain unachieved.

Andrew Heffernan

Backmatter

Titel: The Global Politics of Local Conservation
verfasst von: Andrew Heffernan
Verlag: Springer Nature Switzerland
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-24177-2
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-24176-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24177-2