Political Ecology and Methodology for Protected Areas Research

in Eastern and Southern Africa

Peter J. Rogers

Bates College

Environmental Studies Program

111 Bardwell St.

Lewiston, ME 04240

tel: (207) 786-8206

fax: (207) 786-8334

email: progers@bates.edu

Thanks to US Dept. of Education and Bates College for research funding, field work assistance from the

Institute of Resource Assessment and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority in Tanzania and Kruger National Park in South Africa, Jim Hart from Bates Information Services, and the following students;

Chris Westcott, Andrew Beckington, Elizabeth Morrill, Graham Veysey, and Hillary Schwab.

Dedication

Dedicated to Ernest Grueing (1887-1974) -

Governor of Alaska, U. S. Senator, unrecognized originator of the concept of “political ecology” (see Gruening 1951),

and one of two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964.

Goal of Paper

Outline a methodology for research which synthesizes poststructural

theorizing about political ecology and governmentality with positivist ideas about systematic, transparent social

science research methods

Organization of Paper

Background

•Political Ecology and Governmentality

•Wildlife Conservation and Protected Area Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

•Research Questions

Organization of Paper

Methodology

•Comparative Case Study Approach

•Protected Area Complexes and Units of Analyses

•Operationalizing Political Ecology and Governmentality

•The Role of Computer Databases and Qualitative Analysis

Organization of Paper

Conclusion: Is “Antiessential Political Ecology” an Oxymoron?

Background

Political Ecology

•Nature as politically contested and shaped

•Non-human nature shapes processes of economics and political contestation

•How we “know” the environment is critical

•Political contestation involves actors

Background

Governmentality

•Recognition of importance of historical processes, the role of “genealogy”

•Historical process should focus on the identification of important, distinct “problematization” events

•Most importantly, “priority give[n] to ‘how’ questions”

Background

Wildlife Conservation and Protected Area Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

•CITES controversies over ivory trade

•Spatial extent of protected area

•Economic importance of wildlife tourism

Background

Research Questions

•How are wildlife conservation and protected areas governed in sub-Saharan Africa?

•What are the sources of wildlife conservation and protected area governance in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa?

Methodology

Comparative Case Study Approach

•Quasi-experiment

•Between case comparison

•Within-case comparison

Methodology

Serengeti-Mara and GLTP Case Study Similarities

•Size

•Transboundary

•Multiple Administrative Jurisdictions

•International Importance

•Predominantly Savanna Ecosystems

•National Economic Assets

•Recent Management Plan Exercises

National Parks in Africa

Source: Griffiths (1984) p. 153

Serengeti-Mara

Source: Sinclair (1995) p. 5

Great Limpopo

Source: CODEX (2001)

Methodology

Protected Area Complexes

•National government protected areas

•Sub-national government protected areas

•Community wildlife management areas

•Private protected areas

Methodology

Units of Observation

•Direct elements

•Indirect elements

Methodology

Operationalization

What are the “techniques” employed in the governance of wildlife conservation and protected areas? (examples: fire management, water provisions for wildlife, community access to resources and revenue, forms of tourism, role of hunting or culling)

Methodology

Operationalization

How are protected areas and wildlife conservation made “visible” for the purposes of governance? (examples: maps, organizational plans, and statistics)

Who is responsible for such projects of surveillance? (examples: researchers, consultants, management authorities)

Methodology

Operationalization

What “forms of knowledge and expertise”and “rationality” guide wildlife conservation and protected area governance? (examples: disciplinary, theoretical, technical, and education backgrounds of researchers and management authorities)

Methodology

Operationalization

Who is involved in the governance of wildlife conservation and protected area management, how do they identify themselves, and how do others identify them? (examples: local communities, ethnic identities, international conservation organizations, animal rights advocates, traditional authorities, private business, and government officials)

Methodology

Operationalization

What have been the key “problems” of wildlife conservation and protected area governance? (examples: periodization of history based on critical “problem events/episodes,” see partial example in the conclusion below)

Methodology

Operationalization

Historically, how has wildlife conservation and protected areas been governed in sub-Saharan Africa? (recapitulation of above questions based on problemization periodization scheme)

Methodology

Computer Databases and Qualitative Analysis

•Management of very large data set

•Collaborative and participatory research

•Dissemination of research product

Methodology

Prototype Database

•South African Protected Areas along the Western and Southern Boundaries of Kruger National Park

•Initial Governmentality Survey, June 2003

Conclusion

Is “Antiessentialist Political Ecology” an Oxymoron?

•Theoretical need to recognize the biophysical reality of nature

•Practical demands of collaborative research

Governmentality Problemataization, Techniques, and Environmental Impacts

Case Problematization Technique Environmental Impact

Eastern Africa, early 1960s

Concern over Maasai

Banning of fires inside the NCA

Spread of Eleusine jaegeri

Southern Africa, late 1990s

Opposition to elephant culling

Transolaction as sole management tool

Anticipated biodiversity change

Southern Africa, late 1990s

Change in vegetation from block burning

Shift to “natural” fire regime

Less frequent, more intense veldt fires, Sept. 2001 event