Conservation
Biodiversity policies need to move beyond economic growth
A new approach to conservation could foster co-existence between humans and nature beyond economic growth. Photo: Sneha Cecil via Unsplash.
A post-capitalist approach to conservation is key for humans to live sustainably with nature
- Market-based instruments' focus on economic growth and maximising profit has often done more harm than good for conservation
- A novel ‘convivial’ approach may be more effective to curb biodiversity loss
- To overcome discrepancies between market-based initiatives and convivial conservation, both ecotourism and sport hunting will need further critical examination
FROM PROTECTION TO CONNECTION: Market-based initiatives in conservation, such as ecotourism and sport hunting, are meant to stimulate environmental protection through financial incentives. In reality, their effectiveness is mixed with damaging impacts to biodiversity and local communities being removed from their lands.
We want to see a shift in the dialogue on conservation beyond its infatuation with commodification.
Amos Ochieng, lead author
A new study published in the journal Conservation and Society explores the idea that a novel ‘convivial’ approach may be more effective to curb biodiversity loss. The concept entails humans co-existing with nature and stresses the need to move past the economic growth paradigm as a means of developing conservation policies. The structural focus of market-based instruments on economic growth and maximising profit has often done more harm than good for conservation.
”We want to see a shift in the dialogue on conservation beyond its infatuation with commodification by integrating convivial elements into the design of conservation policies,” says Amos Ochieng, lead author of the study.
We have to start somewhere
The research team, including centre researcher Niak Sian Koh, explored the extent to which ecotourism and sport hunting – two widely used market-based instruments for conservation in eastern and southern Africa – are compatible with the convivial approach.
Despite the seemingly unlikely task of combining these opposing concepts, the authors found that there are some opportunities to partly redesign market-based initiatives in a shift towards post-capitalist convivial conservation, at least in the short term.
For example, existing benefit-sharing agreements and community-ownership within ecotourism and sport hunting have helped improve social and environmental outcomes. In the long term, however, the authors find that such agreements have to become binding to ensure democratic governance, which is a key principle for conviviality.
Maximising profit is not always the answer
Other crucial areas that the authors identified as in need of structural change were access and property rights, value operationalisation, institutional arrangements, and decision-making processes. Additionally, recognising cultural diversity could help develop innovative approaches to conservation. In Uganda, local totems are linked to certain animal species making it abominable for clan members to participate in the killing of the animal or else they attract a bad omen. Embracing these local traditions and cultural values can help enable responsible ecotourism activities.
Boundaries to markets must be established if we are to foster the transformative change needed to address biodiversity loss.
Niak Sian Koh, co-author
The authors conclude that to overcome fundamental structural and ideological discrepancies between market-based initiatives and convivial conservation, a critical examination of the design and implementation of both ecotourism and sport hunting will be necessary. They also emphasise the need to consider if these instruments are reinforcing certain neo-colonial or state power structures, which drives further inequality.
“Ecotourism and sport hunting are not silver bullets for conservation. Boundaries to markets must be established if we are to foster the transformative change needed to address biodiversity loss,” says Niak Sian Koh.
Methodology
The authors did a literature search in Scopus for papers that were published between 2001 and 2022 and included in their title, keywords, or abstract the word “conservation”, as well as one of ‘‘ecotourism”, ‘‘sport hunting”, “trophy hunting”, ‘‘Africa”, “market-based instrument*”, ‘‘transformation”, “transition*,” and “convivial*”. After limiting the scope to terrestrial ecosystems and eastern or southern Africa, 162 papers were produced. This sample was screened further to select papers that discussed at least one of the features related to convivial conservation and transformative change. The result was an initial sample of 36 papers, and these were complemented with snowball sampling to identify and include any papers that were omitted from Scopus. The information was supplemented with the first and third authors’ empirical research on ecotourism and sport hunting in eastern and southern Africa spanning well over a decade. In total, 49 papers were considered in the final analysis. These papers were not subjected to a formal or coded textual analysis, but rather a qualitative analysis of emerging patterns.
Ochieng, A., Koh, N.S., Koot, S. 2023. Compatible with Conviviality? Exploring African Ecotourism and Sport Hunting for Transformative Conservation. Conservation and Society.
DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_42_21
Questions? Contact Niak Sian Koh.
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