Short Abstract

Conservation in Africa has long been shaped by elite interests, now intensified by planetary crises. This panel asks how elites interact, align, and co-opt the state to shape conservation, sidelining challenges of biodiversity conservation, land use and benefit-sharing.

Long Abstract

Conservation in Africa has been shaped by the interests of colonial and postcolonial elites more than by considerations of biodiversity and land use rooted in local environmentalisms. In recent decades, global elites acting as philanthropists or through foundations and NGOs have shaped conservation on the African continent. They have contributed to bringing more land under conservation, often through a return to fortress conservation, strict law enforcement and non-participatory governance. In conjunction, elites have co-opted the state to shape conservation in line with their imaginaries and consolidate control over landscapes, deemphasizing pressing challenges of biodiversity conservation and sustainable land use in times of climate change and benefit-sharing in the face of rising inequalities. Beyond species conservation, carbon offsetting schemes have added to this elite-led conservationist portfolio. Increasingly, even the mining of raw materials necessary for a global energy transition has been combined with conservation projects.

This panel seeks to unravel the linkages – financial, ideological, political – between diverse elites active in conservation from a multidisciplinary perspective. Who are these elites behind conservation projects, and how well defined are their agendas? How do elites engage with each other in relation to spaces of conservation and their governance, and how do they coopt or compete with state institutions? How are these elites situated in historically constituted formations and how are they held accountable by different constituencies? How do these formations shape rural livelihoods and environmental governance in times of global polarization and planetary crises?

This Panel has 1 pending paper proposal.
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