Presentation short abstract

This paper traces how forested landscapes in the Global South were shaped by different forms of warfare both in European colonial centres, and the colonies. We show how these legacies continue to inform contemporary conservation efforts led by the Global North to manage the remnants of these forests

Presentation long abstract

Recent scholarship in geopolitical ecology productively engages with how geopolitical actors sit at the intersection of capitalist political economies and environmental reshaping. Yet, it still sparsely directly engages with war, militarization and warfare - and its socio-environmental impacts, from the past to the present. Specifically focusing on forested landscapes, this paper traces colonial histories through which European demand for resources for WWI &II in the West shaped forests in their overseas territories, and how colonial counter-insurgency logics contributed to the creation of forest reserves in other places.

Based on a combination of secondary sources, oral histories, ethnographic and archival research we examine how forests in Suriname and Uganda were shaped by different forms of warfare both in European colonial centres, and in the colonies. We show how these legacies continue to inform contemporary conservation efforts led by the Global North to manage and map the remnants of these forests. Theoretically, this paper combines geopolitical ecology, terraforming, and attention to volume. By doing so, it aims to challenge dominant perspectives on war within international relations by problematizing neat separations between scales.

By siting parts of the economies of war in the periphery, the paper identifies the ecological changes that took place in support of the war effort and war-making. In so doing, it avoids the trap of focussing on “natural resources” in relation to war, which replicates the colonial gaze. Instead, it approaches war and colonization as fundamental destructive of different ways of life.