Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenor:
-
Laurens Bakker
(University of Amsterdam)
Send message to Convenor
- Format:
- Panel
- Sessions:
- Monday 25 October, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel explores the forms and extent of disjuncture between the centralised and bureaucratic forest governance structures and the forest management rights on the ground.
Long Abstract:
In this panel, we seek to gather anthropological perspectives on the intersection of forestry and conservation through a wide range of ethnographic explorations of forestry legislation and its impacts on local livelihoods. We attend to the challenges and tensions that may arise between the state legislative bodies and local peoples in politically, socially, and culturally diverse milieux. Analytically, we explore the forms and extent of disjuncture between the centralised and bureaucratic forest governance structures and the forest management rights on the ground, and how the livelihoods of local communities are, in turn, shaped differently by the inconsistencies in forestry legislation in complex ways.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 25 October, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
The paper uses the concept of 'social reproduction to understand the role of Uttarakhandi women (women from ‘Uttarakhand’, India) in the decision-making process to fulfil their forest-dependent lifestyle as well as conserve the ecosystem through 'Mahila Mangal Dal' in Uttarakhand, India
Paper long abstract:
Ecofeminist literature written in the Indian context has ample examples of Uttarakhandi women, ranging from their role in the Chipko Movement, fighting for their customary forest rights to their daily forest-dependent lifestyle. Their daily chores take up to 16 to 17 hours of their day which includes fuelwood gathering, fetching water on their back, cattle-rearing, agriculture, etc. These daily activities are quintessential for the social reproduction of labour and labourers. This paper tries to explore the story of women of one such village which was dealing with problems of alcoholism, illegal acquisition of land by neighbouring villages, exploitation of women by the men (mental, physical and sexual), etc. Tired of this exploitation and zero recognition of their contribution in the domestic, social and economic spheres, a group of women named ‘Mahila Mangal Dal’ (literally translating to Women’s Welfare Committee) was formed in a small Indian Himalayan Village called Bhurmuni in the year 2006. These women transitioned from docile housewives to gaining political agency, which in turn led to the transition of some ‘concrete labour’ to ‘abstract labour’. They have redefined their role as natural resource managers by claiming their customary rights in forests and public spheres.
This paper aims to look at their story through two objectives: one, to understand historically the transition of women’s role in both the sphere of production and the sphere of reproduction with the changing socio-economic setup around them; and second, the transition of different types of work from ‘concrete labour’ to ‘abstract labour’.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper we consider the tensions between the letter of the law and reality on the ground between conservation and mining in Indonesia. We suggest that inconsistencies in the law allow various parties to further specific interests and study the mechanisms underlying these.
Paper long abstract:
Indonesia possesses both considerable coal reserves and some of the world’s largest areas of tropical forest. These form an uneasy capital: the export of coal is an important pillar of the national economy while the conservation of forests is often seen as a limitation of development possibilities. Tropical hardwood fetches considerable prices and forest land can be cleared to provide new fields for agriculture. Yet forests are important: they provide drainage for seasonal monsoons and so prevent floods, keep down the temperature and may generate income through tourism and REDD-schemes. There are strong societal and political anti-mining drives in those provinces hit hardest by that industry: mining pollutes, decreases access to land and so limits other, more sustainable forms of development.
Both mining and conservation are subject to strong, but dynamic and confusing legislation that sees the development of alternative legal and economic realities for parties involved. In this paper we discuss how this legislation interacts with realities and provides opportunities to the various parties involved to further their interests. We will do so combining legal analysis and the results of om-the-ground fieldwork, which we carried out over the past decade. We explore direct and future consequences and consider solutions.
Paper long abstract:
Around the world, it has become a common practice for the state to acquire land rights from local communities and convert it from communal to state owned, in the name of conservation. Proposed Omkareshwar National Park Complex in Central India, is one such upcoming protected area that is inhabited by largely different indigenous communities. It is being designed as a compensatory conservation project which will recompense the loss of wildlife and forest resulting from the construction of and submergence from the nearby Indira-Sagar and Omkareshwar dams, part of the notorious multi-purpose Narmada dam project. Since 1980s due to the infamous Narmada Dam Development project, this region has witnessed a volatile history of displacement, resettlement and inadequate compensation of largely millions of indigenous people.
Due to the transformation in the land use and ownership, from communal to state, there has been increasing number of new rules-in-use implemented, thus altering the socio-economic lifestyles of the local people. As a result, for the local communities, this has become a site for struggle of access, control and mobilization of forest resources, a struggle to maintain their own autonomy. Through creation of this new conservation enclosure, local livelihoods are being threatened and hence, compel the forest communities to commute outside their villages for jobs. This paper examines the impacts of compensatory conservation and highlights what it means for the indigenous communities.