Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Good, the Ugly and the ‘Dirty Harry’s of Conservation: Rethinking the Anthropology of Conservation NGOs

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Anthropology of Conservation NGOs

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Anthropology of Sustainability ((PSAS))

Abstract

For the past decade, narrative portrayals of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) growing big, ‘ugly’ and business-minded have become common in both social science and public discourse. At a time when both engagement within NGOs and critical analysis from the outside have blossomed, how are the social sciences and anthropology, in particular, responding? This chapter suggests that a set of meta-narratives characterise much of the literature analysing conservation NGOs. Such narratives, respectively, position NGOs as doing good, turning ugly or acting pragmatically through what this author labels ‘Dirty Harry’ characteristics. Even though the critique of conservation NGOs offers a much-needed ‘reality check’, it is time to revisit dichotomies of the ‘good’ past and the ‘ugly’ present. The chapter reviews trends in the literature and offers a case study from the Peruvian Amazon. The final synthesis emphasises the need for a less essentialist perspective that traces heterogeneity and change of NGO activity over time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 32.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bamberg, M. 2005. Master Narratives. In Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory, ed. D. Herman, M. Jahn, and R. Marie-Laure, 287–288. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker, Michael. 2009. When Environmentalists Legitimize Plunder. Swans Commentary. http://www.swans.com/library/art15/barker12.html. Accessed 18 Sep 2013.

  • ———. 2010. An Interview with Daniel Faber: Foundations and the Environmental Movement. Counterpunch. http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/09/13/foundations-and-the-environmental-movement/. Accessed 13 Sep 2010.

  • Benjaminsen, Tor A., and Hanne Svarstad. 2010. Questioning Conservation Practice—And Its Response: The Establishment of Namaqua National Park. Current Conservation 3 (3): 8–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birchard, Bill. 2005. Nature’s Keepers: The Remarkable History of How the Nature Conservancy Became the Largest Environmental Organization in the World. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockington, Dan, and Rosaleen Duffy. 2010. Capitalism and Conservation: The Production and Reproduction of Biodiversity Conservation. Antipode 42 (3): 469–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brockington, Dan, and Katherine Scholfield. 2010. The Conservationist Mode of Production and Conservation NGOs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Antipode 42 (3): 551–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brosius, Peter. 1999. Green Dots, Pink Hearts: Displacing Politics from the Malaysian Rainforest. American Anthropologist 101 (1): 36–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brosius, Peter, and Lisa Campbell. 2010. Collaborative Event Ethnography: Conservation and Development Trade-Offs at the Fourth World Conservation Congress. Conservation and Society 8 (4): 245–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapin, Mac. 2004. A Challenge to Conservationists. World Watch Magazine 17 (November/December): 17–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee, Pratap, and Matthias Finger. 1994. The Earth Brokers: Power, Politics and World Development. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooley, Alexander, and James Ron. 2002. The NGO Scramble: Organizational Insecurity and the Political Economy of Transnational Action. International Security 27 (1): 5–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corson, Catherine. 2010. Shifting Environmental Governance in a Neoliberal World: USAID for Conservation. Antipode 42 (3): 567–602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corson, Catherine, and Kenneth lain MacDonald. 2012. Enclosing the Global Commons: The Convention on Biological Diversity and Green Grabbing. The Journal of Peasant Studies 39: 263–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doane, Molly. 2014. From Community Conservation to the Lone (Forest) Ranger: Accumulation by Conservation in a Mexican Forest. Conservation and Society 12 (3): 233–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dourojeanni, Marc Jean, and Carlos F. Ponce. 1978. Los parques nacionales del Peru. Madrid: Instituto de la Caza Fotográfica y Ciencias de la Naturaleza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dourojeanni, Marc, Luis Ramirez, and Oscar Rada. 2012. Indígenas, campesinos y grandes empresas: Experiencias de los Programas de Monitoreo Socio-Ambiental Comunitarios. Lima: ProNaturaleza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Escobar, Arturo. 1998. Whose Knowledge, Whose Nature? Biodiversity, Conservation, and the Political Ecology of Social Movements. Journal of Political Ecology 5: 53–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairhead, James, Melissa Leach, and Ian Scoones. 2012. Green Grabbing: A New Appropriation of Nature? The Journal of Peasant Studies 39 (2): 237–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fassin, Didier. 2013. On Resentment and Ressentiment: The Politics and Ethics of Moral Emotions. Current Anthropology 54 (3): 249–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finer, M., Clinton N. Jenkins, Stuart L. Pimm, Brian Keane, and Carl Ross. 2008. Oil and Gas Projects in the Western Amazon: Threats to Wilderness, Biodiversity, and Indigenous Peoples. PloS One 8: e2932.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González, Ana Maria, and Angela Sue Martin. 2007. Partners in Protected Area Conservation: Experiences of the Parks in Peril Programme in Latin America and the Caribbean. Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grandia, Liza. 2009. Special Issue Between Bolivar and Bureaucracy: The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Conservation and Society 5 (4): 478–503.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Silent Spring in the Land of Eternal Spring: The Germination of a Conservation Conflict. Current Conservation 3 (3): 10–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunte, Michael M., and Ariane C. Rosen. 2012. Two-level Games of International Environmental NGOs in China. William and Mary Policy Review 3: 270–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hajer, Maarten. 1995. The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holdgate, Martin. 1999. The Green Web: A Union for the World Conservation. London: IUCN & Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, George. 2011. Conservation’s Friends in High Places: Neoliberalism, Networks, and the Transnational Conservation Elite. Global Environmental Politics 11 (4): 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husock, Howard. 1997. Dealing with a Changing Environment: Fundacion Peruana para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza. Cambridge, MA: Kennedy School of Government, Case Programme.

    Google Scholar 

  • Igoe, James, and Dan Brockington. 2007. Neoliberal Conservation: A Brief Introduction. Conservation and Society 5 (4): 432–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Igoe, James, Sian Sullivan, and Dan Brockington. 2010. Problematising Neoliberal Biodiversity Conservation: Displaced and Disobedient Knowledge. Current Conservation 3 (3): 4–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jepson, Paul. 2005. Governance and Accountability of Environmental NGOs. Environmental Science & Policy 8: 515–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khare, Arvind, and David B. Bray. 2004. Study of Critical New Forest Conservation Issues in the Global South New York. New York: Ford Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Naomi. 2013. The Giants of the Green World That Profit from the Planet’s Destruction. The Guardian (first published in the Nation). May 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klockars, Carl B. 1980. The Dirty Harry Problem. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 452: 33–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laidler-Kylander, Nathalie, John A. Quelch, and Bernard L. Simonin. 2007. Building and Valuing Global Brands in the Nonprofit Sector. Non-profit Management and Leadership 17 (3): 253–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen, Peter Bille. 2011. Municipal Environmental Governance in the Peruvian Amazon: A Case Study in Local Matters of (in)Significance. Management of Environmental Quality 22 (3): 374–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. The Politics of Technicality: Guidance Culture in Environmental Governance and the International Sphere. In The Gloss of Harmony: The Politics of Policy Making in Multilateral Organisations, ed. Birgit Müller. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. Post-frontier Resource Governance: Indigenous Rights, Extraction and Conservation in the Peruvian Amazon. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen, Peter Bille, and Arlen Gaspar. 2012. Biosphere Reserves and Extractive Industries: Towards a New Sustainability Agenda, Evidence for Policy Series. La Paz: NCCR JACS SAM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, Arielle. 2002. Convergence or Convenience? International Conservation NGOs and Development Assistance in Tanzania. World Development 30 (6): 1043–1055.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, David, and Nazneen Kanji. 2009. Non-governmental Organizations and Development. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linera, Alvaro García. 2012. GeoPolítica de la Amazónia: Poder Hacendal-Patrimonial y Acumulación Capitalista. La Paz: Vicepresidencia de la República.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockyer, Joshua, and James Veteto. 2013. Anthropology Engaging Ecotopia. Bioregionalism, Permaculture, and Ecovillages. New York: Berghan.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald, Kenneth. 2010. The Devil Is in the (Bio)Diversity: Private Sector ‘Engagement’ and the Restructuring of Biodiversity Conservation. Antipode 42 (3): 513–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morges Manifesto. 1961. We Must Save the World’s Wildlife: An International Declaration. Morges: WWF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Shawn. 2007. An Environmental History of Latin America, New Approaches to the Americas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mittermeier, Russell A., N. Myers, and C.G. Mittermeier. 1999. Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions. San Pedro Garza Garcia: Cemex & Conservation International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinzas, T., J. Danziger, and B. Pratt. 1997. Partners or Contractors? The Relationship Between Official Agencies and NGOs–Peru. Oxford: Intrac.

    Google Scholar 

  • ProNaturaleza. 2013. Memoria Institucional 2012. Lima: ProNaturaleza–Fundación Peruana para la Conservación de la Naturaleza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, Carter, and Chris Hails. 2005. From the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). World Watch Magazine 17: 16–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, John. 2012. Common and Conflicting Interests in the Engagements Between Conservation Organizations and Corporations. Conservation Biology 26: 967–977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez, J.P., A.B. Taber, P. Daszak, et al. 2007. Globalization of Conservation: A View from the South. Science 317: 755–756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy, Arundhati. 2012. Capitalism: A Ghost Story. Outlook India. http://www.outlookindia.com/article/capitalism-a-ghost-story/280234. Accessed 26 Mar 2012.

  • Sachedina, H., J. Igoe, and D. Brockington. 2010. The Spectacular Growth of a Conservation NGO and the Paradoxes of Neoliberal Conservation. Current Conservation 3 (3): 24–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, W. 2010. The Development Dictionary. London/New York: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, Steven. 2002. Weak States, Uncivil Societies and Thousands of NGOs: Western Democracy Export as Benevolent Colonialism in the Balkans. In Cultural Boundaries of the Balkans, ed. Sanimir Recic. Lund: Lund University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligmann, Peter. 2011. Partnerships for the Planet: Why We Must Engage Corporations. Huffington Post Blog. Posted: 05/19/2011 12:56 pm EDT Updated: 07/19/2011 5:12 am EDT. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-seligmann/conservation-international-lockheed-martin_b_863876.html. Accessed 24 Dec 2015.

  • Smith, Richard C. 1982. Dialectics of Domination in Perú: Native Communities and the Myth of the Vast Amazonian Emptiness: An analysis of Development Planning in the Pichis Palcazu Special Project. In Cultural Survival Occasional Paper 8. Cambridge, MA: Cultural Survival Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldron, Anthony, et al. 2013. Targeting Global Conservation Funding to Limit Immediate Biodiversity Declines. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Early Edition: 12144–12148.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, Paige. 2006. Conservation Is Our Government Now: The Politics of Ecology in Papua New Guinea. 1st ed. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Peter Bille Larsen

Authors
  1. Peter Bille Larsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Lucerne, Luzern, Switzerland

    Peter Bille Larsen

  2. Institute for International Development, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

    Dan Brockington

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Larsen, P.B. (2018). The Good, the Ugly and the ‘Dirty Harry’s of Conservation: Rethinking the Anthropology of Conservation NGOs. In: Larsen, P., Brockington, D. (eds) The Anthropology of Conservation NGOs. Palgrave Studies in Anthropology of Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60579-1_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60579-1_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-60578-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60579-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation