Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Conservation from Above: Globalising Care for Nature

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Anthropology of Sustainability

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

Abstract

Historically, the dominant model of conservation is one of the impositions of nature protection from above, by aristocratic landowners, by state agencies and increasingly by non-governmental organisations. While conservationists often talk about ‘community conservation’, top-down approaches still dominate. This chapter identifies five dimensions of contemporary top-down conservation—its global frame, its dependence on science, its corporate character, its engagement with neoliberalism and its dependence on hierarchical systems of knowledge. But not all conservation fits this model. The chapter ends by discussing the possibilities of a new conservation from below, an assembly of practices emerging from local and everyday engagements between human and non-human nature and shared social values and political organisation.

We work closely with communities, governments, businesses and many others because we make a bigger impact when we work together.

Website, Conservation International, http://www.conservation.org/Pages/default.aspx, 4 May 2015

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 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 27.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
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

  • Abrams, R.W., E. Anwana, A. Ormsby, D. Dovie, A. Ajagbe, and A. Abrams. 2009. Integrating Top-Down with Bottom-Up Conservation Policy in Africa. Conservation Biology 23: 799–804.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, W.M. 2003. Nature and the Colonial Mind. In Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for Conservation in a Post-Colonial era, ed. W.M. Adams and M. Mulligan, 16–50. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004. Against Extinction: The Story of Conservation. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2009. Green Development: Environment and Sustainability in a Developing World. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams, W.M., and D. Hulme. 2001. If Community Conservation Is the Answer, What Is the Question? Oryx 35: 193–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, W.M., and C. Sandbrook. 2013. Evidence and Conservation: The Need for a New Approach. Oryx 47: 327–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal, A. 2005. Environmentality: Technologies of Government and the Making of Subjects. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apostolopoulou, E., and W.M. Adams. 2014. Neoliberal Capitalism and Conservation in the Post-Crisis Era: The Dialectics of “Green” and “Ungreen” Grabbing. Antipode 47: 15–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bearzi, G. 2009. When Swordfish Conservation Biologists Eat Swordfish. Conservation Biology 23: 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F. 1999. Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management. London: Taylor and Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockington, D. 2003. Injustice and Conservation – Is “Local Support” Necessary for Sustainable Protected Areas? Policy Matters 12: 22–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockington, D., and K. Scholfield. 2010. Expenditure by Conservation Non-governmental Organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Conservation Letters 3: 106–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brockington, D., R. Duffy, and J. Igoe. 2008. Nature Unbound. Conservation, Capitalism and the Future of Protected Areas. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brosius, P. 2004. Seeing Natural and Cultural Communities: Technologies of Visualization in Conservation. EP Colloquium, University of California Berkeley. globetrotter.berkeley.edu/EnvirPol/ColloqPapers/Brosius2004.pdf

  • Brosius, J.P., and D. Russell. 2003. Conservation from Above: An Anthropological Perspective on Transboundary Protected Areas and Ecoregional Planning. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 17: 39–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, R.L. 2002. Non-governmental Organizations and Governmentality: ‘Consuming’ Biodiversity and Indigenous People in the Philippines. Political Studies 50: 268–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büscher, B., S. Sullivan, K. Neves, J. Igoe, and D. Brockington. 2012. Towards a Synthesized Critique of Neoliberal Biodiversity Conservation. Capitalism, Nature Socialism 23: 4–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castree, N. 2008. Neoliberalising Nature: Processes, Effects, and Evaluations. Environment and Planning A 40: 153–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castree, N., and G. Henderson. 2014. The Capitalism Mode of Conservation, Neoliberalism and the Ecology of Value. New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Enquiry 7 (1): 16–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers, R. 1983. Rural Development: Putting the Last First. London: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin, M. 2004. A Challenge to Conservationists. World Watch 17 (6): 17–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colchester, M. 2004. Conservation Policy and Indigenous Peoples. Cultural Survival Quarterly 281: 17–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corson, C., K. MacDonald, and B. Neimark. 2013. Grabbing Green: Markets, Environmental Governance and the Materialization of Natural Capital. Human Geography 6 (1): 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Croll, E., and D. Parkin. 1992. Cultural Understandings of the Environment. In Bush Base: Forest Farm: Culture, Environment and Development, ed. E. Croll and D. Parkin, 11–36. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowie, M. 2009. Conservation Refugees: The Hundred-Year Conflict Between Global Conservation and Native Peoples. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairhead, J., and M. Leach. 2003. Science, Society and Power: Environmental Knowledge and Policy in West Africa and the Caribbean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fazey, I., J. Salisbury, D. Lindenmayer, J. Maindonald, and R. Douglas. 2004. Can Methods Applied in Medicine be Used to Summarize and Disseminate Conservation Research? Environmental Conservation 31 (3): 190–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, R. 2010. Neoliberal Environmentality: Towards a Poststructuralist Political Ecology of the Conservation Debate. Conservation and Society 8 (3): 171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garland, E. 2008. The Elephant in the Room: Confronting the Colonial Character of Wildlife Conservation in Africa. African Studies Review 51: 51–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodge, I., and W.M. Adams. 2012. Neoliberalization, Rural Land Trusts and Institutional Blending. Geoforum 43: 472–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, A.J. 2009. Shades of Green. Stanford Innovation Review 7 (2): 40–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, G. 2012. Biodiversity for Billionaires: Capitalism, Conservation and the Role of Philanthropy in Saving/Selling Nature. Development and Change 43: 185–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, D., and M. Murphree, eds. 2001. African Wildlife and Livelihoods: The Promise and Performance of Community Conservation. Oxford: James Currey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutton, J., W.M. Adams, and J. Murombedzi. 2005. Back to the Barriers? Changing Narratives in Biodiversity Conservation. Forum for Development Studies 32 (2): 341–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Igoe, J., K. Neves, and D. Brockington. 2010. A Spectacular Eco-tour Around the Historic Bloc: Theorising the Convergence of Biodiversity Conservation and Capitalist Expansion. Antipode 42: 486–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, R.A., C.P. van Schaik, and J. Johnson, eds. 1997. The Last Stand: Protected Areas and the Defense of Tropical Biodiversity. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Margules, C.R., and R. Pressey. 2000. Systematic Conservation Planning. Nature 405: 243–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meine, C., M. Soulé, and R.F. Noss. 2006. “A Mission-Driven Discipline”: The Growth of Conservation Biology. Conservation Biology 20: 631–651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mittermeier, R.A., N. Myers, P.R. Gil, and C.G. Mittermeier. 1999. Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions. Mexico City: CEMEX and Conservation International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, N. 1988. Threatened Biotas: ‘Hotspots’ in Tropical Forests. Environmentalist 8: 187–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, N., R. Mittermeier, C. Mittermeier, G. de Fonseca, and J. Kent. 2000. Biodiversity Hotspots for Conservation Priorities. Nature 403: 853–858.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neumann, R.P. 1998. Imposing Wilderness: Struggles Over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. The Postwar Conservation Boom in British Colonial Africa. Environmental History 7: 22–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004. Nature-State-Territory: Towards a Critical Theorization of Conservation Enclosures. In Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements, ed. R. Peet and M. Watts, 195–217. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noss, R. 2010. Local Priorities Can be Too Parochial for Biodiversity. Nature 463: 424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oates, J. 1999. Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest: How Conservation Strategies are Failing in West Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D.M., and E. Dinerstein. 1998. The Global 200: A Representation Approach to Conserving the Earth’s Most Biologically Valuable Ecoregions. Conservation Biology 12 (3): 502–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peck, J. 2010. Constructions of Neoliberal Reason. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Peluso, N. 1993. Coercing Conservation: The Politics of State Resource Control. Global Environmental Change 3: 199–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pilgrim, S., and J. Pretty, eds. 2010. Nature and Culture: Rebuilding Lost Connections. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pretty, J., W. Adams, F. Berkes, S. de Athayde, N. Dudley, E. Hunn, L. Maffi, K. Milton, D. Rapport, P. Robbins, E. Sterling, S. Stolton, A. Tsing, E. Vintinner, and S. Pilgrim. 2009. The Intersections of Biological Diversity and Cultural Diversity: Towards Integration. Conservation and Society 7 (2): 100–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pullin, A.S., and T.M. Knight. 2001. Effectiveness in Conservation Practice: Pointers from Medicine and Public Health. Conservation Biology 15 (1): 50–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, J.G. 2011. Corporate Greening: Is It Significant for Biodiversity Conservation? Oryx 45 (3): 309–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sachedina, H.T. 2010. Disconnected Nature: The Scaling Up of African Wildlife Foundation and its Impacts on Biodiversity Conservation and Local Livelihoods. Antipode 42: 603–623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandbrook, C. 2014. What Is Conservation? Thinking Like a Human. http://thinkinglikeahuman.com/2014/03/05/what-is-conservation/

  • Sandbrook, C., I. Scales, B. Vira, and W.M. Adams. 2010. Mission Impossible? Diversity in the Values Held by Conservation Scientists. Conservation Biology 25 (2): 285–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheail, J. 1998. Nature Conservation in Britain: The Formative Years. London: The Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R.J., D. Verissimo, N. Leader-Williams, R. Cowling, and A. Knight. 2009. Let the Locals Lead. Nature 462: 280–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stattersfield, A.J., and S. Thirgood. 1992. Putting Biodiversity on the Map. Cambridge: BirdLife international.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland, W.J., T.A. Gardner, L.J. Haider, and L.V. Dicks. 2014. How Can Local and Traditional Knowledge be Effectively Incorporated into International Assessments? Oryx 48: 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terborgh, J. 1999. Requiem for Nature. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M., and D. Hulme. 1997. Governance, Administration and Development: Making the State Work. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Western, D., M. Wright, and S. Strumm, eds. 1994. Natural Connections: Perspectives in Community-Based Conservation. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker, R.J., M. Araújo, P. Jepson, R. Ladle, J. Watson, and K. Willis. 2005. Conservation Biogeography: Assessment and Prospect. Diversity and Distributions 11: 3–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilshusen, P.R., S.R. Brechin, C.L. Fortwangler, and P.C. West. 2002. Reinventing a Square Wheel: Critique of a Resurgent “Protection Paradigm” in International Biodiversity Conservation. Society and Natural Resources 15: 17–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Conservation Union – IUCN. 2005. Benefits Beyond Boundaries. Proceedings of the Vth World Parks Congress. Cambridge, UK: World Conservation Union.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    William M. Adams

Authors
  1. William M. Adams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William M. Adams .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Marc Brightman

  2. Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Jerome Lewis

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Adams, W.M. (2017). Conservation from Above: Globalising Care for Nature. In: Brightman, M., Lewis, J. (eds) The Anthropology of Sustainability. Palgrave Studies in Anthropology of Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56636-2_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56636-2_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56635-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56636-2

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation