Saving the Planet, Saving People?
So on Friday I went to a talk given by Peter Kareiva the director of conservation science programs at The Nature Conservancy. He talked about the function of ecosystem services in selling the TNC’s conservation agenda to various donor groups (governments, corporations, etc.). He also talked about this new project the TNC is trying, one that not only looks at ecosystems that are important to protect, but ones that are particularly important because they house “vulnerable” populations. These populations include people with lower education, minorities, low incomes etc. The idea is that these people, living in inexpensive housing, are much more vulnerable to the effects of environmental disasters (in the case discussed, hurricanes in the Florida panhandle) than other populations. So this sounds great, and it is a cool idea, but in the same talk Kareiva discussed The Nature Conservancy’s assistance in maintaining protected areas (by getting money for increased numbers of guards, enforcement etc.) in Latin America. So pardon my confusion here, but don’t protected areas, in many cases create vulnerable populations? In many cases, by removing people from their land and/or depriving them of access to traditional resources, protected areas can create “conservation refugees” and increase poverty amongst former park residents. Even after talking to Kareiva after his talk I am still unclear as to how TNC’s new projects that include “vulnerable populations” in their calculations for figuring out what to protect fit with their involvement in maintaining (through guards and enforcement of protected areas) and creation of (through their support of protected areas establishment) vulnerable populations.
Posted by Alice on October 28th, 2008 • • Add a comment