Overcoming structural inequalities regarding access to land and biodiversity. Towards convivial conservation in Southern Africa

Southern Africa is replete with histories of expulsion and exclusion of communities from their land for the creation of national parks and other conservation spaces. Whilst many agencies and governments have sought to address and reduce the resultant racialized inequalities over rights and access to land, much of these efforts seem to have stalled over the last decade. In fact, a rapidly growing and diversifying private wildlife economy combined with continued rhino poaching pressures have deteriorated rights and access to land for many people, making it imperative to look for new conservation approaches to break the current impasse. In this presentation, we will reflect on recent lessons from the Living Landscapes in Action project, whose aim is to promote a more convivial conservation in Southern Africa. We will present some of the basic tenets of convivial conservation and outline some of the challenges in operationalizing this novel approach.

Programme

Bram Buscher Wageningen University and Mafaniso Hara (University of Western Cape) present their work, followed by comments from a respondent and a break before a plenary discussion.