Bibliography

Bizimana, Nsekuye. "The myth of the modern." In The future of progress: reflections on environment and development, edited by Edward Goldsmith, Khor, Martin, Norberg-Hodge, Helena, Shiva, Vandana, & others, 121-128. Foxhole, Dartington: Green Books, 1995.

An interesting consideration of the negative impacts of capitalist expansion across the globe from the perspective of a Rwandan woman who has lived in Europe. The author argues that the unending drive for economic growth has contributed to an increasing sense of loneliness, alienation, and unhappiness among Westerners whose spiritual and emotional natures have been sacrificed to the drive for profits. The author also argues that in Africa, the increasingly materialistic desires of the people and the availability of Western technologies have weakened African solidarity, vitality, and sharing that have helped characterize African survival techniques with the environment and with other people. Bizimana suggests that "modernization" be reassessed and discarded in Africa for more traditional-based strategies and ideologies, and suggests that cheaper, more environmentally-reasonable strategies for living with the earth be exhausted before toxic chemicals are embraced from the North (fertilizers, DDT, etc.). Bizimana suggests that Africans embrace the positive aspects of their own traditions and disregard those that are harmful and oppressive (127), and asks for the same to be considered in relation to Western ideologies and practices. The author argues that any socioeconomic system based on "egoism," oppression, and the denial of human interests (for Northern and Southern peoples) will ultimately prove self-destructive and impoverishing across the globe.

Braude, Stan. "Elephant and rhinoceros conservation in Kenya." Endangered Species UPDATE 9, no. 3 (1992): 1-4.

A brief article highlighting the conservation efforts and controversies that have revolved around rhino and elephant poaching and protection in the postcolonial era from the 1970s to the early 90s. The author makes a good point in recognizing that poaching has been a significant problem in Kenya because of the money to be made from ivory products on world markets (especially in Hong Kong), as human populations increase dramatically in Kenya and in Africa in general. The author also recognizes that the survival of elephants and rhinos in East Africa is important to the national government, not on an aesthetic level, but as a foreign currency earner for the country, as an "exotic" symbol of African wildlife that draws thousands of tourists to East Africa every year. The worldwide ivory ban and the authority of Richard Leakey in conservation efforts have helped to cut down on poaching in Kenya recently, but as human populations increase and rural peoples are forced to look to poaching as a monetary option to survive (an aspect of the conservation issue that the author unfortunately does not touch upon), the elephant and rhino populations will continue to be threatened by a lack of community-based support and incentives to protect the species.

Cahn, Matthew. "Liberalism and environmental quality." In Thinking about the environment: readings on politics, property, and the physical world, edited by Matthew Alan Cahn, and O'Brien, Rory, 120-127. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996.

A good consideration of the problematic aspects of sustainability and environmental improvement in the context of the American socioeconomic and political system. The author suggests that "while environmental degradation is certainly not unique to capitalist economies, as a system based on maximizing profit, capitalism is inconsistent with maintaining environmental quality" (126). Cahn defends this perspective by suggesting that there are two fundamental structural tensions between liberalism and environmental quality: "liberalism's emphasis on individual self-interest" and capitalism's constant drive for economic expansion and profit, which has had the effect of the "overuse of limited resources and the degradation of our physical environment" (120). Based on Lockean principles of individual self-interest, liberal capitalism "encourages environmental degradation in several ways" (125). The promotion of self-interest discourages the regulation of private resources that environmental protection relies on centrally. Furthermore, economic success and economic growth in capitalism have been historically synonymous, encouraging profitability and increased production at the expense of extensive destruction and appropriation of environmental resources. Cahn sums it up when he states: "Environmental stress is a net result of unbridled economic growth" (126). The author also points out that the profit motive in capitalist society encourages pollution of resources, rather than protection through recycling, reusing, or reprocessing, because pollution is much more cheap and preserves the profit margin to a greater degree. Under these conditions, the author recognizes that sustainability in the capitalist system is difficult, if not ultimately impossible, because it goes against the fundamental ideological and structural framework of the system.

Cartwright, John. "Is there hope for conservation in East Africa?" The Journal of Modern African Studies 29, no. 3 (1991): 355-371.

Summation of problems in Africa that make conservation difficult, including poor economics, cultural aversion, lack of conservation as a development possibility, and increasing population. Examples of Zambia and Cameroon suggest that given the resources and wealth, conservation can work. Also, conservation must be encouraged as a development possibility through profit motives from "developed" countries.

Chiuri, Wanjiku, and Nzioki, Akinyi. "Women: invisible managers of natural resources." In Groundwork: African women as environmental managers, edited by Shanyisa A. Khasiani, 19-25. Nairobi: ACTS Press, 1992.

A concise summation of the role of women as environmental managers in Africa and in Kenya in particular. Because women depend upon the land and its resources for the continued survival of their communities, they have developed sustainable land use policies combined with a respect for nature that is less objectifying and mechanistic than new, (national and foreign) government policies. The author suggests that because of their involvement in land management, food production, water and forest management, and wildlife management at the local level, women are significantly involved in resource use, but due to sexist, male-dominated policies that have marginalized women and their traditional knowledge, this involvement has not been integrated into new management policies, at the expense of policy failures and the degradation of resources (as populations have increased, land has been redistributed, and land shortage is now a significant issue, and purely traditional management strategies are often more destructive than sustainable), which women are aware of but are forced to engage in simply to survive on the short term. The authors conclude succinctly with several general suggestions: "Women are responsible for the environmental crises on the continent which translate into food shortages, water pollution and soil erosion. These problems require integration of the traditional holistic environmental management view with the 'new' approaches. It is also essential to recognize and utilize women's skills as environmental managers and eliminate legal, structural and cultural constraints to women's effective management of the environment" (25).

Collett, David. "Pastoralists and wildlife: image and reality in Kenya Maasailand." In Conservation in Africa: people, policies and practice, edited by David and Grove Anderson, Richard, 129-148. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Consideration of conservation from colonial images and ideologies that still shape policies today; Maasai pastoralists have traditionally been denied involvement based on racism, British conceptions of man vs. nature, conception of cattle as "harmful." Provides insights on conservation failures in Kenya Maasailand.

Cumming, D. H. M. "Conservation issues and problems in Africa." In Voices from Africa: local perspectives on conservation, edited by Dale Lewis, and Carter, Nick, 23-47. Washington, D.C.: World Wildlife Fund, 1993.

A focused look at national park systems in South Central Africa, and the ways in which the successes and especially the failures of parks in this region can more generally be applied to Africa and to conservation in general. Particularly insightful is the author's discussion of current problems with national parks in the SCA: the author recognizes that parks have been fairly successful in protecting wildlife but that the park system itself does not exist in harmony with rural peoples, cultural attitudes, fails to provide for the benefit of the indigenous peoples, and caters mostly to city-dwellers and foreign tourists. Based on colonial policies and currently encouraged by overseas interests who do not want Africa to contribute to global pollution, national parks fail to provide for sustainable development strategies under the false impression that the parks can adequately provide for wildlife and ecosystems in Africa, a position that is clearly untenable as human populations continue to soar and remain unprovided for by the land set aside for the parks. The author calls for a new ethics of conservation that integrates parks into the surrounding fabric of rural peoples and landscapes, allows for intensive community-based utilization, demands budgetary compensation from developed nations if Africa is to remain undeveloped, and involves local people much more directly in the conservation process.

Davidson, Basil. The black man's burden: Africa and the curse of the nation-state. New York: Times Books, 1992.

A good consideration of African impoverishment, devastation, and degradation. The author claims that the colonial legacy - and particularly the formation of Africa ideologically and geographically according to a nation-state model - has been directly responsible for the continuing infrastructural nightmares and environmental problems facing African peoples today. Davidson argues that colonialism in Africa must be acknowledged and deconstructed if African underdevelopment today is to be truly appreciated. The author suggests that precolonial Africa was made up of sustainable and working communities and cultures, based on particularly African forms of interaction and political-economic frameworks. The nation-state model introduced by European colonizers - in addition to colonial ideologies, technologies, and techniques - were inadequate and inappropriate to the African context, and as a result have continued to be problematic for African peoples and communities. Davidson also recognizes (although he does not spend enough time stressing the point) that current African problems and disasters are linked to the continuing, exploitative relationships between Europe and America, and Africa, an echo of the colonial legacy that continues to plague African nations and peoples, preventing them from "developing" along lines that are more self-sustaining and less degrading; the failure of the nation-state model reflects some of the deeper failures of capitalist and industrial ideologies that have failed to provide answers around the world (including Eastern Europe, as Davidson notes in drawing parallels between this region and Africa).

Foster, John Bellamy. "Sustainable development of what?" Capitalism Nature Socialism 7, no. 3 (1996): 129-132.

A short piece in which the author considers the validity of the term "sustainable development." Although sustainable development supposedly represents a balance between ecological sustainability and economic development, the term tends to refer more to sustained economic growth, because sustainable development assumes that profit margins, GNP, etc. are sustainably increasing. Under this logic, there is a deep contradiction between sustaining natural resources and economic growth. The author argues that a critique of development, and of capitalist tendencies towards self-destruction, are necessary, so that a focus on people vs. profits and on having enough rather than having more becomes a driving ideological force. The author makes an important point in suggesting that people are inseparable from the natural world, and any environmental degradation that development causes will be linked directly to human degradation and poverty (especially in the Third World on the short term). Foster suggests that a radical new ethic of people before profits, of justice and equality above greed and capital, needs to be brought to the fore if environmental and human degradation is truly to be avoided and development is to take place sustainably.

Gereffi, Gary, Korzeniewicz, Miguel, and Korzeniewicz, Roberto P. "Introduction: global commodity chains." In Commodity chains and global capitalism, edited by Gary Gereffi, and Korzeniewicz, Miguel, 1-14. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994.

Especially in the first few pages, the authors offer a good explanation of the concept of "commodity chains," a term that has become useful in describing the production chain, the politics, the economics, and the social structures that have given rise to certain commodities, as capitalist forces have become increasingly globalized. Global commodity chains are useful because they allow for a study of the process of capitalist production, and allow one to connect a commodity back to the socioeconomic forces in which its production and transportation are contained. Interestingly, the authors of this section ignore an extremely important set of relationships contained within commodity chains, especially in light of capitalist tendencies towards domination and exploitation of peoples and resources: the authors make no mention of the power dynamics inherent in the production and transportation processes of commodities. Who controls different stages of commodity production and transportation? Who are the commodities targeted towards? Who benefits politically, economically, and socially from the stages of the commodity chains? How do the power dynamics reflect and reinforce systems of inequality and oppression at local, national, and international levels? In relation to these questions, the authors' analysis is glaringly silent.

Ghai, Dharam. "Environment, livelihood, and empowerment." In Development and environment: sustaining people and nature, edited by Dharam Ghai, 1-11. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1994.

A brief but good summation of the collection of essays in this book, which the author states emerged out of a collective desire "to study the diverse and complex interactions between people and the environment" (1), and how these sociocultural processes relate to ecological and environmental issues. Ghai makes the important point that "programmes and projects concerned with conservation and sustainable development will only succeed on any scale when they address the social factors influencing the way people interact with the environment" (1). Ghai argues that an understanding of gender relations, empowerment issues, access to resources, etc. is essential to understanding the efficacy and history behind environmental management issues. Ghai looks at chapters in the book dealing with tradition and change to emphasize ways in which local systems of knowledge are necessary to empower indigenous communities in relation to environmental management, and looks at issues of oppression and resistance to clearly demonstrate ways in which "European conquest of the Americas and the colonization of much of Africa, Asia and the Pacific was accompanied by seizure of huge tracts of land and dispossession of vast multitudes of people. The same process continues in many rural areas of the developing world, although on a smaller scale and in different forms" (4). He also identifies ways in which local communities have struggled through grassroots movements against these processes, and ways in which "development" continues to include many aspects of dependency and exploitation. Ghai then identifies the roles of gender and property within the context of conservation discussions; often, women are completely denied access to property ownership, putting them in a frustrating position when they recognize environmental degradation around them and cannot act against it; clearly, a struggle against gender dominance and for more sound property systems is in order. Ghai also identifies three main strategies of conservation: the official programs of preservation, rehabilitation and improvement, and "resource improvement efforts undertaken at the initiative of local communities and grass-roots organizations" (7). Ghai recognizes that the official schemes have in general been "dismal" failures because they ignore local communities and fail to respond to regional socioeconomic and political needs, while community-based schemes have rarely had enough funds or acknowledgment to succeed on a large scale. Ghai concludes by stressing that "a social perspective on the environment, as opposed to one based purely on ecology or technology, shows that the issues of resource degradation and regeneration are intimately linked to questions of power, institutions, livelihood and culture" (9). Ghai suggests that only by linking conservation to issues of community empowerment, poverty eradication, and gender equality, can conservation measures begin to be effective. This will also require massive changes in the dominant socioeconomic paradigms based primarily on profit rather than human dignity, and will require changes in global and national political and social forces as well.

Ghimire, Krishna B. "Parks and people: livelihood issues in national parks management in Thailand and Madagascar." In Development and environment: sustaining people and nature, edited by Dharam Ghai, 195-229. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1994.

An excellent consideration of national parks and reserves in developing countries and the ways in which environmental protection and isolation have often been intrinsically linked to impoverishment and social conflict among local people, often leading to further environmental deterioration due to local people's resentments and lack of options resulting from the sectioning off of resources and land rights from the people. The author explains this well when he argues "not only that the expansion of protected areas can result in an increasing displacement of people and a disruption of their livelihoods, but also that this process is frequently accompanied by further environmental deterioration, including higher rates of deforestation. Furthermore, the establishment of parks and reserves for recreation and tourism or for purposes of exclusive protection of scenic areas of biodiversity is ill-suited to the developing world and has tended to conflict with the existing, often sustainable, resource use and livelihood practices of the local people" (195). The author pursues this argument by discussing national parks in developing countries in general, focusing on the examples of Thailand and Madagascar, and then concluding with what these examples suggest about national parks in developing nations in general. The author's arguments are pursued most effectively - in the context of this thesis - in the considerations of national parks in general and in the concluding section. The author recognizes that national parks - as well as reserves and sanctuaries - take up a significant amount of land and resources. This is especially true in developing nations, where the growth in areas set aside for parks has been most prominent. (Does this echo of the dependency maintained between North and South, in which developing nations are set aside as tourist destinations for First World peoples to enjoy?) Ghimire cites an increased international concern with environmental protection, the profitability of tourism for developing countries, and the fashionable nature of officials in developing nations adopting an "eco-friendly" stance towards protection, as reasons for this growth. The author then presents a considerable list of developing countries that have set aside 10 or more per cent of their land surface for national parks, including Tanzania at 25 per cent and Kenya at over 10 per cent. The author also notes that although there has been significant attention paid to land protection, there has been almost no attention paid to effective land settlement and agricultural programs in developing nations. This partly stems from colonial management of many developing nations and postcolonial influences in the nations, which based national park systems on the inadequate U.S. model of preserving areas for the recreational benefit of "the public." Colonial considerations of the incompetence and inferiority of native peoples also played into the construction of this model, and as a result, "the interrelated socio-economic aspects, particularly the role that national parks play in supporting local livelihood systems, have frequently been neglected in developing park management plans" (198). Because of these dynamics, the local people have often been seen as the main threat to environmental protection (an implicit reason for setting aside land isolated from the people), and have been marginalized from access to park resources. This has had a number of negative effects, including local antipathy and resentment towards conservation schemes in general, and has led to increased degradation outside of parks by forcing agriculturalists to destructively farm land overintensively, leading to loss of soil fertility, increased erosion, etc. The author concludes that national parks will increasingly become a site of intense, rural social conflict, as local peoples are continually denied access to resources, denied a part in forming more effective and inclusive policy planning and management schemes, are marginalized from the resources and from alternatives to their impoverishment, and are ignored in the light of the priority of protecting flora and fauna from the "predations" of the natives. As long as this imperialist mentality is maintained, local peoples will continue to degrade the environment outside of parks, as they are given no other option, and their resentments of isolationist policies will continue to make them a threat to environmental resources and conservation policies.

Goldsmith, Edward. "Development fallacies." In The future of progress: reflections on environment and development, edited by Edward Goldsmith, Khor, Martin, Norberg-Hodge, Helena, Shiva, Vandana, & others, 68-78. Foxhole, Dartington: Green Books, 1995.

An excellent analysis of "development" aid in the Third World. According to Goldsmith, "the 'development' currently imposed by the industrialized nations on the Third World is producing a whole series of interconnected negative impacts on the very people the process purports to help" (68). Fundamentally, this is because "aid" is given to "developing" nations based on Western profit motives for economic growth and expansion, not out of any heartfelt expression of caring; aid is a manifestation of power dynamics that reflects the continued, dependency relationship between North and South that emerged during the colonial period. Through the use of the World Bank and the IMF, aid has been "institutionalized as the industrialized world's principal tool of economic colonialism" (70) in the South (controlled primarily by the United States from 1945 into the 1970s). Goldsmith also argues that economic "development" in the South is not fundamentally helpful because it encourages population explosions that were held in check in precolonial times by traditional societies. The urbanization and technological thrust of Western societies upon the South has created greater problems with famine and malnutrition, especially because the increased production of resources has been encouraged at the expense of local food supplies and sustainability; resources are used to provide exports to Northern countries, encouraging systemic poverty and environmental destruction.

Green, Bryn H. "Conservation in cultural landscapes." In Conservation for the twenty-first century, edited by David Western, and Pearl, Mary C., 182-198. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

An interesting analysis of Great Britain's history of conservation that highlights several periods in Britain's history - including the destruction of woods in the Neolithic, the enclosures of areas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the twentieth-century drive for agricultural intensification - that account for the historic demise of wildlife in Britain, and the ways in which this wilderness deterioration forced conservation awareness during the late-nineteenth century. Green suggests that the destructive relationship of the British with wildlife shaped their environmental protection policies (at home and abroad as well), but also that the diversification of species may have been increased in some ways through woodland destruction and the establishment of a patchwork of ecosystems in Britain. Green also suggests that as overproduction becomes redundant, certain areas could be allowed to proceed back into a more natural state.

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