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The Best Laid Plans: Using the Capability Approach to Assess Neoliberal Conservation in South Africa-The Case of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Hansen, Melissa LU ; Faran, Turaj LU and O Byrne, David LU (2015) In The Journal of Environment & Development 24(4). p.395-417
Abstract
The article documents the case of South Africa's struggle to reconcile racially based poverty, a legacy of apartheid, and attempts to conserve the country's unique and important biodiversity. We present an analysis of KwaDapha, a small village in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in terms of the capability approach. Despite South Africa's strong human rights orientation, we show that the freedom, or agency, of local users and inhabitants to achieve doings and beings according to their own values and norms, is constrained by state-led conservation management at KwaDapha. We suggest that the intellectual cause of this failure might lie in the conflation of two distinct... (More)
The article documents the case of South Africa's struggle to reconcile racially based poverty, a legacy of apartheid, and attempts to conserve the country's unique and important biodiversity. We present an analysis of KwaDapha, a small village in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in terms of the capability approach. Despite South Africa's strong human rights orientation, we show that the freedom, or agency, of local users and inhabitants to achieve doings and beings according to their own values and norms, is constrained by state-led conservation management at KwaDapha. We suggest that the intellectual cause of this failure might lie in the conflation of two distinct concepts: human rights and the capability approach, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park's predominantly market-based operationalization of sustainable development. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
agency, Africa, South, market-based conservation, human rights, the capability approach
in
The Journal of Environment & Development
volume
24
issue
4
pages
395 - 417
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • wos:000364376300002
  • scopus:84946071280
ISSN
1552-5465
DOI
10.1177/1070496515598348
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e04a2d88-03c3-414a-868d-935ebe523a2f (old id 8386477)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:12:39
date last changed
2022-04-04 03:31:00
@article{e04a2d88-03c3-414a-868d-935ebe523a2f,
  abstract     = {{The article documents the case of South Africa's struggle to reconcile racially based poverty, a legacy of apartheid, and attempts to conserve the country's unique and important biodiversity. We present an analysis of KwaDapha, a small village in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a protected area and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in terms of the capability approach. Despite South Africa's strong human rights orientation, we show that the freedom, or agency, of local users and inhabitants to achieve doings and beings according to their own values and norms, is constrained by state-led conservation management at KwaDapha. We suggest that the intellectual cause of this failure might lie in the conflation of two distinct concepts: human rights and the capability approach, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park's predominantly market-based operationalization of sustainable development.}},
  author       = {{Hansen, Melissa and Faran, Turaj and O Byrne, David}},
  issn         = {{1552-5465}},
  keywords     = {{agency; Africa; South; market-based conservation; human rights; the capability approach}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{395--417}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{The Journal of Environment & Development}},
  title        = {{The Best Laid Plans: Using the Capability Approach to Assess Neoliberal Conservation in South Africa-The Case of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1070496515598348}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1070496515598348}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}