Unlikely Allies? the Intersections of Conservation and Extraction in Tanzania
Unlikely Allies? The Intersections of Conservation and Extraction in Tanzania Devin Holterman A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Graduate Program in Geography York University Toronto, Ontario October 2020 © Devin Holterman, 2020 Abstract Tanzania is largely considered the epicenter of the Second Poaching Crisis, having experienced dramatic declines in wildlife populations, in particular elephants. In response, the country has established a new (para)military wildlife authority, enhanced international partnerships and projects aimed at curbing illegal elephant killings, and embarked on widespread anti-poaching operations as part of the country’s so-called “war on poaching.” Attuned to these characteristics of green militarization and the conditions of biodiversity crisis in Tanzania, this dissertation examines the emergence of anti-poaching partnerships between conservation and extractive industry actors. Based on 11 months of research in Tanzania, focusing specifically on the Selous Game Reserve, I illustrate that mainstream state and non-state conservation efforts, under the conditions of biodiversity crisis, enable the expansion of the mining, oil and gas industries. Building on this argument, the dissertation offers three contributions to political ecological and broader critical geographical scholarship. First, I show how Tanzania’s categorization of the poacher as an “economic saboteur” who threatens the national economy forms one aspect of a broader economic rationale directing the country’s increasingly militarized approach to conservation. Such an economic rationale, utilized by both state and non-state conservation actors, authorizes controversial partnerships with the extractive industries. Second, I show how Tanzania’s militarization of conservation is enabled in part by extractive industry actors who, in addition to securing access to its desired mineral deposits, temporarily “fix” the broader social and political crises facing the industry.
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