IUCN's) National Program Development in Biodiversity Conservation: a Comparative Study of India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh
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Syracuse University SURFACE Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Sociology - Dissertations Affairs 8-2012 Exploring the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN's) National Program Development in Biodiversity Conservation: A Comparative Study of India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh Medani Prasad Bhandari Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/soc_etd Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Bhandari, Medani Prasad, "Exploring the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN's) National Program Development in Biodiversity Conservation: A Comparative Study of India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh" (2012). Sociology - Dissertations. 73. https://surface.syr.edu/soc_etd/73 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology - Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This dissertation investigates IUCN’s role in global biodiversity conservation policy as well as in national program development in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. It explores how nature protection priorities and approaches are promoted or addressed by IUCN, an international organization, and how environment conservation policies are created and maintained in states with different capacities of South Asia. This study is the first detailed scholarly study on the IUCN as an organization as well as on its efforts in biodiversity conservation. This research adds to our knowledge firstly by contributing to a small but growing body of work on the sociology of international organizations. IOs, especially International Governmental Organizations (IGOs), have long been the subject of mostly political science. Secondly, it applies a fuller sociological imagination to the study of IOs by critically exploring one of the largest and most active nature conservation organizations in the world. Thirdly, it also explores how IUCN actually goes about building protectoral programs with individual member nations. Through the use of networks; institutional, stakeholder and governance theory and qualitative research methods, this research explores IUCN’s procedures to prepare both international and national biodiversity conservation related programs with specific examination of four South Asian countries [India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh]. The research outlines how the conservation objectives have been created and enhanced through state-IO engagements. It examines national conservational actions and policies that have been co-constructed as well as the skills and approaches that have been used. This research also defines where in IUCN network conservation innovation comes from and how they produce and adapt that innovation to global and national situations. Finally, the research also shows the historical development of global institutions and IUCN’s activities with member nations in helping to define or redefine the concept of global governance. This dissertation makes use of and hopefully adds to our understanding of organizations as well as organizational theory. Additionally, the dissertation also explores the recent development of the green economy (GE) concepts into IUCN’s program planning today. The green economy initiative applies a people-first approach. Although the concept is relatively new, this research explores the theoretical development of a green economy and illustrates how this theory is applied in IUCN’s program planning to program implementation. Additionally, the research results may be helpful in illuminating some of the advantages and drawbacks of international membership organizations themselves, which may be helpful in future organizational policy formation and implementation efforts. Findings from this research will be useful hopefully to IUCN itself. The outcomes of this research will also be beneficial for global collaboration, networking, and for the identification of common concerns among the many environmental and conservational organizations at the international and national levels. In this broader sense the research outcomes might be beneficial to constituencies of the global North as well as global South because of the nature and coverage of IUCN and its role in conservation policy formation. This effort may serve as a model for additional research on international organizations. Exploring the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN’s) National Program Development in Biodiversity Conservation: A Comparative Study of India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh by Medani P. Bhandari M.A. Syracuse University, USA 2010 M.A. Brandeis University, USA 2004 M.Sc. ITC-University of Twente, the Netherlands 1998 M.A. Tribhuvan University, Nepal 1991 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology in the Graduate School of Syracuse University August 2012 © Medani P. Bhandari 2012 All Rights Reserve ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Steven R. Brechin, who brought me to Syracuse University, even though I was very late in the admission process. I will always remember my first day, May 23, 2005, when I met him in person for the first time, having read about his academic works and his interviews. The next day, he asked me to meet some key personnel, i.e. Professor Andrew London, Marjorie DeVault, Christine L. Himes (Sociology Department) and Mr. David Smith and Peter Englot (Graduate School). He asked me if I had knowledge of hats and colors; when I affirmatively replied, he asked me to use it accordingly. Throughout my time at the University and along my academic trajectory, I have followed that “guru mantra”. Professor Brechin has not only acted as an advisor, but as my “guru” as it is practiced in the Indian subcontinent as a philosophy of life. He has been my guardian economically, socially, culturally, and obviously academically. Any esteem I hold in academia is entirely credited to him. Secondly, Peter Englot, in our first meeting on May 23, 2005, mentioned that “where there is a wish there is a way.” This was so meaningful at that time that it gave me new way of thinking. Peter works in the administration, and has been supportive throughout my time here. This credit also goes to Dr. Patricia Burak, Director of Syracuse’s Slutzker Center for International Services, as well as Mark Lichtenstein. I must also thank William Katz (from Chicago, who at 93 years old came to Syracuse to hand over his guardianship of me to Professor Brechin), Edward Tedaschi (Boston), Reverend William Turpie (Boston) and Dr. Jan Carey (Australia), Dr. Samuel H. Sage (Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Syracuse). Thirdly, Professor Marjorie DeVault, who always encouraged me through all difficulties. I likewise thank Peter Ibarra, Cecilia A. Green, Hans C Buechler, and Professor A.H. Peter Castro and Professor Stuart Ira Bretschneider (the chair of the defense). Fourthly, the entire IUCN family, from the President and Director General to the field-level staff, especially among them Mr. Keith Wheeler, the chair of CEC-IUCN, who has played the role of gatekeeper. I also thank all of the 253 research participants. Thank you to the entire faculty and staff of the Maxwell School Sociology Department, who have played important roles in my research trajectory. Thank you to Syracuse University for providing me a first-rank fellowship and scholarships. Special thanks for the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC) award; Center for Environmental Policy and Administration (CEPA) Award; and the Chancellor’s Grant to conduct this research. I must thank my family members, including my mother (Heema Devi), my brothers and sisters, and my uncle Ramchandra Gautam, who first taught me to read and write. I would also like to mention some very important people who are not in this world physically, but who would be most happy to know that their dreams have come true. These people include my father Lok Nath Bhandari, my grandmother Laxmi Devi Bhandari, my grandparents Avikasher and Jalapa Devi Gautam (mother’s side), my father- and mother-in-law Dwarika Nath and Durga Devi Devkota, and brothers and sisters in law and nephew Dinkar Sigdel who has helped me in many ways. I also remember Narayan Paudel (Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Government of Nepal-who passed away in a helicopter crash with 25 other people in Nepal); and Damodar Bhardwaj (my Guru -who died tragically in a house collapse in Varanasi). Finally, thanks to my wife Prajita, my son Prameya and daughter Manaslu; daughter-in-law Rashmi, and grandson Prashmin and granddaughter Aahana who have brought joy to the family. v I dedicate this dissertation to Prajita Bhandari (My wife, my friend, co-author in creative writing, and co-founder of the Association for Protection of the Environment and Culture, which first connected me with IUCN). vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x CHAPTERS I. INTRODUCTION 1 Why I chose IUCN in my research 1 Academic reasons for choosing IUCN for my dissertation research 6 Four countries scenario in terms of strength 9 Research objectives and questions 10 The importance of research-objectives 11 Intellectual merit/significance of the study 12 The broader impact of this research