Elephants of Democracy

ELEPHANTS OF DEMOCRACY An unfolding process of resettlement in the Limpopo National Park Jessica Milgroom THESIS COMMITTEE Thesis supervisors Prof. dr. ir. C. Leeuwis Professor of Communication and Innovation studies Wageningen University Prof. dr. K.E. Giller Professor of Plant Production Systems Wageningen University Thesis co-supervisor Prof. dr. J.L.S. Jiggins Guest member, Communication and Innovation studies Group Wageningen University Other members Dr. J.C. Ribot University of Illinois, USA Prof. dr. F.J.J.M. Bongers Wageningen University, NL Prof. dr. ir. D.J.M. Hilhorst Wageningen University, NL Prof. dr. ir. J.W.M van Dijk Wageningen University, NL This research was conducted under the auspices of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences and the C.T. De Wit Graduate School of Production Ecology and Resource Conservation Elephants of democracy An unfolding process of resettlement in the Limpopo National Park Jessica Milgroom Thesis submitted in fulfi lment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnifi cus Prof. dr. M.J. Kropff in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Wednesday 30 May 2012 at 1.30 p.m. in the Aula. Jessica Milgroom Elephants of democracy: An unfolding process of resettlement in the Limpopo National Park 322 pages. Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2012) With references, with summaries in Dutch, English, and Portuguese The drawings on the cover and pages of this thesis were made by women living in the Limpopo National Park. They are the product of one of the activities carried out as a part of this PhD research. The cover and design of this thesis was made by Esy Casey, [email protected] ISBN 978 94 6173 269 9 To my parents 6 Elephants of democracy The elephants that we are used to were diff erent. We could speak to them and they would understand. But these new elephants speak Portuguese or Afrikaans or English because when we speak to them they don’t understand anything. These elephants are here because of the park. They were brought in on trucks. They come from South Africa. These elephants were brought here by democracy. They are elephants of democracy. —A woman in Chimangue village, inside the Limpopo National Park, November 2006 1: Introduction 7 PREFACE The title of this thesis, ‘Elephants of democracy’ was inspired by the epigraph—it is a metaphor that captures, from the point of view of many of the residents of the Limpopo National Park, the way that resettlement unfolded in practice. The woman, as she spoke, was referring to an event that took place in October 2001 in which elephants were translocated on trucks from Kruger National Park, in South Africa, to the area that would become the Limpopo National Park, in Mozambique as part of an inaugural ceremony to commemorate transfrontier cooperation. The Limpopo National Park was offi cially established a month and a half a� er the translocation of elephants, and the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area was proclaimed the following year. For most of the people living in the area, rumors about the elephants brought in on trucks were the fi rst news they had that the land on which they lived was about to become a park. As any good metaphor, the ‘elephants of democracy’ evoke many images and can take on multiple interpretations. The woman who made this statement mentions how the new elephants speak a diff erent language, a foreign language, and how she cannot communicate with them like she used to be able to with other elephants. Her comment refl ects the changing socio-political context in Mozambique, the unintended consequences of these changes, and how, in her perspective, these changes have been driven by external, foreign elements. The quote also insinuates that the residents themselves have been le� unaccounted for, uninformed of the changes, to adapt without even knowing which language they had to learn. The elephants of democracy are large, powerful beasts that can destroy anything in their path, but their eyesight is poor. They represent the introduction of democratic elements into a less than democratic environment and the nearly blind struggle to reconcile diff erences. This is only one of the many possible interpretations of the ‘elephants of democracy’, but there are others that you may like better. As Rudyard Kipling wrote, ‘Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, “Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and fi nd out.”’ I invite you to read this thesis to discover for yourself. 8 Elephants of democracy TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ..............................................................................................................1 Abbreviations .....................................................................................................3 CHAPTER 1. Introduction: Resettlement as an opportunity for development? ..............................5 CHAPTER 2. Methodology and research design: Searching for relevance .................................29 CHAPTER 3. Induced volition: Resettlement from the Limpopo National Park ............................49 CHAPTER 4. The elephants of democracy: Enacting participatory resettlement policy ................65 CHAPTER 5. Courting the rain: Rethinking seasonality and adaptation to recurrent drought in semi-arid southern Africa ..................................................91 CHAPTER 6. The dynamics of accessing: Understanding relationships among quantity, quality and access to natural resources .................................................123 CHAPTER 7. Becoming children of another land: Access to resources and social disarticulation in post-resettlement .....................................................155 CHAPTER 8. The role of research in confl ict over natural resources: Informing resettlement negotiations in Limpopo National Park, Mozambique ...........................................179 CHAPTER 9. Living the unfolding process of resettlement .......................................................211 CHAPTER 10. Discussion and conclusions: Transforming rationality into democracy ...................241 1: Introduction 9 Epilogue ..........................................................................................................267 References .......................................................................................................270 Appendix .........................................................................................................292 Summary ..........................................................................................................295 Resumo ...........................................................................................................301 Samenvatting ...................................................................................................307 Expressing gratitude .........................................................................................313 About the Author ...............................................................................................319 Funding ...........................................................................................................322 10 Elephants of democracy 1: Introduction 1 ABSTRACT Unlike in the simulation game SimSafari, people cannot just be clicked in and out of a national park with a computer mouse. This thesis seeks to understand resettlement as an unfolding process. Displacement and resettlement caused by development projects such as dams or conservation areas, tend to be detrimental to the well being of resettled people, despite policies adopted to avoid adverse consequences. Based on in-depth fi eldwork from 2006 to 2010, this study followed the residents of the village of Nanguene, the fi rst village resettled from the Limpopo National Park, in southern Mozambique from pre-resettlement negotiations to post-resettlement transition in their new location. Two overarching questions in resettlement scholarship and practice are addressed: i) How is resettlement policy enacted in practice? and ii) What can an integrated understanding of the lives and livelihoods of resettling people contribute to the design of compensation? The wider political economy and residents’ participation in planning infl uenced the enactment of resettlement policy. The guiding policy was the World Bank Operational Policy on Involuntary Resettlement (WB OP 4.12); even though the option to resettle was presented as voluntary, in practice it was ‘induced’ volition. The changing meanings that actors gave to the notion of participation refl ected changing power relationships, opening and closing the procedural space for the residents to infl uence decision-making about their own futures. Although participation in the planning process led to some level of empowerment and increased their opportunities to voice their needs and desires, the participatory procedures masked underlying coercion and manipulation. I conclude that the enactment process itself is as important, or more important, than the content of the policy in shaping the decisions made. The southern end of Limpopo National Park, in the district of Massingir, is characterized by highly variable and marginal rainfall. Livelihoods are comprised of diverse activities, of which maize production is central. People strive to produce as much maize as possible from the rain that does fall; a good harvest can last for up to three

Load more