BOUNDLESS: CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT ON THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN FRONTIER by PAUL DAVID LAUERMANN A THESIS Presented to the Department of International Studies and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts December 2011 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Paul David Lauermann Title: Boundless: Conservation and Development on the Southern African Frontier This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of International Studies by: Dennis C. Galvan Chair Alexander B. Murphy Member Derrick Hindery Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded December 2011 ii © 2011 Paul David Lauermann iii THESIS ABSTRACT Paul David Lauermann Master of Arts Department of International Studies December 2011 Title: Boundless: Conservation and Development on the Southern African Frontier This thesis interrogates the transfrontier conservation areas (TFCA) program of southern Africa. Promoted since the mid-1990s as the solution to the vexing problems of environmental degradation and rural development in the region, these cross-border projects have attracted a broad coalition of supporters including public and private donor groups, regional politicians, and the international conservation community. Though a large academic literature surrounds the program, a holistic understanding of its development—and an accounting of its success—has yet to emerge. This thesis seeks to rectify this by probing the nature and structure of transfrontier discourse, positing the program’s success as directly born of its appeal to a triad of interests composed of donors, national politicians, and the regional conservation community. Further, it is argued that the heavy marketing of the program as a “win-win” scenario for conservation and development has effectively displaced once popular community-based narratives/approaches. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Paul David Lauermann GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: The University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon Monterey Institute, Middlebury College, Monterey, California The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia, Washington DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts in International Studies, 2011, The University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts in History/Political Economy, 2004, The Evergreen State College Associate of Arts, 2002, South Puget Sound Community College AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Economic and Social Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Rural Development Policy in Southern Africa Conservation Policy in Southern Africa PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of International Studies, 2006-2008 Research Assistant, Department of International Studies, 2007 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace (Arabic), 2010 Eucalyptus Foundation Scholar 2011-2012 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is impossible to express the necessary gratitude to those without whose support this project would not have happened. Simple acknowledgement, simple prefacing remarks, are not sufficient to display my appreciation. Nevertheless, I wish to thank, first and foremost, the many interviewees who so graciously gave of their time and expertise and whose comments comprise the core of this project. Your contribution has been invaluable; without your assistance this thesis would have been abortive. Secondly, I’d like to thank Dennis Galvan whose unending patience in the face of many setbacks and delays—the setbacks possibly inevitable, the delays entirely my own doing—deserves more than a simple thank you. Your patience has been appreciated; I am forever in your debt. Lastly, I ‘d like to thank Elizabeth and Oliver Cauble for enduring my presence while this project snaked its way—its long way—to completion. To those whom I have neglected to thank: my apologies, the failure is entirely my own. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................ 1 Research Design and Methodology ................................................................................. 3 Plan of Thesis .................................................................................................................. 5 II. CASE STUDY BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 6 III. RELEVANT LITERATURE ............................................................................................. 14 TFCAs as Rhetoric ........................................................................................................ 14 TFCAs as Localized Form of Globalization/Neoliberalism .......................................... 19 TFCAs and Local Communities .................................................................................... 24 IV. UNDERWRITING DEVELOPMENT: INTERNATIONAL DONOR AID AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN PROTECTED AREAS ................................... 27 South Africa and Infrastructure Provision ..................................................................... 28 Public-Private Partnerships and Park Commercialization ............................................. 31 South Africa and the Effects of Apartheid Relocations ................................................ 35 Incorporating Communities: The Makuleke Land Claim .............................................. 37 “We Will Not Go There Without Support”: International Donor Aid and the Subsidization of Tourism Sector Development ............................................................. 40 International Donor Agencies and Infrastructure Development .................................... 41 “Institutional Idiosyncrasies”: The Varied Terrain of Institutional Reorganization ..... 45 The Return to Fences ..................................................................................................... 49 V. LEVERAGING NATURE: CONSERVATION RHETORIC AND THE SECURING OF DONOR FUNDING ........................................................................................................... 53 PPF as Non-State Facilitator .......................................................................................... 54 SANParks as State Facilitator ........................................................................................ 65 VI. A LANGUAGE OF CONSERVATION? CONSERVATION-AS-DEVELOPMENT ON THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN FRONTIER ................................................................ 73 Commercial Aims: TFCAs as Loci of Business Activities ........................................... 73 Reconceptualizing Wildlife as Market Asset ................................................................ 74 Reorganizing Institutions to Serve Tourism Development ........................................... 77 “Boundless” Southern Africa and the International Marketing of Wildlife Areas ........ 82 Whither the Community? Rural Livelihoods in the Context of TFCAs ........................ 83 CBNRM: The Perception of Failure and the Move to What’s Next ............................. 84 Limpopo National Park: Resettlement and its Discontents ........................................... 87 vii Chapter Page Communities and Parklands: Frustration and the Move Sideways ............................... 92 VII. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 96 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................... 102 A. SUPPLEMENTAL TABLE AND FIGURES ........................................................ 102 B. LIST OF INTERVIEWS AND RETURNED QUESTIONNAIRES ..................... 106 C. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. 108 REFERENCES CITED ............................................................................................................. 111 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Peace Parks Foundation in Regional Context ......................................................................... 62 2. SANParks in Regional Context .............................................................................................. 66 3. Major TFCAs in SADC ........................................................................................................ 103 4. National Parks and TFCAs in South Africa ......................................................................... 104 5. Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area ................................................................. 105 ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Status of Major SADC TFCAs ............................................................................................. 102 x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Purpose of the Study Since the early 1990s cross-border, or transfrontier, conservation initiatives have proliferated in southern Africa. Predicated on the belief that conservation is best undertaken at regional, rather than national, level, these initiatives have garnered the support of a wide variety of actors including those working in conservation,