Conservation, peasants and class: critical reflections on the political economy of climate change strategies in West Senegal

ABSTRACT

Environmental conservation has become a key climate mitigation strategy in the last two decades. Through the multiplication of ‘conservation’ projects, Africa is one of the main centres of this kind of intervention. While scholars have shown conservation to be a vehicle for the advancement of capitalist interests, scarce attention has been paid to agrarian labour and class dynamics in the African countryside sustaining this development. Drawing on the authors’ research in West Senegal, this article develops a conceptual framework for integrating class and peasant labour in the study of capitalist conservation. It shows how conservation-related climate mitigation strategies in Africa nurture and are nurtured by neoliberal and imperialist processes of agrarian change, reinforcing the economic and political vulnerability of African peasants. Alternative, anti-imperial climate change mitigation strategies need to be centred around peasant environmentalisms and their liberation from labour oppression.

RÉSUMÉ

La conservation de l’environnement est devenue une stratégie clé d’atténuation du changement climatique au cours des deux dernières décennies. L’Afrique est l’un des principaux centres de ce type d’intervention grâce à la multiplication de projets de « conservation ». Tandis que des chercheurs ont montré que la conservation était un moyen au service d’intérêts capitalistes, peu d’attention a été accordée à la main-d’œuvre agraire et aux dynamiques de classe dans les campagnes africaines qui soutiennent ce développement. S’appuyant sur les recherches menées par les auteurs dans l’ouest du Sénégal, nous développons un cadre conceptuel permettant d’intégrer la classe et le travail paysan dans l’étude de la conservation capitaliste. Nous montrons comment les stratégies d’atténuation du climat liées à la conservation en Afrique nourrissent et sont nourries par les processus néolibéraux et impérialistes de changement agraire, renforçant ainsi la vulnérabilité économique et politique des paysans africains. Des stratégies alternatives et anti-impériales d’atténuation du changement climatique devraient être centrées sur les écologismes paysans et leur libération de l’oppression du travail.

RESUMO

A conservação ambiental tornou-se uma estratégia chave de mitigação climática nas últimas duas décadas. África é um dos principais focos deste tipo de intervenção, através da multiplicação de projectos de ‘conservação’. Apesar de vários estudos académicos terem demonstrado que a conservação é um veículo para o avanço de agendas capitalistas, pouca atenção tem sido dada ao trabalho agrário e às dinâmicas de classe nas zonas rurais africanas que sustentam este desenvolvimento. A partir de investigação no oeste do Senegal, neste texto desenvolvemos um quadro conceptual para a integração de classe e trabalho camponês no estudo da conservação capitalista. Mostramos como as estratégias de mitigação climática relacionadas com a conservação em África alimentam e são alimentadas por processos neoliberais e imperialistas de mudança agrária, reforçando assim a vulnerabilidade económica e política dos camponeses africanos. Estratégias alternativas e anti-imperiais de mitigação das alterações climáticas devem centrar-se nos ambientalismos camponeses e na sua libertação da opressão laboral.

KEYWORDS:

• Agrarian change
• climate change mitigation
• nature-based tourism
• payment for ecosystem services
• protected areas

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Changement agraire
• atténuation du changement climatique
• tourisme basé sur la nature
• paiement pour les services écosystémiques
• zones protégées

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:

• Mudança agrária
• mitigação das alterações climáticas
• turismo da natureza
• pagamento por serviços ecossistémicos
• áreas protegidas

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Correction

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the reviewers and issue editors, Janet Bujra, Chanda Mfula and Lee Wengraf, for their generous and insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper. We are indebted to the people of Boko and Dioube for sharing their time, reflections and insights and doing so in the midst of their everyday struggles. We also thank the University of East Anglia, the University of Copenhagen, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Swedish Development Agency, whose financial support was essential for conducting the research presented here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/2296801)

Notes

1 Village names are fictitious, to protect informants’ identities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rocío Hiraldo

Rocío Hiraldo is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Seville. Her work investigates emerging green economies in Senegal, Portugal and Spain, through a focus on working-class people’s experiences. Her articles have featured in the Journal of Agrarian Change, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Human Geography: A New Radical Journal and IDS Bulletin.

Steffen Böhm

Steffen Böhm is a professor in organisation and sustainability at the University of Exeter. He has published five books on climate change themes: Upsetting the offset: the political economy of carbon markets (Mayfly), The atmosphere business (Mayfly), Ecocultures: blueprints for sustainable communities (Routledge), Negotiating climate change in crisis (Open Book Publishers) and Climate activism (Cambridge). More details are available at steffenboehm.net.