Reaping Nature's Dividends: The Neoliberalization and Gentrification of Nature on the Oak Ridges Moraine

Abstract

In this article, we follow the position that neoliberalism is not a state but a process of political, social, and economic development. We explore the neoliberalization of nature in the exurban region of a rapidly expanding metropolitan conurbation, the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Since 2001, the Oak Ridges Moraine legislation has been in place to halt urban sprawl and conserve the nature of a regionally significant landform. Our analysis suggests that the Oak Ridges Moraine legislation is consistent with neoliberalization but that the process needs to be seen in the context of half a century of rural and exurban gentrification. Longstanding class privilege is perpetuated through the aegis of legislation to preserve nature and protect the countryside. The legislation aestheticizes the Moraine as a unique landform, complements private-based conservation efforts, and voluntary policy initiatives, as well as marketizes the Moraine as a desirous place where wealthy residents reap nature's dividends. This analysis confirms the usefulness of neoliberalism as a concept, but suggests that it needs to be explored through a historically and place-based informed perspective. The case study also sheds light on nature's role in state action, and the rallying and shaping of a regional nature to support state power.

Keywords:

• Neoliberalization of nature
• nature conservation
• rural gentrification
• exurbia
• political ecology
• private conservation
• Oak Ridges Moraine

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the editors and three anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and constructive criticisms. We also acknowledge the financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Standard Grant 410-2002-1483.

Notes

We are aware but do not consider, in this article, the emerging and important thought, within geography and elsewhere, which views nature more as a material enactment rather than social construction. This approach takes into account not only the hybrid character of nature-cultures, but it also allows for the possibility of non-human agency (Law, 1999; Whatmore, 1999). We are particularly indebted to one of the reviewers for reminding us to make this point.

Our source for the comparison is a project entitled Moraine Watch developed by the Centre for Community Mapping, a not-for-profit corporation that ‘develops and deploys strategies for social innovation based on modern communication technology’. Moraine Watch contains air photographs of the whole Oak Ridges Moraine that can be overlain with the conservation designations of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (COMAP, 2009).

Government funds to the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation (a creation of a Progressive Conservative government in 2002) came to an end in 2009. This is likely related to the shifting priorities of the current Liberal Government. The latter was responsible for the Greenbelt legislation in 2005 and at the time created its ‘own’ Greenbelt Foundation. The ‘political’ nature of the fate of the two foundations is also reflected in the road signage on the Moraine. Initial signs along highways declared for car drivers read ‘Oak Ridges Moraine next 10 km’. After the election of the Liberal Government in 2003, the signs changed to tell car drivers that they are entering ‘The Oak Ridges Moraine, part of Ontario's Greenbelt’.

On ‘faming’, or seeking support from famous people for reform initiatives to urban sprawl, see some of the contributions in Wolch et al. (2004). See also Brockington (2008) for a broader picture.