Browsing by Author "Holmes, George"

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Exploring the Relationship Between Local Support and the Success of Protected Areas
(2013) Holmes, George
"The idea that the support of local people is essential for the success of protected areas is widespread in conservation, underpinning various conservation paradigms and policies, yet it has rarely been critically examined. This paper explores the circumstances which determine whether or not local opposition to protected areas can cause them to fail. It focuses on the power relations between protected areas and local communities, and how easily they can influence one another. We present a case study from the Dominican Republic, where despite two decades of resentment with protected policies, local people are unable to significantly challenge them because of fears of violence from guards, inability to reach important political arenas, social ties with guards, and the inability to coordinate action. It concludes by arguing that there are often substantial barriers that prevent local people from challenging unpopular conservation policies, and that local support is not necessarily essential for conservation."
Protection, Politics and Protest: Understanding Resistance to Conservation
(2007) Holmes, George
"This paper presents a framework to understand how conservation, in particular protected areas and national parks, are resisted, based on theories of subaltern politics and a review of thirty-four published case studies. It is informed largely by Scotts concept of everyday resistance, which considers the informal subtle politics involved in social conflicts where there are constraints on the ability of some people to take open, formal action. These ideas are critiqued and adapted to the particular context of conservation regulation, which is distinct from many other types of rural conflict. In particular, it recognises the importance of continuing banned livelihood practices such as hunting or farming in resistance, and the particular symbolism this has in conflicts. It also shows the importance of not just social factors in these conflicts, but also the role of physical properties of natural resources in determining the form of resistance. As well as the theoretical contribution, by showing the variety of responses to this resistance this paper aims to make conservation practitioners more aware of the forms local resistance can take. Rather than being a simple call for a more socially just conservation, it goes beyond this to provide a tool to make conservation better for both local communities and biodiversity."