Conservation Policy and the Commons

Abstract

"In May of 2005, a workshop on Social Controversies and Cultural Contestations regarding national parks and reserves in the Malay Archipelago was held in Singapore stating the question: Conservation for/by whom? We have become used to think that conservation is a good thing for the public good and that governments are responsible for it. We take for granted the existence of protected areas, national parks and reserves managed by small and large government and or nongovernmental organizations. Protected areas have become national or even global commons. Highlighted in the workshop, however, was the other side of the coin, i.e., the conflict between conservation policies set by the state and the rights of local or indigenous people. Conservation is supposed to be about safeguarding global public goods in the interest of all. In practice conservation for the benefit of the global communities is too often carried out at the expense of local people. Is the theme therefore: For the global people by the local people? Conservation is beneficial for the world, for the people of the world. Is it therefore also good for local people?"