Post-Conference:
The Conference:
General Information:
Conference hosts:
Past Conference:

Sponsors:









Governance and the Conservation of Nature: Between Participation and Coherence

The impact of human activities on the biospere has become important and is growing rapidly. Among the consequences, biodiversity is the most threaten, and this at the scale of the planet. The scientific discourse refers to a 6th major extinction wave (Leakey & Lewin, 1995). A wide concensus exits among the scientific and activist communities on the necessity to interven massively to reverse ou slow down this trend.

The multiplication of actors, financial and institutionnal mechanisms in the field of nature conservation is such that nowadays we can talk of a global conservation system. Actors are more numerous: public, private, non-governmental or intergovernmental organisations. Ministeries etc. The number of regulatory mechanisms are increasing: codes, laws, administrative rules and other varied tools.

Protected areas constitute the main mechanism for the protection of biodiversity at the global level. Furthermore, their number and the area they occupy, in particular in tropical zones, grow exponentially every year, so that now the protected land area is bigger that the cultivated area. But protected areas raise many theoretical and practical questions among the conservation community. The current debates focus on:

In view of the multiplication of protected areas and the problems they face, it seems imperative to make not only an audit, but also to analyse the social dimension. Multiple inconsistencies, in need of arbitration and above all innovative thinking, surface as protected areas are spreading. From the point of view of social sciences, the regulation of territory and its resources is determined by social relations, and therefore nature conservation is by definition a social process. (Brechinet al., 2002) and a political question (Brandon et al., 1998). A convincing analytical perspective of protected areas remains to be developped. The existing tools are relevant , but they need to be adapted to this type of situation and associated with a number of specific hypotheses. This perspective should be based on theoretical as well as empirical thinking.

The workshop aims to demonstrate how an analysis in terms of governance can contribute to reveal these problems and inconsistencies while sketching out some avenues towards solutions.

Speakers:

Marc Hufty
Groupe de recherche sur l'environnement et la gouvernance (GREG/NCCR)
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva
Switzerland
"La gouvernance globale de la conservation"

Jean-Eudes Beuret
Rennes
"Environnement et développement mis en dialogue dans les réserves de biosphère : comparaisons internationales"

Joerg Elbers
IUCN SUR
"Governance and conservation of nature in protected areas of the tropical Andes"

Catherine Aubertin (IRD), Geoffroy Filoche (IRD), Florence Pinton (IRD)
"L’Etat français et la gouvernance des aires protégées : une déclinaison nationale (Natura 2000) et Outre-Mer (Parc amazonien de Guyane)"

Claire Galloni D’Istria
Master of Arts
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva
Switzerland
"Le mode de gouvernance du Parc National de Tortuguero, Costa Rica"

Cécile Bidaud
Doctorante
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva
Switzerland
"Scientifiques et politiques autour de la conservation des tortues"

Alex Alvarez
Doctorant
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva
Switzerland
"Dilemmes de la gouvernance environnementale : La Réserve communale Amarakaeri entre conservation et exploitation"

Patrick Bottazzi Doctorant
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
NCCR
Geneva
Switzerland
"Les normes et les choses. Réflexions sur la capacité performative des valeurs conservationnistes en milieu Amazonien"

David Loserian
Mdev
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva
Switzerland
"Défis de la mise en œuvre des aires protégés : La gestion participative de la Réserve Forestière de Nguru du Sud, Tanzanie"

Sajad Bukobero
Doctorant
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva
Switzerland
"Les effets pervers des normes négociées : Le cas de transfert de gestion à Beronono (Nord-ouest de Madagascar)"

Organizer:

Marc Hufty
Groupe de recherche sur l'environnement et la gouvernance (GREG/NCCR)
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva
Switzerland



Back to the Conference Programme