Towards an explicit justice framing of the social impacts of conservation

Martin, Adrian, Akol, Anne and Gross-Camp, Nicole (2015) Towards an explicit justice framing of the social impacts of conservation. Conservation and Society, 13 (2). pp. 166-178. ISSN 0972-4923

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Abstract

This paper proposes that biodiversity conservation practice will benefit from assessment of environmental justice outcomes, especially in contexts of poverty and social marginalisation. Whilst there is an existing body of work that implicitly considers the justices and injustices arising from biodiversity conservation interventions, we suggest that a more explicit justice assessment might complement this work. We develop some general guidelines for such assessment, drawing on traditions of social and environmental justice, highlighting the importance of considering two types of justice outcome: distribution and recognition. We note the non-equivalence of these different justice values, implying that they cannot be traded-off against each other. We try out these guidelines through a case study of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. We find that the assessment helps us to identify intolerable social impacts of conservation, notably failures to adequately address the long-term impoverishment and domination of the indigenous Batwa people, and offers constructive insight for how conservation can better align with the need for environmental justice.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	environmental justice,bwindi impenetrable national park,revenue sharing,tourism,ecosystem services,recognition
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	21 Jan 2015 10:42
Last Modified:	03 Jun 2026 16:56
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/51935
DOI:	10.4103/0972-4923.164200

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