Struggles over conservation space: Social justice in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa

Protected area conservation, particularly under global ecological modernization, often fails to deliver promised social benefits, especially in resource-rich developing countries. A study on the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (IWP) in South Africa reveals that top-down conservation efforts, aimed at combining World Heritage protection with poverty alleviation through eco-tourism, have instead led to significant social justice issues. The research, employing a constructivist and critical approach inspired by Henri Lefebvre's theory on the production of space, demonstrates how global and national conservation norms imposed upon local spaces alienate inhabitants from their land and management practices. This alienation is exacerbated by institutional enclosure through strengthened legal frameworks for conservation, leading to conflicts over access to natural resources within the park. Local resistance, such as fence-cutting and unauthorized tourism development, underscores the tension between national and global conservation interests and local livelihoods. The study highlights the problematic implementation of market-based conservation in contexts of structural inequality, offering a transferable analytical framework for understanding similar dynamics worldwide.

Jerneck, A., & Olsson, L. (2011). Breaking out of sustainability impasses: How to apply frame analysis, reframing and transition theory to global health challenges. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 1(2), 255–271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2011.10.005