This article examines the global pandemic, COVID-19, through the lens of responses to vulnerable migrants, asking what state responses mean for the future of human rights values and for humanitarian interventions. The responses of the Australian state are developed as a case study of actions and policies directed at refugees and temporary migrant workers through the COVID-19 pandemic. The theoretical framing of the article draws on racial capitalism to argue that the developments manifest during the ‘crisis times’ of COVID-19 are in large part a continuity of the exclusionary politics of bordering practices at the heart of neoliberal capitalism. The article proposes that a rethinking of foundational theoretical and methodological approaches in the social sciences are needed to reflect contemporary changes in justice claims, claims that increasingly recognize the multi-species nature of existential threats to all life.

Customary tenure in Africa has tended to be marginalized in favour of statutory control and privatisation, including public areas protected for wildlife and forest conservation. Zambia has retained a significant proportion of customary land controlled by traditional authorities (chiefs), although access to wildlife and other natural resources is controlled by the state. Recent private sector investment in the agricultural and tourism sectors has potential to support local livelihoods but, equally, land could become alienated to the private sector at low value. Th e outcome hinges on the responses of individual chiefs, and on how far communities can hold them accountable. Th is paper, which is based on participant observation, interviews of community members and government officials in rural Zambia, contextualises the general problem of the privatisation of the African and Zambian 'commons'. It then uses two contrasting case studies of chiefdoms that have negotiated commercial investment by the private sector on their communal land. Additionally, the paper presents an experiment in establishing participatory common property regimes designed to manage private investment in communal lands and temper patriarchal rule with downward accountability. It argues that a reliable positive result depends on the extent to which local people can hold their chiefs accountable, as well as a new holistic policy and legislative environment, accompanied by sound extension services.

Landscape connectivity that allows for wildlife mobility requires governance across a tenurial mosaic of managerial units based on reconciliation of social, economic, and ecological objectives. The proposed Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), which includes Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, features a spectacular display of mega fauna and a number of tourist attractions such as the Victoria Falls. However, Zambian communal area landholders, who are affected by the TFCA, presently lack sufficient incentives to accommodate the wildlife costs, especially those related to elephants. This article, which is based on long-term observation and recent field research (2005)(2006)(2007), explores the dynamics of establishing wildlife corridors on Zambian communal land, through an improved communal-state-private sector partnership based on an experimental communal land reform process that addresses social and ecological issues. These issues are discussed using case studies of some chiefdoms on the Zambian side of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. The paper recommends Zambian policy reform that might address the social, economic, and ecological challenges, with particular reference to elephants, and move the prevailing situation where ordinary rural residents are disempowered relative to the state, traditional leaders, and the private sector.