Shifting Environmental Governance in a Neoliberal World: US AID for Conservation

Abstract

By exploring the shifting and uneven power relations among state, market and civil society organizations in US environmental foreign aid policy‐making, this article forges new ground in conversations about conservation and neoliberalism. Since the 1970s, an evolving group of non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) has lobbied the US Congress to support environmental foreign assistance. However, the 1980s and 1990s rise of neoliberalism laid the conditions for the formation of a dynamic alliance among representatives of the US Congress, the US Agency for International Development, environmental NGOs and the private sector around biodiversity conservation. In this alliance, idealized visions of NGOs as civil society and a countering force to corporations have underpinned their influence, despite their contemporary corporate partnerships. Furthermore, by focusing on international biodiversity conservation, the group has attracted a broad spectrum of political and corporate support to shape public policy and in the process create new spaces for capital expansion.

Conservation NGOs in Madang, Papua New Guinea: Understanding Community and Donor Expectations

“…Additional examples suggest large conservation NGOs may prioritize biodiversity conservation at the expense of local livelihoods, hurting the indigenous peoples they claim to protect (Chapin 2004), thereby creating conservation ''refugees'' when indigenous lands are appropriated in the name of conservation (Dowie 2005). Corson (2010) suggests that the rise of ''big conservation'' is accompanied by a ''move within conservation away from engaging local actors' ' (2010, 510). Sachedina (2010) supports this finding, concluding that the scaling up of the African Wildlife Foundation resulted in organizational practices that contributed to disempowerment and poverty.…”

Reprint of "Ecosystem services concepts and approaches in conservation: Just a rhetorical tool?"

“…With a warning pertinent to conservation, Norgaard (2010) notes the disconnection of the services metaphor from its original critique of economic growth and sustained consumption. In the conservation community, the dominant articulation of services approaches sits squarely within a neoclassical paradigm, apparently reinforcing what McAfee (1999) and Corson (2010) see as a path towards conservation which does nothing to challenge existing political institutions or the distribution of resources.…”

Promoting U.S. Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…During the 1990s two reinforcing shifts occurred: USAID played a bigger role in fostering market-oriented changes and USAID itself was privatized as permanent staff were let go and development assistance activities were increasingly delegated to NGOs and Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) (Berríos 2000;Picard and Buss 2009;Corson 2010). Throughout the postCold War period, Republicans continued to seek a greater focus on private entrepreneurship and the promotion of market reform to reduce the role of state agencies.…”