A new kind of trouble: evictions in Eden
- 2003
- p.69-78.
- Mar
Some forms of displacement are subtle, despite their magnitude. This research examines one such case, those people evicted from parks and protected areas ("conservation refugees") as these facilities expand worldwide. The paper dispels several common misconceptions: that displacement from protected areas is unusual, that it causes little harm where it occurs, and that the impoverishment it brings to the evicted is "tolerable" given the larger stakes in the struggle against development. A counter-logic is proposed: protected area conservation often constitutes a development strategy in itself, a form of "mega-project" with impressive displacement potential. Such displacement contributes to impoverishment in multiple ways. Moreover, conservation refugees are often poor at the outset of their ordeal. They are victims of displacement in part because of their combined poverty and powerlessness, which is then compounded by forced removal,. The paper ends probing the specific relationship between protected area policy and capitalist development. - Reproduced.