93
4
Since the first protected areas were established in the late nineteenth century, different discourses have been developed. The oldest is the discourse of fortress conservation. Today, policies on nature protection in the Global South are primarily
dominated by the win-win discourse on protected areas, which again is contrasted
by a critical discourse emerging from human and indigenous rights activists as well
as political ecology.
4.2 Fortress Conservation as Discourse and Practice
In 1872, Yellowstone was established as the first national park in the USA and the
world. The focus of the park was on the protection of nature and the only form of
use permitted was tourism. Visitors were wealthy white city residents. John Muir,
one of the founders of American conservation, said for instance that for purposes
of conservation, all wilderness should be cleared of residents and reserved for the
needs of urban people for recreation and spiritual refreshment (Dowie 2005).
The indigenous people who had resided in Yellowstone were therefore expelled,
and their use of nature concealed. The park was presented as a wilderness area
untouched by human influence, and indigenous names were replaced by naturedescriptive place names. Intruders were kept out by means of armed control. The
US Army was given the responsibility of managing Yellowstone in 1886, and kept
it until 1918 when a civil park management took over. However, the employees still
used military-style uniforms, and soldiers were hired as wardens (Adams 2004).
This conservation practice at Yellowstone became a model for the subsequent
establishment of protected areas throughout the world and formed the basis of the
first discourse on what and how protected areas are and should be. This type of conservation is often termed Fortress Conservation because the protected areas are more
or less defended like fortresses by uniformed, armed men. The permitted exceptions
are tourism, natural science research and the production of nature documentaries.
This fortress conservation discourse later became important in the design of
national parks in the colonized parts of the world, particularly in Africa and parts
of Asia. Parc National Albert in The Belgian Congo (today this is the Democratic
Republic of Congo and the park is called Virunga National Park) was established
as the first national park in Africa in 1925, followed by Kruger National Park in
South Africa in 1926. In the period between the Second World War and the liberation of the various African states around 1960, a large number of national parks
were established in Africa.
Typically, ‘wilderness’ has often been perceived in opposition to ‘civilisation’
(Nash 1982). These were areas supposedly unaffected by modernization. Wilderness
was far away from cities, roads and other signs of civilization. Today, ‘wilderness’
is one of the two strictest forms of protection within the IUCN’s classification of
protected areas used in international conservation.
Those involved in the production of the fortress conservation discourse include,
first of all, state natural resource managers who have established and managed the
protected areas as well as a group of big international non-governmental organizations (so-called conservation BINGOs). Many of the individuals involved are edu4.2 · Fortress Conservation as Discourse and Practice
4
Since the first protected areas were established in the late nineteenth century, different discourses have been developed. The oldest is the discourse of fortress conservation. Today, policies on nature protection in the Global South are primarily
dominated by the win-win discourse on protected areas, which again is contrasted
by a critical discourse emerging from human and indigenous rights activists as well
as political ecology.
4.2 Fortress Conservation as Discourse and Practice
In 1872, Yellowstone was established as the first national park in the USA and the
world. The focus of the park was on the protection of nature and the only form of
use permitted was tourism. Visitors were wealthy white city residents. John Muir,
one of the founders of American conservation, said for instance that for purposes
of conservation, all wilderness should be cleared of residents and reserved for the
needs of urban people for recreation and spiritual refreshment (Dowie 2005).
The indigenous people who had resided in Yellowstone were therefore expelled,
and their use of nature concealed. The park was presented as a wilderness area
untouched by human influence, and indigenous names were replaced by naturedescriptive place names. Intruders were kept out by means of armed control. The
US Army was given the responsibility of managing Yellowstone in 1886, and kept
it until 1918 when a civil park management took over. However, the employees still
used military-style uniforms, and soldiers were hired as wardens (Adams 2004).
This conservation practice at Yellowstone became a model for the subsequent
establishment of protected areas throughout the world and formed the basis of the
first discourse on what and how protected areas are and should be. This type of conservation is often termed Fortress Conservation because the protected areas are more
or less defended like fortresses by uniformed, armed men. The permitted exceptions
are tourism, natural science research and the production of nature documentaries.
This fortress conservation discourse later became important in the design of
national parks in the colonized parts of the world, particularly in Africa and parts
of Asia. Parc National Albert in The Belgian Congo (today this is the Democratic
Republic of Congo and the park is called Virunga National Park) was established
as the first national park in Africa in 1925, followed by Kruger National Park in
South Africa in 1926. In the period between the Second World War and the liberation of the various African states around 1960, a large number of national parks
were established in Africa.
Typically, ‘wilderness’ has often been perceived in opposition to ‘civilisation’
(Nash 1982). These were areas supposedly unaffected by modernization. Wilderness
was far away from cities, roads and other signs of civilization. Today, ‘wilderness’
is one of the two strictest forms of protection within the IUCN’s classification of
protected areas used in international conservation.
Those involved in the production of the fortress conservation discourse include,
first of all, state natural resource managers who have established and managed the
protected areas as well as a group of big international non-governmental organizations (so-called conservation BINGOs). Many of the individuals involved are edu4.2 · Fortress Conservation as Discourse and Practice