Abstract:This article utilizes the Actor‒Network Theory (ANT) to guide thinking about the relationship between nature and society and how this relationship is severed by conservation-induced displacement. ANT’s view of interconnectivity between networks is used to argue that a network is only stable as long as actors remain faithful to it. In the case of the displaced Baka people of the Dja Reserve area in East Cameroon, resistance to conservation through adaptive practices following displacement can reverse or disrupt the socially predetermined order of a network, which in this case would be marginalization of the displaced. However, the marginal scale of their adaptation to change raises doubts over the sustainability of adaptation to post-displacement livelihoods.
A widely used media narrative suggests that the environment benefitted from the Covid-19 lockdowns. Numerous publications which came out following the lockdowns only reinforced this view by seeing Covid-19 as an opportunity to think more about the environment. However, these narratives are largely anecdotal, assumptive and pay little attention to the question of what people actually think about the lockdowns in environmental terms. To fill this gap, this study provides the empirical basis needed to either support or reject the aforementioned dominant narrative on Covid-19 and environment. Survey data (eighty questionnaires per country) were collected from participants in Cameroon (Buea), Egypt (Cairo), Italy (several major cities) India (Mumbai and New Delhi), and The Netherlands (mainly Amsterdam). The findings of this study reveal that generally, Covid-19 has not changed the way most people think about the environment. This is either because people were already pro-environmental before Covid-19, or people see Covid-19 and the visible environmental changes as temporal phenomenon. One other major observation in this study is the regional differences in environmental attitudes in relation to Covid-19. The least change in environmental attitudes was observed in high-income countries and the most change in low-middle-income countries. Therefore, the paper concludes that the importance of Covid-19 on a more sustainable future should not be overplayed or overemphasised. It will take more than a two-year break from normal living to mitigate environmental degradation. Accordingly, pro-environmentalism should focus on other intervention points.
A looming gap in the research on livelihood effects of displacement and resettlement is a focus on gender differences. Consequently, this paper examines women's mobility or immobility and how it affects their abilities to take better advantage of the resources at their disposal following conservation-induced displacement and resettlement. This paper utilises a capability approach to investigate the marginalisation of women. More specifically, immobility through domesticity is put forward as a main factor which influences unfavourable livelihood outcomes for women following displacement and resettlement. In order to shed light on these propositions, research was conducted with displaced and resettled Baka communities, living around the Dja Reserve in Cameroon, Africa. Structured questionnaire surveys and focus group discussions were used to identify challenges faced by women. Findings confirm that following displacement and resettlement, Baka women are restricted in their mobility by domestic responsibilities which limit them to the domestic sphere. Consequently, their opportunities for personal development such as access to formal education and the labour market are severely limited. This paper reinforces the argument that capabilities should be the focus in interventions which seek to improve welfare. Poverty is not only seen as a lack of resources. Poverty is a lack of choices and opportunities.
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