The Impacts of Forest Management Discourse and Conservation Practices

Abstract: Political ecology research has been prone to link conservation efforts and development programmes with structural relations such as neoliberal political economy. This thesis argues that this linkage is a too simplistic judgment and that more nuanced contextual understandings of the impacts of conservation programmes are needed. It does this by contextualizing the links between international conservation agendas and everyday environmental management. Using the framework of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis this thesis analyses the impacts of United Nations forest conservation discourse and practical conservation efforts. Empirical field work from the ‘Hutan Harapan’ ecosystem restoration concession in Indonesia is used in this thesis and demonstrates the usefulness of contextual research in theoretical discussions. Working within a relational worldview, the results show that customary land claims, historical implications and international conservation discourse contributes to an ambiguous understanding of property over forest land. With an emphasis on the importance of language the thesis further shows that holistic perceptions of forest-based benefits are permeated through conservation efforts that differs from that of forest-dependent people who resides in conservation areas.