In episode 3 of Conservation Uncut, Gianluca Cerullo chats with Francis Masse about how biodiversity conservation intersects with security, the impacts of different anti-poaching approaches for protecting the rhino, the growing trend of military involvement and military techniques in conservation, whether ivory funds terrorism, and the challenges of a community-based ranger programme in Mozambique. They also discuss the Greater Lembobo Conservancy in Mozambique, a protected area which runs along the border of Kruger national park that has been called the most critical piece of land on the planet for rhino conservation , but which has also courted controversy for its resettlement of agricultural communities.
Show notes:
Twitter: Francis Masse
Twitter: Biosec
Mentioned in the podcast:
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- Community-based conservation of snow leopards in the mountains of Mongolia, and the use of “Conservation Contracts”.
- Kaziranga national park and shoot-to-kill policies.
- This article is a really useful overview of what’s happening in Kruger’s contested borderlands in Mozambique, including in Limpopo National Park. Unfortunately I didn’t stumble across this until after recording the podcast, but it explores the role of Twin City, a major development company owned by Oscar Pistorius’ uncle, which is acquiring large tracts of lands along the Kruger park border.
- Janjaweed, the Lord Resistance Army, and the helicopter shooting of 22 elephants in Uganda.
Useful articles:
Militarised conservation
- Article in The Conversation entitled “Foreign ‘conservation armies’ in Africa may be doing more harm than good.”
- An article in Mongabay that argues that “Attacks on militarised conservation are naive“, and the response piece that followed. Both these articles are worth reading to get a sense of the differing perspectives surrounding militarised conservation.
Ivory and terrorism
- An op-ed in the New York Times that argues that the link between the ivory trade and terrorism is a myth, and that conflating the two risks undermining the fight against both.
- An examination of the claim by the Elephant Action League that Al-Shabaab financed up to 40 percent of their terrorist movement from 2010-2012 through the trafficking of 1-3 tons of ivory per month from the ports of southern Somalia.
- A recently published piece in the Daily Mail entitled “British army to tackle African elephant poachers who fund their Islamic extremism efforts with illicit ivory sales”.
Useful videos:
- Interview with the Administrator of Limpopo National Park, which discusses the policy of community resettlement within the borderlands.
- Interviews with community members from Massingir, who say that their lands are being consolidated within private reserves.
- Kaziranga national park in Northeast India has been at the forefront of debates and discussion over the human cost of “militarised conservation”, and the use of shoot-to-kill policy of poachers and rhino-hunters. This short BBC news video explores how communities have been displaced from the park, with clashes between community members and rangers sometimes having deadly consequences.
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