240520 SE Game Reserves, Species and Climate Protection (P4) (2020W)

The relationship between social transformation (to a higher level of political self-determination and economic self-reliance) and conservation is still an uneasy one, as the latter was utilised as an important historical strategy to gain control over vast tracts of land in colonial times. The main focus of the Seminar lies on the legal status quo of conservation and the struggle of local and indigenous communities to get an upper hand in natural resource management. Historical inequalities are therefore among the major challenges and persistent obstacles that effect Game Reserves and National Parks in most parts of Africa. The sheer abundance of legal pluralism creates a not even remotely comprehensible legal and institutional framework. Since laws fundamentally become embedded in all kinds of power structures, social and economic relationships, first and foremost in the relations to land, their mere legal revision does not automatically change the political conditions induced by their historical effectiveness. Various legal arenas compete with institutions of local governance, communal empowerment, and local systems of checks and balances. All this leads to a "bewildering kaleidoscope" of a multi-legal field of conservation in many regional examples.
Internal contradictions between transnational conventions, international and regional agreements, national legislation, provincial statutory provisions, customary law, NGO project law, and so forth contribute to a legal arena resembling a maze for governance. Legal pluralism is, of course, no exception but the rule, particularly in postcolonial states (of mind). A conflict of compliance cannot easily be resolved where the constitution does not offer a clear determination of legal hierarchies. Legal pluralism and divergent political claims mirror power relations within the larger political field. The Seminar aims to draw attention to the plight of local communities following historical land dispossession and forced removals, and atheir current interests in determining and controlling conservation agendas.