From Africa to Ashdown Forest: Protected areas through a cultural lens

Protected areas are the crown jewels of modern conservation so why are they failing to deliver? Dr Mark Infield, author of “Beautiful Beasts, Beautiful Lands”, will suggest that conservation is going in the wrong direction.

He will use the history of a national park in Uganda and his 30-year engagement there to argue that the focus of modern conservation on science and economics as explanations of and justifications for conservation, protected areas in particular, is not working. This is because they do not resonate with communities that live in and around them. Local, cultural, value-based relationships between people, place and nature provide stronger platforms for partnerships to achieve conservation. Ultimately, however, partnerships depend on willingness to share the determination of meaning of nature and place.

This talk will be of interest to students and researchers in conservation, and anyone concerned with the conservation of nature and the nature of conservation.

Image credit: © Copyright Robin Webster and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence.