Anti-environmentalism in critical social science and new conservation

Abstract

In this chapter, we distinguish between direct and indirect forms of anti-environmentalism. Direct and more extreme forms result in violence against environmental activists; indirect forms are also damaging as they shape societal and political outcomes. Within an academic context, indirect anti-environmentalism subtly manipulates ethical discourses to position anthropocentrism as normative, while marginalizing or completely ignoring ecocentric positions. Anti-environmentalism in academia comes from an unexpected source, namely from academic disciplines that have 'environment', 'ecology' or 'conservation' in their titles. Some conservation scientists from the 'new conservation' movement and the so-called 'critical social science' within environmental anthropology and political ecology have led intellectual attacks on the underlying ethics and practice of a generalized group of 'environmentalists'. Generally, academics critical of this generalized group of 'environmentalists' advocate the 'rights to nature' approach rather than the rights of nature. This approach supports the entitlements of disadvantaged human communities to natural resources and ecosystem services (irrespective of environmental impact) and focuses on the grievances caused by the establishment of protected areas. This chapter will examine and address these accusations by arguing first, that 'environmentalists' are not uniform. Ecocentric conservationists seek to defend the most vulnerable 'communities' of nonhuman species. Second, far from endangering vulnerable communities, ecocentrically-motivated conservation aims to address the long-term sustainability of both social and ecological systems. Thirdly, in addition to the millions of threatened nonhuman species and communities, and the countless individuals they comprise, another 'endangered' category is environmental activists themselves, many of whom have been murdered or ostracized for their efforts to protect threatened species or oppose ecologically destructive acts such as deforestation, in an effort to secure a sustainable future for their own community.