Conservation narratives and conflicts over protected areas in post-socialist Romania

Marie Aastrup

doi:10.2458/v27i1.23481

Abstract

Environmental protection is never a controversy-free endeavor. Conflicts arise over land ownership, use, and access. Political ecologists have paid extensive attention to protected areas, especially in relation to power, rights, and marginalized peoples. This article draws on political ecology to examine a new proposed national park in the context of post-communism and neoliberalization in Romania. Using mixed-methods (semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation), this research investigates conservation narratives as articulated by different actors (environmental non-governmental organizations, local decision-makers, and local community members) with various levels of involvement in the proposed national park. Three chief narratives can be observed pertaining to tourism, restrictions, and deforestation. These narratives are embedded in the history and socio-economic context of the area, but also reveal the agendas of different actors regarding landscape values. Assessing these narratives, this research reveals how actors position themselves and the points of contention among the different actors in the brewing conflict that the national park represents.Keywords: Political ecology, conservation, conflict, power

Highlights

Nature conservation activities are a minefield of potential conflicts over rights, access, environmental and social justice, ways of knowing nature, and management practices (Cortés-Vázquez 2014; Sen and Pattanaik 2017)
The narratives about conservation and environmental protection employed by different actors may reflect different ideologies and political agendas – contradictions which become increasingly clear in the context of contemporary protected area establishment
I analyze the conservation narratives employed by different actors in order to reveal the landscape visions and agendas that different actors hold and how these narratives manifest across scalar arrangements

Summary

Introduction

Nature conservation activities are a minefield of potential conflicts over rights, access, environmental and social justice, ways of knowing nature, and management practices (Cortés-Vázquez 2014; Sen and Pattanaik 2017). I analyze the conservation narratives employed by different actors (local decisionmakers, conservationists, and local community members) in order to reveal the (conflicting) landscape visions and agendas that different actors hold and how these narratives manifest across scalar arrangements. These narratives are situated within the historical, political, and ecological context of the Făgăraș Mountains. I present three chief conservation narratives and show how these reflect the different visions for a transforming landscape, and how they are employed at different levels These narratives reveal potential points of contention, and how actors situate themselves in the brewing conflict between global conservation ideas and local reactions

Relevance of political ecology to conservation in Eastern Europe

Context

Methods

The becoming of a national park?

Findings

Discussion and conclusions