Looking Behind the Curtain: Exploring Ecosystem and Social-Ecological Management as Ideology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Conservation efforts in countries like Mexico tend to follow a dominant scientific narrative that is frequently imported from the United States. Such is the case of the terms Ecosystem Management (EM) and Social-Ecological Systems Management (SESM), two ideas that are highly popular among scientists in Mexico. However, these concepts are seldom problematized and are not analyzed from a critical perspective. Without a clear understanding of these notions, conservationists and researchers often reproduce political and economic strategies that run opposite to their initial intention. Therefore, it is important to examine these concepts in order to ascertain their internal contradictions and develop attainable expectations. The theoretical scaffold used is the classical notion of ideology proposed by Louis Althusser in 1970. Ideology offers a powerful explanation of how scientific terminology is embedded in a political and economic structure. In order to illustrate this, we look at the word management and how it was adopted in the field of industry and in public policy. We also trace back forest management by looking at the history of the U.S. Forest Service. Lastly, we detect some apparent inconsistencies when comparing the SESM theory as it was developed in the U.S. to local communities in Mexico.