Global Governance and Environmental Management: The Politics of Transfrontier Conservation Areas in Southern Africa

Duffy, Rosaleen

Abstract

This article examines the potential and problems associated with global environmental governance with particular reference to Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in Southern Africa. By taking a political ecology approach, it reflects on theories and practices of global environmental
governance through an analysis of transboundary environmental management. In particular, it examines the politics of the struggle over control of and access to key natural resources and how it impacts on the implementation of transfrontier conservation. In order to do this, this article includes an analysis of the complex role of local and global NGOs, the changing role of the state in relation to international actors, the importance of community based natural resource management, the commitment to tourism to make conservation pay its way and the problems associated with illicit networks of traffickers of wildlife products, cars and people. It is important to investigate the politics of TFCAs because they are part of a wider context
of increasing forms of transnational management of the environment; such transnational forms of management are often deemed to be more effective than national level management because of the transboundary nature of environmental problems. This article argues that theassumption that transnational management can be neatly implemented needs rethinking. In particular, it highlights the ways that complex networks of actors constitute a significant challenge to global environmental governance. This in turn raises more general questions about the
effectiveness of other forms of global environmental governance centred on managing problems such as climate change, pollution or trafficking of endangered species and tropical hardwoods.

Citation

Duffy, R. (2006). Global Governance and Environmental Management: The Politics of Transfrontier Conservation Areas in Southern Africa. Political Geography, 25(1), 89-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2005.08.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Dec 12, 2013
• Journal: Political Geography
• Print ISSN: 0962-6298
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-5096
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 89-112
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2005.08.001