‘Conserve not protect’? Competing environmental imaginaries in Jordan’s conservation thinking and practice

Katharina Lenner, Sylvie Janssens

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article explores the way competing transnational imaginaries of conservation and protection of nature have shaped the history of institutionalised conservation efforts in Jordan. It does so by tracing knowledge production about conservation and its materialisation in Jordan from the 1960s to the mid-2010s, highlighting the interaction between international conservation agencies, international funding bodies and national agencies, and contrasting this with contemporary perspectives of populations living around the countries’ protected areas (particularly Dana, Azraq and Wadi Rum).

It argues that while early British proposals for protection through multi-purpose national parks would have led to a relatively inclusive form of conservation, they did not materialise on the ground. What instead became dominant during the subsequent phase of American hegemony in Jordan was a fortress conservation model that excluded local populations from using as well as managing the resources of protected areas. This legacy cast a long shadow into the 1990s’ turn towards “integrated conservation and development” as a new model. The success of this model, and the way it shaped organizational dynamics of the RSCN – the agency mandated with protected area management in Jordan - has hindered contemporary efforts to transition to more genuinely “people-centered” forms of conservation.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)112-142
Number of pages30
JournalArab Studies Journal
VolumeXXXII
Issue number1
Early online date2 Aug 2024
Publication statusPublished - 2 Aug 2024

Keywords

  • Jordan
  • conservation
  • rural development
  • environment
  • Middle East

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Development
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Anthropology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '‘Conserve not protect’? Competing environmental imaginaries in Jordan’s conservation thinking and practice'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this