In this webinar with the Land Rights Research Initiative (LARRI), Dr Sarah Milne, Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University, will discuss her insights from the day-to-day practice and operations and ethical consequences of mainstream global conservation – as examined in her newly released book “Corporate Nature“. The presentation and comments from a respondent will be followed by a break and then a plenary discussion.
Because ideas and organizational forms that we deploy to “save nature” have the potential to shape the world that we live in, Milne will explore the “shades of green” that emerge from mainstream approaches to global conservation, as seen in the practices of big international non-government organizations (BINGOs).
BINGOs capture a significant portion of global conservation funding, meaning that their organizational practices and policy ideas have broad significance, not least for people’s land rights in rural areas of the Global South. Drawing from a decade of ethnographic observation and practical experience, mainly with Conservation International in Cambodia, Milne reveals how big international NGOs struggle in the face of complexity. In particular, she shows how policy ideas are transformed on the ground, often with perverse side effects. Her findings prompt questions about how global conservation practice could be transformed for better and more ethical outcomes.
LARRI is a platform for discussion and collaboration among researchers, students, and others interested in land rights issues in the context of global change, hosted by the Human Geography Unit at the University of Gothenburg.
Find the link to the Zoom Webinar here.