Abstract
The notion that Transboundary Protected Areas (TBPAs) will act as `Peace Parks' has become an important argument in their promotion in post-Apartheid Southern Africa. This `Peace Parks Concept' is implicitly based upon the assumption that national sovereignty will not become a constraining factor in the creation and management of TBPAs. However, this assumption is problematic. TBPAs introduce various changes in the landscape with consequences for the ways in which a state can exercise its sovereignty over its borderland and citizens. This situation might evoke state action that could endanger the various environmental, socio-economic and political objectives of TBPAs. A state's behaviour with regard to TBPAs is not just informed by its interests in TBPAs, but also by its strategic and other interests in the wider borderland area. These are not necessarily compatible with the environmental and economic objectives of TBPAs. The ways in which these interests are mediated are highly complex and non-linear. Because of the inter-dependency that TBPAs create, the extent to which a state can pursue certain interests by means of TBPAs will be (partially) constrained by the wishes of the other states involved. In addition, power has to be shared with a wide range of non-state actors. The operation of sovereignty in TBPAs is therefore highly unpredictable and cannot be captured in static zero-sum terms. Actor Network Theory is identified as a possible starting-point to unravel and evaluate these complex political processes in TBPAs and their subsequent outcomes for state sovereignty.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agrawal A. and Gibson C.C., 1999: Enchantment and disenchantment: The role of community in natural resource conservation. World Development 27(4): 629–649.
Anderson D. and Grove R. (eds), 1987: Conservation in Africa, people, policies and practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Barkin J.S., 1998: The evolution of the constitution of the constitution of sovereignty and the emergence of human rights norms. Journal of International Studies 27(2): 229–252.
Bayart J., Ellis S. and Hibou B., 1999: The criminalization of the state in Africa, James Currey, Oxford
Castree N., 2002: False antithesis? Marxism, nature and actor-networks. Antipode 34(1): 111–147.
Davies A.R., 2002: Power, politics and networks: shaping partnerships for sustainable communities. Area 34(2): 190–201.
Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism (DEAT), 2003: http://www.environment.gov.za.
De Villiers B., 1999: Peace Parks, the way ahead. HSRC Publishers, Pretoria.
Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, 2001: A bioregional approach to South Africa's protected areas. DEAT, Pretoria.
Dryzek, J., 1997: The Politics of the Earth. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Duffy R., 2002: Peace Parks: The paradox of Globalisation. Geopolitics 6(2): 1–26.
Duffy R., 1997: The environmental challenge to the nation-state: superparks and national parks policy in Zimbabwe. Journal of Southern African Studies 23(3): 441–451.
Ellis S., 1994: Of elephants and men. Politics and nature conservation in South Africa, Journal of Southern African Studies 20(1): 53–69.
Fall J.J., 2003, Planning protected areas across boundaries: New paradigms and old ghosts. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 17(1/2): 81–102.
Fakir S., 2000: Transfrontier conservation areas: a new dawn for ecotourism, or a new form of conservation expansionism? Policy Thinktank Series 3, June, IUCN, Pretoria.
Few R., 2001: Containment and counter-containment: planner/community relations in conservation planning. Geographical Journal 167(2): 111–124.
Ghimire K. and Pimbert M.P. (eds), 1997: Social Change and conservation. Earthscan, London.
Griffin J., Communing D., Metcalfe S., t'Sas-Rolfes M., Singh J., Chonguiça E., Rowen M. and Oglethorpe J., 1999: Study on the Development of Transboundary Natural Resource Management Areas in Southern Africa, Main report. Biodiversity Support Program, Washington, D.C.
Griffiths I.L., 1995: African boundaries and national parks. In: Blake G. et al. (eds), The peaceful management of transboundary resources, pp. 357–370, IBRU, Durham.
Griggs R.A., 2000: Designing boundaries for a continent: the geopolitics of an African Renaissance. In: Pratt M.A. and Brown J.A. (eds), Borderlands under stress, IBRU, Durham.
Hajer M.A., 1995: The politics of environmental discourse. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hennop E., Jefferson C. and McLean A., 2001: The Challenge to control South Africa's borders and borderline. Monograph No 57, Institute of International Security Studies, Pretoria.
Hamilton L.S., Mackay J.C., Worboys G.L., Jones R.A. and Manson GB, 1996: Transborder Protected Areas Cooperation. Australian Alps Liaison Committee & IUCN, Canberra.
Hanks J., 2001: Transfrontier-Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in Southern Africa: their role in conserving biodiversity, socioeconomic development and promoting a culture of peace. In: International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF). Transboundary Protected Areas: The Viability of Regional Conservation Strategies. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
De Alcántara H., 1999: Uses and abuses of the concept of governance in the international development community. In: Nas P.J.M. and Silva P. (eds), Modernization, leadership and participation, theoretical issues in development Sociology, Leiden University Press, Leiden.
Hill K.A., 1996: Zimbabwe's wildlife utilization programs: grassroots democracy or an extension of state power? African Studies Review 39(1): 103–123.
Hulme D. and Murphree M. (eds.), 2001: African wildlife and livelihoods, the promise and performance of community conservation. James Currey, Oxford.
Jackson R., 1990: Quasi-states: sovereignty, international relations, and the Third World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Keeley J. and Scoones I., 2000: Knowledge, power and politics: the environmental policy-making process in Ethiopia. Journal of Modern African Studies 38(1): 89–120.
Klinton W.A., 2000: Nato's intervention in Kosovo: the legal case for violating Yugoslavia's national sovereignty in the absence of Security Council approval. Houston Journal of International Law 22(3): 403–447.
Koch E., 1998: Nature has the power to heal old wounds: war, peace and changing patterns of conservation in Southern Africa. In: Simon D., Cooper D. and Cootzee H. (eds), South Africa in southern Africa, reconfiguring the region. James Currey, Oxford.
Law J., 1992: Notes on the theory of the actor-network: ordering, strategy and heterogeneity. Systems practice 5(4): 379–393.
Litfin K.T. (ed.), 1998: The greening of sovereignty in world politics. MIT Press, Cambridge.
McNeil R.J., 1990: International Parks for Peace. In: Thorsell, J. (ed) Parks on the borderline: experience in transfrontier conservation. IUCN Protected Areas Programme Series no. 1: 25–38, IUCN, Gland.
Mctcalfe S.C., 1999: Study on the development of Transboundary Natural Resource Management Areas in Southern Africa — Community Perspectives. Biodiversity Support Program, Washington, DC, USA.
Minaar A., 2001: Border control and regionalism, the case of South Africa. African Security Review 10(2).
Mohan G. and Stokke K., 2000: Participatory development and empowerment: The dangers of localism. Third World Quarterly 21(2): 247–268.
Neumann R.P., 1997: Primitive ideas: protected area buffer zones and the politics of land in Africa. Development and Change 28: 559–582.
Nielsen S. and Chikoko H., 2002: The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, how great is the idea? Newsletter of the Southern Africa TBNRM network 1(1): 6–7, 11, Modern Press, Harare.
Odén B., 1998: Regionalisation in Southern Africa, the role of the dominant. Routledge, London
Pinnock D., 1996: ‘Superparks: a dream impossible?’ Getaway Magazine 8(8): 88–97.
Sandwith T., Shine C., Hamilton L. and Sheppard D., 2001: Transboundary Protected Areas for Peace and Co-operation. IUCN, Gland/Cambridge.
Shine C., 1998: Legal mechanisms to strengthen and safeguard transboundary protected areas. In: The Peace Parks Foundation, Parks for Peace conference, 37–47, 16–18 September 1997, the Peace Parks Foundation, Somerset.
Singh J., 1999: Study on the Development and Management of Transboundary Conservation Areas in Southern Africa: Global Review. USAID/BSP, Washington D.C.
Singh J., 2000: Transboundary conservation in the African context: a threat to sovereignty? In: Border regions in transition-IV: rethinking boundaries. Geopolitics, identities and sustainability 20–24 February, Chandigarh.
Steenkamp C. and Grossman D., 2001: People and Parks: Cracks in the Paradigm. Policy Think Tank series 10. IUCN, Pretoria.
Steins N.A., 2001: New directions in natural resource management. The offer of Actor-Network Theory. IDS Bulletin 32(4): 18–25.
Thorsell J. (ed.), 1990: Parks on the borderline: Experience in transfrontier conservation. IUCN, Gland.
Van der Linde H., Oglethorpe J., Sandwith T., Snelson D. and Tessema Y. (with contributions from Tiéga A. and Price T.), 2001: Beyond Boundaries: Transboundary Natural Resource Management in Sub-Saharan Africa. Biodiversity Support Program, Washington D.C.
Warburton-Lee J., 1999: Breaking down the barricades. Geographical: the Royal Geographical Society Magazine 65: 18–36.
World Bank, 1996: Mozambique: Transfrontier conservation areas pilot and institutional strengthening project. Report no. 15534-MOZ. Agriculture and environment division, Southern Africa department, the World Bank.
Zbicz D. and Green M., 1997: Status of the world's protected areas. Parks 7(3): 5–10.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van Amerom, M. National sovereignty & transboundary protected areas in Southern Africa. GeoJournal 58, 265–273 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:GEJO.0000017957.42266.d5
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:GEJO.0000017957.42266.d5