2018 CLAG Field Study Award Report:
Clare Beer, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, UCLA
Project: Nationalizing Nature: Conservation, Economy, and Chile’s Route of Parks Project
Parque Nacional Pumalín Douglas Tompkins is one of three national parks created from the Tompkins’ private conservation estate.
My dissertation research examines a new mega-conservation project in Chilean Patagonia, known as the Route of Parks (RoP), to understand the changing role of land-based biodiversity conservation in national political economy. Chile has pursued an model of extractive capitalism for more than a century, exploiting a wide range of natural resources. Economic and trade frameworks have been coupled with an environmental legal framework that Tecklin et al. (2011) call ‘market-enabling’ rather than ‘market-regulating.’ Situated within this context are state practices of land-based biodiversity conservation, which have long been viewed by the industrial private sector and even the state itself as impediments to growth.
A Ruta de los Parques de la Patagonia poster hangs in the window of a minimarket in Villa Cerro Castillo. One of hundreds displayed throughout the region, the poster represents not only the spatial extent of the project, but also the branding power of this public-private conservation partnership.
The new RoP project aims to disrupt assumed zero-sum tensions between conservation and development, however, by promoting conservation-as-development (West, 2006). The RoP emerges from a public-private partnership between the Chilean state and the American eco-philanthropist Kristine Tompkins. On March 15, 2017, Tompkins and then-President Michelle Bachelet pledged a joint donation of one million acres of the Tompkins’ private conservation estate and nine million acres of adjacent federal lands to the national park service. This landmark pledge qualifies as both the largest private land donation ever received by a national government, and the largest single increase to the national park service in Chilean history. My dissertation research employs qualitative and ethnographic methods to ask how conservation-as-development suddenly became politically commonsense in Chile, and what the RoP suggests about its processes and outcomes.
With the generous support of a CLAG Field Study Award, I have completed the first phase of my research in Chile: ten weeks of fieldwork in the Lagos and Aysén regions of Chilean Patagonia (February 3 – April 16, 2019). The purpose of this fieldwork was to begin to understand how the RoP is rolling out in local communities. Through a combination of participant observation, in-depth interviews, and content analysis of print and online materials, I explored three central questions: (1) How is the RoP project being received by local communities in Patagonia? (2) What are its potential impacts on landscapes and livelihoods? (3) What does a ‘conservation economy’ look like in practice, and how do residents envision their relationship to it?
he entrance to a private ranch on the outskirts of Chile Chico. Just over the ridge, an Australian mining company is drilling for gold next to the new Patagonia National Park.
T
Preliminary data collected in Patagonia yields several important findings. First, many local people living and working near the parks report feeling uninformed about, and excluded from, the new mega-conservation project. Often, informants attributed the lack of communication to centralismo. Second, following from a perceived lack of communication about the RoP is a perceived lack of preparedness to implement the project locally. There is concern by state and non-state actors alike that CONAF cannot maintain the Tompkins’ conservation standards due to inadequate budgets and manpower. Finally, a last-minute and controversial change to the official boundaries of the new Patagonia National Park is generating heated conflict. This reduction coincides with where an Australian mining company has been conducting preliminary, and at times unauthorized, explorations for gold. This single event, I think, captures the contradictory and Janus-faced qualities of the Chilean environmental state. The limits of conservation-as-development at least for now appear to remain defined by the possibilities of resource extraction.
Please see the full report for more details.
JLAG's Ten Most Popular Articles by Requests Since 2010
10052 Christopher Gaffney (2010).
Mega-events and socio-spatial dynamics in Rio de Janeiro, 1919-2016 Journal of Latin American Geography 9(1).
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3451 Jeremy Slack; Daniel E. Martínez; Alison Elizabeth Lee; Scott Whiteford (2016).
The Geography of Border Militarization: Violence, Death and Health in Mexico and the United States Journal of Latin American Geography 15(1).
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3429 Maria Elisa Christie (2002).
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2926 Karl H. Offen (2004).
The Territorial Turn: Making Black Territories in Pacific Colombia Journal of Latin American Geography 2(1).
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2866 Jeffrey Todd Bury (2002).
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2753 James Freeman (2014).
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http://muse.jhu.edu/article/539604
2503 Cynthia Sorrensen (2005).
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2484 Kate Swanson; Rebecca Maria Torres (2016).
Child Migration and Transnationalized Violence in Central and North America Journal of Latin American Geography 15(3).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/639098
2407 Dr. Rikke Schmidt Kjærgaard (2015).
The Case of the Green Turtle: An Uncensored History of a Conservation Icon by Alison Rieser (review) Journal of Latin American Geography 14(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/578762
2278 Alexandra Pedersen (2014).
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496 Doribel Herrador Valencia; Enric Mendizábal Riera; Martí Boada i Juncà (2012).
Participatory Action Research Applied to the Management of Natural Areas: The Case Study of Cinquera in El Salvador Journal of Latin American Geography 11(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/470629
277 Maria Elisa Christie (2002).
Naturaleza y sociedad desde la perspectiva de la cocina tradicional mexicana: género, adaptación y resistencia Journal of Latin American Geography 1(1).
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120 Karl H. Offen (2004).
The Territorial Turn: Making Black Territories in Pacific Colombia Journal of Latin American Geography 2(1).
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105 Christian Brannstrom Adryane Gorayeb (2022).
Geographical Implications of Brazilâs Emerging Green Hydrogen Sector Journal of Latin American Geography 21(1).
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/855961
93 Miriam Gay-Antaki (2016).
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71 Felix M. Dorn; Fernando Ruiz Peyré (2020).
Lithium as a Strategic Resource: Geopolitics, Industrialization, and Mining in Argentina Journal of Latin American Geography 19(4).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/772602
66 Catherine Nolin (2004).
Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans Journal of Latin American Geography 3(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/177867
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JLAG's Ten Most Popular Articles by Requests in 2023
1677 Maria Elisa Christie (2002).
Naturaleza y sociedad desde la perspectiva de la cocina tradicional mexicana: género, adaptación y resistencia Journal of Latin American Geography 1(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/215263
922 Christian Brannstrom Adryane Gorayeb (2022).
Geographical Implications of Brazilâs Emerging Green Hydrogen Sector Journal of Latin American Geography 21(1).
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/855961
849 Karl H. Offen (2004).
The Territorial Turn: Making Black Territories in Pacific Colombia Journal of Latin American Geography 2(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/174024
773 Doribel Herrador Valencia; Enric Mendizábal Riera; Martí Boada i Juncà (2012).
Participatory Action Research Applied to the Management of Natural Areas: The Case Study of Cinquera in El Salvador Journal of Latin American Geography 11(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/470629
625 Laura Sarmiento (2016).
JLAG Perspectives: Vida, Conhecimento e Território: uma geobiografia do Carlos Walter Porto-Gonçalves Journal of Latin American Geography 15(3).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/639102
569 Hanna Laako Edith Kauffer (2021).
Conservation in the Frontier: Negotiating Ownerships of Nature at the Southern Mexican Border Journal of Latin American Geography 20(3).
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/835649
552 Miguel Aguilar Robledo (2004).
Formation of the Miraflores Hacienda: Lands, Indians, and Livestock in Eastern New Spain at the End of the Sixteenth Century Journal of Latin American Geography 2(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/174015
510 Felix M. Dorn; Fernando Ruiz Peyré (2020).
Lithium as a Strategic Resource: Geopolitics, Industrialization, and Mining in Argentina Journal of Latin American Geography 19(4).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/772602
451 Luciene Cristina Risso; Clerisnaldo Rodrigues de Carvalho (2022).
A exibição de antipolíticas indígenas e ambientais orquestrada pelo governo brasileiro de Bolsonaro Journal of Latin American Geography 21(2).
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/863335
369 Colectivo de Geografía Crítica del Ecuador (2017).
Geografiando para la resistencia Journal of Latin American Geography 16(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/653095
Los Diez Artículos Españoles Mas Popular de JLAG por Solicitudes Desde 2010
3429 Maria Elisa Christie (2002).
Naturaleza y sociedad desde la perspectiva de la cocina tradicional mexicana: género, adaptación y resistencia Journal of Latin American Geography 1(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/215263
2207 Danilo Borja; Juan Bay; Conny Davidsen; Traducido por Yulia Garcia Sarduy (2021).
Ancianos amazónicos en la frontera petrolera: La vida y muerte de Nenkihui Bay, líder tradicional Waorani Journal of Latin American Geography 20(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/787933
2074 Diana Vela-Almeida; Sofia Zaragocin; Manuel Bayón; Iñigo Arrazola (2020).
Imaginando territorios plurales de vida: una lectura feminista de las resistencias en los movimientos socio-territoriales en el Ecuador Journal of Latin American Geography 19(2).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/749633
1610 Geobrujas-Comunidad de Geógrafas (2021).
Cuerpos, fronteras y resistencia: mujeres conjurando geografía a través de experiencias desde el otro lado del muro Journal of Latin American Geography 20(2).
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/799599
1484 Colectivo de Geografía Crítica del Ecuador (2017).
Geografiando para la resistencia Journal of Latin American Geography 16(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/653095
1450 Diego B. Leal; David S. Salisbury; Josué Faquín Fernández; Lizardo Cauper Pezo; Julio Silva (2015).
Ideas cambiantes sobre territorio, recursos y redes políticas en la Amazonía indígena: un estudio de caso sobre Perú Journal of Latin American Geography 14(2).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/586857
1345 Christian Abizaid; Luis Ángel Collado Panduro; Sergio Gonzales Egusquiza (2020).
Pobreza Y Medios De Subsistencia En La Amazonía Peruana En Tiempos De La Covid-19 Journal of Latin American Geography 19(3).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/760940
1125 Jerónimo Ríos Sierra (2020).
Una aproximación (geo)politológica a la crisis de la COVID-19 en América Latina Journal of Latin American Geography 19(3).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/760939
883 Robert B. Kent (2012).
La geografía en América Latina: Visión por países Journal of Latin American Geography 11(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/470642
774 Rosa Silvia Arciniega (2012).
Participación de Mujeres en el Mercado Laboral del Estado de México Journal of Latin American Geography 11(1).
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1660 Rogério Haesbaert (2020).
Território(s) numa perspectiva latino-americana Journal of Latin American Geography 19(1).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/744032
1562 Luciene Cristina Risso; Clerisnaldo Rodrigues de Carvalho (2022).
A exibição de antipolíticas indígenas e ambientais orquestrada pelo governo brasileiro de Bolsonaro Journal of Latin American Geography 21(2).
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/863335
1242 Joana Salém Vasconcelos (2021).
Cuba, protestos e caminhos da revolução Journal of Latin American Geography 20(3).
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/835650
728 Joseli Maria Silva; Marcio Jose Ornat (2020).
Geografias feministas na América Latina: desafios epistemológicos e a decolonialidade de saberes Journal of Latin American Geography 19(1).
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689 Laura Sarmiento (2016).
JLAG Perspectives: Vida, Conhecimento e Território: uma geobiografia do Carlos Walter Porto-Gonçalves Journal of Latin American Geography 15(3).
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/639102
293 Jessica Budds; Martha G. Bell; John C. Finn; Jörn Seemann; Eugenio Arima; Gabriela Valdivia (2023).
Language, Translation, and the Practice of Decolonizing Academic Publishing / Lengua, traducción y la práctica de la descolonización de las publicaciones académicas / Linguagem, tradução e a prática de descolonização das publicações acadêmicas Journal of Latin American Geography 22(2).
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280 Christian Dennys Monteiro de Oliveira; Fabrício Américo Ribeiro; Ivo Luis Oliveira Silva; Luiz Raphael Teixeira Silva; José Arilson Xavier de Souza; Gerlaine Cristina Franco; Marcos da Silva Rocha; Maryvone Moura Gomes; Camila Benatti (2020).
As organizações religiosas brasileiras frente à pandemia de COVID-19 Journal of Latin American Geography 19(3).
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212 Vinicius Santos Almeida (2020).
Necromobilidade durante a pandemia da Covid-19 Journal of Latin American Geography 19(3).
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160 Antoinette M.G.A. WinklerPrins (2009).
Cidades da Floresta: Urbanização, Desenvolvimento, e Globalização na Amazônia Brasileira (review) Journal of Latin American Geography 8(1).
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120 Jean-Yves Puyo (2008).
Mise en valeur de la Guyane française et peuplement blanc: les espoirs déçus du baron de Laussat (1819-1823) Journal of Latin American Geography 7(1).
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