University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland 4350, Australia; Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Kathmandu, Nepal.
University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland 4350, Australia; Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Oct 10;946:174335. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174335. Epub 2024 Jul 1.
Conservation initiatives involve a complex interplay of various ecological, socio-political, and economic factors. Ecological resettlement (ER), implemented within the context of nature conservation policies, stands as one of the most contested issues worldwide. This study aims to navigate the domain of ER policy in conservation through discursive institutionalism and a policy arrangement approach. Focusing on Nepal's conservation policy pathways over the last seven decades, we critically analyze policy ideas and narratives, trends, patterns of policy development, institutional arrangements, driving factors, and responses to contemporary ER policies. Methods involved a systematic literature review (n = 271), a comprehensive review of policy documents and project reports (n > 150), and expert interviews (n = 20). Over the past 50 years, >7600 households in Nepal have been displaced in the name of ER and are still persisting despite the rhetoric of participatory conservation. With changes in political regimes, conservation policy has shifted from a hunting-focused approach to landscape-level and transboundary conservation. Initially influenced by internal factors such as economic and political governance, conservation policies were later shaped by international conservation discourse. Also, the operational sphere of such policy ideas and narratives - including actors, resources, discourses, and rules - along with trends, priorities, institutional arrangements, and driving factors of ER policies, has changed over time. Further, the exclusion of deprived communities and the capture of conservation benefits by elites have undermined conservation values. This research stresses the importance of a judicious balance between people's welfare and nature's integrity, emphasizing community-based natural resource management models accredited to a conservation standard. We further urge the revision of displacement-oriented conservation policies to secure the rights of Indigenous people and traditional landholders, thereby ensuring conservation and sustainable development at both national and global levels.
保护倡议涉及各种生态、社会政治和经济因素的复杂相互作用。生态重新安置 (ER) 是在自然保护政策的背景下实施的，是全球最具争议的问题之一。本研究旨在通过话语制度主义和政策安排方法探索保护中的 ER 政策领域。本研究以尼泊尔过去七十年的保护政策路径为重点，批判性地分析了政策理念和叙事、趋势、政策制定模式、制度安排、驱动因素以及对当代 ER 政策的反应。方法包括系统文献综述（n=271）、政策文件和项目报告的综合审查（n＞150）和专家访谈（n=20）。在过去的 50 年里，尼泊尔有超过 7600 户家庭以 ER 的名义被迫搬迁，尽管有参与式保护的言论，但仍在继续。随着政治制度的变化，保护政策已从以狩猎为重点的方法转变为景观和跨境保护。最初，保护政策受到经济和政治治理等内部因素的影响，后来又受到国际保护话语的影响。此外，随着时间的推移，这些政策理念和叙事的运作范围——包括行为者、资源、话语和规则——以及 ER 政策的趋势、优先事项、制度安排和驱动因素都发生了变化。此外，贫困社区被排斥在外，以及精英阶层攫取保护利益，破坏了保护价值观。本研究强调了在人民福祉和自然完整性之间保持明智平衡的重要性，强调了基于社区的自然资源管理模式，这些模式符合保护标准。我们进一步敦促修订以流离失所为导向的保护政策，以确保土著人民和传统土地所有者的权利，从而确保国家和全球各级的保护和可持续发展。
