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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

Conservation Labor: A New frontier in Labor Theory and Conservation Science (CONLAB)

Alternative title: Arbeid med naturvern: Et nytt syn på arbeidsteori og naturvern vitenskap

Awarded: NOK 8.0 mill.

CONLAB is a path-breaking interdisciplinary and comparative research project advancing our understanding of how conservation projects and policies impact the ways in which people work to sustain their livelihoods. Conservation relies on different forms of paid and unpaid work, and can also affect people’s access to work in other sectors. CONLAB examines the impacts of conservation on work i) within and outside of the conservation sector, ii) across social identities of gender, class, caste, and race, and iii) across hierarchies of paid, underpaid and unpaid work for conservation. To study these processes empirically, this project will be implemented in a comparative manner in India (Corbett Tiger Reserve and Manas Biosphere Reserve) and Tanzania (Tarangire Ecosystem). We will use mixed methods, including FGDs, a socio-economic and demographic household survey, semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The project team includes experienced early- and mid-career researchers with extensive fieldwork and research expertise in India and Tanzania, and a proven track-record in academic publishing in leading journals. CONLAB’s engagement and impact will go beyond academia through dialogues with practitioners and policymakers to advise and shape local and global policy making processes pertaining to biodiversity conservation, social protection, well-being and poverty alleviation. The project has the potential to influence policy pertaining to sustainable livelihood transitions and working conditions in conservation projects and settings. Findings will also produce knowledge about conservation-related impacts on labor markets in related sectors, including tourism, transportation, and hospitality. In sum, CONLAB directly and indirectly speaks to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 5, 8, 10, 13, 15 and 16, focusing respectively on poverty, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, inequality, climate action, terrestrial biodiversity and peace.

CONLAB is a path-breaking interdisciplinary and comparative research project that advances frontiers of labor theory and conservation science by examining how biodiversity conservation policies, initiatives and projects shape labor dynamics in affected communities. Theoretically, we conceptualize conservation as a mode of production that requires and generates value from different forms of paid and unpaid work. We situate conservation labor and theorize it in the broader context of an international conservation labor regime. This labor regime is underpinned by a particular division of labor and labor dynamics in capitalist societies and postcolonial contexts that are characterized by entrenched social hierarchies cutting across gender, class, caste, race and ethnicity. From this vantage point, CONLAB examines the division of labor and labor dynamics i) within and outside of the conservation sector, ii) across social identities of gender, class, caste, and race, and iii) across hierarchies of paid, underpaid and unpaid work for conservation. To study these processes empirically, this project will be implemented in a comparative manner in India (Corbett Tiger Reserve and Manas Biosphere Reserve) and Tanzania (Tarangire Ecosystem).We will use mixed methods approach, including FDGs, a socio-economic and demographic household survey, semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The project team includes experienced early- and mid-career researchers with extensive fieldwork and research expertise in India and Tanzania, and a proven track-record in academic publishing in leading journals covering conservation social science, human geography, development studies and agrarian change. CONLAB’s engagement and impact will go beyond academia through dialogues with practitioners and policymakers at different scales to advise and shape local and global policy making processes pertaining to biodiversity conservation, social protection, well-being and poverty alleviation.

Funding scheme:

FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam