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Contents:

1 - Introduction; 2 - Nature and the colonial mind; 3 - Decolonizing relationships with nature; 4 - The 'wild', the market and the native; 5 - Sharing South African parks; 6 - Devolving the expropriation of nature; 7 - Decolonizing highland conservation; 8 - Responding to place in a post-colonial era; 9 - The changing face of nature conservation; 10 - When nature won't play still; 11 - Beyond preservation; 12 - Feet to the ground in storied landscapes; 13 - Conclusions.

Review:

When the British swept over the globe in the 19th century it was a 'good thing'. Discuss. The sort of question you'd expect from an older-style history paper but not the focus you would expect from a conservation text that is concerned with the impact of ideology on wildlife. 30 years ago there were few practical texts in conservation and much of the debate was made up of considerations of the use, value and scope of conservation with little practical work. Today, we have almost the opposite situation where masses of conservation biology and other practical texts dominate and the philosophy behind it is lacking.

This text therefore comes as a significant change. The overall notion of the text is simple but, as the individual contributions show, it creates a considerable complexity. First the simple part. Colonisation (principally, but by no means exclusively, British) carried with it a series of ideological imperatives and perspectives. For us, the relationship between coloniser and land is the most important. Essentially the land, like the the colonised, was an inferior product which should be controlled to produce a Anglocentric view of the world very similar to the gardens of the English country houses. Here nature was controlled and produced only that which was considered acceptable. It follows that the various global ecologies that made up the 'other' worlds of the colonised were not known about (and would have been considered inferior had they been known of) and all that was wanted was the proper application of proper species to made the area suitable. This was more than an implicit rhetoric. In Australia for example there were several large-scale attempts at 'acclimatisation' - bringing in foreign species to improve the local stock. Keeping with the Australian theme, we can see the impacts of such programmes all too clearly today. The discussion of these issues occupies much of chapters one and two.

The second part of the thesis produces the the body of the text. Here we see the complexity of application and result of the world's colonised biomes. Chapter three falls between the theory of the first part and the exemplars of the second part. In this case we see how Australian indigenous groups have been impacted by colonisation. Chapter four notes that whatever we say about indigenous groups we still use the market as the key force. The consequence is that native groups are 'marketised' in terms of their relations with their resources. Often this leads to local shortages of traditional species. Chapter five turns to post-apartheid South Africa to see how grander conservation schemes can be tied in with an increase in democracy for the people affected. Conservationists are not outsiders who dictate terms but locals who mediate to provide sustainable solutions (a theme continued by the subsequent chapter). In amongst the discussions of third world nations there are other cases which show that colonisation is not an African or Indian phenomenon. Chapter seven considers the impact of English landlords and landlord systems on the Highlands. Chapters eight and nine return to Australia with an examination of the ideology of nature in terms of definitions of space and an outline of new management structures for conservation respectively. Chapter 10 takes a completely different slant of this topic. Up to this point it has centred on people's perceptions to their areas. Here, the colonising force is the way we believe in equilibrium theory in ecology. The argument is put forward that much of conservation is rooted in equilibrium - that if we take away the force we restore the land to balance. Such ideas have been central to the development of restoration ecology. Yet, as this chapter shows us, it can provide a false solution. Chapter 11 outlines the way in which a fen scheme has developed to embrace new ways of thinking. Chapter 12 is another exploration of Australian Aboriginal culture and the way it affects conservation practice. Finally, the concluding chapter looks at the challenges we face in tackling the de-colonisation of nature.

Overall this is a most stimulating text. At a time when we are almost deluged with conservation methodology it is vital that we maintain our ability to question the very fundamentals of the subject. It should certainly be regarded as required reading for any university-level courses and for educators/conservationists wishing to put more rigour into their work.