Green colonialism ousting African pastoralists

In his book “L’invention du colonialisme vert: pour en finir avec le mythe de l’Éden africain” (The invention of green colonialism: putting an end to the myth of the African Eden), Guillaume Blanc describes how, in the late 19th century, colonialists believed they had found in Africa the nature they had lost in Europe. They created the first nature parks in Africa. After the colonies because liberated, many former colonial administrators became international experts bent on saving their African Eden in a pattern of “green colonialism” that continues to this day, supported also by national African governments.

Blanc argues that the creation and management of parks in Africa is based on a myth of an endangered nature that needs to be restored and protected by keeping pastoralists and indigenous peoples out and letting only hunters/tourists in. He writes in considerable detail about national parks in Eastern Africa that expel the local livestock-keepers and crop farmers and hire “eco-guards” supported by numerous NGOs.

An English version of the French book (2020, 350pp) is expected to come out in 2022, but the English-language book review written by Diana Davis already gives a vivid picture of what is in the book. The review appeared in Nomadic Peoples 25 (2) in October 2021 – a thematic issue focused on “Rethinking Resilience in the Context of East African Pastoralism”.

Posted on 9 October 2021 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Policy & Power