In the Cockpit: The Political Ecology of Integrated Conservation and Development in Cockpit Country, Jamaica
Item
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Title
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In the Cockpit: The Political Ecology of Integrated Conservation and Development in Cockpit Country, Jamaica
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:4010799d0b35:12042
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identifier
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12738
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Creator
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Douglas, Jason A.,
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Contributor
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Cindi Katz
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology | Geography | Environmental justice | Social psychology | Cockpit Country | Environmental Psychology | Forest Management | Jamaica | Participatory Conservation | Political Ecology
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Abstract
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In response to the top-down nature of many environmental protection efforts and the technical approaches that prove detrimental to the livelihoods of people located in and around conservation areas in the Caribbean, community based participatory resource management and sustainable livelihood programs have become commonplace in the environmental protection discourse. However, they often negatively affect the people at the bottom of these programs by promising livelihood improvements that rarely come to fruition due to the tensions between conservation and development. In this dissertation, I present an ethnographic account of attempts at integrated conservation and development in the bauxite rich Cockpit Country of central Jamaica. This research concerns the environmental practices and values, and collaboration of people "participating" in Local Forestry Management Committees (LFMC) that were established to provide economic alternatives to bauxite mining in Cockpit Country. I conducted research for this dissertation in various phases from 2008 to 2010, culminating in five months of fieldwork in 2010. Working with The Nature Conservancy, USAID, The Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, The Windsor Research Centre, Cockpit Country residents participating in LFMCs, and Cockpit Country residents who did not participate in these programs, I examined the alternatives to the agricultural practices currently employed in Cockpit Country communities and the bauxite mining proposed by the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) in the area. Using archival data, interviews, surveys and participant observation, I examined the problems and potentials of the LFMCs and their affiliated programs. My analysis concerns the relationships among the people at the top and bottom of these programs, their varying conceptions of nature, and their collaboration in the development of livelihood practices intended to promote an equitable and participatory process of integrated conservation and development.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
