Introduction: Whither communities and conservation?

Abstract

Nearly eight years since the publication of Agrawal and Gibson's seminal article 'Enchantment and Disenchantment: the role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation,' scholarly and public interest in the role of communities in conservation remains strong. Drawing from the four case studies presented here, this article engages the continued interest in communities and conservation, with special attention to the changes that have occurred over the past eight years, especially the emergence of market-driven conservation. It does so by addressing the following themes: the ways communities are historically constituted in the context of conservation interventions; the role of external actors/agencies (e.g. states, NGOs, private enterprise) in this process, and other types of communities not often acknowledged in the literature; the central role of networks of governance (as apposed to governments) in conceptualizing and implementing conservation; and the neoliberalization of conservation.