Conservation; national park; post-conflict; Sri Lanka; Political Ecology; ethnopolitics
摘要
Wilpattu Forest Complex, comprised of the Wilpattu National Park and adjoining forest areas in north-western Sri Lanka, was at the centre of a dispute over biodiversity conservation, deforestation and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPSs), Muslim minorities at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war – 1983-2009. This paper traces how the majority Buddhist and the minority Muslim cleavages have ethnicised this conflict. Militant Buddhist nationalists have framed resettlement as “illegal encroachment” since 2014. However, in the following year, environmentalists took on the issue from the standpoint of biodiversity conservation leading to members of the Muslim community reacting against perceived injuries. The subsequent contradictory responses by Sri Lankan state representatives highlighted its factionalised character regarding conservation policies and territorial planning, further exacerbated existing ethnopolitical divisions. Data has been gathered through field research and a literature survey, and has been analysed using a political ecology approach. The paper contributes to the literature on conservation and violence and shows that in post-conflict situations, the territorial reconfiguration of protected areas is deeply intertwined with conflict legacies and on-going power struggles within post-civil-war societies.
目次
Abstract 57 INTRODUCTION 57 Background 57 Theoretical approach: Nationalism, nature and state territorialisation 58 MATERIALS AND METHODS 59 Research methodology 59 Research Site: Wilpattu National Park 59 History of the Wilpattu National Park and its surroundings 60 DISCUSSION AND ARGUMENT 60 Post-conflict resettlement 60 Anti-Muslim discourse 61 Counter-discourse: “Landgrab” narrative 62 Territorialisation and security 62 The New Environmentalism in Sri Lanka 62 The conflict peaks 64 CONCLUSION 64 ENDNOTES 65 REFERENCES 65
