The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Conservation
Robert Fletcher | March 2023, University of California Press
Failing Forward documents the global rise of neoliberal conservation as a response to biodiversity loss and unpacks how this approach has managed to “fail forward” over time despite its ineffectiveness.
“Why so many planning efforts, in international development and elsewhere, have so often “failed” in their intended aims has long been a central concern for a wide range of critical analysts, who have offered various explanations to account for this reality.”
At its core, neoliberal conservation promotes market-based instruments intended to reconcile environmental preservation and economic development. Preservation is generally harnessed as the source of conservation finance and capital accumulation.
“Current public funding…was far less than required to support effective global conservation action. Consequently, they concluded, enhanced private-sector engagement was desperately needed to make up the shortfall.”
Robert Fletcher describes how this project has developed over the past several decades and the expanding network of organizations and actors that has come together to promote it.
“This is the new face of the global conservation movement: an increasingly interconnected network of actors representing international financial institutions, bilateral lenders, national governments, nongovernmental organizations, and private-sector firms worldwide. They are all increasingly focused on transforming conservation into the basis of profitable enterprise. The conservation movement has always enjoyed complex interconnections among civil society, governmental, and private-sector players.”
Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, he explores why this strategy continues to captivate states, nongovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, and the private sector despite its significant deficiencies.
Ultimately, Fletcher contends that neoliberal conservation should be understood as a failed attempt to sustain global capitalism despite its intensifying social and ecological contradictions.
Consequently, a concerted program of “degrowth” grounded in post-capitalist principles is the only viable alternative to simultaneously achieve environmental sustainability and social equity.
Bibliography
Fletcher, R. (2023) Failing Forward: The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Conservation. Oakland, California, US: University of California Press.
Review
“In this original and important book, Fletcher shows that neoliberal conservation is a dangerous illusion. It neither creates profitable markets nor protects nature, and it promises to reduce state regulation while actually expanding it. Fletcher argues that capitalism cannot solve the ecological contradictions it creates and is not the right place to look for ways to save nature. Falling Forward calls instead for a post-capitalist transformation, not least in global conservation policy.”
—Bill Adams, Claudio Segré Professor of Conservation and Development, Geneva Graduate Institute.
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