The transformation of the South African national parks with special reference to the role of the Social Ecology Directorate 1994-2004
Date
2016
Authors
Poonan, Ulli Unjinee
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Abstract
This dissertation critically examines the transformation of the South African National Parks with special
reference to the role of the Social Ecology Directorate during the period 1994-2004. The establishment
of a non-racial democratic social order required a different approach to the conservation of biodiversity
which involved substantive change. This change included the organisation confronting its role in the
apartheid legacy of dispossession, environmental racism and injustice. The Social Ecology Directorate
and the concept of Social Ecology were established by the South African National Parks to drive a
process of transformation. However, it is argued that these ideas and structures were not strong and
cohesive enough to do so. Nevertheless the dissertation suggests that during this period, in a series of
complex and contested processes, constrained but significant change was achieved in four areas: a shift
to a more people-centred and developmental approach to conservation, restructuring to make the
organisation more representative and to eliminate racism and sexism, land restitution, improved
relations with neighbouring communities and greater inclusivity and openness to all South Africans
through the promotion of tourism and cultural heritage. These changes laid the basis potentially for
more radical change which links the conservation of biodiversity to social justice.
Description
Submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand.
June 2015
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Citation
Poonan, Ulli Unjinee (2016) The transformation of the South African National Parks with special reference to the role of the Social Ecology Directorate 1994 - 2004, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,<http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/21423>