Green Territoriality: Conservation as State Territorialization in a Resource Frontier (original) (raw)

This article explores how and in what ways global conservation projects carried out in forest frontiers under rebel authority can serve to assert state control over resource-rich territories and populations. I advance the concept of “green territoriality” to describe how conservation practiced beyond the state can serve counterinsurgency aims. Evidence is presented based on a two-year field case study located in a global biodiversity hotspot under armed conflict and inhabited by Karen in southeastern Myanmar. Military-led forced displacements by economic concessions and conservation during war are analyzed alongside more recent conservation projects during the ceasefire. Findings reveal how military offensives, economic concessions, and conservation activities threaten to bring state agencies, administration, and management into rebel forests where Karen fled from war but have not yet returned. The findings hold particular significance to the importance of integrating conservation activities in conflict affected areas with humanitarian assistance, land restitution, and livelihood rehabilitation.