Stories People Tell: The Cultural Construction of Environmental Policy in Africa
Author(s)
Hoben, Allan
Abstract
This essay discusses the ways Western images of nature and concepts of conservation have shaped the environmental policies of development agencies, African governments, and nongovernmental organizations working in Africa. It argues that these policies often rest on historically grounded, culturally constructed paradigms that at once describe a problem and prescribe its solution. These paradigms tell us how things were at an earlier time when man lived in harmony with nature, how human agency has altered that harmony and the disasters that will plague man and nature if dramatic action is not taken soon. Incorrect environmental policies in sub-Saharan Africa have led to great waste of scarce development resources. Laws and regulations established in support of misconceived environmental policies have reduced rural incomes, increased rural work loads and criminalized rural producers by banning their indigenous farming practices. Three cases highlighting these problems are discussed: land degradation in Kenya, desertification in the Sahel, and environmental reclamation in Ethiopia.
