Addressing Ecological Crises or Natural Resources Rush: Political Ecology of Peasant Struggles for Access to Natural Resources in the Great Lakes Region of Africa

Mulumeoderhwa Polepole, Patient;Ansoms, An;Midagu Kabumba, Alain;Ramazani Kalyongo, Lucien;van Leeuwen, Mathijs;et.al.
(2024) IoS Fair Transitions / LANDac - Land governance and the politics of fair transitions: Deepening the search for social justice — Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands (3.July.2024)

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Abstract
Recent literature recognizes struggles for access to natural resources as inherent to societal transformation processes. Sources also emphasize a trend towards the depoliticization of these struggles, which pushes various population groups to the periphery of the debates: indigenous peoples, women, youth, and fishermen. By aiming to alleviate human pressure on natural resources through the preservation of biodiversity, as well as to mitigate or eradicate "systemic" disparities and injustices in natural resource governance, the modern state and international development institutions point fingers at the "backward" traditions that need reform through new technical approaches. The fundamentally technocratic conception of access is seen in two dynamics: (1) customary land rights are reorganised through neoliberal and formalistic models of land access; and (2) conservationist and demarcationist approaches separate humans from biodiversity. In a context characterized by multiple crises (economic, political, security, ecological) and interventions at various scales by actors with diverse and often divergent interests, this panel aims to contribute to understanding the impact of structural, economic, political, and climate changes in the Great Lakes region of Africa. It seeks to explore how ‘peripherised’ groups, such as indigenous peoples, fishermen, women, and farmers, practically approach and assert their access to natural resources through strategies of resilience and resistance.
Affiliations
  • ISDR-BUKAVUAngaza Institute
  • UNIGOM
  • Université de Mons

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Mulumeoderhwa Polepole, P., Ansoms, A., Midagu Kabumba, A., Ramazani Kalyongo, L., Bisimwa Matabaro, L., & van Leeuwen, M. (2024). Addressing Ecological Crises or Natural Resources Rush: Political Ecology of Peasant Struggles for Access to Natural Resources in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. IoS Fair Transitions / LANDac - Land governance and the politics of fair transitions: Deepening the search for social justice, Utrecht, the Netherlands. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/243255