IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v36y2008i10p1938-1955.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Knowledge that Counts: Institutional Identities, Policy Science, and the Conflict Over Fire Management in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela

Author

Listed:
  • Sletto, Bjørn

Abstract

Summary The cultures of environmental planning agencies shape institutional identities and management interventions. Central to such institutional cultures is knowledge production, which is shaped by political-economic processes, dominant narratives and institutional desires to produce "conservation" landscapes. Through knowledge production, certain scientific knowledge and data are appropriated, while others are excluded. In the case of fire management in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela, a project of policy science draws on selected scientific knowledge and emphasizes remote sensing and quantitative analysis at the expense of indigenous knowledge and prescriptive burning practices. This policy science emerges from an institutional culture that favors fire suppression as a means to recreate a desired, imaginary forest.

Suggested Citation

  • Sletto, Bjørn, 2008. "The Knowledge that Counts: Institutional Identities, Policy Science, and the Conflict Over Fire Management in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1938-1955, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:36:y:2008:i:10:p:1938-1955
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-750X(08)00126-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arun Agrawal, 1995. "Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 413-439, July.
    2. M Tewdwr-Jones & P Allmendinger, 1998. "Deconstructing Communicative Rationality: A Critique of Habermasian Collaborative Planning," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 30(11), pages 1975-1989, November.
    3. Melissa Leach & James Fairhead, 2000. "Challenging Neo‐Malthusian Deforestation Analyses in West Africa's Dynamic Forest Landscapes," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 26(1), pages 17-43, March.
    4. Emily Harwell, 2000. "Remote Sensibilities: Discourses of Technology and the Making of Indonesia’s Natural Disaster," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 307-340, January.
    5. David Aagesen, 2004. "Burning monkey-puzzle: Native fire ecology and forest management in northern Patagonia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 21(2), pages 233-242, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marien González-Hidalgo & Iago Otero & Giorgos Kallis, 2014. "Seeing beyond the Smoke: The Political Ecology of Fire in Horta de Sant Joan (Catalonia)," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(5), pages 1014-1031, May.
    2. Hecht, Susanna & Rajão, Raoni, 2020. "From “Green Hell” to “Amazonia Legal”: Land use models and the re-imagination of the rainforest as a new development frontier," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    3. García-López, Gustavo A., 2019. "Rethinking elite persistence in neoliberalism: Foresters and techno-bureaucratic logics in Mexico’s community forestry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 169-181.
    4. Conde, Marta, 2014. "Activism mobilising science," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 67-77.
    5. Fonseca Morello, Thiago, 2023. "Hospitalization due to fire-induced pollution in the Brazilian Amazon: A causal inference analysis with an assessment of policy trade-offs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    6. Eckerberg, Katarina & Buizer, Marleen, 2017. "Promises and dilemmas in forest fire management decision-making: Exploring conditions for community engagement in Australia and Sweden," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 133-140.
    7. Depietri, Yaella & Kallis, Giorgos & Baró, Francesc & Cattaneo, Claudio, 2016. "The urban political ecology of ecosystem services: The case of Barcelona," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 83-100.
    8. Kotsila, Panagiota & Saravanan, V. Subramanian, 2017. "Biopolitics Gone to Shit? State Narratives versus Everyday Realities of Water and Sanitation in the Mekong Delta," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 374-388.
    9. Beck, Erin, 2016. "Repopulating Development: An Agent-Based Approach to Studying Development Interventions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 19-32.
    10. Paula Ungar & Roger Strand, 2012. "Inclusive Protected Area Management in the Amazon: The Importance of Social Networks over Ecological Knowledge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(12), pages 1-19, November.
    11. Winkel, Georg, 2012. "Foucault in the forests—A review of the use of ‘Foucauldian’ concepts in forest policy analysis," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 81-92.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Piers Blaikie, 2000. "Development, Post-, Anti-, and Populist: A Critical Review," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(6), pages 1033-1050, June.
    2. Mónica de Castro-Pardo & Fernando Pérez-Rodríguez & José María Martín-Martín & João C. Azevedo, 2019. "Planning for Democracy in Protected Rural Areas: Application of a Voting Method in a Spanish-Portuguese Reserve," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Hardy, Derrylea J. & Patterson, Murray G., 2012. "Cross-cultural environmental research in New Zealand: Insights for ecological economics research practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 75-85.
    4. Arts, Bas & de Koning, Jessica, 2017. "Community Forest Management: An Assessment and Explanation of its Performance Through QCA," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 315-325.
    5. Cuestas-Caza, Javier & Toledo, Lucía & Rodríguez, Fabricio, 2024. "Transcultural bioeconomy governance in a plurinational state: Sumak Kawsay and bio-based production in two Kichwa territories of Ecuador," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    6. Thora Martina Herrmann, 2005. "Knowledge, values, uses and management of the Araucaria araucana forest by the indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people: A basis for collaborative natural resource management in southern Chile," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(2), pages 120-134, May.
    7. Orchard-Webb, Johanne & Kenter, Jasper O. & Bryce, Ros & Church, Andrew, 2016. "Deliberative Democratic Monetary Valuation to implement the Ecosystem Approach," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(PB), pages 308-318.
    8. Priya Gupta, 2021. "Conservation is Development in the Forests of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 16(1), pages 54-74, April.
    9. Carmenta, Rachel & Cammelli, Federico & Dressler, Wolfram & Verbicaro, Camila & Zaehringer, Julie G., 2021. "Between a rock and a hard place: The burdens of uncontrolled fire for smallholders across the tropics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    10. Xudan Lin & Hong Zhu & Duo Yin, 2022. "Enhancing Rural Resilience in a Tea Town of China: Exploring Tea Farmers’ Knowledge Production for Tea Planting, Tea Processing and Tea Tasting," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, April.
    11. Lauren Baker & Michael Dove & Dana Graef & Alder Keleman & David Kneas & Sarah Osterhoudt & Jeffrey Stoike, 2013. "Whose Diversity Counts? The Politics and Paradoxes of Modern Diversity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(6), pages 1-24, June.
    12. Jahel, Camille & Vall, Eric & Rodriguez, Zermeño & Bégué, Agnès & Baron, Christian & Augusseau, Xavier & Lo Seen, Danny, 2018. "Analysing plausible futures from past patterns of land change in West Burkina Faso," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 60-74.
    13. Dalitso Mvula & Chrispin Hamooya, 2022. "An investigation of the acquisition, transfer and preservation of Indigenous Knowledge by traditional healers in Chibombo District of Zambia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(7), pages 502-509, July.
    14. Christian Kuhlicke, 2010. "The dynamics of vulnerability: some preliminary thoughts about the occurrence of ‘radical surprises’ and a case study on the 2002 flood (Germany)," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 55(3), pages 671-688, December.
    15. Jarvis, Diane & Stoeckl, Natalie & Larson, Silva & Grainger, Daniel & Addison, Jane & Larson, Anna, 2021. "The Learning Generated Through Indigenous Natural Resources Management Programs Increases Quality of Life for Indigenous People – Improving Numerous Contributors to Wellbeing," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    16. Richard A. Niesenbaum, 2019. "The Integration of Conservation, Biodiversity, and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-11, August.
    17. Saurabh Arora & Barbara Dyck, 2021. "Refusal as Radical Care? Moving Beyond Modern Industrial Agriculture," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 64(3), pages 252-258, December.
    18. Jude L. Fernando, 2003. "NGOs and Production of Indigenous Knowledge Under the Condition of Postmodernity," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 590(1), pages 54-72, November.
    19. Ivan S. Adolwa & Stefan Schwarze & Imogen Bellwood-Howard & Nikolaus Schareika & Andreas Buerkert, 2017. "A comparative analysis of agricultural knowledge and innovation systems in Kenya and Ghana: sustainable agricultural intensification in the rural–urban interface," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(2), pages 453-472, June.
    20. Julian Ramirez-Villegas & Colin Khoury, 2013. "Reconciling approaches to climate change adaptation for Colombian agriculture," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 119(3), pages 575-583, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:36:y:2008:i:10:p:1938-1955. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.