IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i15p11608-d1204081.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Advocacy, Ecotourism, and Biopolitics of Whale Conservation in Ecuador

Author

Listed:
  • Bradley Tatar

    (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

Whale-watching tourism in Ecuador thrives through the spectacular image of a flagship species, the humpback whale. Seemingly, it is an example of an industry regulated and managed in accordance with sustainable principles of nature conservation, thanks to the work of Ecuadorian scientists who advocate for policies to protect whales from harmful exploitation. However, does the use of the whale as an icon of conservation result in its utilization as a mere commodity for profit? Through ethnographic fieldwork including interviews, observations, and textual analysis, it is shown that the Ecuadorian practices of whale conservation have resulted in the whale becoming a subject of governance, by which the wild animals are recognized as entities worthy of ethical treatment. Using the humpback whale as a flagship species, the Ecuadorian scientists practice biopolitics through the strategies of categorizing, monitoring, and regulating human interactions with the whale population. The success of this approach to wildlife governance highlights the role of NGO-affiliated scientists as knowledge producers and policy advocates.

Suggested Citation

  • Bradley Tatar, 2023. "Advocacy, Ecotourism, and Biopolitics of Whale Conservation in Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11608-:d:1204081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11608/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11608/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bailey, Jennifer L., 2012. "Whale watching, the Buenos Aires Group and the politics of the International Whaling Commission," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 489-494.
    2. Cisneros-Montemayor, A.M. & Sumaila, U.R. & Kaschner, K. & Pauly, D., 2010. "The global potential for whale watching," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1273-1278, November.
    3. Hasita Bhammar & Wendy Li & Christel Maria Moller Molina & Valerie Hickey & Jo Pendry & Urvashi Narain, 2021. "Framework for Sustainable Recovery of Tourism in Protected Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-10, March.
    4. Charlotte Epstein, 2008. "The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550695, April.
    5. Charlotte Epstein, 2008. "The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262050927, April.
    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. Jeanne Féaux de la Croix & Aibek Samakov, 2024. "Moving beyond the Framing Impasse in the Aral Sea Delta: Vernacular Knowledge of Salinization and Its Potential for Social Learning towards Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-15, October.

    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. Mark Bevir & Oliver Daddow & Pauline Schnapper, 2015. "JCMS Special Issue 2015: Interpreting British European Policy. Guest Editors: Mark Bevir, Oliver Daddow and Pauline Schnapper," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Jessica F Green, 2017. "Policy entrepreneurship in climate governance: Toward a comparative approach," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(8), pages 1471-1482, December.
    3. Wakamatsu, Mihoko & Shin, Kong Joo & Wilson, Clevo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Exploring a Gap between Australia and Japan in the Economic Valuation of Whale Conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 397-407.
    4. Ian Wash, 2020. "Interpreting public policy dilemmas: discourse analytical insights," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Anders Blok, 2014. "Articulating Social Science in the Wild of Global Natures? On Economics and Anthropology in Transnational Environmental Politics," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(9), pages 2125-2142, September.
    6. Holzscheiter, Anna, 2017. "Was vom arguing übrigblieb… Der Nachhall der kommunikativen Wende in den Internationalen Beziehungen," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 143-159.
    7. Campbell-Verduyn Malcolm, 2016. "Merely TINCering around: the shifting private authority of technology, information and news corporations," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 143-170, August.
    8. Kemi Fuentes-George, 2017. "Consensus, Certainty, and Catastrophe: Discourse, Governance, and Ocean Iron Fertilization," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 17(2), pages 125-143, May.
    9. Holzscheiter, Anna & Gholiagha, Sassan & Liese, Andrea, 2022. "Advocacy Coalition Constellations and Norm Collisions: Insights from International Drug Control, Human Trafficking, and Child Labour," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 25-48.
    10. Gholiagha, Sassan & Holzscheiter, Anna & Liese, Andrea, 2020. "Activating norm collisions: Interface conflicts in international drug control," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 290-317.
    11. Schmidt, Vivien A., 2013. "Does discourse matter in the politics of building social pacts on social protection?: international experiences," Políticas Sociales 6194, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    12. Andrew Hindmoor & Allan McConnell, 2013. "Why Didn't They See it Coming? Warning Signs, Acceptable Risks and the Global Financial Crisis," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 61(3), pages 543-560, October.
    13. Shim, David & Nabers, Dirk, 2011. "North Korea and the Politics of Visual Representation," GIGA Working Papers 164, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    14. Kari De Pryck, 2021. "Intergovernmental Expert Consensus in the Making: The Case of the Summary for Policy Makers of the IPCC 2014 Synthesis Report," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 21(1), pages 108-129, Winter.
    15. Tobias Nielsen, 2014. "The role of discourses in governing forests to combat climate change," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 265-280, September.
    16. Abdihakim Hussein & Emily Nye, 2024. "Beyond the narrative: Colombia and the Venezuelan migrants," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(S3), pages 83-92, June.
    17. Camille Parguel & Jean-Christophe Graz, 2021. "Food Can’t Be Traded: Civil Society’s Discursive Power in the Context of Agricultural Liberalisation in India," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Working Paper 405, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, India.
    18. Mick Lennon, 2015. "Explaining the currency of novel policy concepts: learning from green infrastructure planning," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(5), pages 1039-1057, October.
    19. Myung-Ae Choi, 2017. "The whale multiple: Spatial formations of whale tourism in Jangsaengpo, South Korea," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(11), pages 2536-2557, November.
    20. Shim, David, 2010. "How Signifying Practices Constitute Food (In)security: The Case of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," GIGA Working Papers 122, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11608-:d:1204081. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.