Political ecologies of development

Access to environmental resources is integral to economic development, particularly in African economies, where minerals, agricultural commodities and tourism contribute greatly to the continent's Gross Domestic Product. Economic development policies impact African environments, and environmental policies impact African economic development. Political ecologists are particularly interested in such policy processes, treating them not as neutral but as power-laden. In this chapter, we show how and why political ecology is helpful in explaining the causes of environmental degradation as well as other topics of concern such as health, agriculture and conflict. We provide detailed examples of how political ecological thought is relevant to economic development in Africa by demonstrating how selected conceptual approaches namely scales, webs of relations, discourse, difference, and knowledge production are put to use by political ecologists. We then review literatures on wildlife and protected areas, and urban environments as key and emerging themes in political ecology research.