A Case Study of Conservation and Development Conflicts: Swaziland's Hlane Road

Integrated conservation and development projects are now being promoted as the best means to save wildlife in Africa. However, a case study in Swaziland provides a cautionary tale about the difficulty of reconciling the two; it also provides insight into how conservation politics were played out dur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of southern African studies Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 813 - 831
Main Author Hackel, Jeffrey D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Taylor & Francis Group 01.12.2001
Carfax Publishing, Taylor and Francis Ltd
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Agricultural management
Case studies
Conservation
Conservation movement
Decision making
Development Strategies
Economic Development
Economics
Environmental conservation
Environmental Protection
Habitat conservation
Highways
History
Infrastructure
Nature conservation
Political debate
Politics
Protected areas
Regional studies
Road construction
Roads
Southern Africa
Swaziland
Wildlife conservation
Swaziland
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Summary:Integrated conservation and development projects are now being promoted as the best means to save wildlife in Africa. However, a case study in Swaziland provides a cautionary tale about the difficulty of reconciling the two; it also provides insight into how conservation politics were played out during the latter years of King Sobuza II's reign. In Swaziland in the late 1970s, a debate occurred about the upgrading of a major road in Swaziland's northeast. The decision was significant because the road under question bisected the country's primary conservation area: Hlane Game Sanctuary. The debate centred on the needs of economic development as opposed to nature conservation. Commercial interests wanted the road tarred; conservationists, on the other hand, believed that an upgrade would undermine their efforts to establish a viable nature conservation area in northeastern Swaziland. Instead, they favoured a new route that would be aligned west of the sanctuary but would cost significantly more than upgrading the established, low traffic volume, route. In the end, the road through Hlane was upgraded. This paper analyses the decision-making process, using archival and other written records, as well as interviews with many of the debate participants.
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ISSN:0305-7070
1465-3893
DOI:10.1080/03057070120090754