The political ecology of conservation amidst violent conflict

Nature conservation can often be contested and it is even more so in the settings of ongoing violent conflicts. While studies have long recognized the importance of conservation areas as key drivers of conflicts and transformation in rural livelihoods, evidence on the dynamics, nature and extent of their linkages, especially in the context of recent increased interest in neoliberal conservation involving varied actors in the era of climate change, remains limited. The purpose of this thesis is to introduce a quantitative perspective on this topic and better understand the dynamics and linkages between conservation and conflict. Conflict and conservation data are collected and analyzed in order to identify conflict-affected conservation hotspots, possible patterns and specific indicators that might explain the different violence levels found in affected protected areas, specifically National Parks. The study shows that there are conservation areas that suffer from ongoing violent conflicts which however have no direct connection to the fact that the territory is designated as a protected area. Due to the impacts of armed conflict on nature, neoliberal conservation measures are nowadays often implemented to counter the damages but run the risk of further increasing or even starting new conflicts. As it is not yet possible to identify exact causes for each individual violent conflict within National Park territory from the currently available data, the need for qualitative research was deemed necessary, and as a result, the case of the Virunga National Park has been explored based on a review of literature to illustrate and nuance the dynamics and insights captured from analyzing existing databases on National Parks and conflicts.