Moustard, Fabien; (2025) Beyond Recognition and Redistribution: The case of Indigenous people and park rangers in the context of conservation in the Congo Basin and the role of citizen science and participatory technology. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Humanity is facing a biodiversity crisis. Achieving the United Nations 2030 global goal to conserve 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans in the Congo Basin requires doubling the surface of protected areas. However, pursuing this objective using current conservation practices may exacerbate existing tensions between park rangers responsible for managing protected areas and Indigenous communities inhabiting the periphery. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork, this thesis explores the possibility of collaboration between Indigenous people and park rangers in conservation efforts. Part 1 focuses on the link between recognition and redistribution, an under-explored aspect of contemporary inequalities. Through the operationalisation of Nancy Fraser’s two-dimensional framework of justice, it provides a rare interdisciplinary examination of how social status and social class can be studied together. Part 2 presents the conservation practices around Lobéké National Park in Cameroon. Interactions between Indigenous people (Baka) and park rangers are deeply influenced by the historical legacy of conservation efforts. The creation of the park in 2001 has largely disregarded the presence of Baka and fostered the militarisation of conservation. As a result, the activities of park rangers contribute to restrict Baka’s access to forest resources essential for their livelihoods. Part 3 applies the approach developed in part 1 to investigate the status beliefs shaping the recognition gap between Indigenous people and park rangers and the distribution mechanisms shaping the redistribution gap between them. Citizen science and participatory technology are introduced as an experiment to reduce these gaps. By leveraging participatory technology to disseminate their unique expertise in forest ecosystems, Baka have the potential to enhance their social standing, material resources, and overall engagement in conservation initiatives. The concluding chapter articulates the theoretical and practical findings of the thesis. At its core, this thesis demonstrates the possibility of concurrently studying class and status disparities and leveraging their interplay through participatory technology to address both forms of subordination simultaneously.

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