Abstract

Much scholarship has stressed the need for conservation initiatives to consider local livelihood realities in order to effectively manage marine ecosystems; however, the gendered implications of marine conservation often remain overlooked. This paper takes a feminist political ecology approach to examine intersectional resistance to conservation policies in one of Indonesia’s largest and most populous marine protected areas (MPAs), Wakatobi National Park. We show that current Park policies and management fail to account for the livelihoods and culture of local ethnic minority fishers. In response, and along lines of gender, ethnicity, and class, ethnic minority fishers resist conservation measures in novel ways. Justified by their moral economy, these include continuing to access natural resources surreptitiously, allying with each other, and critiquing authorities. While many fisherwomen face additional barriers due to local cultural gender norms, they resist by pursuing livelihood activities against their husband’s wishes. A key mechanism for this gendered resistance is increased mobility for women, achieved through their clever use of new infrastructure. Concurrently, Park authorities work to regain control through ‘creative enforcement’ by accepting bribes, intimidating locals, and wasting fishers’ time – techniques that further expose class, ethnic, and gendered frictions. Overall, we find that MPA residents use resources differently across intersectional lines and reveal the extent to which everyday resistance can undermine conservation efforts if regulations ignore local needs. We thus stress the need for an intersectional and multi-scalar approach that is contextualized within local communities and wider infrastructures to improve marine conservation research and policy.

摘要

许多学术研究强调保护举措需要考虑当地的生计现实，以便有效地管理海洋生态系统；然而，海洋保护的性别影响常常被忽视。本文采用女权主义政治生态学方法来研究印度尼西亚最大、人口最多的海洋保护区 (MPA) 之一瓦卡托比国家公园对保护政策的交叉阻力。我们表明，当前的公园政策和管理未能考虑到当地少数民族渔民的生计和文化。作为回应，根据性别、种族和阶级，少数民族渔民以新颖的方式抵制保护措施。以他们的道德经济为理由，这些包括继续秘密获取自然资源，相互结盟，和批评当局。虽然许多渔民因当地文化性别规范而面临额外的障碍，但她们通过从事违背丈夫意愿的谋生活动来抵制。这种性别抵抗的一个关键机制是增加女性的流动性，这是通过她们巧妙地使用新的基础设施来实现的。与此同时，公园当局通过收受贿赂、恐吓当地人和浪费渔民时间的“创造性执法”来重新获得控制权——这些技术进一步暴露了阶级、种族和性别之间的摩擦。总体而言，我们发现 MPA 居民在交叉线上以不同的方式使用资源，并揭示了如果法规忽视当地需求，日常抵抗会在多大程度上破坏保护工作。