Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)

The creation of private protected areas (PPA) is commonly considered an instrument of neoliberal conservation, characterized by private management and commodification of nature for (eco)tourism and other market-based instruments (MBIs). PPAs are accused of reproducing social inequalities when entai...

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Main Authors: Nora Müller, Robert Fletcher, Macià Blázquez Salom
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Asociación Española de Geografía 2023-12-01
Series:Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles
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Online Access:http://www.bage.age-geografia.es/ojs/index.php/bage/article/view/3458
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author Nora Müller
Robert Fletcher
Macià Blázquez Salom
author_facet Nora Müller
Robert Fletcher
Macià Blázquez Salom
author_sort Nora Müller
collection DOAJ
description The creation of private protected areas (PPA) is commonly considered an instrument of neoliberal conservation, characterized by private management and commodification of nature for (eco)tourism and other market-based instruments (MBIs). PPAs are accused of reproducing social inequalities when entailing enclosure, exclusivity, land grabbing or dispossession. Yet PPAs exist in many different forms that enact these various processes in different ways. Our research explores this variegation in PPAs by offering a more nuanced understanding of the often complex and contradictory interconnections between processes of commodification and privatization different PPAs enact, as well as how PPAs are often operationalized differently in global south and north contexts. To develop this analysis, we draw on the conceptual framework of commodification proposed by Castree (2003) to investigate a number of PPAs located in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range on the island of Mallorca in Spain. Our results show that commodification and privatization combine in different ways and to different degrees in the various PPAs in this area. Overall, we conclude, privatization appears more pervasive than commodification in this global north context, as compared to research concerning PPAs in the global south suggesting the presence of far more commodification in such lower-income contexts.
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publishDate 2023-12-01
publisher Asociación Española de Geografía
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series Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles
spelling doaj-art-267a99131c2548aa85da51c35c3872c02025-02-11T20:39:07ZengAsociación Española de GeografíaBoletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles0212-94262605-33222023-12-019910.21138/bage.3458Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)Nora MüllerRobert Fletcher0Macià Blázquez Salom1Wageningen University and ResearchUniversitat de les Illes Balears The creation of private protected areas (PPA) is commonly considered an instrument of neoliberal conservation, characterized by private management and commodification of nature for (eco)tourism and other market-based instruments (MBIs). PPAs are accused of reproducing social inequalities when entailing enclosure, exclusivity, land grabbing or dispossession. Yet PPAs exist in many different forms that enact these various processes in different ways. Our research explores this variegation in PPAs by offering a more nuanced understanding of the often complex and contradictory interconnections between processes of commodification and privatization different PPAs enact, as well as how PPAs are often operationalized differently in global south and north contexts. To develop this analysis, we draw on the conceptual framework of commodification proposed by Castree (2003) to investigate a number of PPAs located in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range on the island of Mallorca in Spain. Our results show that commodification and privatization combine in different ways and to different degrees in the various PPAs in this area. Overall, we conclude, privatization appears more pervasive than commodification in this global north context, as compared to research concerning PPAs in the global south suggesting the presence of far more commodification in such lower-income contexts. http://www.bage.age-geografia.es/ojs/index.php/bage/article/view/3458neoliberal conservationgreen grabbingecotourismmarket-based instruments
spellingShingle Nora Müller
Robert Fletcher
Macià Blázquez Salom
Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)
Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles
neoliberal conservation
green grabbing
ecotourism
market-based instruments
title Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)
title_full Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)
title_fullStr Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)
title_full_unstemmed Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)
title_short Tourism commodification and privatization of nature: private protected areas in the Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca)
title_sort tourism commodification and privatization of nature private protected areas in the serra de tramuntana mallorca
topic neoliberal conservation
green grabbing
ecotourism
market-based instruments
url http://www.bage.age-geografia.es/ojs/index.php/bage/article/view/3458
work_keys_str_mv AT noramuller tourismcommodificationandprivatizationofnatureprivateprotectedareasintheserradetramuntanamallorca
AT robertfletcher tourismcommodificationandprivatizationofnatureprivateprotectedareasintheserradetramuntanamallorca
AT maciablazquezsalom tourismcommodificationandprivatizationofnatureprivateprotectedareasintheserradetramuntanamallorca