Nora MÜLLER, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain
Macià BLÁZQUEZ-SALOM, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain
In current conservation debates, ‘convivial conservation’ (Büscher & Fletcher, 2020) proposes an alternative to the submission of nature to capitalist logics aiming at environmental and social justice. In relation to tourism it critiques the commodification of nature as a (eco)tourist product and the enclosure and privatization of nature for the establishment of private protected areas and the threat of socio-spatial segregation. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for outdoor recreation in proximity has increased provoking overcrowding in some areas. In this context, we analyse private properties in the protected area Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca) where tourism has been strongly promoted previously to the pandemic and overcrowding is a growing issue. Our aim is to analyse different management models of nature conservation on private properties inside officially protected areas. We ask: Is private property an opportunity or obstacle for conservation and recreation? What role do state institutions have within this nexus? And, how is the commodification of nature operationalized and influenced by the property regime? We examined the growing literature on overtourism, privatization, and conviviality, and realized interviews and questionnaires. Our preliminary results show that the regime of private property poses difficulties for the protected areas’ objectives to conserve nature and provide spaces for contemplation, while the closing or limiting of visitor numbers on private properties enter in conflict with the tourist promotion as a responsible, high-end or nature-based destination. On the contrary, the state defend protected areas and its contemplation, but also support private properties as an allies towards this ends. We argue for post-capitalist pathways (Fletcher et al., 2021) based on conviviality and the commons in response to the tensions between outdoor recreation and the commodification and privatization of nature.
Mots clés : convivial conservation|overtourism|ecotourism|privatization and commodification of nature|Mallorca
A103510NM