The 2003 extension act cited concerns about the “integrity” of the park, yet contestation over boundaries has degraded that integrity, and conservation proposals to militarize the park to restrict human mobility overlook the social and economic relationships formed around artisanal mining, whose camps create opportunities for traders, farmers, and porters. As the decades progressed, residents of resettled villages slowly invested in the park’s borders, participating in anti-poaching campaigns and income-generating projects, and largely accepting regulated access into the park to visit ancestral religious sites and to collect medicinal plants. In the words of one young man who guides artisanal miners into the park: “If they [the state] let a mining company in the park, I’m going to enter the park to feed my family.”
Author: Robyn d'Avignon, Shadrach Kerwillain
Published at: 2026-03-31 22:18:19
Still want to read the full version? Full article
