Paper Title and Abstract:
The Shouf Biosphere Reserve Core Zone: a territory of governance
Much of the literature on protected areas theorizes and describes conflicts over land access and hunting rights within protected areas. This paper addresses why hunters choose to not hunt in the core zone of the Shouf Biosphere Reserve in the mountains of Lebanon. Using a political ecology lens on protected areas, I analyze the motivations that underlie the restraint of bird hunters who do not hunt in the Reserve and their attitudes towards the core zone of the Reserve. I contend that a combination of hunting rationale and Reserve administration practice facilitate the adherence to a prohibition on hunting in the core zone of the Reserve. In making this contention this paper addresses the particular effects of how environmental governance is enacted in the Reserve’s core zone and its relation to the Lebanese state.
Participant Bio:
Robert Greeley is a visiting instructor in Arabic at Middlebury College. He completed his M.A in Arabic Literature at UC Berkeley and is preparing to defend his dissertation in the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina. Robert’s research interests focus on protected areas, hunting, and the rule of law in Lebanon. In particular, he focuses on the enactment of Lebanese national hunting laws and how protected areas negotiate their implementation and enforcement.