Privatising nature? Government support for public and private protected areas

Background – the last 50 years

• transition  from welfare states underpinned by public spending, towards ‘free-market’ capitalism characterised by upward redistribution and concentration of wealth within a small elite.
• strengthening links between super-rich elites and governments and ‘neofeudal’ dynamics of inheritance and exclusion.
• nature conservation has become politically important, first addressed by the creation of public reserves managed and financed by governments, and later addressed by the establishment of private conservation reserves.

How has the privatisation of public resources shaped the creation and management of protected areas?

We test the hypotheses that, in Australia, there has been:

• deliberate disablement  by governments of public conservation efforts in favour of private endeavours or no endeavours whatsoever;
• A diversion of public funds from public protected areas to private protected areas.