African Social Studies Series Space is the Ultimate Luxury

Nature conservation in Africa is ultimately about land and history. This historical and contemporary study of rural Namibia exposes the dangers of private, capitalist conservation and debunks the myth that it is rich investors and landowners who will save our planet. The Open Access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. This book explores the history, ecology, and society of a seemingly inhospitable stretch of land along the Orange River in southern Namibia. Here, a group of African farmers have succeeded against all odds to stay on their ancestral homeland through decades of colonialism and apartheid. The twenty-first century, however, has brought different people looking to evict them: nature conservationists. These farmers face off against billionaire gemstone mine owners, rhinoceros veterinarians and carbon finance executives, seeking to prove their legal and moral claims to their ancestral lands. This book reveals how we got here and what is at stake if they fail.