Nature conservation, conflict and discourses on forest management: communities and protected areas in Meridional Carpathians

Abstract

The paper aims to bring into focus the issue of nature conservation in Romania and the response of local actors to top-down conservation policies. A type of conflict that arises at the fringe of Romanian protected areas, the conflict between collective proprietors and national parks. administration will be taken as a research example. It will be shown that the top-down approach of the park administrators is based on the ideas of law and science and on the idea of traditional, 'good' state forestry practice. This approach is strongly contested by communities, which begin to establish as relatively organised entities; with small steps, 'participation' begins to function.