THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG

prohibiting the use of natural resources and seeing their concerns and interests as
incompatible and contradictory to sustainable resource management. 691 Therefore, given that
most protected areas in the tropical world have people residing in and around them, as well as
depending on them in terms of livelihood support, the notion of designing institutions that
exclude such people from the identified areas has profound social, economic and
environmental costs. This is grounded in the fact that local people have existed even before
the creation of the forest reserve or other related interventions. 692
In ancient Greece untamed natural areas were perceived as a domain of the wild, irrational,
female forces that contrasted with the rational culture ordered by the males. Through this
conceptualisation, man was seen to be at war with nature. 693 On the contrary, wild nature was
seen to provide sanctuary to those who had been illed by the city’s brutality. The WWF and
the IUCN uses the tales of the Gilgamesh, the world’s most ancient city to illustrate this
primordial struggle between kingly civilisation and the forest. It is this eclectic idea of forest
wilderness that formed the basis for the evolving and current concept of protected area
management. The earliest examples of protected areas suggest that game reserves for royal
hunts were first recorded in the history of Assyria-Ashoka. This idea was reinforced in India
especially among the ruling Mogul elites. 694 In the 11 th century, the Normans introduced this
same idea in England, through enforcing the concept of royal forests during the reign of King
Henry II, leading to the declaration of almost one quarter of England as Royal forests.
In the United States of America, the concept of protected area management began with end of
the American civil war. Lafeyette who led the attack on the native red Indians professed the
principle of take no prisoners. He deviated from the earlier beliefs and prejudices that the red
Indians were superstitious, treacherous and marauders. In that respect Lafayette proposed that
the remnants of the conquered states be preserved in the protected areas. This later paved the
way for the establishment of the National Parks Service (NPS) in 1916. 695 This was followed
by successive legislations that associated the wilderness with preservation. This also laid the
foundation for exclusionary model of conservation that was established in the entire United
States of America, as stated in the 1964 Wilderness act, expressing the need to conserve
nature. The act stipulated the principles of conservation through creating of national and
forest parks. 696 According to this act, its major objective is to preserve some of the country's
last remaining wild places in order to protect their natural processes and values from
development. Not only did the Wilderness Act establish a system of wilderness, it also put in
place a process for expanding the system. In doing so, the Act made a fundamental change in
how new wilderness areas were recommended and acted upon. Essentially, the act shifted
691
Jeffery, M. 1996. Public Lands Reform: A Reluctant Leap into the Abyss. Virginia Environmental Law
Journal Law 16(1): 80-95
692
Ibid.
693
Ibid.
694
Colchester, M. 2003. Conservation Policy of the Common Wealth. A Paper Presented to the Conference of
the Common Wealth at the Millenium Development Goals. Common Wealth Policy Studies Unit. Institute of
Common Wealth Studies. University of London.
695
Keller, R and M, Turok. 1998. American Indians and National Parks. University of Arizoina Press.
696
The Wilderness Act Handbook of 1964. Washington, D.C.
189