Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique
An increasing body of literature reveals that powerful businesspeople have a long history of using their wealth for the benefit of the greater common good. With philanthrocapitalism, a new generation of hands-on donors that have made incredible fortunes within business sectors like information techn...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of Environmental and Geographical Science
2023
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613282242658304 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Ochs, Tobias |
| author2 | Mbatha, Philile |
| author_browse | Mbatha, Philile Ochs, Tobias |
| author_facet | Mbatha, Philile Ochs, Tobias |
| author_sort | Ochs, Tobias |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | An increasing body of literature reveals that powerful businesspeople have a long history of using their wealth for the benefit of the greater common good. With philanthrocapitalism, a new generation of hands-on donors that have made incredible fortunes within business sectors like information technology or finance, are taking on the world's most pressuring social and environmental problem, willing to change the way of giving and enhancing traditional philanthropy. The rich entrepreneurs turned philanthropists are applying their skills and talents that have made them successful in business and infusing the charity sector with corporate tools and strategies and are getting personally engaged and using political and social networks to leverage their efforts. Driven to find solutions to the world's most severe problems, philanthrocapitalists tend to target problems that cut across national boundaries, such as AIDS, Malaria, illiteracy, and population growth. Next to these familiar fields such as health and education, philanthropists are also increasingly engaging in nature conservation. By establishing private nature reserves or taking over failed state-run nature reserves, elite donors are increasingly featuring neoliberal conservation and intervene in political ecology particularly in biodiversity hotspots in the global South. Notwithstanding philanthrocapitalism growing prominence and significance, broader public debates and academic literature is just emerging in recent years and the impact on nature conservation has received little scholarly attention. By examining the case of the Gorongosa Project (GP), a transnational nature conservation project that was established by U.S. multimillionaire Greg Carr in Mozambique, this thesis seeks to illustrate: a) how philanthrocapitalism influences nature conservation, b) how philanthrocapitalistic conservation projects work in practice and, c) enhance understanding about the implications of philanthrocapitalism in conservation governance, recognising its advantages and limitations. The thesis further seeks to contribute to the academic discourse as the far-reaching ventures of Western philanthrocapitalists have provoked a controversial debate. Advocates such as economists, journalists and political organisations argue that the financial power, unique business skills, resources and networks enable philanthrocapitalists to contribute to solving global issues more efficiently than other stakeholders. In contrast, critics from political or social sciences or conservation point out the increasing influence that wealthy philanthropists have on global policymaking as well as social and political agendas and have raised concerns about democratic values and power and wealth inequalities. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37721 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:40.116Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| publisherStr | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37721 Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique Ochs, Tobias Mbatha, Philile Philanthrocapitalism philanthropy nature conservation reserve biodiversity global South governance neoliberalism An increasing body of literature reveals that powerful businesspeople have a long history of using their wealth for the benefit of the greater common good. With philanthrocapitalism, a new generation of hands-on donors that have made incredible fortunes within business sectors like information technology or finance, are taking on the world's most pressuring social and environmental problem, willing to change the way of giving and enhancing traditional philanthropy. The rich entrepreneurs turned philanthropists are applying their skills and talents that have made them successful in business and infusing the charity sector with corporate tools and strategies and are getting personally engaged and using political and social networks to leverage their efforts. Driven to find solutions to the world's most severe problems, philanthrocapitalists tend to target problems that cut across national boundaries, such as AIDS, Malaria, illiteracy, and population growth. Next to these familiar fields such as health and education, philanthropists are also increasingly engaging in nature conservation. By establishing private nature reserves or taking over failed state-run nature reserves, elite donors are increasingly featuring neoliberal conservation and intervene in political ecology particularly in biodiversity hotspots in the global South. Notwithstanding philanthrocapitalism growing prominence and significance, broader public debates and academic literature is just emerging in recent years and the impact on nature conservation has received little scholarly attention. By examining the case of the Gorongosa Project (GP), a transnational nature conservation project that was established by U.S. multimillionaire Greg Carr in Mozambique, this thesis seeks to illustrate: a) how philanthrocapitalism influences nature conservation, b) how philanthrocapitalistic conservation projects work in practice and, c) enhance understanding about the implications of philanthrocapitalism in conservation governance, recognising its advantages and limitations. The thesis further seeks to contribute to the academic discourse as the far-reaching ventures of Western philanthrocapitalists have provoked a controversial debate. Advocates such as economists, journalists and political organisations argue that the financial power, unique business skills, resources and networks enable philanthrocapitalists to contribute to solving global issues more efficiently than other stakeholders. In contrast, critics from political or social sciences or conservation point out the increasing influence that wealthy philanthropists have on global policymaking as well as social and political agendas and have raised concerns about democratic values and power and wealth inequalities. 2023-04-14T08:12:33Z 2023-04-14T08:12:33Z 2022 2023-04-13T11:35:20Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37721 eng application/pdf Department of Environmental and Geographical Science Faculty of Science |
| spellingShingle | Philanthrocapitalism philanthropy nature conservation reserve biodiversity global South governance neoliberalism Ochs, Tobias Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique |
| title_full | Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique |
| title_fullStr | Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique |
| title_short | Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique |
| title_sort | understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves a case study of gorongosa mozambique |
| topic | Philanthrocapitalism philanthropy nature conservation reserve biodiversity global South governance neoliberalism |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37721 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ochstobias understandingphilanthrocapitalismanditsimpactonprivatenaturereservesacasestudyofgorongosamozambique |