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Decolonising Enclosures: Climate Justice and Community Struggles around Privately Owned Conservation Landscapes in the Eastern Cape of South Africa

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines private wildlife conservation in South Africa’s Eastern Cape as a contested form of climate governance that reproduces climate injustice. Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus groups with community members and reserve officials, the study applies a decolonial climate justice framework to analyse how enclosure operates under conditions of drought. The findings show that private reserves secure land, water and ecological resilience through capital-intensive adaptation strategies, while externalising climate risks to neighbouring, land-insecure communities. Conservation enclosures thus function as elite climate adaptation regimes rather than neutral land uses. The article argues for more equitable, rights-based approaches to conservation governance.

Source: Journal of Asian and African Studies

DOI: 10.1177/00219096261437113

Authors: Mandlenkosi Maphosa, Kablan Antoine Effossou, Philani Moyo

Institution: University of Fort Hare

Language: English

Topic: Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Life on land, Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650