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Separating Spheres: Paul Sarasin and his Global Nature Protection Scheme
Author(s) -
Wöbse AnnaKatharina
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/ajph.12106
Subject(s) - sovereignty , indigenous , ideal (ethics) , space (punctuation) , capitalism , style (visual arts) , environmental ethics , spheres , sociology , political science , law , geography , philosophy , ecology , archaeology , engineering , linguistics , politics , biology , aerospace engineering
In November 1913 the Swiss scientist Paul Sarasin delivered his speech to the first International Conference on Nature Protection in Berne in which he outlined his vision of a future global nature protection scheme. This article argues that Sarasin's assumptions were paradigmatic for the scientific ideal, patronising style and spatial concept of separated spheres in conservation at that time. His sanctuaries were not only presented as oases for flora and fauna; they were intended to include Indigenous people, and were also to become spheres where the rationales of free enterprise and capitalism were to be brought to a halt. Fostering this reserve system implied that the interpretational sovereignty of science would be extended to space. Legacies of Sarasin's assumptions remain in transnational projects of environmental conservation.