Is nature just for the wealthy? Researchers investigate eco-philanthropy

Volkswagen Foundation provides 1.5 million euros of funding for research project

Celebrated as generous nature lovers in social media, the super-rich are buying large areas of land, particularly in the global south, in order to convert them into private nature reserves. On the other hand, luxury eco-tourism strives to provide unique experiences in amazing places off the beaten track that are initially only accessible to a few, but then become accessible to a growing number of people. But are these types of charity and travel really good for the environment and people? What concepts of nature and morally correct behavior are they based on? And how do local people and other stakeholders view this phenomenon? This is the subject of a project called “Nature’s Wealth or Nature for the Wealthy? Philanthropism and Ecotourism in the Global South” being carried out by an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by FAU. The project, which has received 1.5 million euros of funding from the Volkswagen Foundation, came into being from research contacts made via the Bavarian University Center for Latin America (BAYLAT), among others. In our interview, Prof. Dr. Silke Jansen, project manager and the new chairperson of BAYLAT, talks about the goals and background of the project.

Could you give us a short summary of what the project is about?

We are investigating the phenomenon of eco-philanthropy and luxury tourism as two issues that reveal the effects of wealth. There are an increasing number of super-rich people who are acting as philanthropists and buying large areas of land, especially in the global south, to convert them into private nature reserves. Initially, you might think it’s a great idea for these people to use their wealth to protect the environment and biodiversity. But there are a whole host of problems associated with this approach – not least because is it not a democratically elected government that is making the decision about where to set up a nature reserve, but a single individual based on their prominent economic status. At the same time, it also has a major impact on the lives of local people, as they may have to relocate or give up their previous way of life, for example, if nomadic people can no longer move around in certain areas. On the other hand, there may be benefits, because jobs are created in the tourist industry. It is important to understand that the phenomenon of eco-philanthropy, as well as certain forms of luxury tourism, are directly linked to a romantic understanding of nature as the opposite of human civilization: Nature is where there are no people. This attitude is typical of the global north from which most of the super-rich take action, while the world’s biodiversity hotspots, where eco-philanthropy and luxury tourism take place, tend to be in the global south where a completely different understanding of and approach to nature may prevail. We have put together an interdisciplinary and international research team as this phenomenon is so complex.

Who is involved in this project?

We are a team of five principal investigators from four disciplines and three continents. At FAU, I am leading the project with geographer Andrés Gerique. The other members are sociologist Hugo Romero Toledo from the Universidad Autónoma de Chile (Temuco, Chile) and the economist Emmanuel Munishi from the College of Business Education in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). We have a further partner on the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador with the Charles Darwin Foundation.

How exactly do you get the data?

We mainly conduct interviews and surveys in the three countries of our project partners in those areas where eco-philanthropy and luxury tourism take place. We talk to philanthropists, tourists and, of course, to local people. In addition, we create a corpus of publicly accessible texts. There are a large number of these, since many of the projects do not operate directly via the philanthropists themselves, but via NGOs they own. These NGOs have websites and social media accounts, they organize press conferences and distribute brochures. We are also going to visit various tourist trade shows to analyze what images of nature the luxury tourism industry constructs. In the end, an overall picture should emerge that shows what constitutes eco-philanthropy and luxury tourism and the impacts of these phenomena in various locations and on different levels. We are interested in the material realities as well as the practices of different stakeholders and the discourses that relate to these realities and practices by the way in which they justify or explain them.

This call for applications is part of the “Perspectives on Wealth” funding initiative that was set up in 2021. The goal is to look at the phenomenon of wealth as a driver of societal transformation. We hope to encourage a change of perspectives that sheds light upon these processes from the point of view of wealth. Instead of asking why so many people are poor, how this affects society and what can potentially be done about it, the focus is on the extent to which wealth shapes our societies. Currently, we are experiencing the phenomenon of super-rich individuals without democratic legitimacy exerting considerable influence on global politics, going far beyond the area of eco-philanthropy. This topic has recently become even more relevant for this reason.

You’re not only responsible for this research project, you are also the new chairperson of the Bavarian University Center for Latin America (BAYLAT). What is BAYLAT exactly?

BAYLAT is a service offered across Bavaria provided by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts (StMWK). BAYLAT promotes networking between Bavarian and Latin American universities and research institutes by bringing together researchers from Bavaria and Latin American countries and providing support with cooperations in research and teaching. This involves providing contact details, knowledge of the university landscape in Latin America, and start-up funding. Our current research project “Nature’s Wealth or Nature for the Wealthy” really did come into being from research contacts made via BAYLAT, among others.

Further information:

Prof. Dr. Silke Jansen
Chair of Romance Linguistics
silke.jansen@fau.de