Under the banner of saving the African environment, Africans in the last half century have been subjected to colonialism from an overlooked source: the conservation movement. Local populations have been displaced and impoverished in order to create national parks and to serve other conservation objectives, in large part because Western conservationists misunderstand African wildlife management practices and problems.

Robert H. Nelson (1944–2018) was a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute.
Economic History and DevelopmentEconomyEnergy and the EnvironmentEnvironmental Law and RegulationInternational Economics and DevelopmentSub-Saharan Africa
Other Independent Review articles by Robert H. Nelson
Spring 2013 Gus diZerega Responds to Robert Nelson and Nelson Replies
Summer 2012 Economics and Environmentalism: Belief Systems at Odds
Spring 2010 Ecological Science as a Creation Story
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