Neoliberal conservation in central Kalimantan, Indonesia: Evaluating the approach to environmental education of the transnational conservation organisation Rare¹

Neoliberal conservation encompasses initiatives and measures depending upon market mechanisms to achieve conservation objectives. Such mechanisms have transformed aspects of nature and its care into commodities to produce a ‘green economy’ as the basis of conservation and sustainable development. Although many such programmes have been subjected to critical analysis, their role in environmental education has received far less attention. This article focuses on how environmental education efforts are conceptualised and operationalised by Rare, a transnational conservation organisation whose approach exemplifies neoliberal objectives through using ‘social marketing’ tactics in its Pride campaigns in order to ‘sell’ conservation values via a network of local partners managing these campaigns. As a case study, we concentrate on the Pride campaign conducted in two villages bordering the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve in Central Kalimantan, evaluating its claims to success in redirecting local farmers away from use of fire in land clearing for swidden agriculture and oil palm cultivation. We conclude that Rare's focus on transforming individuals’ motivations and behaviours, in line with neoliberal environmentality, fails to address the barriers to conservation stemming from the structural drivers in the larger political economic context.