The UNDP, the world bank and biodiversity in the Algerian Sahara
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3979264 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dina Giurovich And, Jeremy Keenan (0000-0002-1844-4879) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 593-604 |
| Publication date | 2005-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13629380500336888 |
| OpenAlex | W2069837481 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
This article is in two parts. The first presents a critical review of two recent development plans for Saharan regions that include a strong ‘eco-tourism’ component: the World Bank (GEF)-UNDP (2002) conservation ‘biodiversity’ programme for Algeria's Great South, and a UNESCO (2003) pan-Saharan plan for tourism development. The article focuses on socio-political and geo-strategic aspects of the plans, arguing that: they are driven by the bi-lateral and strategic agendas of donor countries and not by the needs of local communities; they suffer from the bureaucratic bias of planners in international organisations; and that they are meant to operate within state systems that are over-centralised and authoritarian and where corruption is widespread. The article shows how these characteristics not only impede the participation of local communities, but also prevent the allocated funds from reaching the intended beneficiaries. The second part of the article records how local people are resisting these projects, approaching the World Bank and UNDP directly and demanding that the projects be ‘frozen’ until certain conditions have been fulfilled. These include a full and independent audit of the project, the establishment of good governance and the ‘democratisation’ of the project to the extent that local communities are fully involved in the projects' planning and implementation from the ‘bottom up’ rather than the ‘top down
Accountability · Audit · Bureaucracy · Business · Corporate governance · Democracy · Democratization · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental planning · Geography · Good governance · Participatory planning · Political science · Politics · Tourism · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Accounting · Finance
| Citations per year | 0.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2007 - 2025 (19) |
| Highly cited | No |