Conservation Philanthropy and the Shadow of State Power in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
Résumé
Transnational networks of donors, NGOs, private foundations, and companies shape conservation policymaking in
Mozambique. In a context of neoliberal conservation that frames a reduction of the role of the state, policymaking
is not the sole purpose of state agencies and thus questions state sovereignty. This article addresses state agency
in a conservation philanthropy project in central Mozambique. The Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP) is a
public-private partnership between the state and the Carr Foundation, an American philanthropic organisation, for
the management of Gorongosa National Park. The Frelimo state—at the head of the country ever since independence
in 1975—is still rather weak in Gorongosa region, an opposition stronghold. State sovereignty is reformulated,
for GRP is greatly externally driven and performs state functions such as the running of a state-owned national
park. But in spite of weak state capacities, state sovereignty remains at the forefront: central and local state are
key for daily conservation management, and the philanthropic apparatus is an opportunity for the state to further
its local presence and control in the hinterland.