DISCURSIVE NATURE IN PROTECTED AREAS

Local populations in protected areas often contest the implementation of environmental conservation policies in their lands. This phenomenon often leads to conflict between different stakeholders, who activate discourses to legitimate their different positions on environmental protection and conservation. In this process, 'nature' becomes a key concept. This paper aims to analyze not only the discursive construction of nature, but also the connections between different ways to understand nature and create community discourses. For this purpose, the paper will be focus on a particular case study: the Cabo de Gata-Nijar Nature Park in Andalusia, Spain.