Nicia Giva

I recently (November 2016) finished my Ph.D. in Environmental Communication at Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden. With the thesis entitled ‘Parks with People? Action research in bridging conservation and livelihoods’, I investigated the governance of protected areas focusing on the dilemmatic situation of reconciling wildlife conservation and people’s livelihood in inhabited protected areas, the empirical case of transboundary Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. Taking an action research approach, I engaged with local communities living in the park’s buffer zone; the park staff and leadership; the district government; and other local actors such as NGOs; in a dialogic and collaborative processes to discuss their concerns and interests in seeking together co-management alternatives to reconcile conservation and people’s livelihoods interests. Currently, as part of a post-doctoral research grant I’m further investigating the park-people relations to uncover the multiple and complex socio-cultural as well as economic-political drivers of wildlife crime at ground level in the Great Limpopo Tranfrontier park. This aim at seeking alternatives to the current violent response to wildlife crime to a more collaborative and inclusive forms of conservation taking into account the local community needs and complains.