The appropriation of nature and the reinvention of capital in the protected areas of transboundary Pantanal: the case of the Otuquis National Park (Bolivia), National Park of Pantanal Mato-Grossense (Brazil) and the National Park Río Negro (Paraguay)

Abstract

This article aims to identify how the protected areas located in the Transboundary Pantanal (Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay) have been appropriated and reinvented by capital. The main objective is to analyze how some interest groups have appropriated these areas to implement infrastructure works, which in no way contribute to conservation. From the perspective that, behind the conservationist ideal, the appropriation of nature and its transformation is embedded, where capital appropriates natural resources in the perspective of accumulation, it was decided to use the concept of nature, while a social production arising social relations. The methodology used was a combination of bibliographic research and field research in the following protected areas: Otuquis National Park (Bolivia), Pantanal Mato-Grossense National Park (Brazil) and Río Negro National Park (Paraguay), where interviews were conducted with those responsible for managing these areas. Therefore, this analysis appears with the possibility of identifying what type of conservation is linked to these protected areas, taking into account that these areas were created by the Nation States and justified by the need to guarantee the conservation of the Pantanal. However, although there are divergences around their management and the idea of conserving, something is common in all of them - the overlapping of economic interests.