Examining the Coloniality of Conservation: Power, Knowledge, and Exclusion in Nigerian Protected Area Governance

The governance structures and conservation ideologies embedded in Nigerian national parks and game reserves reflect a colonial legacy that systematically privileged western nature separation epistemologies over African relational ecologies, generating exclusionary conservation models that persist into the present. While decolonization of conservation has gained traction as a theoretical and advocacy agenda internationally, empirical analysis of the mechanisms and manifestations of coloniality within specific national conservation systems remains limited. This dissertation examines the coloniality of conservation governance in the Nigerian protected area system through a critical theoretical lens drawing on decolonial theory, political ecology, and environmental history. Original empirical research was conducted over 18 months across six protected areas spanning all six geopolitical zones, combining archival analysis of colonial and post-colonial governance documents, oral history collection with 90 long-term community residents, critical discourse analysis, and participatory research with conservation practitioners and academics. Results identify persistent colonial logics operating through three primary mechanisms: epistemic exclusion of African ecological knowledge from management discourse, structural exclusion of communities from governance institutions, and territorial dispossession through park boundary enforcement. Post-independence institutional reforms have reproduced rather than dismantled these structures. Original contributions include a decoloniality assessment framework for protected area governance systems and a co-design methodology for reimagining conservation institutions with affected communities. The dissertation proposes a transformative governance agenda grounded in restitutive justice and epistemic pluralism. Keywords: decolonial conservation, protected areas, Nigeria, political ecology, conservation governance