Are There Limits to State-Based Conservation? The Political Economy of Endangered Species Recovery in British Columbia

Amidst plummeting biodiversity and wildlife abundance, why have a small number of species recovered, while others with comparable legal protections continue to flounder? Existing literature attributes recovery to species facing threats that are easier to manage, receiving more funding, and/or the completion of policy and management objectives. Continuing from where these explanations end, I identify species in British Columbia (BC) that have recovered, then develop political economic explanations for their recovery. Consistent with the literature, the policy documents for the small number of BC’s recovering species - humpback whales, peregrine falcons anatum/tundrius, sea otters, and wood bison - suggest that state-based recovery addresses some forms of direct exploitation more effectively than other threats, especially habitat degradation. Species’ orientations to capitalism are a condition of possibility for recovery. Specifically, possibilities for recovery are strengthened when a species’ 'living-ness' is aligned with economic production. However, the security of all recoveries is precarious. These shortcomings demonstrate that even for the rare bright spots of conservation, state-based efforts are constrained by the power of dominant capitalist socio-ecological relations in their efforts to fully recover species.