Abstract
In their article 'Towards convivial conservation' (2019), Büscher and Fletcher propose a vision for conservation which partly builds on Ivan Illich's 1973 book Tools for conviviality. Given a growing chorus of voices calling for decolonizing conservation to address the ramifications of racialized mindsets and biases,this article asks: what role could conviviality play in envisioning alternative, decolonizing conservation ideas, particularly for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15? The article first reflects on the case for decolonizing conservation. It then conducts an in-depth analysis of Illich's radical ideas as well as subsequent understandings of conviviality, before juxtaposing Illich's ideas with Büscher and Fletcher's suggestions through a decolonizing lens. Finally,the article reviews SDG 15, 'Life on Land', against the backdrop of the prior decolonizing and convivial perspectives. The article argues that Illich's conviviality and related ideas have much to offer in envisioning alternative, decolonizing conservation ideas by promoting grassroots, democratic decision-making, living within bounds by the rich, emphasizing interdependencies between and within people and the environment, yet need to avoid imposition and incorporate intergenerational and marginalized viewpoints adequately.
Highlights
The only solution to the environmental crisis is the shared insight of people that they would be happier if they could work together and care for each other
This article asks: what role could conviviality play in envisioning alternative, decolonizing conservation ideas? To what extent can the ideas of conviviality and convivial conservation, with roots in the Global North, serve as decolonial options (Mignolo & Escobar, 2015, Tlostanova & Mignolo, 2009)? Can they highlight issues which have arisen as a result of the coloniality-modernity matrix of power, and use decolonial thinking and writing to address them? This is an important question because there is a need to assess how these convivial ideas enable moving beyond top-down conservation paradigms, policies and practices which are rooted in colonial, racialized understandings of human and nonhuman nature and their interrelations, and which perpetuate social and ecological injustices
This article has explored what role conviviality could play in envisioning alternative, decolonizing conservation ideas
Summary
The only solution to the environmental crisis is the shared insight of people that they would be happier if they could work together and care for each other. A convivial society is founded upon knowledge and tools not serving individualized profit and industrialized production, but the common good, while limiting resource consumption for the rich This unified vision and related principles have recently inspired increasing debate The article's original contribution is analyzing conviviality and convivial conservation through a decolonizing lens It argues that Illich's conviviality and related ideas have much to offer in envisioning alternative, decolonizing conservation ideas as a unified philosophy: one that promotes grassroots, democratic decision-making, living within limits by the rich, and emphasizing interdependencies between and within humanity and the environment. After a discussion of positionality and research design, this article starts by making a brief case for decolonizing conservation It will introduce Illich's and related understandings of conviviality before summarizing Büscher and Fletcher's (2019, 2020) proposals for convivial conservation. A final section outlines how these considerations could be applied to reforming the Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG; UN, 2015) dedicated to conserving biodiversity and ecosystems
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