Unmaking the Nature/Culture Divide

Abstract

In this chapter, Ingrid Hall analyzes how Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) practice ontological diplomacy within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and thus challenge the nature-culture opposition, as well as the naturalist nature regime (Escobar, 1999) associated with this opposition. This analysis concerns three meetings that occurred in succession and contributed to preparations for COP 15 and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. An ethnographic and qualitative analysis of the various spaces where IPLCs can express themselves – according to the specific participation modalities – will allow us to explore the nature regimes put forward by these participants. It turns out that IPLCs practice two kinds of diplomacy in parallel, one rejecting naturalism and relating to “nature politics”, and another – apparently less radical – that accommodates naturalism and naturalist codes. The latter of the two allows IPLCs to negotiate their rights while also securing essential strategic alliances, and to undermine the very foundations of naturalism while drawing on naturalist sciences and techniques.