Indigenous Peoples And Local Communities Research Articles

Waterscapes meet socio‐ecological models: A relational framework to examine water insecurity and human health and well‐being

Abstract Water insecurity, the inability to benefit from affordable, adequate, reliable and safe water, is one of the greatest contemporary threats facing humans. While ‘water insecurity’, as a concept, is globally recognized and serves an essential function in policymaking, it does not capture the multiple, relational connections between Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) and water systems. We contend that studies of water insecurity and health among IPLCs can be improved by applying a systematic approach to the concept of waterscapes. The term waterscape describes the socio‐natural relations between humans and water. To make examining waterscapes more systematic and to draw attention to the importance of health within waterscapes, we use a four‐tiered socio–ecological approach to describe the multi‐level interactions between IPLCs and local water systems in the Amazonian watershed. We then apply this four‐tiered model to the case of the Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian Amazon to identify the specific health impacts of disrupting the Xingu River waterscape. Applying the four‐tiered socio‐ecological approach to the Belo Monte case study showed that this dam led to flooding and compromised water quality that local people associated with an increased risk for chronic health conditions, such as kidney and renal diseases, and vector‐borne diseases, such as dengue. Displacement due to the dam threatened food security, economic security, community cohesion and the cultural survival of multiple IPLCs along the Xingu river. Our approach uncovers not only the direct consequences of the dam on water insecurity but also the broader implications for community well‐being and cultural integrity, addressing the diverse challenges arising from human‐water interactions. The four‐tiered approach for assessing waterscapes offers a framework that enables a comprehensive examination of the intricate relations between water and humans. While there are overlaps among the levels, this framework is applicable to other situations where mining, oil extraction and the construction of hydrovías are substantially altering local waterscapes. Tools such as this one can promote more meaningful engagement between researchers, policymakers, and IPLCs in defining the range of outcomes to be considered in social and environmental impact assessments. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Ethnobotanical study and vulnerability of medicinal plants used against the symptoms of COVID-19 in the Lomié subdivision, East Region of Cameroon

Science has advanced to the point that traditional medicine is now a useful instrument for treating a wide range of human ailments. Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) do not, however, have access to the contemporary healthcare system. As a result, they turn to biological resources, which are the only readily available and accessible means of treating diseases like COVID-19 and flu outbreaks. In response to worldwide illnesses, this study aligns with the perspectives of traditional knowledge of biological resources, particularly therapeutic plants. Therefore, this study was aimed to document the use of the potential of medicinal plants by IPLCs in the Lomié subdivision to manage COVID-19 symptoms. In four villages in the Lomié subdivision Ekom, Payo, Eschiambor, and Kongo, ethnobotanical surveys, including semi-structured interviews on traditional usage of plants against Covid-19 symptoms, were carried out with 80 participants in order to meet all of the study specific objectives. For every species, a vulnerability index was established in order to evaluate the species fragility. To analyze the data, both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. The findings show that the respondents are well aware of the symptoms of the COVID-19 and that gave them the ability to provide timely and efficient responses. The survey identified 43 species from 39 genera grouped in 28 families were used to treat COVID-19 symptoms, with bark being the most commonly used plant part (43.8%). Decoction was the most frequently used method of preparation (50%), and oral administration was the main route of administration (56.3%). Most of the plant species were harvested from secondary forests (44.2%), of which trees formed 48.8%. A total of 30 species were recorded to be vulnerable, with Entandrophragma cylindricum (Sprague) Sprague, Milicia excelsa (Welw.) Benth, Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv., and Trichoscypha aborea (A. Chev.) A. Chev being the most vulnerable, with vulnerability index of 2.4. The results showed a strong non-causal relationship between vulnerability and the continuous and discontinuous explanatory parameters. The susceptibility of medicinal plants used to treat COVID-19 symptoms and the explanatory parameters had a statistically significant causal association, according to the binomial logistic regression model. In light of novel diseases like COVID-19, this study finds that traditional knowledge of medicinal plants is still widely held, especially among the indigenous and local population. It can also be very beneficial in the development of new medications for a variety of illnesses.

The discourse of the Anthropocene and posthumanism: Indigenous peoples and local communities

Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) are characterised by their special relationships with their traditional lands and the natural world, which are essential to their physical and cultural survival, identity, knowledge, and spirituality. They are custodians of the land; however, often made invisible and voiceless in the face of irreversible destruction caused by human-induced planetary change. This Special Issue (SI) is inspired by the stories, worldviews, knowledge systems, and lived experiences of IPLCs worldwide. Based on the compounded impacts of global climate change and other human-induced crises on IPLCs’ ancestral lands, contributors to this SI recognise that the world has entered the Anthropocene – the epoch of human-induced planetary change. While human activities are considered geologically recent, they have profoundly impacted the planet. The contributors challenge the discourse of the Anthropocene, not only because it takes humanity as the prime reference point in understanding the world but also because of its reproduction of the onto-epistemological foundations of Eurocentric philosophy, which underpins colonialism and racial capitalism. This SI opens up space for historically marginalised IPLCs’ cosmologies, which embody their holistic, spiritually and physically interconnected, interdependent, and reciprocal relationships with land, the natural world, and non-human beings. It expands and pluralises the discourse of the Anthropocene through the concept of posthumanism to recognise alternative knowledge systems that decentre humanity’s dominant position in understanding the world. IPLCs’ onto-epistemologies align with posthuman or more-than-human ways of knowing, being, and doing, which embody their reciprocal relationships with land, non-human beings, and the natural world that are all deemed as living entities with agency. IPLCs’ voices urge us to relearn our ancestral ways of understanding and interacting with the world and reconnect to our holistic relationships with the planet Earth and its beings to ensure the continuity of nature and culture.

Anishinaabek Giikendaaswin and Dùthchas nan Gàidheal: concepts to (re)center place-based knowledges, governance, and land in times of crisis

Land is not a commodity, and dominant western society is unsustainable. Examples of unsustainability include severance of peoples from lands and waters; separation of peoples from centers of decision-making; and dispossession of the lands, and traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). IPLCs at the frontlines of the climate crisis are often excluded on vital decisions regarding land management and protection. Taking an emic interpretation by means of lived experiences and auto-ethnographic responses to question prompts, this paper explores the international implications of Anishinaabek Giikendaaswin and Dùthchas nan Gàidheal as concepts that can (re)center IPLC place-based knowledges, sustainable governance, and lands in times of climate crisis. Anishinaabek Giikendaaswin is about the learning from the lands, N’ibi (the waters), and the sky world. It is a lived knowledge that has guided and continues to guide Anishinaabek Peoples. G’giikendaaswinmin informs Anishinaabek interconnectedness and interrelationality to the lands, all beings, and the sky world. Dùthchas is a millenia-old kincentric concept, informing a Gàidheal (Gael) way of life and traditional land governance that predate the formation of the United Kingdom. Dùthchas transmits a sense of belonging to, not possession of the land, and stresses an interconnectedness and ecological balance among all entities. The authors (Anishinaabe and Gàidheal) respond to critical questions, such as How do Giikendaaswin and Dùthchas center knowledges that can ensure collective continuance of life? Through a common theme of interconnectedness and what this means for reconstitutive real-life practice, they demonstrate how Indigenous concepts and science based on the expertise of IPLCs can address continued colonial atrocities and current crises. Giikendaaswin and Dùthchas have international and transnational implications as discourses of resistance not only to the Anthropocene, but also to ongoing processes of dispossession.

Are the rights and knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities being attended to by climate framework laws?

ABSTRACT Climate change has become a central concern on the international political agenda, challenging the decision-making of different levels of administration and types of actors. Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) have been recognized as relevant actors in climate matters, given their knowledge about territory, biodiversity, and their harmonious practices towards nature. With the evolution of knowledge on climate change, an increasing number of countries have developed climate laws. Given the provisions of the Paris Agreement to consider IPLC and their knowledge for climate action, it is relevant to assess how the contents of these types of laws pursue such ambition. By describing and categorizing the contents of climate laws, this article develops evidence-based research about how IPLC are attended to in climate framework laws of different countries. It examines whether the related contents of these laws align with the recommendation of the Paris Agreement regarding the need to consider traditional, indigenous, and local knowledge in the design of adaptation measures. The results show that only one-third of the identified climate laws refer to IPLC. Within these laws, those communities and their knowledge are scarcely attended to. However, a few climate laws develop relevant elements about these communities. The most common element relates to the participation of IPLC in deliberative bodies or climate decisions. In contrast, the least common element relates to the involvement of relevant communities in climate research. Notably, the climate laws of Finland (Europe) and Peru (South America) emerge as more comprehensive in addressing the IPLC and their knowledge than what is found in other countries. Despite the recognized relevance of IPLC and their traditional knowledge for climate change adaptation, the use of climate framework laws to formally foster such recognition is still lacking. Setting up a scheme to monitor how the translation of the Paris Agreement is being undertaken into subsequent legislative processes is desirable. Such a scheme may clarify how IPLC and their traditional knowledge are effectively being considered as initially expected.

Producing futures for the Arctic: what agency for Indigenous communities in foresight arenas?

The integration of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) and the involvement of Indigenous peoples and Local communities (IPLCs) in the making of the futures are strongly encouraged by the implementation of processes such as participatory scenarios. This article critically examines efforts within this area in Arctic regions by analysing how ILK integration occurs and what agency IPLCs have in this process. We identify three different foresight arenas where futures are manufactured, namely: the global reviewing, foresight forums, and local participatory foresight arenas. IPLCs have been integrated; however their agency remains limited. Instead of allowing IPLCs to offer innovative foresight methods, define foresight files specific to Indigenous priorities and concerns, and develop alternative futures, this integration in fact constrains ILK by enforcing a Western paradigm. We also identify two distinct strategies for Indigenous people to promote their own futures and strengthen their influence over the process of making decisions about the Arctic. The first is a battle of the futures where IPLCs compete with other stakeholders within the arenas’ existing frameworks to ensure that their interests are adequately addressed. The second involves decolonizing futures by emancipating their production from the frameworks of the arenas and creating new space for ILK paradigms.

Drones, communities and nature: pitfalls and possibilities for conservation and territorial rights

Since the early 2010s, small drones have become key tools for environmental research around the globe. While critical voices have highlighted the threat of ‘green securitisation’ and surveillance in contexts where drones are deployed for nature conservation, Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) worldwide have also begun using drones – most often in alliance with non-governmental organisations or researchers – exploring this technology’s potential to advance their own territorial, political and socio-ecological goals. Against this backdrop, this paper examines six different experiences in five countries where communities are using small drones in areas of high ecological and cultural diversity with international significance for nature conservation. We highlight the ways that communities deploy drones – both in terms of their motivations and actual use strategies. We also reflect upon the opportunities and barriers that IPLCs and their collaborators encounter in designing and implementing meaningful drone strategies, explicitly considering social, economic and political challenges. Finally, we consider the socio-ecological outcomes that community drone use enables across these sites along with the ways that drones engender more biocultural and territorial approaches to conservation through IPLC-led monitoring and mapping efforts. In conclusion, we suggest that effective, meaningful and appropriate deployment of drones, especially with IPLCs as protagonists in their use, can support nature conservation together with the recognition and protection of biocultural and territorial rights. Given the mounting demands for conservation to counter intertwined global socio-environmental crises, community drones may play a role in amplifying the voices and territorial visions of IPLCs.

Transforming biodiversity governance? Indigenous peoples' contributions to the Convention on Biological Diversity

This article reviews opportunities for, and selected outcomes of, the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in the processes of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Meaningful participation is understood as a collaborative process based on the recognition of IPLCs and their contribution to biodiversity management. The CBD is currently the main instrument for global biodiversity governance, enjoying almost-universal application - with the notable exception of the USA. It arguably provides the most advanced framework for the participation of IPLCs among the multilateral environmental agreements. Following a discussion of challenges regarding concepts and terminology, we provide brief overviews of IPLCs' contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the evolution of the CBD framework to partially recognize these. We then focus on two case studies: the negotiation and adoption of the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and fair and equitable benefit-sharing; and the negotiation of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. On the basis of a literature review, content analysis of UN documents, and participant observation at CBD meetings, we combine legal and sociological analysis to find that early gains towards building collaborative spaces for IPLCs in CBD processes in the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol seemed to be receding in the negotiation of the Global Biodiversity Framework, until adoption of the final text which surprisingly integrated a strong rights-based approach, for the first time in the history of the CBD.

“Rights for Life” scenario to reach biodiversity targets and social equity for indigenous peoples and local communities

Scenarios are a powerful way in which the scientific community can inform future policies for transformative change. Forthcoming scenario work holds promise for the Nature Futures Framework, which through the concept of relational values, seeks to recognize a multiplicity of value positions on human-environment relations, including those of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). The objective of this Perspective paper is to propose a novel scenario skeleton titled “Rights for Life”, which holds promise to achieve ambitious biodiversity targets in a socially-equitable ways by focusing on the Nature's and IPLCs' rights. We demonstrate, through the case of Arctic reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) herding, that the “Rights for Life” scenario seems to deliver better social equity outcomes than the recently proposed “Half Earth” and “Sharing the Planet” scenarios that have been designed to achieve ambitious conservation and biodiversity targets. The “Rights for Life” scenario is particularly fit for sparsely-populated indigenous homelands and rural regions where local communities depend on culturally important nature-based livelihoods for their well-being. We recommend that future scenarios targeting human-environment relations should not only consider non-western and relational value perspectives, but also recognize the importance of Nature's and IPLCs' rights for ensuring transformative change for equity and the environment. Clear recognition of such rights can function as a basis for new regulations, market-based governance instruments, policies, and participatory governance instruments ensuring that violation of Nature's and IPLCs' rights by societal developments is recognized, avoided, minimized, or at least compensated for.

Ocean and Human Health in the Blue Era, Indian Ocean and African Perspectives


 
 
 In this article, I discuss the fact that human-ocean relations are increasingly being scrutinized, as scholars seek to frame, understand and mitigate the impacts of climate change on Earth. I propose that for the southwest Indian Ocean that scholars follow Chimamanda Adichie’s directive to critique ‘single stories’ by considering locally produced, embodied, sensorial relations of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to the sea and coasts, as well as the role that such relations might play in shaping health. I add that such relations cultivate a ‘blue’ consciousness and a nascent ‘blue’ rights – borne of symbioses between humans and ocean. I add that these advance a holistic and integrated human and ocean health. The discussion makes the case for the re-placement of globalized paradigms of climate change and for the inclusion of locally generated narratives of human relations with the sea. I posit that a more careful analysis of coastal and oceanic (intangible cultural) heritages can reveal transmaterial, interspecies relations with the sea. Drawing on anthropological research in the Southwest Indian Ocean World (SWIOW) and then in coastal South Africa, I argue that such narratives can herald not only a notion of global blue rights, they can also herald, from the ‘periphery’, a blue era where there is deeper consideration of sustainable human relations with the sea.
 
 

The impacts of mining on the food sovereignty and security of Indigenous Peoples and local communities: A global review

Mineral extraction areas represent an environmental, social, and also a food sovereignty challenge for several countries. Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLC) are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of mining activities, particularly those that affect their lands and waters. At the global level, scientific evidence on the impacts of mining on the food sovereignty of IPLC is meagre, scattered, and fragmented across disciplines and geographic regions. This study aims to assess whether factors such as mining, trace elements contamination, social inequality, lack of environmental deficitary environmental policy and practice, and socio-environmental conflicts directly impact the food sovereignty of IPLC worldwide. Through a comprehensive literature review of 403 articles, we mapped globally the impacts of mining activities on the food sovereignty of IPLC. Our results reveal that the combination of mining, social inequality and weak environmental strategies impinge negatively on the food sovereignty of IPLC. A hundred and six articles reviewed contained a detailed ecotoxicological analysis of food resources used by IPLC in mining areas. Of all documented species, 52.9 % were vascular plants, 40.3 % were fish and 6.8 % were mammals, presenting substantial scientific evidence of the contamination of food systems of IPLC as a direct result of mining. Given the magnitude of the evidence presented in this review, we propose strategic policy actions to address the impacts of mining on IPLC food sovereignty, such as the strengthening of social, cultural, and environmental safeguards in the mining sector, which should include provisions for the protection of the food systems of IPLC and their culturally-valued food resources, as well as monitoring of contaminant concentrations in the environment and in culturally-valued food resources.

Potential impacts of the proposed EU regulation on deforestation-free supply chains on smallholders, indigenous peoples, and local communities in producer countries outside the EU

According to the new European Commission proposal for a regulation on deforestation-free products, six commodities - cattle, wood, palm oil, soy, cocoa, and coffee and their derivate products – grown or raised on land that was subject to deforestation or forest degradation will be banned from entering the EU market. In this commentary paper, we discuss the possible unintended effects of the regulation and elaborate on potential ways to reduce the negative impacts, on vulnerable groups in producer countries, such as smallholders, Indigenous peoples, and local communities (IPLCs). Such impacts could comprise exclusion of smallholders and IPLCs from high-value supply chains of commodities covered by the regulation, inadequate price premiums to cover the costs of complying with this regulation, increase the risk of land conflicts between large-scale and small-scale agriculture, push smallholders and IPLCs to marginal lands, and even exacerbate human rights risks already associated with large-scale commodity production. In order to avoid or minimize such impacts, we propose: 1) to make provisions for companies, smallholders, and producing regions to receive sufficient support in their transition to deforestation-free supply chains and to provide incentives so that this transition can be inclusive; 2) to further promote and strengthen holistic approaches, such as jurisdictional or other integrated landscape management approaches to address the many issues that can arise from conflicting interests and unequal power distribution in affected landscapes; 3) to make clear provisions for protection of human rights and to promote land rights for smallholders and IPLCs related to tenure security; and 4) to ensure that regular and robust impact assessments inform policy about both direct and indirect impacts of the regulation on smallholders and IPLCs so that timely and adequate action can be taken to minimize the unintended effects of this regulation. Addressing potential negative impacts on smallholders and IPLCs would also ensure that the progress achieved so far in terms of other UN SDGs related to poverty, inequality, hunger, and land restoration is not compromised.

Opportunities to Foster Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: A Role for Scientists

AbstractCountries are currently negotiating a comprehensive global binding treaty at the United Nations to better protect biodiversity in the high seas (referred to from here as “the Treaty”). Developing a governance framework for the sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources (MGRs) of the high seas (or areas beyond national jurisdiction, referred to from here as “ABNJ”) is a crucial element of the proposed treaty. Negotiating countries' positions on MGRs vary widely, ranging from no regulation to the establishment of a new global regulatory mechanism. For the scientists who may be involved with collecting MGRs in ABNJ, the Treaty could impact their research activities, including mandatory precollection notification. There could also be new requirements for daily research activities associated with utilizing physical materials collected in ABNJ or data generated from such materials. For indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) that may hold relevant traditional knowledge, the Treaty could ensure their rights to prior, free, and informed consent and the use of mutually agreed terms. The scientific community and IPLC have an opportunity to engage with key stakeholders to increase the chances that any new requirements will be practical, remain relevant in decades to come, and provide a platform that will foster research, collaboration, and marine biological diversity conservation.

Avoiding a new era in biopiracy: Including indigenous and local knowledge in nature-based solutions to climate change

Nature-based solutions (NbS) to climate change, strategies for mitigation and adaptation that rely on natural ecosystem processes to preserve biodiversity and enhance human well-being, hold the potential to contribute to numerous Sustainable Development Goals and uplift Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) that pursue place-based livelihoods. The local ecological and societal expertise housed in Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) could provide substantial benefits to the development, implementation, and evaluation of NbS projects. However, the historical treatment of ILK through misappropriation and biopiracy by the scientific community leave IPLCs politically, socially, culturally, and economically vulnerable to the growing interest in NbS applications to combat climate change. This paper addresses the current state of NbS focused on IPLCs by assessing peer-reviewed literature with criteria developed around the validation, integration, and protection of ILK. The assessment uncovered that most NbS literature does not discuss ILK or the contributions and participation of IPLCs. Such omissions could establish a dangerous precedent of ignoring or misappropriating ILK in NbS projects, possibly ushering in a new era in biopiracy. To facilitate better inclusivity of IPLCs, honor the dual purpose of NbS, and ensure the proper application of ILK in climate response, future NbS projects should detail how ILK is validated, integrated, and protected.

Participation, not penalties: Community involvement and equitable governance contribute to more effective multiuse protected areas.

Accelerating ecosystem degradation has spurred proposals to vastly expand the extent of protected areas (PAs), potentially affecting the livelihoods and well-being of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) worldwide. The benefits of multiuse PAs that elevate the role of IPLCs in management have long been recognized. However, quantitative examinations of how resource governance and the distribution of management rights affect conservation outcomes are vital for long-term sustainability. Here, we use a long-term, quasi-experimental monitoring dataset from four Indonesian marine PAs that demonstrates that multiuse PAs can increase fish biomass, but incorporating multiple governance principles into management regimes and enforcing rules equitably are critical to achieve ecological benefits. Furthermore, we show that PAs predicated primarily on enforcing penalties can be less effective than those where IPLCs have the capacity to engage in management. Our results suggest that well-governed multiuse PAs can achieve conservation objectives without undermining the rights of IPLCs.

A place at the table is not enough: Accountability for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in multi-stakeholder platforms

Virtually all major efforts to address global problems regarding land and resource use call for a multi-stakeholder process. At the same time, there is growing interest in, and commitment to, inclusion of previously marginalized groups – e.g., Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs), smallholders, and women in these groups – in decisions related to sustainable land and resource governance. Nevertheless, multi-stakeholder platforms and forums (MSFs) tend to be idealized as imagined spaces for collaboration among equals, despite ample prior research demonstrating that fostering equity in such “invited spaces” is no easy feat. This article draws on a comparative study of 11 subnational MSFs aimed at improving land and forest use practices in Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Peru. It analyzes data from interviews with more than 50 IPLC forum participants to understand their perspective on efforts to address equity in the MSFs in which they are participating, as well as their opinion of the potential of MSFs in comparison with other participants. The research sought to understand how MSFs can ensure voice and empowerment and address inequality, and thus be accountable to the needs and interests of IPLCs. The interviews show that IPLCs are overall optimistic, but the results also provide insights into accountability failures. The article argues that to bring about change – one that takes equality, empowerment and justice seriously – there needs to be greater strategic attention to how marginalized groups perceive their participation in multi-stakeholder processes. It builds on the lessons from the literature and the findings to propose specific ways that MSFs might foster the collective action or counter power that less powerful actors need to hold more powerful actors accountable.

Potential for cascading impacts of environmental change and policy on indigenous culture

Global environmental and societal changes threaten the cultures of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC). Despite the importance of IPLC worldviews and knowledge to sustaining human well-being and biodiversity, risks to these cultural resources are commonly neglected in environmental governance, in part because impacts can be indirect and therefore difficult to evaluate. Here, we investigate the connectivity of values associated with the relationship Ngātiwai (a New Zealand Māori tribe) have with their environment. We show that mapping the architecture of values-environment relationships enables assessment of how deep into culture the impacts of environmental change or policy can cascade. Our results detail how loss of access to key environmental elements could potentially have extensive direct and cascading impacts on the cultural values of Ngātiwai, including environmental responsibilities. Thus, considering only direct effects of environmental change or policy on cultural resources, or treating IPLC social-ecological relations simplistically, can severely underestimate threats to cultures.

A demographic model to support customary management of a culturally important waterfowl species

Scientific support invited by Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) to assist with customary environmental management can improve conservation and community livelihoods. For example, demographic models can help to understand how alternative wildlife management strategies affect population dynamics and harvest sustainability. We developed a demographic model to assist Ngāi Tahu, the southern-most Māori tribe in Aotearoa/New Zealand, in customary management of a culturally important population of Black Swans (<em>kakī anau</em>, <em>Cygnus atratus</em>). We used recent demographic data, including results of an experimental egg harvest study, to inform <em>tangata tiaki</em> (Ngāi Tahu environmental guardians) about how customary egg harvest and background pressure from sport hunting of swans aged ≥ 1 year differentially affect population growth. We also assessed how sport hunting of swans affects the sustainability of customary egg harvest. Estimated population growth (1.018 or presently growing 1.8% annually; 95% CI: 0.808–1.241) was most sensitive to changes in adult and subadult survival, followed by juvenile (first-year) survival, breeding propensity, and nest hatching success. Uncertainty in population growth was almost entirely attributable to uncertainty in swan survival rates after hatching. Sustainable population-level rates of egg harvest varied from none to more than half of all eggs, depending on small changes in adult and subadult survival. Population sensitivity to adult and subadult survival suggests that limiting and monitoring their mortality are crucial to population and egg harvest sustainability, whereas contemporary government-mandated species management, through Fish and Game New Zealand, allows adult and subadult mortality from sport hunting, with little record of offtake. Recognizing the rights and interests of Ngāi Tahu, and monitoring swan mortality more closely, could improve Ngāi Tahu abilities to practice customary harvest, enhance population and environmental monitoring, and, when appropriate, control swan numbers in a culturally appropriate and less wasteful way. The model we present could aid decision making and communication between Ngāi Tahu and New Zealand’s Crown government within a potential future co-management arrangement. Demographic models can be useful tools for supporting customary environmental management, but developing, maintaining, and implementing these tools requires support for adaptive policies and management arrangements that recognize IPLC rights to the environment and decision making.

Protected areas and the neglected contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities: Struggles for environmental justice in the Caatinga dry forest

Abstract Despite evidence about the contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to conservation, prevailing strategies still seek their separation from nature, often triggering conflicts. Current pledges to expand global protected area coverage suggest a need for the critical analysis of governance quality and the way conservation interacts with the well‐being of IPLCs. We present the case of Catimbau National Park in the Caatinga dry forest of northeast Brazil, where we explored connections between the well‐being of IPLCs and landscape through different values, practices and institutions, and perceptions of how environmentally just the park's governance has been. The well‐being of IPLCs is inextricably connected with the Caatinga landscape, through multiple place‐based relational values that, although differing between Indigenous and non‐indigenous inhabitants, have in both cases developed over generations. Although often framed as degraders, IPLCs exhibit a strong motivation to conserve, reflected through local institutions including forest gardens, sustainable use regulations, restoration activities and prevention of external encroachment. The strict form of protected area implemented at Catimbau, instead of a locally led or sustainable use reserve, explicitly targeted the resettlement of IPLCs and livelihood reorientation. These imposed objectives have clashed with a way of life in this peopled landscape and precluded local stewardship on a larger scale. Long‐term conflict arose through governance deficiencies which sparked multidimensional injustices. These include not only the misrecognition of local values and customary institutions but also the lack of procedures for consent or decision‐making influence, plus distributional harms including tenure insecurity and denied development assistance. Development and conservation strategies must reject narratives about poor, resource‐dependent rural communities and embrace the opportunities that local knowledge and institutions bring for effective conservation. As conservation efforts are expanded post‐2020, the people of the Caatinga and beyond must be recognised as embedded and a key part of any solution. In strict protected areas like Catimbau, where social conflict constrains their ability to function, seeking legal changes in governance type can be onerous. However, we describe other local‐level actions to build relationships and agency that may foster transitions towards better governance, and just treatment of IPLCs. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Negotiating the Futures of Nature and Cultures: Perspectives from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities about the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

A post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework is currently under negotiation under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This framework seeks to transform human-nature relationships towards its 2050 vision of “societies living in harmony with nature.” Global reports published to inform these negotiations include the second edition of Local Biodiversity Outlooks (LBO-2). In the context of ethnobiology, LBO-2 is particularly relevant because it features perspectives, experiences, and stories as told by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLC) about the global biodiversity crisis. Based on these perspectives, LBO-2 identifies six areas in need of urgent transformation (i.e., in culture, land, food, economies, governance, and financial incentives), analyzing how these relate to ongoing negotiations of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. In this article, we consider these transitions, as well as recommendations made by the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, and reveal critical weaknesses in the ways the Global Biodiversity Framework addresses the views and perspectives of IPLC. Such shortcomings include separation of nature and cultures in the framework's goals and targets, and failure to recognize and embed customary land tenure and territorial management as vital for biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, and benefit-sharing. We make a series of recommendations to mainstream and prioritize support for the rights and collective actions of IPLC throughout the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.