Confronting colonial history: toward healing, just, and equitable Indigenous conservation futures

Against the backdrop of growing concerns for environmental and social justice, interest in developing effective strategies that support social and ecological resilience and recovery are mounting. To pursue these strategies requires cultivating a shared understanding of the full scope of settler colonial legacies that continue to impede justice efforts in conservation and environmentalism more broadly. However, although decolonial resources are growing, they remain scattered across various bodies of work and disciplines, often failing to be incorporated into conventional conservation understanding. Discounting these resources in mainstream science literature creates an immense challenge for conservation practitioners, scholars, and other professionals aiming to build their environmental justice and decolonial understanding. In alignment with these decolonial needs, we provide a brief primer of the origins of settler colonial conservation, resulting broadscale disparities, and pathways toward a more just conservation future. This synthesis of conservation’s colonial roots draws from diverse bodies of work, across disciplines and expert voices, and provides an entry point for cultivating a deeper understanding of justice and decolonization in conservation while centering the histories, realities, and futures of Indigenous Peoples worldwide.