Conservation and Geography II: Conservation, Justice and Indigenous People

Indigenous people have been singing out for transformative change in the way people, communities, and societies relate to nature. Their calls are rooted in connections to the ecologies they have carefully stewarded over millennia. They follow the profoundly damaging ruptures of the combined histories, legacies, and ongoing forces of colonialism, extractive capitalism, and white supremacy. In this second progress report on conservation and geography, we consider how the calls of Indigenous people for renewed attention and action to how nature is understood, practiced, and governed are being received. Situating our author collaboration within our responsibilities to Country, we first reflect on messages brought by Indigenous people to the 32nd International Congress for the Society of Conservation Biology. We then chart: (1) how justice is being enacted from principles to practice; (2) how Indigenous ontologies and worldviews may re-orientate conservation; and (3) the courage of practice, policy, and research coalitions re-envisaging fortress approaches to biodiversity protection. Conservation, while often viewed as a benign or complimentary influence in the fight for Indigenous justice, is deeply entangled in the injuries incurred to both people and nature over centuries. How we listen to and head these calls for change now, matters more than ever.