Biocultural Conservation in the Amazon
Tagline: Building on 40 years of experience with Community-based Conservation for Resilience and Governance of Socioecological Systems, we seek to advance the theory and practice of Biocultural Conservation in the Amazon.
Body: Forest and riverine peoples play the lead role in effective protection of the landscapes where they live and have sovereign rights, conserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and promoting socioecological justice. The “Voices from the Forest” workshop, in conjunction with thematic working groups convened by the University of Florida's Governance and Infrastructure in the Amazon project (giamazon.org) produced a project concept and Theory of Change (see figure below).
There are two fundamental premises of biocultural conservation:
- Interdependence of biological and cultural diversity: Effective conservation requires integrated conservation strategies across biophysical and cultural realms (knowledge systems, spirituality, language).
- Indigenous (or community) agency and empowerment: Local communities with sovereign territory and a strong sense of identity, place and social integration are the key protagonists of biocultural conservation.
Theory of Change (summary): The point of departure for effective implementation of biocultural conservation is empowerment and agency by Indigenous (and other traditional) communities. Agency and empowerment are closely related to cultural attributes such as beliefs, relationships and language. Other key actors in this system can contribute through partnership and collaboration with Indigenous actors. Partnership and collaboration include exchange, co-production and application of knowledge. Biocultural conservation is achieved when sovereign territorial rights are in place and rightsholders are managing their territories.
Crucially, the link from action to results is in tension with limiting and enabling factors in the external environment. These occur along multiple dimensions - governance, economic, social, ecological – on scales from local to global. Implications of these findings for research and learning are valorization of Indigenous knowledge and action; the need to focus on actions and impacts of government, economic and social interactions at multiple scales; and that the academic community should prioritize knowledge co-production, communication and application to support Indigenous people.
Archive
Projects
Descriptions of past projects focused on community-based conservation, including partnerships and key outcomes.
Courses
Details about courses taught, including syllabi and teaching reflections.
Publications
A curated list of publications with summaries and download links (coming soon).
Contact
If you'd like to collaborate or learn more, feel free to reach out to me via email at bob@amazon-biocultural.org.