Decolonizing Human and Non-human Coexistence

About this Research Topic

Background

This Special Issue is about people’s relationships with nature and the coexistence of humans and non-human species and artefacts in the context of climate change, conflicts and loss of heritage, biodiversity, or wildlife due to overuse or neglect. This issue is stressed in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Actions to support sustainable land use and management are viewed as restoration, conservation and preservation by replacement or re-creation of lost or damaged elements of natural systems as well as the removal of human-made artefacts, such as dams, that hinder ecological rehabilitation. Such actions may also include the removal or reintroduction of people.

Restoration, preservation and re-wilding are required to reverse the ecological colonization of traditional lands. So, when people and removed species return to their homelands this may be called decolonization. Even though restoration and re-wilding may be seen as restoring ecosystems, leading to increased biodiversity, and increasing ecosystem function, there is a need for critical debate regarding their implementation. We ask for contributions to this Special Issue that increase our understanding of what people think, say, and share when it comes to decolonizing nature and the environment. The prospects for crucial, just, and sustainable change lie in an inclusive incorporation of different values. Social natural scientists are encouraged to submit their work and we invite, where possible, contributions by, or in collaboration with, people from Indigenous People and Local Communities.

Potential Topics:

General Themes: Restoration is a process that is adapted to real situations based on the kinds of people involved, the condition of the post-colonial environment, and the governing nation state and its laws. What general principles can be described and modelled to understand these factors?

• How can we identify and measure the interactive context produced by restoration as marking the beginning and the end of how we imagine ourselves and our place in the world?
• How can we measure environmental perceptions held by different ethnic groups which are key in communicating aspects of change, potentially caused by restoration?
• How can we identify ways that policymaking can be better designed to balance and integrate all three pillars of sustainable development (i.e., economic, social, and ecological)?

Cases of Restoration: Given that colonial empires around the world have removed people, fauna, and flora from aboriginal territories, what are the implications on a case-by-case basis of efforts to restore the precolonial situations by making an equable and sustainable post-colonial environment? Lessons learned along with descriptions of the case should be a component of each paper.

• Case Type A: A major predator is removed, the ecosystems lose valued human and nature services, and the predator is returned.
• Case Type B: Traditional or indigenous people are removed from homelands which lose valued human and natural services, and the people are either returned to their homelands or engaged as co-managers.
• Case Type C: Comparisons of cases where one occurs on federal lands such as a national park and where the other occurs on private or public lands.

Keywords: restoration, biodiversity, re-wilding, traditional lands, ecological colonization, sustainable development, post-colonial restoration, traditional ecological knowledge, protected areas, indigenous people

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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