Conservation Dialogues

Biodiversity conservation has been receiving a great deal of renewed attention in policy and academic circles, as we approach the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming and the adoption of the post-2020 framework. There is growing alarm over increased biodiversity loss, including fears over the sixth mass extinction, and frustrations with the failure of mainstream conservation to meet biodiversity conservation goals. There is, meanwhile, persistent concern over the continual and even intensifying disenfranchisement of Indigenous and other local communities in the name of conservation. This is leading to a growing chasm in policy and academic circles, with calls from some to expand original conservation models and increase protected areas and ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECMs) to cover 30-50% of the planet, while others demand conservation be transformed through a decolonized approach, including the return of land, and recentering of Indigenous knowledge systems and governance in conservation practice. These debates often overlap with various calls ranging from changes to the political economy of conservation management and tourism, to the inclusion of community conservation areas in protected area expansion, to improving community-based conservation through gender sensitive approaches.

There is much at stake for the future of biodiversity and Indigenous sovereignty alike. Reflecting the divisions and uncertainty stretching across these debates, there is a dire need for constructive and productive dialogues across, within and between various positions, academic fields, and sectors. For this Research Topic we seek to begin building these dialogues. As such, we invite papers that contribute to the conversation by asking critical questions about the current conservation impasse, challenges, and possible ways forward. We are open to various formats including (but not limited to): case studies, dialogues/interviews, thought pieces, comparative pieces, and theoretical reflections. We are interested in building a critical and constructive dialogue—within, across, and between contributions. We encourage interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary pieces, drawing from within and across the natural and social sciences, and the humanities (for instance from conservation biology to conservation social science and indigenous and feminist studies) as well as work that challenge conventional norms of scholarly writing.