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Diverse and productive ecosystems and human well-being are too often considered opposing targets. This stems mainly from nature being perceived as separate from culture, which results in resilience indicators that focus predominantly on either ecosystems or humans, and that overlook the interplay between the two. Meanwhile, global targets for biodiversity conservation and human well-being have yet to be satisfactorily achieved. We believe that in order to develop effective, culturally appropriate, and equitable conservation strategies that ensure social-ecological resilience, conservation planners and practitioners must conceive of human and ecological well-beings as an interrelated system. By giving nature a voice, and by viewing nature and people as an undifferentiated whole, some indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) have philosophical bases for achieving well-being for both humans and nature. Biocultural approaches to conservation ground management in local knowledges, practices, and ontologies. These approaches encompass both the biological and cultural aspects of a system, address complex relationships and feedbacks within human and ecological well-being, and offer flexible frameworks that facilitate synthesis across different metrics, knowledge systems, and ontologies. The process of developing indicators of resilience with a biocultural approach could help (1) overcome the human–nature dichotomy that often makes global approaches incompatible with local approaches by integrating local peoples’ diverse forms of relating to nature, (2) reflect two-way feedbacks between people and their environment by focusing on processes, not just final states, and (3) define, measure, and monitor ecological and human well-being as a whole. It can also facilitate dialog between IPLCs and global decision-makers who are disconnected from local realities, and between people from a diversity of disciplinary, ontological, and professional backgrounds.

In recognizing the urgent need to address global challenges such as biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and climate change, it is essential to incorporate diverse knowledge systems, including Indigenous worldviews and knowledge of nature. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has taken significant steps to integrate Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) as well as the viewpoints of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) into its thematic and methodological assessments. This inclusive approach enriches our understanding of nature and enhances our ability to tackle these pressing global issues. The recently published IPBES Report on Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature, also known as the values assessment (VA), includes Indigenous scholars and ILK experts as authors. The VA provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of existing knowledge on the various ways in which humans value nature, as well as the methods and approaches for understanding these values. It also examines the extent to which these values are integrated into decision-making structures and processes. We are a group of Indigenous scholars and ILK experts from the Global South who participated in the VA, specifically in Chapter 3’s “ILK Team.” The value of including IPLC in knowledge-synthesis initiatives is highlighted by our experiences. There are opportunities to improve the inclusion of ILK in similar assessments. The lessons we learned while working at the VA have motivated us to recommend that future assessments and similar initiatives should actively involve IPLC, their knowledge systems, and their ancestral wisdom.

This opinion piece, written by ethnobiologists from different parts of the world, emphasizes the importance of ethnobiology research in advancing contemporary biology, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and, especially, contributing to the ecological transition and more just and inclusive world. To achieve these goals, it is essential to develop research and collaborate with social groups that live in close relationship with nature in research activities, such as Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC), as well as Afro-descendants and other Marginalized, Minority or Minoritized Communities (AMMC). Ethnobiology can identify and provide locally appropriate solutions to local problems, enabling sustainable resource management at the landscape level. The text explores important aspects that need to be considered to guide the future of ethnobiology in the next 20 years, aiming to integrate and amplify previous discussions held in the discipline and identify points that demand ongoing attention. This paper highlights reflections from diverse researchers, emphasizing how ethnobiology can embrace different perspectives and employ rigorous analysis of complex phenomena toward effective policies and practices. This approach holds the potential to address the challenges the planet is currently facing in the coming decades.

Stewardship of wildlife within lands managed by Indigenous peoples and local communities has relied on traditional knowledge and skills yet faces challenges amid social and economic changes that can weaken enduring social-ecological relations. Wildlife conservation initiatives frequently lean on community-based wildlife management (CBWM) to foster sustainable use while ensuring community involvement in decision making. In practice, CBWM has often remained tightly linked to top-down or externally driven processes with quick negative conclusions being drawn about the capacity of communities to manage local wildlife, without further investigating the foundational conditions of stewardship. This study proposes a theoretical model for place-based stewardship that builds on the care-knowledge-agency framework, grounding it in mentored practices and environmental virtue. Our model does not discount the importance of devolved governance systems and legitimate leadership but highlights the parallel requirement for virtuous local decision-making processes, which emerge from mentored practice, rooted in place-based knowledge, and nurtured by care. We illustrate this model with case studies from Guyana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, drawing on lessons learned to develop a generic theory of change that can be adapted to guide the development of tailored interventions for the consolidation of stewardship in the context of CBWM. We argue that CBWM initiatives involving Indigenous peoples and local communities cannot view wildlife management as disconnected from strategies for self-determination within a context of reappropriation of customary lands and may require enabling actions to recover agency and place-based care through reconnection to the territory and mentored practice.

Benefit-sharing mechanisms have been instrumental in securing the support of local communities living on the edge of protected areas to implement protected area goals and enhance biodiversity conservation outcomes. Understanding the acceptability of the types of benefit provided among diverse communities is crucial for co-designing benefit-sharing approaches that accommodate local perspectives. Here, we used quasi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions (FGD) to assess the acceptance of the types of benefit received by the communities in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem (GSE) in Tanzania and the effectiveness of the benefits in securing community support for conservation reserves. We found that the categories of social service provision, livelihood support, and employment described all the benefits provided across conservation institutions operating in the GSE. However, the types of benefit within these categories varied significantly among conservation institutions, in terms of level and frequency of benefits received by communities. Overall, student scholarships were highly rated by respondents as the most satisfying benefit received. Respondents who were dissatisfied with the benefits received thought that the benefits did not compensate for the high costs arising from wildlife incursions onto their land. Communities’ acceptance of the benefits received varied greatly among villages, but only a small proportion of pooled respondents (22%) were willing to support the existence of a protected area without benefit. This study suggests that local people are willing to support conservation outcomes but require conservation institutions to give greater consideration to the costs incurred by communities, their livelihood needs, and access to natural resources or other benefits. We recommend that benefit-sharing be tailored to the local circumstances and cultures of people living close to protected areas, particularly communities expressing more negative views, to ensure adequate and appropriate compensation is provided.

ContextMost protected areas are managed based on objectives related to scientific ecological knowledge of species and ecosystems. However, a core principle of sustainability science is that understanding and including local ecological knowledge, perceptions of ecosystem service provision and landscape vulnerability will improve sustainability and resilience of social-ecological systems. Here, we take up these assumptions in the context of protected areas to provide insight on the effectiveness of nature protection goals, particularly in highly human-influenced landscapes.ObjectivesWe examined how residents’ ecological knowledge systems, comprised of both local and scientific, mediated the relationship between their characteristics and a set of variables that represented perceptions of ecosystem services, landscape change, human-nature relationships, and impacts.MethodsWe administered a face-to-face survey to local residents in the Sierra de Guadarrama protected areas, Spain. We used bi- and multi-variate analysis, including partial least squares path modeling to test our hypotheses.ResultsEcological knowledge systems were highly correlated and were instrumental in predicting perceptions of water-related ecosystem services, landscape change, increasing outdoors activities, and human-nature relationships. Engagement with nature, socio-demographics, trip characteristics, and a rural–urban gradient explained a high degree of variation in ecological knowledge. Bundles of perceived ecosystem services and impacts, in relation to ecological knowledge, emerged as social representation on how residents relate to, understand, and perceive landscapes.ConclusionsOur findings provide insight into the interactions between ecological knowledge systems and their role in shaping perceptions of local communities about protected areas. These results are expected to inform protected area management and landscape sustainability.

Drawing on 662 studies from 102 countries, we present a systematic review of published empirical studies about site-level biodiversity conservation initiated between 1970 and 2019. Within this sample, we find that knowledge production about the Global South is largely produced by researchers in the Global North, implying a neocolonial power dynamic. We also find evidence of bias in reported ecological outcomes linked to lack of independence in scientific studies, serving to uphold narratives about who should lead conservation. We explore relationships in the sample studies between conservation initiative types, the extent of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ influence in governance, and reported social and ecological outcomes. Findings reveal positive ecological and social outcomes are strongly associated with higher levels of influence of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their institutions, implying equity in conservation practice should be advanced not only for moral reasons, but because it can enhance conservation effectiveness.

Despite evidence about the contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to conservation, prevailing strategies still seek their separation from nature, often triggering conflicts. Current pledges to expand global protected area coverage suggest a need for the critical analysis of governance quality and the way conservation interacts with the well‐being of IPLCs. We present the case of Catimbau National Park in the Caatinga dry forest of northeast Brazil, where we explored connections between the well‐being of IPLCs and landscape through different values, practices and institutions, and perceptions of how environmentally just the park's governance has been. The well‐being of IPLCs is inextricably connected with the Caatinga landscape, through multiple place‐based relational values that, although differing between Indigenous and non‐indigenous inhabitants, have in both cases developed over generations. Although often framed as degraders, IPLCs exhibit a strong motivation to conserve, reflected through local institutions including forest gardens, sustainable use regulations, restoration activities and prevention of external encroachment. The strict form of protected area implemented at Catimbau, instead of a locally led or sustainable use reserve, explicitly targeted the resettlement of IPLCs and livelihood reorientation. These imposed objectives have clashed with a way of life in this peopled landscape and precluded local stewardship on a larger scale. Long‐term conflict arose through governance deficiencies which sparked multidimensional injustices. These include not only the misrecognition of local values and customary institutions but also the lack of procedures for consent or decision‐making influence, plus distributional harms including tenure insecurity and denied development assistance. Development and conservation strategies must reject narratives about poor, resource‐dependent rural communities and embrace the opportunities that local knowledge and institutions bring for effective conservation. As conservation efforts are expanded post‐2020, the people of the Caatinga and beyond must be recognised as embedded and a key part of any solution. In strict protected areas like Catimbau, where social conflict constrains their ability to function, seeking legal changes in governance type can be onerous. However, we describe other local‐level actions to build relationships and agency that may foster transitions towards better governance, and just treatment of IPLCs. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. Resumo Apesar das evidências sobre a contribuição dos Povos Indígenas e Comunidades Locais (PICLs) para a conservação, as estratégias predominantes ainda buscam sua separação da natureza, muitas vezes desencadeando conflitos. As promessas atuais de expandir a cobertura global de áreas protegidas sugerem a necessidade de uma análise crítica da qualidade de governança e da maneira como a conservação interage com o bem‐estar das PICLs. Apresentamos o caso do Parque Nacional do Catimbau na floresta seca da Caatinga no nordeste do Brasil, onde exploramos as conexões entre o bem‐estar das PICLs e a paisagem por meio de diferentes valores, práticas e instituições, e percepções de quão ambientalmente justa tem sido a gestão do parque. O bem‐estar das PICLs está intrinsecamente ligado à paisagem da Caatinga, por meio de múltiplos valores relacionais de base local que, embora diferentes entre indígenas e não indígenas, em ambos os casos se desenvolveram ao longo de gerações. Embora muitas vezes classificadas como degradantes, as PICLs exibem uma forte motivação para conservar, refletida por meio de instituições locais, incluindo cultivos florestais, regulamentações de uso sustentável, atividades de restauração e prevenção de invasões externas. A forma inflexível de área protegida implementada no Catimbau, em vez de uma reserva localmente controlada ou de uso sustentável, visava explicitamente o reassentamento das PICLs e a reorientação dos meios de subsistência. Esses objetivos impostos colidiram com um modo de vida nesta paisagem povoada e impediram a gestão local em uma escala maior. O conflito de longo prazo surgiu por meio de falhas de gestão que geraram injustiças multidimensionais. Isso inclui não apenas o não reconhecimento de valores locais e instituições de usos e costumes, mas também a falta de procedimentos para consentimento ou influência na tomada de decisões, além de danos distributivos, incluindo insegurança de posse e negação de assistência ao desenvolvimento. As estratégias de desenvolvimento e conservação devem rejeitar narrativas sobre comunidades rurais pobres e dependentes de recursos e abraçar as oportunidades que o conhecimento local e as instituições trazem para uma conservação eficaz. À medida que os esforços de conservação são expandidos pós‐2020, o povo da Caatinga e além deve ser reconhecido como uma parte fundamental de qualquer solução. Em áreas estritamente protegidas como o Catimbau, onde o conflito social restringe sua capacidade de funcionamento, buscar mudanças legais do tipo de gestão pode ser dispendioso. No entanto, descrevemos outras ações em nível local para construir relacionamentos e ações que possam promover transições para uma melhor gestão e tratamento justo de PICLs. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

The current paradigm of biodiversity conservation, with its continued focus on the notion of pristine nature, has resulted in the separation of humans and nature at the expense of both biological and cultural–linguistic diversity. The continued annexation of land for the cause of conservation has resulted in the curtailment of both rights and access to local and diverse food sources for many rural communities. Indigenous Peoples and local communities are fundamental to conserving biodiversity through sustainable use of nature despite repeated attempts to dispossess them from their lands, cultures and knowledge. It has been this traditional and land-based knowledge that has contributed to the conservation of biodiversity whilst also supporting healthy, diverse and nutritious diets. If we are to achieve a more just and sustainable future, we need to continue to centre conservation initiatives around rights, access and equity whilst respecting a plurality of perspectives, worldviews and knowledge systems. Here we review alternative approaches that help reconcile the right to food with biodiversity conservation, such as biocultural rights, rights-based approaches and integrated land management schemes, with the aim of identifying optimal ways forward for conservation that break away from the dichotomous view that pits people against nature and instead embrace the importance of this symbiotic relationship.

Mercury contamination from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) currently accounts for 37% of the global total, often affecting tropical regions where regulations, if they exist, are often poorly enforced. Ingestion by people and other animals damages the nervous, reproductive, and cognitive systems. Despite the efforts of many organizations and governments to curb mercury releases from ASGM, it is increasing globally. There are many possible interventions, all with significant complexity and cost. Therefore, we recommend taking an established systematic approach to articulate the current situation and construct theories of change (ToC) for different possible interventions for any government or organization trying to solve this problem. Here we present a high-level situation analysis and generic ToC to support a more coordinated approach that explicitly builds upon previous experience to identify organization- and situation-appropriate engagement on this issue. We then illustrate the use of these generic models to construct a specific ToC with a policy-focused entry point. This includes interventions through (1) engagement with the global Minamata Convention on Mercury; (2) support for existing national laws and policies connected to ASGM and mercury contamination; and (3) engagement of indigenous people and local communities with governments to meet the governments’ legal obligations. By methodically articulating assumptions about interventions, connections among actions, and desired outcomes, it is possible to create a more effective approach that will encourage more coordination and cooperation among governments and other practitioners to maximize their investments and support broad environmental and socio-political outcomes necessary to address this pernicious problem.