The mainstream conservation industry has long pursued the  model of ‘fortress conservation’ that throws Indigenous peoples off their land in order to create so-called ‘Protected Areas’. Rooted in racist and colonial ideology, it is now drawing from a huge source of funding: millions of dollars generated by the sale of carbon credits. Big conservation NGOs, corporate bosses and even world leaders have claimed that Protected Areas and other so-called ‘Nature-Based Solutions,’ which often result in the sale of lucrative carbon credits, are a solution to climate change and biodiversity loss. If left unchecked, these schemes will make things worse.

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Experience makes clear that mainstream conservation models, backed by new “solutions” that commodify Indigenous land, will lead to even more human rights violations and to the biggest land grab in history. This is being perpetuated at the expense of those who are least responsible for these crises: Indigenous peoples, who already protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity, and other local peoples. 

 

By far the most effective and just way to fight against biodiversity loss and climate change is to recognize and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to their lands. Indigenous peoples and their rights must be at the core of climate and environmental action.

 

The Our Land, Our Nature conferences present an alternative vision of conservation, one which is already working, where Indigenous peoples are in control of  their own lands. This alternative relies on human diversity and protects and enhances biodiversity. It is anti-racist, anti-colonialist, and rooted in real social and climate justice. For real and practical solutions to the biodiversity and climate crises, we must listen to Indigenous peoples and decolonize conservation. It's also vital to address and expose the real causes of environmental destruction: exploitation of natural resources for profit and growing overconsumption, driven by the Global North.