The importance of Indigenous and local knowledge, values, practices and institutions for nature conservation is both evident, and now an accepted norm in global policy processes. However, prevailing conservation strategies still seek the separation of IPLCs from nature, often triggering conflicts. Current pledges to expand global protected area coverage suggest a need for the critical analysis of governance quality, with a particular focus on equity which has been adopted as a key aim in the most important international conservation and development agreements including the proposed Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD adopted definitions and guidance on equitable governance that draws heavily from theoretical frameworks on environmental justice, separating equity issues into three key dimensions: distribution, procedure and recognition. In this talk, I will present a case-study of Catimbau National Park in the Caatinga dry forest of northeast Brazil, and discuss some of the key equity issues there, drawing out lessons that are more widely applicable to the governance of protected and conserved areas in Brazil and worldwide. For example, in Catimbau, 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. Indeed, I will argue that 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, IPLCs must be recognised as embedded and a key part of any solution. Indeed, at Catimbau, as in many other protected and conserved areas, imposed objectives have clashed with local ways of life and have 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 lack of access to development assistance. I will discuss the ways in which trust might be re-built in these types of situations, and the importance of effective communication and participation in decision-making processes. I will close my talk by introducing some of my recent on-going work thinking about these types of equity issues in urban green spaces, and discuss the relevance of that to Madrid and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales.

Ponente: Karen Mustin, Programa de Pósgraduação em Biodiversidade Tropical, Universidade Federal do Amapá, Brazil.

Moderador: Joaquín Hortal, Biogeografía y Cambio Global MNCN-CSIC.

Retransmisión: Jose María Cazcarra, Vicedirección de Comunicación y Cultura Científica MNCN-CSIC y Noelia Cejuela, Servicio de Audiovisuales-Mediateca MNCN-CSIC.

Realización y edición: Servicio de Audiovisuales-Mediateca MNCN-CSIC.

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