Indigenous Peoples, National Parks, and Protected Areas: A New Paradigm Linking Conservation, Culture, and Rights

by Stan Stevens (Editor)

A vast number of national parks and protected areas throughout the world have been established in the customary territories of Indigenous peoples. In many cases these conservation areas have displaced Indigenous peoples, undermining their cultures, livelihoods, and self-governance, while squandering opportunities to benefit from their knowledge, values, and practices. This book makes the case for a paradigm shift in conservation from exclusionary, uninhabited national parks and wilderness areas to new kinds of protected areas that recognize Indigenous peoples’ conservation contributions and rights. It documents the beginnings of such a paradigm shift and issues a clarion call for transforming conservation in ways that could enhance the effectiveness of protected areas and benefit Indigenous peoples in and near tens of thousands of protected areas worldwide.

 
Indigenous Peoples, National Parks, and Protected Areas integrates wide-ranging, multidisciplinary intellectual perspectives with detailed analyses of new kinds of protected areas in diverse parts of the world. Eleven geographers and anthropologists contribute nine substantive fieldwork-based case studies. Their contributions offer insights into experience with new conservation approaches in an array of countries, including Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Peru, South Africa, and the United States.
 
This book breaks new ground with its in-depth exploration of changes in conservation policies and practices—and their profound ramifications for Indigenous peoples, protected areas, and social reconciliation.

Genres: Indigenous

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the amount of time that I've spent in national parks and working on Indigenous legal issues, it wasn't until recently that I'd begun thinking about the overlap between national parks or other "conservation" areas and Indigenous territories. This book does a pretty good job of laying out the legal and ethical issues around Indigenous management of their territories that now overlaps with areas that federal governments have protected as parks or conservation areas. I do wish, however, that this book included more Indigenous authors.

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume has two main strengths. Firstly, the case studies discussed are almost entirely from the global south and only one focuses on the United States; this kind of geographic diversity is rare in national park literature. Secondly, it clearly outlines why most efforts to include Indigenous peoples in current conservation and national park efforts fall short and often continue to perpetuate colonial systems. The volume also provides some tangible steps toward better efforts. However, as John Sandlos points out in his chapter on Canada, the only way to truly honour Indigenous rights in protected areas is to give the land back to them.

As a reader from the Global North, I did find it difficult to follow some chapters due to the use of acronyms that I admittedly could not keep track of and my lack of familiarization with the governance structures of the countries discussed. This isn't a criticism, but rather an observation that may hold true for others with similar backgrounds.