Biocultural well-being: Indigenous Peoples’ values for conservation and equity

Résumé

The IPBES Values Assessment found that policy making has often ignored the nature-related values of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ (IP and LCs). It identified lack of understanding of IP and LC notions of value in different contexts and for different sociodemographic groups as key knowledge gaps. We explore how the well-being concepts, worldviews, values, customary laws, and traditional livelihoods of different IP and LCs contribute to nature conservation and equity and how they are recognized by different community actors. Case studies were conducted with Quechua peoples in Lares, Cusco, Peru (which contributed to the IPBES Values Assessment); Mijikenda in Rabai, coastal Kenya; Lepcha and Limbu in northeast India; and Naxi and Moso in Yunnan, China. The study used a decolonizing action-research approach and a biocultural systems framework to contribute directly to establishing biocultural territories and reaffirm Indigenous values through the process. It found similar core values of balance, reciprocity, solidarity, and collectiveness with nature and in society across the different cultures, and similar holistic well-being concepts requiring balance between the human, wild, and sacred worlds. The study reaffirms the IPBES Values Assessment’s conceptualization of nature-related values and identifies a fifth type, “under nature,” where humans are governed by nature. It shows that Indigenous values protect wildlife in sacred sites and promote sustainable and equitable resource use, resilience, food security, and nutrition, providing strategies for effective and equitable conservation and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. However, Indigenous values have significantly weakened particularly in less remote communities in China and India and in coastal Kenya among youth, and some practices marginalize women, likely influenced by colonial patriarchy. The Potato Park biocultural territory and decolonizing action-research approach can be scaled out to different contexts to revitalize Indigenous values, reduce power imbalances, and enhance recognition of diverse values in policy making.

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