Since its founding in 1987, Conservation International has supported Indigenous people and local communities — stewards of more than a quarter of the world's land surface — in their efforts to protect their territories. In fact, it was a founding principle of our organization.
Advancing our priorities
We implement a rights-based approach to conservation, which connects human well-being with the protection of nature — providing sustainable livelihoods while maintaining healthy ecosystems.
By enlisting all parts of society — Indigenous peoples and local communities, youth and others — we seek to make the conservation movement more inclusive and harness the power of traditional knowledge, science and technology.
Definitions
Indigenous people and local communities
While Indigenous people and local communities may have much in common, there are some key distinctions between them, including how their rights are recognized in national and international policies. Indigenous people are defined as having customary social and political institutions, a historical continuity and attachment to specific lands, and who self-identify as such a group. Local communities depend directly on their ecosystems for their livelihoods and as a result have developed traditional knowledge about their area.
Our plan
Conservation International supports the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in conservation, including through the following initiatives:
- Indigenous leaders conservation fellowships provide emerging Indigenous leaders with a robust program of learning opportunities and connections for personal and professional development. There is a special focus on Indigenous women.
- The Indigenous Peoples Negotiations Program enhances the capacities of Indigenous peoples and local communities to negotiate with development actors to achieve equitable benefits from activities undertaken in their territories by outside actors.
- Conservation and conflict sensitivity programming helps leading global experts, institutions and communities better understand and value the role that nature plays in creating peaceful and prosperous societies. In partnership with the PeaceNexus Foundation, Conservation International is building on our rights-based approach to integrate conflict analysis into our conservation planning processes.
- Combining watershed management with water, sanitation and hygiene services — collectively known as “WASH” — promotes communities’ stewardship of ecosystems and supports their well-being. Our goal is to increase awareness of the connections between resilient communities and freshwater ecosystems at all levels, and promote long-term human health and conservation outcomes.
On the ground
As part of our mission to implement a global, nature-based conservation model, Conservation International works closely with Indigenous people and local communities to facilitate connections to key policy makers, provide access to critical technology and sustainability training, and highlight the expertise and experience of Indigenous peoples and local communities — so they can better protect their territories and secure the benefits that these lands provide to all of humanity.