Indigenous Peoples and Multiscalar Environmental Governance: The Opening and Closure of Participatory Spaces

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Maria-Therese Gustafsson ◽  
Almut Schilling-Vacaflor
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Governance Instruments

Abstract There has been an unprecedented inclusion of Indigenous peoples in environmental governance instruments like free, prior, and informed consent; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) projects; climate adaptation initiatives; and environmental impact assessment. We draw on theories of participatory governance to show how locally implemented processes have been shaped by their interactions with invited, closed, and indigenous-led spaces at multiple scales. Empirically, our article is based on field research in Latin America, semistructured interviews, and a systematic literature review. We find four main barriers that have (re-)produced environmental injustices in environmental governance: first, a lack of influence over the institutional design of governance instruments; second, the exclusion of Indigenous peoples in the domestication of global instruments; third, policy incoherencies constraining the scope for decision-making; and fourth, weak cross-scale linkages between Indigenous-led spaces. This article helps to elucidate constraints of participatory spaces and identify leeway for transformation toward environmental justice.

Brazilian Ayahuasca Religions

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-186
Author(s):  
Robin Wright
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Rubber Tappers ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Legal Expertise ◽  
Religious Understanding

This article reviews the forthcoming issue of FIR containing an important collection of articles on the origins and developments of religious movements and, later, research movements focused on a powerful psychoactive beverage consisting of the mixture of certain vines (ayahuasca) and leaves (chacrona) found mainly in Western Amazonia. The religious interpretations resulting from the ritual ingestion of the beverage have produced the most varied practices and beliefs, beginning with the indigenous peoples and mestizo herbalists, then migrant rubber-tappers from northeastern Brazil; in the 1960s, urbanites from major cities in Brazil and Europe seeking alternative forms of religious inspiration; and, in the 1990s, a group of Brazilian researchers who have combined anthropological and religious understanding of the phenomena along with legal expertise for the protection of the religious freedom necessary for the religions’ developments. With the diversification and globalization of these new religious movements, the article points to new directions for field research in these religions.

Sustaining Democracy in Hard Times: Participatory Theory for Local Environmental Governance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Deliberative Politics ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Participatory Theory

This final chapter explores ideas previously taken up and relates them to political theory, democratic deliberative politics in particular. Up to this point, these ideas have been presented as theoretical contributions to both participatory governance and the relocalization movement. The discussion here seeks to extend the theoretical perspective more specifically to a number of important but relatively neglected traditions in democratic political theory, especially as they relate to ideas taken from the writings of Bookchin and Sale. This involves the theories of associative democracy, insurgent democratic politics, and participatory or democratic expertise. These theoretical orientations are provided as steps in search of a broader environmental political theory that can address the democratic struggles that are anticipated during the socio-ecological climate crisis ahead.

scholarly journals Environmental governance: Broadening ontological spaces for a more livable world

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110185
Author(s):  
Walker DePuy ◽  
Jacob Weger ◽  
Katie Foster ◽  
Anya M Bonanno ◽  
Suneel Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Ontological Pluralism ◽  
Cognitive Justice ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
The Right ◽  
Land Water

This paper contributes to global debates on environmental governance by drawing on recent ontological scholarship to ask: What would it mean to ontologically engage the concept of environmental governance? By examining the ontological underpinnings of three environmental governance domains (land, water, biodiversity), we find that dominant contemporary environmental governance concepts and policy instruments are grounded in a modernist ontology which actively shapes the world, making certain aspects and relationships visible while invisibilizing others. We then survey ethnographic and other literature to highlight how such categories and their relations have been conceived otherwise and the implications of breaking out of a modernist ontology for environmental governance. Lastly, we argue that answering our opening question requires confronting the coloniality woven into the environmental governance project and consider how to instead embrace ontological pluralism in practice. In particular, we examine what taking seriously the right to self-determination enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) could mean for acknowledging Indigenous ontologies as systems of governance in their own right; what challenges and opportunities exist for recognizing and translating ontologies across socio-legal regimes; and how embracing the dynamism and hybridity of ontologies might complicate or advance struggles for material and cognitive justice.

scholarly journals Environmental Threats over Amazonian Indigenous Lands

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Ana C. Rorato ◽  
Michelle C. A. Picoli ◽  
Judith A. Verstegen ◽  
Gilberto Camara ◽  
Francisco Gilney Silva Bezerra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Forest Loss ◽  
Mining Activities ◽  
Buffer Zones ◽  
Environmental Preservation ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Arc Of Deforestation

This study investigates the main threats related to environmental degradation that affect Amazonian Indigenous Lands (ILs). Through a cluster analysis, we group ILs according to the set of common environmental threats that occur within and outside their limits. The results show that most of the 383 ILs are affected internally by a combination of different environmental threats, namely: deforestation, forest degradation, fires, mining, croplands, pastures, and roads. However, the ILs affected by multiple and relatively severe threats are mainly located in the arc of deforestation and the Roraima state. The threats related to forest loss (deforestation, forest degradation, and fires) are more intense in the ILs’ buffer zones than within, showing that ILs effectively promote environmental preservation. In the cluster analysis, we identified seven clusters that are characterized by common environmental threats within and around their limits, and, based on these results, we have outlined four environmental policy priorities to be strengthened and applied in Amazonian ILs: protecting ILs’ buffer zones; strengthening surveillance actions, and combating illegal deforestation, forest degradation, and mining activities in ILs; preventing and fighting fires; and removing invaders from all ILs in the Amazon. In this study, we warn that the threats presented make the Indigenous peoples in the Amazon more vulnerable. To guarantee indigenous peoples’ rights, illegal actions in these territories and their surroundings must be contained, and quickly.

Indigenous climate change adaptation: New directions for emerging scholarship

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110224
Author(s):  
Danielle Emma Johnson ◽  
Meg Parsons ◽  
Karen Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Indigenous Development

Although Indigenous peoples’ perspectives and concerns have not always been accommodated in climate change adaptation research and practice, a burgeoning literature is helping to reframe and decolonise climate adaptation in line with Indigenous peoples’ lived experiences. In this review, we bring together climate adaptation, decolonising and intersectional scholarship to chart the progress that has been made in better analysing and responding to climate change in Indigenous contexts. We identify a wealth of literature helping to decolonise climate adaptation scholarship and praxis by attending to colonial and neo-colonial injustices implicated in Indigenous peoples’ climate vulnerability, taking seriously Indigenous peoples’ relational ontologies, and promoting adaptation that draws on Indigenous capacities and aspirations for self-determination and cultural continuity. Despite calls to interrogate heterogenous experiences of climate change within Indigenous communities, the decolonising climate and adaptation scholarship has made limited advances in this area. We examine the small body of research that takes an intersectional approach to climate adaptation and explores how the multiple subjectivities and identities that Indigenous peoples occupy produce unique vulnerabilities, capacities and encounters with adaptation policy. We suggest the field might be expanded by drawing on related studies from Indigenous development, natural resource management, conservation, feminism, health and food sovereignty. Greater engagement with intersectionality works to drive innovation in decolonising climate adaptation scholarship and practice. It can mitigate the risk of maladaptation, avoid entrenchment of inequitable power dynamics, and ensures that even the most marginal groups within Indigenous communities benefit from adaptation policies and programmes.

scholarly journals Is REDD+ Redefining Forest Governance in Nepal?

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dil B Khatri
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Design ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Forest Governance ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Funding Mechanisms ◽  
The Government ◽  
Institutional Linkages ◽  
Institutional Architecture

In this paper, I argue that the Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD)+ readiness process in Nepal has reconfigured forest governance in subtle ways and posed risks of its recentralization. Powerful actors, especially the government, consultants and donor entities, have influenced the REDD+ process and policy debates, and have jointly marginalized local communities and civil society organizations (CSOs). This paper reveals that Nepal’s REDD+ architecture is primarily shaped by imperatives and ambiguities in the international negotiations and funding mechanisms. Building on the theoretical frameworks of institutional interplay, cross-scale institutional linkages, and institutional design, this paper analyses how interplay and interactions of national institutions and stakeholders influence the REDD+ readiness process, its emerging institutional architecture, and decentralized forest governance. The analysis has been informed by evidence from the author's own research and engagement in REDD+ policy processes in Nepal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v10i1.8602   Journal of Forestry and Livelihood Vol.10(1) 2012 74-87

Breaking the Wall of Monocentric Governance: Polycentricity in the Governance of Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-232
Author(s):  
Tahnee Lisa Prior
Keyword(s):  
Organic Pollutants ◽  
Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Polycentric Governance

Abstract We often mistakenly assume that institutional design will remain effective indefinitely. Complex long-term environmental challenges illuminate the disparity between institutions and state boundaries. While globalization has challenged monocentrism, we must look beyond traditional measures and design resilient governance systems, such as polycentric governance, that combine trust and local expertise in small-scale governance with the governance capacity of large-scale systems. These harness globalization’s benefits and provide solutions for the effects of ecosystem changes. This work examines the lessons – benefits, challenges, limitations, and unanswered questions – that may be learned from polycentric governance in the case of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Arctic, where a polycentric political system has developed as a result of a mismatch in environmental, jurisdictional, and temporal scales. Section One examines characteristics of polycentricity, focusing on actors, multilevel governance, degree of formality, and the nature of interactions. Section Two concentrates on the tools utilized. Section Three applies the outlined framework. Finally, Section Four examines three lessons that global environmental governance may learn from the case study: (1) Peak organizations are effective tools for managing polycentricity, allowing for the inclusion of non-state actors, such as indigenous peoples organizations (2) and epistemic communities (3), in bridging the human-environment nexus.

scholarly journals Full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in forest monitoring for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+): trial in Panama's Darién

Ecosphere ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e01635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Mateo-Vega ◽  
Catherine Potvin ◽  
José Monteza ◽  
José Bacorizo ◽  
Joselito Barrigón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Forest Monitoring

How the Perceived Language Status of Brunca Affects Resource Allocation in Costa Rica

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Aroline E. Seibert Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Language Status ◽  
Grave Danger ◽  
Government Rhetoric

Beginning with the conquest and colonization of the land that now comprises Costa Rica, the Indigenous peoples and their cultures have suffered great losses. One of the greatest losses is to their languages. One language in particularly grave danger is Brunca. While Indigenous languages are being acknowledged worldwide and within Costa Rica, the Costa Rican government has not provided the necessary resources to maintain them. This chapter incorporates recent field research on Brunca's language vitality into a discussion on the disconnect between government rhetoric and the actual linguistic situation of Brunca.

scholarly journals PENCEGAHAN PERUSAKAN HUTAN BERBASIS MASYARAKAT ADAT DALIHAN NA TOLU DI TAPANULI SELATAN

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Anwar Sadat Harahap ◽  
Ahmad Laut Hasibuan
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Customary Law

There are indigenous peoples who have their own traditional value in passing the prevention of forest destruction. Before the establishment of legislation on Preventing Forest Destruction in Indonesia, the indigenous people of Dalihan na Tolu have their own rules in preventing forest destruction. The customary law of Dalihan na Tolu has governed: the model of settlement of forest degradation disputes, the universal rules of indigenous peoples of Dalihan na Tolu on the prevention of forest destruction, the form of sanctions imposed on forest destruction parties, and the form of oversight in the implementation of the prevention of forest destruction.

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