TY - JOUR
T1 - Decolonizing ecosystem valuation to sustain Indigenous worldviews
AU - Urzedo, Danilo
AU - Robinson, Catherine J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by CSIRO's Valuing Sustainability Future Science Platform (VS FSP). We thank Rebecca Pearse for valuable discussions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Understanding and acknowledging the interlinkages within Indigenous social-cultural-ecological systems is a critical issue facing environmental policymaking and investments worldwide. This paper examines if and how ecosystem valuation frameworks have recognized and mobilized Indigenous worldviews and engagements. We undertake a state-of-the-art review of 120 academic publications and the reported experiences of 80 Indigenous-led organizations across 35 countries to identify decolonized ways of reorienting terrestrial ecosystem valuations. Our analysis reveals that mainstream nature accounting systems and methods often rely on instrumental and utilitarian logics that reinforce anthropocentric principles and the marketization of nature, while excluding Indigenous knowledge and value systems. However, this review also shows that Indigenous groups have contested and decolonized these scientific approaches to assert the legitimacy of place-based experiences, relational values, and rights to self-determination. There is also growing evidence that Indigenous Peoples are engaging with, reclaiming and reshaping ecosystem valuation procedures, policies, and markets across varying Indigenous contexts. These initiatives are diverse and highlight the agency of Indigenous communities to disrupt the separation of nature from humans through negotiations that embrace the coexistence of heterogenous and diverging practices that sustain interconnected social-cultural-ecological systems.
AB - Understanding and acknowledging the interlinkages within Indigenous social-cultural-ecological systems is a critical issue facing environmental policymaking and investments worldwide. This paper examines if and how ecosystem valuation frameworks have recognized and mobilized Indigenous worldviews and engagements. We undertake a state-of-the-art review of 120 academic publications and the reported experiences of 80 Indigenous-led organizations across 35 countries to identify decolonized ways of reorienting terrestrial ecosystem valuations. Our analysis reveals that mainstream nature accounting systems and methods often rely on instrumental and utilitarian logics that reinforce anthropocentric principles and the marketization of nature, while excluding Indigenous knowledge and value systems. However, this review also shows that Indigenous groups have contested and decolonized these scientific approaches to assert the legitimacy of place-based experiences, relational values, and rights to self-determination. There is also growing evidence that Indigenous Peoples are engaging with, reclaiming and reshaping ecosystem valuation procedures, policies, and markets across varying Indigenous contexts. These initiatives are diverse and highlight the agency of Indigenous communities to disrupt the separation of nature from humans through negotiations that embrace the coexistence of heterogenous and diverging practices that sustain interconnected social-cultural-ecological systems.
KW - Decoloniality
KW - Indigenous Knowledge
KW - Nature assessments
KW - Plurality
KW - Relational values
KW - Social-ecological systems
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171796118&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103580
DO - 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103580
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85171796118
SN - 1462-9011
VL - 150
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Environmental Science and Policy
JF - Environmental Science and Policy
M1 - 103580
ER -