Decolonizing Conservation and the Importance of Nature-Based Approaches, Not Solutions: Learning From Indigenous and Local Conservation Systems in India to Achieve the Global Biodiversity Agenda

Citation

Gupta G, Jones I, Mihu A, Gray C & Pasgaard M (2026) Decolonizing Conservation and the Importance of Nature-Based Approaches, Not Solutions: Learning From Indigenous and Local Conservation Systems in India to Achieve the Global Biodiversity Agenda. Conservation Letters. https://doi.org/10.1111/con4.70060

Abstract
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) manage large areas of the world’s remaining biodiversity and are essential to achieving global conservation goals. Yet their recognition and representation in global environmental governance remain uneven.Despite decades of stewardship, IPLCs—particularly in South Asia—face systemic underrepresentation driven by epistemic and structural injustices. In India, this is compounded by the absence of formal recognition of “Indigenous Peoples,” with the administrative category “Scheduled Tribes” misaligned with international definitions of indigeneity. Drawing on field-based engagement, lead author’s insights, and analysis of existing literature, we show how traditional governance systems offer culturally embedded, inclusive approaches that extend beyond the technocratic framing of Nature-based Solutions. We argue that mismatches in terminology contribute to recognition injustice, limiting IPLCs’ participation in governance and access to conservation finance. Beyond calls to decolonize conservation discourse, we emphasize the need for reparative justice to redress historical exclusion, restore land rights, and support IPLC-led conservation. We call for policy frameworks to recognize IPLCs governance systems, ensure direct access to conservation finance, and embed culturally grounded Nature-based Approaches(NbA) in biodiversity planning as essential for just and transformative change as envisioned in the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and IPBES.

Keywords
decolonising conservation; environmental governance; Global South; Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) | Nature-based Approaches (NbA); Nature-based Solutions (NbS); traditional ecological knowledge; Transformative Change

• Decolonizing Conservation and the Importance ofNature-Based Approaches, Not Solutions: Learning FromIndigenous and Local Conservation Systems in India to Achieve the Global Biodiversity Agenda