Indigenous cosmovision, Rights of Nature and environmental conservation

Indigenous cosmovision and associated knowledge are increasingly being recognized at the international level as valid systemic resources that help protecting biodiversity and mitigating climate change. Such acknowledgment is embodied in legal instruments such as the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (and the related “Nagoya Protocol”. At the practical level, an example of how Indigenous knowledge is actualized through bottom-up participatory governance is represented by the creation of Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs). In ICCAs, environmental protection is realized through Indigenous-led conservation programmes, where nature is seen as a sacred element. Arguably, this conception of conservation resonates with the theoretical conceptualization of Rights of Nature, insofar as the environment and its natural elements are considered as sacred beings, part of a mutually nurturing relationship with humankind. In the proposed presentation, I will provide some insights on the ICCA “San Matias-San Carlos Forest” in Peru, a forest conserved by Yanesha communities, highlighting how this type of environmental conservation not only is compatible with the recognition of RoN, but it also constitutes an actualization of RoN in practice.