Autochthony and Environmental Conservation at International Level: From Conflict to Cooperation?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to retrace on the international environmental scene the interaction between two specific causes that have spurred a new need for international action to protect the environment: the construction and recognition of autochthony on the one hand, and environmental protection on the other hand. Using the grey literature attesting to their interaction and a presentation of the initially antagonistic context opposing these two causes, we show that their proponents have mutually entangled them in order to each reinforce their own impact and legitimacy. Such behavior, however, has encouraged changes and sometimes even confusion that could potentially vector new conflicts. From discourse to practice, the actors of international conservation are in search of a new “paradigm” through which contemporary protected areas could be seen to promote the recognition of indigenous peoples as the “natural allies” of the cause of environmental protection. This discourse is based on a greened definition of autochthony that ignores the socio-historical inequalities accumulated by indigenous peoples, masks the extent to which the goal of environmental conservation has in some cases historically promoted and reinforced such inequalities, and remains silent or at least reserved about the possibility of ever repairing this situation.