Princeton scholars met with Indigenous Amazonian scientists and other Brazilian colleagues in Rio de Janeiro, October 28-30, 2024, for the first in-person event of the Indigenizing Conservation Science research collective. For this multidisciplinary group of researchers, Indigenous methodologies, theories, and practices are fundamental to the creation of holistic socio-ecological conservation and restoration sciences and multidimensional actions to promote a sustainable Amazon.

The research collective initiated by anthropologists João Biehl and Agustín Fuentes (Princeton) and climate scientist Marina Hirota (Federal University of Santa Catarina) in collaboration with a stellar group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars grew out of a New Ideas in the Social Sciences seed grant for “Engaging Indigenous Ecologies of Knowledges” (Office of the Dean for Research Innovation Fund) and is currently funded by the High Meadows Environmental Institute's Thomas A. & Currie C. Barron Family Biodiversity Research Challenge Fund. The initiative is a collaboration between the Anthropology Department and the Brazil LAB at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.

The in-person workshop was co-organized with Cristina Caldas, Gabriella Seiler, and Hugo Aguilaniu of the Instituto Serrapilheira, Brazil’s leading non-profit institution that promotes science in Brazil and supports a network for dialog between Indigenous ecologies and academic ecologies.

The Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA) has emphasized the urgent need to combine scientific insights with Indigenous knowledge in order to find solutions for the sustainable development of the Amazon. To this end, the group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scientists discussed points of consonance and dissonance between Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge on sustainability, conservation, restoration and planetary health.

The current project includes Indigenous scholars Justino Rezende (Utapinopona/Tuyuka), João Paulo Lima Barreto (Tukano), Silvio Sanches Barreto (Wa'i pino pona/Bará), Francineia Bitencourt Fontes (Medzeniakonai/Baniwa), and Clarinda Maria Ramos (Sateré-Mawé). Rezende, Lima Barreto, Sanches Barreto and Fontes come from the Alto Rio Negro region and Ramos from the upper Tapajós. They were all trained in anthropology at the Federal University of Amazonas and at Brazil’s Museu Nacional. Our colleagues develop scientific work in close dialogue with their peoples and experts, pursuing multiple research agendas. 

Two Indigenous scholars have created spaces in the city of Manaus to bring together people from different backgrounds who want to learn about Indigenous knowledge and practices related to the protection of food, the human body, and ancestral territories: Biatuwi, the Indigenous Food House, led by Clarinda Maria Ramos, and Bahserikowi, the Indigenous Medical Center, led by João Paulo Lima Barreto.

Through an innovative cross-pollination between the socio-ecological theories and practices of Amazonian Indigenous peoples and the Western scientific community, the group seeks to develop co-creative and inclusive approaches to conservation and restoration science and policy, based on principles and methods that have guided forest management and sustainable livelihoods in tropical ecosystems for millennia.

Ecologist Carolina Levis coordinated the group’s first joint paper (forthcoming in Science), and historian Miqueias Mugge (PIIRS/Brazil LAB) organized the workshop with Serrapilheira’s team, including civic entrepreneur Alice Andrés Ribeiro (Serrapilheira). 

These were the core questions that guided the lively two-day discussions at Serrapilheira headquarters: 

• What are basic principles of Amazonian Indigenous sciences, and how do these principles differ from or dialogue with Western academic sciences?
• How can the theories, methods and practices of Amazonian Indigenous sciences contribute to: sustainability, conservation and restoration of ecosystems, human and planetary health, and shifts in scientific paradigms?
• How does dialogue with Western academic sciences affect Indigenous sciences, and how can collaborations support local Amazonian Indigenous experts?

The opening ceremony, led by Justino Sarmento Rezende, symbolized the commitment to dialogue and mutual respect that continued throughout formal and informal sessions. The presentations and discussions underscored Indigenous perspectives on the interconnectedness of social and ecological systems, emphasizing that these relationships transcend human interactions to include broader knowledge and human/non-human networks and interdependencies, challenging Western definitions of expertise based solely on academic credentials and specific modes of scientific knowledge production. 

Often devalued or dismissed as “myths” or “local tradition” rather than recognized as valid theoretical frameworks and practical methodologies, Indigenous sciences are essential for holistic engagement with conservation science and a comprehensive understanding of environmental stewardship and the facilitation of sustainable ecological relations. All participants concurred that conservation efforts must move beyond Western-centric methods to include Indigenous expertise in managing the Amazon’s complex ecosystems.

On the second day of the workshop, a select group of experts met with the research collective to listen to works-in-progress, provide feedback, and brainstorm ways to scale the group's creative insights into effective science communication and policy design: anthropologists Manuela Carneiro da Cunha (Universidade de São Paulo) and Carlos Fausto (Museu Nacional), science journalist Bernardo Esteves (Revista Piauí), economist Fernanda Garavini (Banco Nacional do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social), and social communicator Carolina Genin, from the philanthropic sector (Climate and Land Use Alliance). 

On the second day of the workshop, a select group of experts met with the research collective to listen to works-in-progress, provide feedback, and brainstorm ways to scale the group's creative insights into effective science communication and policy design: anthropologists Manuela Carneiro da Cunha (Universidade de São Paulo) and Carlos Fausto (Museu Nacional), science journalist Bernardo Esteves (Revista Piauí), economist Fernanda Garavini (Banco Nacional do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social), and social communicator Carolina Genin, from the philanthropic sector (Climate and Land Use Alliance). 

The distinguished guests praised the groundbreaking research initiative underway and emphasized the need for genuine, equitable engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts to foster deeper understanding and commitment, with Indigenous science at the center of efforts to secure a sustainable future for the Amazon.

It is clear that to propose collective and integrated solutions, we need to transform not only the form we currently evaluate, quantify and communicate science, but also the questions we ask about the changes we are facing and the future of the planet. 

The workshop concluded with a robust planning session, with participants outlining concrete next steps for the various research fronts, such as modelling Indigenous cosmopolitical networks and identifying changes in climate cycles in Indigenous territories. The team also emphasized the need for the development of guidelines, protocols, and tools that foster the uptake of the collective’s core insights, and the broader dissemination of the original work of our Indigenous collaborators.

The key take-away centered on a mutual understanding that relations across all ecosystem participants is at the core of sustainability and that achieving holistic, and effective, conservation management requires collaboration across a diversity of sciences, a comprehensive suite of respect and dialogue, and the recognition that multiple worldviews (cosmopolitics) can mesh, entangle, conflict and coalesce in the process.