Going beyond diverse worldviews for conservation: response to Kohler et al.

CARMAN, MARÍA Y GONZÁLEZ CARMAN, VICTORIA

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2020 vol. 34 p. 286 - 288

0888-8892

Kohler et al. (2019) propose that effective conservation requires a pluralistic approach that engages seriously with the worldviews of all stakeholders. The authors argue that taking into account ?alternative framings of the biosocial complex that recognize nature?s intrinsic value? can motivate both social change and effective conservation on a local scale. We agree with the importance of incorporating a broader range of worldviews into conservationist practice and also concur that legal innovations that articulate the rights of nature represent a step forward.Nonetheless, we believe that Kohler et al.?s proposal does not take into consideration a number of issues (extensively studied in the social sciences) that are indispensable to achieving a conservationism that truly embraces diversity. We believe that a more pluralistic conservationism -one that truly embraces different worldviews- could be conceived in a cosmopolitical key (Stengers 2014). Conferring a cosmopolitical dimension to conservationism implies raising questions about how divergent worldviews should be able to understand each other collectively in situations where no particular expertise is enough to resolve; it would require the legitimate active, objectionable, proactive presence of all concerned (ibid.). A conservationism truly open to diversity would mean learning from other knowledge and promoting a counterhegemonic use of the scientific knowledge unevenly distributed throughout the world (Santos 2010).