Thinking Like a Mountain: Exploring the Potential of Relational Approaches for Transformative Nature Conservation

Abstract

Building on a review of current mainstream paradigms of nature conservation, the essence of transformations necessary for effective and lasting change are presented—namely, convivial solutions (or ‘living with others’), in which relationality and an appreciation of our interdependencies are central, in contrast to life-diminishing models of individualism and materialism/secularism. We offer several areas for improvement centred on regenerative solutions, moving beyond conventional environmental protection or biophysical restoration and focusing instead on critical multidimensional relationships—amongst people and between people and the rest of nature. We focus, in particular, on the potential of people’s values and worldviews to inform morality (guiding principles and/or beliefs about right and wrong) and ethics (societal rules defining acceptable behaviour), which alone can nurture the just transformations needed for nature conservation and sustainability at all scales. Finally, we systematize the potential of regenerative solutions against a backdrop of relational approaches in sustainability sciences. In so doing, we contribute to current endeavours of the conservation community for more inclusive conservation, expanding beyond economic valuations of nature and protected areas to include more holistic models of governance that are premised on relationally-oriented value systems.

Broadening environmental governance ontologies to enhance ecosystem-based management in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…In the case of TMoT, the 'disconnect between people and nature' is identified as one of the main challenges confronting biodiversity management in Aotearoa NZ (Department of Conservation 2020: 43). This sentiment echoes research conducted elsewhere, where researchers have advocated for relational approaches that emphasise connections and interconnections and which overcome dualistic modernist governance arrangements (Foggin et al 2021).…”

“…While there has been attention given to improving the operationalisation of EBM including creating governance arrangements to support EBM (Alexander and Haward 2019;Leslie et al 2015;Stephenson et al 2019), there has been less attention given to how governance approaches are conceptualised, constituted, and enacted -the ontological dimensions of governance -and how this shapes power relations and dynamics among different (human and non-human) actors (DePuy et al 2021;Foggin et al 2021;Makey 2021;Makey et al 2021;Ntona and Schröder 2020). Researchers such as DePuy et al (2021), Ntona and Schröder (2020), Makey (2021), and Brennan (2022) show how much of the research focused on environmental governance, including for EBM, conceptualises 'governance' within a western, 'modernist' ontology that actively shapes the world in particular ways (DePuy et al 2021;Foggin et al 2021). A modernist ontology is informed by enlightenment thinking and characterised by a separation of nature from culture, a hierarchical conceptualisation of cultural difference, and a linear (teleological) understanding of time (Blaser 2009(Blaser , 2014Chandler and Reid 2018).…”

“…Along with DePuy et al (2021), Joseph et al (2021), Makey (2021) and others, we argue the need for governance researchers to give greater attention to the ontological and epistemological underpinnings of governance theories and practices to avoid the (inadvertent) perpetuation of social and environmental injustices and epistemological and ontological violence arising from ongoing processes of colonisation. We see potential in aligning EBM and relational ontologies since relational approaches 'offer a productive way of questioning and deconstructing prevailing ideas around nature and culture' (Döring et al 2021: 225) and relational ontologies emphasise connections and relationships as the key to thriving social and ecological systems (Foggin et al 2021). Rather than advocating a 'perfect model' of governance for EBM, we emphasise the strategic potential of an EBM approach to align or coordinate 1 Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the Māori version of the Treaty of Waitangi.…”

“…We explore how the ontological and epistemological broadening of governance creates opportunities for alternative forms of governance to be (re)imagined and (re)enacted that redress power imbalances and inequities, and which better accommodate Indigenous ways of knowing (DePuy et al 2021). We apply insights from the 'relational turn' in social sciences and sustainability sciences to theorise EBM governance from the ground up (DePuy et al 2021;Döring et al 2021;Foggin et al 2021;West et al 2020). We show how Indigenous relational ontologies, with their emphasis on the interweaving of human and more-than-human/nonhuman beings and connections between the biophysical, social, and spiritual, provide insights to inform governance arrangements for EBM that are inclusive, pluralistic, and just.…”

Reconceptualizing conservation

“…Nurturing occurs in nature, such as mother trees sustaining what surrounds them [141]. Conservation can be nurtured by people's beliefs and society's rules about what behaviors are acceptable [142]. Nurturing creates resilience capacity, the ability to deal with, adapt, and structure change in our rapidly evolving, complex world [143].…”