Do We All Speak the Same Language When Talking Conservation? Caiçara Understandings of Conservation in their Landscape

Abstract

Based on their world view, indigenous and local communities may have their own concepts of conservation, which may be different from Western ideas of conservation. Here we report the results of a photovoice study with a Caiçara community in the Juatinga Ecological Reserve, a protected area in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest region. Participants were asked to take photos of their landscape/seascape to illustrate what they understand as conservation. Photos produced by the participants served as 'boundary objects' that helped to evoke feelings, ideas, and thoughts of people-nature relationships during individual interviews, and finally during a group discussion. The results helped to explore ways to frame a Caiçara concept of conservation and highlight the importance of developing place-based conservation projects and approaches meaningful for Caiçara people. Such initiatives can help in understanding Caiçara motivations for conservation, aid partnership-building, and promote knowledge co-production between community, government managers and other stakeholders.

Keywords

• photovoice
• boundary objects
• world view
• biocultural approaches
• protected areas
• knowledge co-production