The Consortium’s new book on territories of life

I have received the greatest gift of the season, worth more than a kilogram of gold! The book is so beautiful – the graphic design, color, photos, contents, facts, and emotions are there! This is another milestone in advancing the governance of territories of life. We do not get to read this kind of book anymore, especially on topics related to our Indigenous Peoples or territories of life. When I read it, I could feel it with all my senses, and maybe beyond what I can describe, I could read it with my soul. It is a lifetime achievement, a rare book based on empirical evidence and real-life experience, describing people and their life systems evolving and thriving as part of nature, not as the product of ‘development,’ capitalism, and imperialism.

– Paul Sein Twa, co-founder of Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) and President of Salween Peace Park
Burma/Myanmar

Finally, one of the world’s foremost promoters of community-led conservation puts her decades of experience into a volume on everything that makes conservation a living, evolving, complex phenomenon that sustains life on Earth. This is vital reading.

Ashish Kothari,environmental sociologist, author of Alternative Futures: India Unshackled
India

Territories of life are the most important answers that humanity has for confronting our global environmental and social crisis. They also oblige us to marvel at the variety of cultures and belief systems that still thrive despite centuries of repression. Borrini-Feyerabend’s book takes us on a journey across approaches and solutions of territories of life, inspiring readers to do more: to inform ourselves, connect with custodians, and learn from their practices and steadfastness in the face of the attacks they are continually resisting. This compendium of ‘grounded utopias’—real-world experiences of peoples who cherish their traditions and heritage—can help us all to strengthen our communities.

David Barkin, economist, author of From Protest to Proposal: 50 Years Imagining and Building the Future
Mexico

This document on the ‘vitality’ of the territories of life is spectacular. It does demand time, as it is long and very rich. It demands pause, care, and the savoring of concepts. But it conveys more than a mature treatment of subjects—it conveys wisdom. I am excited to read the decantation of so many years of work seeking to understand and support territories of life.

Carolina Amaya, MD, Centre of Intercultural Medical Studies (CEMI), Colombia

A huge book, eloquently written, about the stewards of territories of life. A living library for many generations to come.

Paul Ole Saing’eu, Regional Coordinator for East Africa and Horn of Africa, ICCA Consortium
Tanzania

I was reading this work in some of its many drafts, and it was really hard not to copy and paste parts of it into my thesis.

Ali Razmkhah, Global Coordinator, ICCA Consortium
Iran and Italy

I have read most of the book, with its careful 1700 footnotes and 1,000 references.  It is full of information and ideas… I mean, no jargon. I shall recommend it widely. The book condenses the experience of several decades, including the emergence of the Consortium of Indigenous and traditional communities protecting biodiversity and defending their “territories of life” (a grassroots name originated in Colombia) in countries around the world.  In this light, this is not only a scholarly book but also a grassroots book.  It is easy to read, ‘empirical’, and draws general action principles from many examples.  For instance, the People of Sarayaku in the Amazon region of Ecuador—one among the many Peoples who stopped the oil industry through local direct action and in international courts—are recalled as custodians of their territory of life. The book travels across continents, showing the vitality of many local communities in territories at risk at the commodity extraction frontiers. These ‘custodians’ of territories of life should be recognized among the main actors today engaged towards a better future for everyone. The volume offers useful ideas about how that should happen—self-identification, mutual recognition among peers, and wider appreciation and support in society.

Juan Martinez-Alier, ecological economist and political ecologist, Balzan Prize 2020 and Holberg Prize 2023, author of Land, Water, Air and Freedom: the Making of World Movements for Environmental Justice
Cataluña, Spain

Conservation is not an economic practice but one of love and care for country. Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend is fearless in promoting the emotional core of belonging to place. In this rich volume that gives voice to Indigenous peoples, governance vitality is the heart of conservation. It takes its cue from the communities, places, and people that have been stewards and custodians for millennia.

Emma Lee and tebrakunna country, co-authors of Indigenous Women’s Voices Tasmania, Australia

Can conservation institutions be endowed with the same vitality essential for the continuity of life? A most accomplished thinker in the field believes so, offering here a fresh view of conservation praxis for collective healing. This incredibly rich volume—breaker of new ground on governance of protected and conserved areas, overdue summary of the recent history of ‘community conservation,’ compendium of salient cases, practical support for practitioners and policy makers—delivers an inspiring vision of grassroots vitalism sustained by the Indigenous and other place-based communities that defend life throughout the world. The notions of governance vitality, custodianship, and territories of life offer a framework of decolonization and resurgence in the face of the continued territorial onslaught by extractive development. This eminently pedagogical book should be read by all students and practitioners in political ecology, anthropology, geography, and environment and development issues concerned with maintaining biocultural diversity alive.

Arturo Escobar, anthropologist, author of Encountering Development and Designs for a Pluriverse
Colombia and United States of America

The book is inspirational and so beautiful, I love dipping into, like a rich bazaar. I have shared it with my colleagues working on governance assessments and I am sure I’ll be using it again and again as it condenses many years of work across the planet.

Rosemary Hill, environmental governance expert
Queensland, Australia

Contemporary conservation is in the throes of a revolution, expanding its meaning and building inclusive constituencies. Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend is well placed to tell the story, as she has been one of its visionary leaders, calling early attention to the territories governed, managed, and conserved by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. These aptly called ‘territories of life’ offer a beacon of hope in our biocultural diversity crisis. Grazia wisely advises custodians to strengthen themselves and provides creative advice for doing so.

Fikret Berkes, author of Sacred Ecology, Natural Resources Institute of the University of Manitoba
Canada

I could not read this work in English, but I can say this: since we identified ourselves and others recognized us as the custodians of Kawawana—our territory of life—our life has changed much for the better. I wish many more communities could have the same experience.

Salatou Sambou, fisherman and community leader
Casamance, Senegal

This monumental work is both timely and insightful. As she promises, the author does take us on a journey, with ‘vitality interludes’ along the way that refresh and reinvigorate the reader’s desire to find out more.  Abundant case studies are sprinkled throughout and help illustrate the rich tapestry that community conserved areas give the world. Given the author’s experiences, it is no surprise much of the book has a focus on governance, and this phrase “governance functions by taking and implementing decisions and rules about the territory and getting those adhered to and respected in society” sums up governance needs perfectly.  While not all conservationists will feel comfortable reading everything between the covers, all who will read this work carefully may rethink their views about surviving sustainably into the twenty-first century. Ignore it at your own risk!

Peter Bridgewater, science-policy expert, former Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention
Australia

This is an inspiring book about life otherwise.  A panorama of relations where custodians of ‘territories of life’ co-evolved unique knowledge, mētis, and realities […] stirs any thoughtful reader to ponder what modernity might learn from more plural and nature-affective ways of being human.

Greg Anderson, historian, author of The Realness of Things Past
United States of America

With this important contribution to the growing literature on sustainable governance, Borrini-Feyerabend explores how a variety of societies have evolved institutions that protect local environments and the quality of human life. She argues convincingly that governance vitality depends on keeping alive the specific values that support specific environments and cultures.

John Gowdy, environmental economist, author of ‘‘Our Hunter-gatherer Future”
United States of America

An engaging journey through all the ways in which Indigenous peoples and local communities conserve nature, and a welcome antidote to the many techno-managerial conservation guides. There is nothing formulaic or simplified here. This book crams in an incredible range of real-world collective efforts towards environmental justice. Among the many lessons lies a refreshingly optimistic future direction for conservation.

Neil Dawson, conservation social scientist, IUCN CEESP Steering Committee
Scotland

This book articulates ‘territories of life’ as policy-independent entities crucial for achieving conservation. Territory, the commons, collective identity and self-determination are woven in a wealth of case studies that reveal profound analogies between the custodianship practices of local communities and Indigenous Peoples, transcending a dichotomy that still—unfortunately—entangles the conservation discourse. The emphasis on vitality of governance is an innovative and universal perspective, beyond conservation in ‘de-humanised spaces’ towards understanding what does strengthen custodians in the face of constant change.

Marco Bassi, anthropologist, member of the Council (Regional representative for Europe), ICCA Consortium
Italy

In her magnum opus, Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend shares the fruits of a lifetime of international conservation engagement, leadership, and achievements. Together with her late, charismatic colleague M. Taghi Farvar, she has been encouraging and supporting communities to reclaim and conserve their territories of life—the very places that anchor the viability and show the transcendent beauty of our planet.

J. Ronald Engel, environmental ethicist, Meadville/Lombard Theological School of Chicago
United States of America

An extraordinary achievement… this book will become a classic in a few years! Meticulously researched and written with a vivid prose, it offers a tour de force on the vital contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in sustaining the fabric of life.

Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, ethnobiologist, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Here is the magnum opus of Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend— a leading voice for environmental justice in conservation.  Drawing on her decades of international experience and research, she makes a compelling and passionate case: community custodianship of territories of life is crucial to the vitality of conserved and protected areas and the future of the diversity of life.

Stan Stevens, geographer, author of Indigenous Peoples, National Parks and Protected Areas
United States of America