Governance, Ethics & Risk
Decolonization (sustainability and conservation context)
Efforts to confront and dismantle colonial structures within conservation and sustainability — from fortress conservation to knowledge hierarchies — restoring Indigenous governance and rights.
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In sustainability discourse, decolonization refers to identifying and dismantling the colonial legacies embedded in conservation and development practice. In conservation it centres on the history of "fortress conservation" — protected areas created through the displacement of Indigenous peoples — and calls for Indigenous-led governance, land-rights restitution and recognition of Indigenous peoples as rights-holders rather than stakeholders. The concept also extends to decolonising knowledge, funding flows and institutional power.
References
fortress conservation critique and Indigenous injustice
settler-colonial underpinnings of conservation
framings across the debate
Overview
What it means
Not a metaphor: in its strict use it means structural change in who owns, governs and defines conservation and development.
How it is used
The debate shapes critiques of 30x30 targets, Indigenous-led conservation models, and reforms in NGOs, research institutions and funders. **Note:** The term is contested. Some scholars caution against diluting decolonization into a general metaphor for reform; others apply it broadly to knowledge and institutional critique.
Usage should respect Indigenous-led framings and distinguish land restitution from rhetorical adoption.
Why it matters
Decolonization reframes some of sustainability's oldest tools — protected areas, research, aid — as sites of historical injustice whose reform is now central to credible biodiversity and climate policy.
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