Advancing Human Rights in Conservation
It is essential to reflect on the intersection of human rights and conservation and TNC's role in advancing this work.
Horizon of Reflection For young and old, the ocean and its coast inspires the imagination. Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. © Junryhle Adem/TNC Photo Contest 2021
Our conservation work happens at the intersection of people and nature. Protecting and preserving our one planet means working together with the people who already live, work, and enjoy those spaces, and ensuring that our work is done responsibly and collaboratively. TNC’s Human Rights & Safeguards Advisors are one key way The Nature Conservancy is adding resources and capacity to the important work of ensuring the rights of all people are respected in the conservation process.
Ro'otsitsina Juruna, based in Brazil, and Timoteo Mesh, based in Belize, are two of TNC’s regional safeguards advisors working to ensure that all conservation work avoids, mitigates and minimizes adverse environmental and social impacts that may arise in the implementation of projects.
For Ro'otsitsina Juruna, advocating for fundamental rights in conservation has been a lifelong experience.
Antes de contar sobre meu primeiro envolvimento com o trabalho em direitos humanos e salvaguardas, considero essencial mencionar que essa trajetória já estava em minhas raízes. Sou uma mulher indígena do Povo Xavante, nascida no bioma Cerrado, no Mato Grosso, dentro da Amazônia Legal brasileira. Desde cedo, vivi as complexidades de ser parte de um povo cuja existência é intrinsecamente ligada à luta por direitos fundamentais.
Foi somente na universidade, enquanto estudava na região de fronteira entre o Brasil e o Paraguai, em Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, que passei a compreender de forma mais profunda as dinâmicas sociais que afetam os direitos humanos dos povos indígenas. Nesse período, também entendi melhor quem são os agentes que violam esses direitos e perpetuam desigualdades históricas.
Ao longo de minha trajetória pessoal e profissional, tive a oportunidade de vivenciar e colaborar com diferentes povos indígenas e comunidades, por meio de suas organizações locais, nacionais e regionais, contribuindo para processos de formação política, fortalecimento de capacidades e desenvolvimento de habilidades. Essas iniciativas visaram garantir a participação plena e efetiva desses povos nos espaços de tomada de decisão.
Ao abordar os direitos humanos de povos indígenas e comunidades locais, é impossível ignorar práticas históricas de conservação que, muitas vezes, priorizaram a criação de áreas protegidas sem respeitar os direitos dessas populações. Essa abordagem resultou em exclusões sociais, econômicas e culturais, além de graves violações aos direitos fundamentais que garantem a sobrevivência e dignidade dessas comunidades.
Por isso, é essencial adotar uma conservação pautada no respeito aos direitos humanos. As salvaguardas desempenham um papel central nesse processo, assegurando que cada etapa — desde a concepção de um projeto até sua execução e monitoramento — respeite o consentimento livre, prévio e informado das comunidades impactadas.
Desde 2017, a TNC tem buscado implementar mudanças significativas para orientar suas ações com base em direitos humanos e salvaguardas. Entre os marcos dessa jornada estão ferramentas como o Guia para Integrar Gênero nos Projetos e o Guia para Conservação Liderada por Indígenas e Comunidades. Esse compromisso foi formalizado com a aprovação da Política de Responsabilidade aos Direitos Humanos em 2022, consolidando uma abordagem institucional pautada por esses princípios.
Integrar os direitos humanos à conservação não é apenas uma questão ética, mas também essencial para alcançar o equilíbrio socioambiental, beneficiando tanto as pessoas quanto a biodiversidade.
Before telling you about my first involvement with work in human rights and safeguards, I consider it essential to mention that this trajectory was already in my roots. I am an Indigenous woman from the Xavante People, born in the Cerrado biome, in Mato Grosso, within the Brazilian Legal Amazon. From an early age, I experienced the complexities of being part of a people whose existence is intrinsically linked to the fight for fundamental rights.
It was only at university, while studying in the border region between Brazil and Paraguay, in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, that I began to understand more deeply the social dynamics that affect the human rights of indigenous peoples. During this period, I also better understood who the agents are who violate these rights and perpetuate historical inequalities.
Throughout my personal and professional career, I have had the opportunity to experience and collaborate with different Indigenous peoples and communities, through their local, national and regional organizations, contributing to processes of political formation, capacity building and skills development. These initiatives aimed to guarantee the full and effective participation of these people in decision-making spaces.
When addressing the human rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, it is impossible to ignore historical conservation practices that often prioritized the creation of protected areas without respecting the rights of these populations. This approach resulted in social, economic and cultural exclusions, as well as serious violations of the fundamental rights that guarantee the survival and dignity of these communities.
Therefore, it is essential to adopt conservation based on respect for human rights. Safeguards play a central role in this process, ensuring that each step—from the conception of a project to its execution and monitoring—respects the free, prior and informed consent of impacted communities.
Since 2017, TNC has sought to implement significant changes to guide its actions based on human rights and safeguards. Among the milestones of this journey are tools such as the Guide for Integrating Gender in Projects and the Guide for Indigenous- and Community-Led Conservation. This commitment was formalized with the approval of the Human Rights Responsibility Policy in 2022, consolidating an institutional approach guided by these principles.
Integrating human rights into conservation is not only an ethical issue, but also essential to achieving socio-environmental balance, benefiting both people and biodiversity.
Timoteo Mesh shares why embedding human rights in conservation must go beyond safeguards.
I got involved in human rights without knowing. I participated in an Art Summer Camp when I was 8 or 9 years old where the instructor had us paint scenes from our village, nature and ancient Maya hieroglyphs. It was my first time creating artistic imagery representing my culture and community. This may seem mundane. However, when you are minoritized due to your race, class, ethnicity, et cetera, images and text hardly ever positively represent you. The cultural right to promote, preserve and transmit our knowledge through art, on our terms, is fundamental to the vibrancy of Indigenous Peoples. That summer was an inflection moment for me. My family still has some of those paintings.
Humans depend on nature for their existence. The conservation and/or restoration of the most remote forests and deepest seas is inevitably tied to the fact that we call this planet our home. This work often is for the benefit of our planet and people. Conservation, however, has a colonial past laden with dispossession, relocation, or limiting the access of local and Indigenous Peoples to their territories and resources. We have an obligation to contend with and address conservation’s painful legacy and ensure that the burden of conserving and restoring our planet does not disproportionately lay on communities that have been marginalized and made vulnerable through exclusion and exploitation.
We must intentionally do good in our conservation work. To achieve that, we must go beyond safeguards.
At TNC we see human rights as a spectrum. On the one hand, we must ensure that conservation does not harm rights holders and stakeholders and we do so by complying with environmental and social safeguards. On the other hand, we must intentionally do good in our conservation work. To achieve that, we must go beyond safeguards. It requires empathy, respect, and considering everyone as an important interested party in addressing the drivers of our planet’s destruction and degradation. Our role as human rights practitioners is to be acutely aware of context and strategically build allyship and partnerships to protect the interested parties and cultivate respectful relationships with them.
Learn more about how TNC is advancing human rights in conservation.