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The United States is having a long-overdue national reckoning with racism. From to to , Americans increasingly are recognizing how racist ideas have influenced virtually every sphere of life in the country.

This includes the environmental movement. Recently the Sierra Club鈥攐ne of the oldest and largest U.S. conservation organizations鈥攁cknowledged racist views held by its founder, author and conservationist . In some of his writing, Muir described Native Americans and Black people as . In an essay collection published in 1901 to promote national parks, he assured prospective tourists that 鈥淎s to Indians, .鈥�

Acknowledging this record, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune : 鈥淎s defenders of Black life pull down Confederate monuments across the country, we must鈥�reexamine our past and our substantial role in perpetuating White supremacy.鈥�

This is a salutary gesture. However, I know from my in places such as India, Tanzania, and Mexico that the problem isn鈥檛 just the Sierra Club.

American environmentalism鈥檚 racist roots have influenced global conservation practices. Most notably, they are embedded in longstanding prejudices against local communities and a focus on protecting pristine wildernesses. This dominant narrative pays little thought to Indigenous and other poor people who rely on these lands鈥攅ven when they are its most effective stewards.

Racist Legacies of Nature Conservation

Muir was not the first or last American conservationist to hold racist views. Decades before Muir set foot in California鈥檚 Sierra Nevada, John James Audubon published his 鈥溾�� engravings between 1827 and 1838. Audubon was a skilled naturalist and illustrator鈥攁nd a slaveholder.

Audubon鈥檚 research benefited from information and specimens collected by enslaved Black men and Indigenous people. Instead of recognizing their contributions, Audubon referred to them as 鈥�. The National Audubon Society has removed Audubon鈥檚 biography from its site, to Audubon鈥檚 involvement in the slave trade as 鈥渢he challenging parts of his identity and actions.鈥� The group also condemned 鈥渢he role John James Audubon played in enslaving Black people and perpetuating White supremacist culture.鈥�

Theodore Roosevelt, who is widely revered as the , was an enthusiastic hunter who led to Kenya in 1909-1910. During this 鈥�,鈥� Roosevelt and his party killed more than 11,000 animals, including .

The predominant view is that Roosevelt鈥檚 love of hunting was good for nature because it . But this paradigm underpins what I see as a modern racist myth: the view that 鈥攚ealthy hunters buying government licenses to shoot big game and keep whatever animal parts they choose鈥�. In my assessment, about trophy hunting, which reinforce exploitative models of conservation by removing local communities from lands set aside as hunting reserves.

, who is viewed as the father of wildlife management and the U.S. wilderness system, was an early proponent of the argument that . This view implies that economically less-developed nations with large populations are the biggest threats to conservation.

Contemporary advocates of wildlife conservation, such as Britain鈥檚 Prince William, continue to that 鈥淎frica鈥檚 rapidly growing human population鈥� threatens the continent鈥檚 wildlife. Famed primatologist Jane Goodall also blamed our current environmental challenges in part on .

However, . Many studies have concluded that conspicuous consumption and the energy-intensive lifestyles of wealthy people in advanced economies have a than actions by poor people. For example, the richest 10% of the world鈥檚 population produces .

Local communities are often written out of popular narratives on nature conservation. Many documentaries, such as the 2020 film 鈥�,鈥� narrated by David Attenborough,, who have nurtured the natural heritages of the places where they live. Some of the most celebrated footage in wildlife documentaries made by filmmakers such as Attenborough . By relying on fictional visuals, they reproduce racialized structures that render local people invisible.

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Fortress Conservation

The wilderness movement founded by Anglo-American conservationists is institutionalized in the form of national parks. Writer and historian Wallace Stegner famously 鈥渢he best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.鈥�

But many national parks and other lands set aside for wilderness conservation are also . These communities were during European colonization of North America.

Similar injustices continued to unfold even after independence in other parts of the world. When I analyzed a data set of 137 countries, I found that the largest areas of national parks were set aside in countries with . The poorest countries鈥攊ncluding the Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia鈥攈ad each set aside more than 30% of national territories exclusively for wildlife and biodiversity conservation.

This happens because can benefit from it. So do hunters, researchers, and documentary filmmakers from the Global North, even as local communities are forbidden from hunting bush meat for family consumption.

Critics call this strategy 鈥�.鈥� According to some estimates, Indigenous and rural communities , but receive little benefit in return.

"The challenges we face are unprecedented. But communities are showing us many small trails into the future." of & our own Liz Hosken introduce a new 'Stories of ' series in partnership with

— The Gaia Foundation (@GaiaFoundation)

Better Models

Correcting this legacy can happen only by radically transforming its exclusionary approach. Better and scientifically robust strategies recognize that low-intensity human interventions in nature practiced by Indigenous peoples can conserve landscapes more effectively than walling them off from use.

For example, I have studied that are home to Indigenous Baiga communities. Baigas practice subsistence farming that involves few or no chemical fertilizers and controlled use of fire. This form of agriculture such as deer and antelopes. These grasslands are the main habitat for India鈥檚 world-renowned .

Ecologists have shown that natural landscapes interspersed with low-intensity subsistence agriculture can be . These multiple-use landscapes provide social, economic, and cultural support for Indigenous and rural communities.

My research shows that when governments enact socially just nature conservation policies, such as , they are . Socially just nature conservation is possible under two main conditions: Indigenous and rural communities have and can .

Nonetheless, conservation institutions and policies continue to exclude and discriminate against and . In the long run, it is clear to me that conservation will succeed only if it can support the goal of a dignified life for all humans and nonhuman species.

This article was originally published by . It has been published here with permission.