The Guide to Decolonize Language in Conservation is out now!

Dear Jack,

Changing language, changing minds

Have you ever wondered why we call meat “game” when it comes from animals hunted by Europeans and Americans, but “bushmeat” when hunted by Africans?  

Did you know that all national parks in the UK, and many in Europe, have people living in them, but in Africa and much of Asia it’s not allowed?

And why do we think of “wilderness” as a “natural” landscape empty of people, when in fact almost all such places have been inhabited, shaped and managed by people for millennia?

How we talk about conservation, and the language we use, shapes our way of thinking, our policies and our actions. And the violence and land grabs faced by millions of Indigenous and other local people in the name of conservation stem in large part from these concepts.

That’s why we’ve produced a new Guide to decolonize language in conservation. It tackles many familiar terms, and explains the hidden histories behind others. In the first phase of our campaign we sent the Guide to hundreds of journalists writing about conservation and climate change – and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive:

“An eye-opening email.. what you write is so true.” “Really striking.” “Spot on and very useful.” “[There are] points in there I haven’t considered.” “Brilliant idea and very well executed.”

And we’ve also started receiving some feedback from Indigenous people: “Amazing,” Pranab, Mising Tribe, India; “Inspiring,” Elias, Sengwer people, Kenya; “Exceedingly powerful.” Joseph, Maasai, Tanzania.

In the months to come we’ll be promoting the Guide on social media. If you work in the fields of conservation or climate change, or even if you don’t, do read it – and share it as widely as you can.

Cecilia Vicuña's Brain Forest Quipu in the Tate Modern © Survival

Survival at the Tate

Renowned Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña has a stunning new multimedia installation in London’s Tate Modern – and Survival’s involved. Brain Forest Quipu hangs in the vast Turbine Hall, and “asks visitors to think about the destruction of our forests, the impact of climate change, violence against Indigenous people, and how we can come together.”

Alongside it, a Digital Quipu weaves together videos of Indigenous people fighting to defend their lands – many of them are from Survival’s Tribal Voice project. If you’re in London between now and April 2023, do visit.

Illegal gold mining is destroying the Yanomami Indigenous Territory © Colin Jones/Survival

Relief at last for Brazil’s Indigenous peoples?

Lula’s win in Brazil’s presidential election is a crucial moment for Indigenous peoples and their lands. We hope it will allow for a desperately-needed shift from the devastating and criminal onslaught of the last four years. It’s a matter of life or death for Indigenous people nationwide, and for the uncontacted tribes in the Amazon, it could mean the difference between survival and complete destruction. Here’s our statement.

A new book on the Yanomami

The Yanomami communities in northern Brazil have suffered appallingly under President Bolsonaro, who’s allowed and even encouraged the deadly invasion of their territory by gold miners. The miners have brought a tidal wave of death and destruction to Yanomami both in Brazil and Venezuela.

Meanwhile renowned anthropologist Leslie Sponsel’s new book on the Yanomami is out, and all royalties go to Survival’s urgent campaign with the Yanomami and other tribal peoples. Few other Amazonian peoples have been the subject so much media attention, or been so maligned – Sponsel’s book is a vital correction to the false and racist portrayal of them in the past as “the fierce people.”