Conservation Futures Dialogues — A Harvested Repository
The point of the departed arrow is not merely to pierce the bullseye and carry the trophy: the point of the arrow is to sing the wind and remake the world in the brevity of flight.
Bayo Akomolafe
Essays — Reflecting on Conservation’s Futures
An emerging and open-ended series of essays unfolding from our collective inquiry.
reimagining conservation: disruption, relationship & dreaming our futures
By Dr. Carolyn Finney & Akshay Chettri
Gratitude to Providencia
By Carolina Soto Vargas
Conversations — Discussing the Futures of Conservation
Curated dialogues with leading thinkers and practitioners in which we examine and reimagine conservation futures.
Part i: When Things Fall Apart
With Pat McCabe, Rachel Ikemeh & Neema P. Broome, moderated by Dr. Carolyn Finney
Part ii: Sites of Experimentation
With Molemo Moiloa, Jocelyn Imani & Ameyali Ramos, moderated by Dr. Carolyn Finney
Library — Learning How to Decolonise Our Minds and Practice
A curation of resources to expand our understanding of the field of conservation and how to read and engage with its complex entanglements with collapse.
A resource guide for the newly curious or non-scientific
By Beth Pantuliano
Sowing seeds: a curriculum & reading list
By Dr. Carolyn Finney, Emily Caruso & Francesca Masoero
Exercises — Rehearsals for Radical Re-imaginings
Invitations to practice rethinking our positions and reimagining ourselves in relationship to our world.
Our Wild Stories
By Shona Fernyhough
Sonic matters — Listening to Community-based and Embodied Conservation Practices
Podcasts exploring the politics and poetics of landscape conservation inviting grassroots conservation leaders, theorists, NGOs representatives and artists to share their perspectives on the future of the field.
the patchwork of belonging: Rooting Conservation
This podcast episode, part of The Patchwork of Belonging Series sits down with four extraordinary women and Conservation & Communities Fellows Moe from Samoa, Andrea from Bolivia, Abigail from Guatemala, and Kantu from Madagascar to bring unique perspectives to conservation rooted in lived experiences and deep connections to the lands they fight to protect. From the Pacific islands to the Andean highlands, their stories weave a rich tapestry of resilience, cultural heritage, and a shared commitment to safeguarding our planet’s future. Tune in for an intimate and inspiring dialogue that highlights the stories of courage and unwavering dedication of these grassroots conservationists—and discover how their sense of belonging shapes their vision for a healthier, more equitable planet.
Conservation: The same old story? Part [i] of rewor[l]ding conservation
Over the past years we have seen the growing recognition of the role played by community-based conservation in stewarding landscapes and sustaining their communities. Yet, the increasing bureaucratisation of this practice and way of living raises the question: is today’s conservation part of the same old story? A story dominated by modernity and coloniality? If so, and following Vanessa Machado de Oliveira, how could we ‘hospice’ it? The opening act of our podcast series “𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫[𝐥]𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧”, explores some of these matters through the voices of Dr. Carolyn Finney and Global Diversity Foundation programme coordinator Emily Caruso. Drawing from personal experience, life-long research and work in the field, Carolyn and Emily offer more critical questions than straightforward answers, opening up the grounds to explore how we can step out of the sand-box in which conservation has thus far played to move into an open field that looks radically different.
THE POINT of impact. Part [ii] of rewor[l]ding conservation
In this second episode of “𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫[𝐥]𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧”, former participants of GDF’s Conservation & Communities Fellowship — Beatriz Murer, Reyni Palohoen, and Valery Binda, share insights from their respective fields, reflecting on the unique challenges and tensions that arise in their efforts to protect both indigenous communities and the wildlife they live alongside. To deepen this conversation, the second act of our podcast also brings in the voice of Resson Kantai Duff, Portfolio Funding Director at Maliasili, whose thoughtful and committed work has profoundly shaped the thinking of many in the conservation field. She unpacks the troubling reality that less than 1% of global philanthropic funding for conservation actually reaches local communities and grassroots organizations — despite these actors being on the frontlines of environmental protection.
At the Shores of the River Tagus. Part [iii] of rewor[l]ding conservation
For this new episode of “𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫[𝐥]𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧”, we invited curator, researcher and pedagogue Margarida Mendes to open up her sonic archives around the Tagus river in Portugal, unpacking her practice as a multidisciplinary researcher exploring how sound can be used not only to describe, but also to sense changing ecosystems. Situating herself in the watery world of the Tagus wetland, and drawing from her PhD research “Sensorial Ecologies”, in this two-part episode we follow Mendes’ voice as she introduces her work around how sonic practices can be mobilised towards ecological and community reparation and conservation. Her storytelling offers an example of how listening can shape one’s understanding of the environment, mediated by sensing infrastructures, interspecies interactions, and the impacts of extractive industries. The second part of the episode is an invitation to engage with deep listening, opening our ears to the flows and ebbs of the river, guided by meditative scores that bring us to an embodied relationality with its fluxes and pulses.
Publications — Speculating on How to Belong Otherwise
Words making new and other worlds legible.
re-landing: writing eco-connections within speculative frames
Developed as part of the Conservation Futures Dialogues through the careful editorial lead of Sanabel Abdel Rahman in dialogue with Francesca Masoero and emerging from a month-long workshop holding the same name, this publication gathers the voices of writers, artists, farmers and researchers exploring through powerful and deeply moving accounts the many ways in which we can restore histories of connection and return to the land, as well as resist and heal against colonial fractures and violence. A collective work attesting to the power of the imagination, the need for its liberation, and the possibilities of other futures that bend to our will and love for land.
Read more about the Conversation Futures Dialogues here.
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The Conservation Futures Dialogues have been made possible through the support of the Darwin Initiative.
