Wehi, P.M., Kamelamela, K.L., Whyte K., Watene, K., Reo N. (2023). Contribution of Indigenous Peoples’ understandings and relational frameworks to invasive alien species management. People and Nature, 5(5), 1403-1414. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10508

Summary

Mainstream management approaches often focus on the eradication of newly arriving species as a default, desirable management strategy, yet human communities may have different perspectives around management. Indigenous responses to the arrival of new species rarely appear in the conservation literature. Commonly used conservation definitions of ‘native’ and ‘alien’ do not capture the array of relationships between Indigenous peoples and plants and animals. Invasive species plans that do incorporate Indigenous perspectives largely focus on perceived threats to cultural practices and not on reciprocal relationships.

Management Considerations

• Catalog diverse perspectives on introduced species, including Indigenous perspectives, to inform management plans.
• Include Indigenous knowledge, expertise, and perspectives in decision-making.
• Assess the social, economic, and cultural impacts of eradication of invasive species when planning management actions.
• Consider the various uses and significance of culturally important non-native species when weighing the benefits and harms before committing to management action. Existing invasive species management practices that interfere with the adaptive capacity of Indigenous communities need to be reevaluated and addressed.

Take Home Points

• Meaningful and effective place-based conservation initiatives rest on knowledge of the species people use. To address social and environmental justice issues, learn what communities need and value, and their relationship to resources, including introduced species.
• Whether a species is seen as invasive can vary across space and time, and invasive status may be contested and dynamic. Community relationships with introduced species may also develop over time as populations of native species decline.
• Successful approaches to incorporating Indigenous relational frameworks to invasive species management will include partnering with communities and centering community needs, using multidimensional impact measurements (including all positive and negative effects), and using deliberative engagement with communities upstream of policy creation or decisions.
• Moving from stewardship to kinship-based approaches, which includes both human and non-human beings, is a critical step towards engaging Indigenous approaches to landscape curation.