Revisiting the Definition and Recognition of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities for Biodiversity Conservation.

ABSTRACT: Globally, there is no single universally agreed-upon definition of Indigenous Peoples, yet specific criteria are typically used to define whether someone is Indigenous or not, namely self-identification, historical continuity, linkage to ancestral land and distinctive social, cultural and economic systems. This paper argues that the current definition criteria only act as guiding principles to explain the situation of Indigenous Peoples and does not embrace all Indigenous Peoples. We use three colonial contexts, i.e., countries where colonisers left, settled permanently, and where colonisation did not occur, to explain the current Indigenous Peoples' situation. By drawing the insights from selected cases, we found that either one or two of these criteria, such as cultural and self-identifi

SUBMITTER: Ahammad R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12917333 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature