Paper short abstract:

Indigenous communities’ biodiversity conservation practices have been ignored in the Global South. However, case studies among the Chenchus and the Konda Reddi communities in south India offer unique approaches to sustainable biodiversity conservation through sacred groves and indigenous knowledge.

Paper long abstract:

Since the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Global South have been culturally and politically marginalised by the Global North and continued to impose colonial and post-colonial economic and environmental policies and ideas in the regions. Environmental policymaking includes biodiversity conservation in the global south, which is ad-hoc and highly dominated by international organisations and donors from the global north. Policy-makers continuously ignored the local and community-based (primarily Indigenous communities) biodiversity conservation practices and sustainable use of resources. Despite facing severe environmental problems such as climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and development-induced displacements, Indigenous peoples have been protected and following biodiversity conservation practices as part of their religious beliefs (Sacred Groves), Indigenous knowledge systems and sustainability for centuries.

The case studies of two Indigenous communities such as the Chenchus of Nallamallai Hills and the Konda Reddi of Bison Hills from South India, provide various biodiversity conservation practices (protection, management and preservation) have been followed as part of their socio-economic and cultural patterns for centuries. The paper emphasises sacred groves and the applications of Indigenous ecological knowledge systems, which play a significant role in the sustainable use and management of resources. Anthropological methods such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, focused group discussions (FGDs), and case studies have been employed to map various conservation practices among the Chenchus and the Konda Reddi communities. The paper also critically analysed the environmental policies of the Global South to understand biodiversity conservation and participation of local and indigenous communities using secondary sources.