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Contribution short abstract:

I present the case of a variegated community of practice whose rooting for a conservation-for-the-people approach as the foundation of an alternative model for protecting biodiversity has fuelled a meaningful interaction among its members and substantiate advocacy efforts in Guatemala.

Contribution long abstract:

Mainstream nature conservation stems from a fortress notion of natural parks whose goods and services are set aside from human use thus reinforcing a problematic gap between humans and nonhumans. The contemporary ecological crisis has prompted global efforts to increase nature conservation under this paradigm which have also brought about prefiguration thinking stemming from subaltern subjectivities and engaged scholarship. This paper deals with an example of the latter where environmental activists, Indigenous leaders, environmental solicitors, and engaged scholars have maintained a community of practice for eight years whose ideas and suggestions for a conservation-for-the-people approach as the foundation of an alternative model for protecting biodiversity have both fuelled a meaningful interaction between its members and come up with tangible outcomes used in advocacy efforts. I am also a member of this community and therefore my method is participant observation between 2017-2025 both at face-to-face meetings and by a fluid exchange of text messages about nature-related pressing issues, conservation science, underdevelopment, and politics. My analysis suggests that this community of practice has been successful in providing its members with a sense of concrete utopia by which like-minded subjects reinforce their reasons for maintaining an ethical commitment with a transformed way of going about nature conservation. These findings dovetail with existing literature on convivial conservation, metabolic value, and eco-Marxism.