Presentation short abstract

In this paper we tell stories from Maasai communities in Tanzania and propose a research agenda that transforms conservation metrics, beyond counting towards assessing and maintaining healthy relations—between people, land, and our more-than-human kin. And the stories we need to tell to get there.

Presentation long abstract

Conservation Science has historically relied on standard metrics of counting diversity, abundance, rarity, and scarcity from genetic to ecosystem levels. It has simultaneously relied on stories depicting the urgency of saving nature from and for humans, for future generations to see a glimpse of our past. These metrics and stories reflect a particular worldview that sees humans as outside of, destructive of, and in control of nature; capable of measuring objectively from afar and protecting for future generations. There are other ways of assessing the health of our world that do not rely on objective measurements, stories of detachment, or linear conceptions of time. These methods persist in many Indigenous communities around the world, despite actively being rejected by mainstream conservation. It is time to center such approaches now to address the call for transformative change to ensure that by 2050, “the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled” (CBD, 2021).

Transformation requires more than adding historically marginalized voices into the current conversation. It requires changing the structure of the conversation, to think, act, communicate, measure, and govern differently. In this paper we tell stories from Maasai communities in Tanzania where conservation is achieved by strengthening relations between people, land, livestock, and wildlife. We propose a research agenda that asks what it would mean to transform conservation metrics and indicators to move beyond counting towards assessing and maintaining healthy relations—between people, land, and our more-than-human kin. And what sort of stories we need to get there.