The diverse narratives brought to the reader through this book illustrate how power, conflict, and plurality come together in the practice of biodiversity conservation in multiple Latin American localities. The editors of this book attempted here to confront older conservation paradigms, which rest, problematically, upon self-evident conceptions of Nature as being radically 'other', or ontologically separate from human interactions or culture. Drawing upon contemporary critical scholarship from the South in the areas of epistemic justice and fabrics of life in designing this volume, we pondered a conceptualization of nature as co-constructed, relational and multiple acknowledging the deep evolutionary kinship between people and nature. In accordance to this spirit, this book was designed as a horizontal field of narratives where peasants, community leaders, practitioners, and scientists involved in conservation efforts across Colombia, Uruguay, and Chile were invited to provide their perspectives. And as a result, the reader will find rich accounts of authors who are usually not counted, or are not of account, or counted out from the outset, or spoken for, or romantically imagined, in advance in conservation literature. Courses:132.112 - Planning for Sustainable Development (Massey University)132.213 - Policy Analysis and Evaluation (Massey University)Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research Capacity Building courses
