Supporting more holistic approaches to conservation: an interview with Kai Carter

For at least the past 20 years, there has been regular talk about the need to break down silos in conservation. The argument is straightforward: to be successful, the field must be interdisciplinary and inclusive to address the myriad issues that impact a range of stakeholders. For example, protecting an area is rarely as simple as putting a fence around a tract of land; for conservation to be sustainable in the long term, it needs, at the very least, to address the needs of wildlife and local people who live in and around the area.

But in practice, the conservation sector as a whole has been slow to bring the necessary voices and expertise into the conversation. That hesitancy, or inertia, has at times left the sector open to criticism that it hasn’t moved beyond its colonial roots and, in some contexts, isn’t doing enough to address the root drivers of threats to the very places and species it aspires to protect. It can also mean missed opportunities to broaden conservation’s constituency: Connecting conservation with other positive outcomes, from health to livelihoods, gives more people more reasons to care and get involved.

Kai Carter understands this well. As a program officer at the Packard Foundation’s Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Conservation (ALC) strategy, her work focuses on supporting organizations that work at the intersection of local communities, rights, health, and the environment.

“While still early days, we have already learned from grantee partners that, like many issue spaces in philanthropy, environmental sustainability and agricultural economic opportunities are inextricably linked,” Carter told Mongabay in a recent interview. “Local agriculture, economic development, and conservation are interwoven in people’s lives; they don’t view them as separate. We can’t look at a forest simply for its biodiversity and focus on protecting it without also understanding the role it plays in local livelihoods and local economies. And in turn, how local communities contribute to natural resource management.

“So we’ve been exploring how our grantmaking can be more effective by approaching environmental sustainability, livelihoods, community resilience, and health holistically and with the intention of centering the needs and aspirations of smallholder farming communities.”

Carter cited FUTURES–My Forest, My Livelihood, and My Family, a project that works with a range of stakeholders in forest communities in southwest Ethiopia, and Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI), which provides affordable health care to local communities living around a protected rainforest in Indonesian Borneo, as examples of the kind of projects that embody this approach. Both of these organizations, along with others in the ALC portfolio, make a point of being inclusive in how they go about their work — something that Carter says should be more widely embraced across the conservation sector.

“One of the common criticisms in traditional conservation is around the lack of inclusivity: both at the local level where the voices of communities most connected with natural ecosystems are often excluded from governing institutions, and decision-making processes,” she said. “This is an area where we can really shift conservation efforts to make community knowledge and leadership foundational.”

Those efforts need to include voices that have often been excluded from conversations, she said.

“Traditionally the sector has had a limited view of whose expertise or scholarship is valued in academic and professional spaces — specifically undervaluing Indigenous knowledge and not recognizing the BIPOC leaders and scholars. I think this view is expanding, and more diverse voices are being valued, but the conservation field still has a long way to go.”

Carter said that funders have a role to play in supporting this transition by providing “flexible and unrestricted funding to Indigenous-led organizations” and championing Indigenous knowledge.

“When Indigenous leaders are making the decisions about the landscapes around them, we can make sure the protection of those environments is informed by their expertise instead of executed at their expense.”

Carter spoke of these issues and many more during a recent conversation with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.

AN INTERVIEW WITH KAI CARTER

Mongabay: What inspired you to work at the intersection of local communities, health, and the environment?

Kai Carter: I was passionate about marine biology growing up and spent my summers at science camps and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. But in college, I took a course on environmental health, and there I began to see the linkages between human health and the environment. I was moved by the way changes to our natural surroundings can deeply impact people’s health and well-being, and vice-versa.

When I studied abroad in the Dominican Republic and then lived in Fiji, I began to understand these connections even more and comprehend them in a larger context—how global actions and planetary trends like climate change can impact local communities and ecosystems. For example, the livelihoods and health of coastal communities in Fiji–a country that generates less than one percent of the world’s global emissions–are severely impacted by sea level rise and increasing devastation of tropical cyclones. It felt so strange coming back to the U.S. in the early 2000s and seeing some Americans actively deny climate change when it was so visible on the islands where I lived.

It is my experience outside the U.S. that sparked my interest in the connection between communities, health, and natural environments. However, these connections are very visible in the U.S. as well.

Mongabay: Is the lack of role models for people of color in conservation and biology changing?

Kai Carter: I don’t think the issue is a lack of role models in these fields; it’s that traditionally the sector has had a limited view of whose expertise or scholarship is valued in academic and professional spaces—specifically undervaluing Indigenous knowledge and not recognizing the BIPOC leaders and scholars. I think this view is expanding, and more diverse voices are being valued, but the conservation field still has a long way to go.

One of the common criticisms in traditional conservation is around the lack of inclusivity: both at the local level where the voices of communities most connected with natural ecosystems are often excluded from governing institutions and decision-making processes. This is an area where we can really shift conservation efforts to make community knowledge and leadership foundational.

Mongabay: Your pilot grantmaking for the Packard Foundation’s Agriculture, Livelihoods and Conservation Strategy tests the hypothesis that both conservation and agricultural livelihoods can be promoted at the same time. What are you finding so far?

Kai Carter: This grantmaking builds upon the Packard Foundation’s experience working in the climate and land use spaces, as well as our work in reproductive health. While still early days, we have already learned from grantee partners that, like many issue spaces in philanthropy, environmental sustainability and agricultural economic opportunities are inextricably linked. For generations, many smallholder farmers and forest-dependent communities have relied on local natural resources for their livelihoods and sustainably managed those resources, protecting forests and their biodiversity. Local agriculture, economic development, and conservation are interwoven in people’s lives; they don’t view them as separate. We can’t look at a forest simply for its biodiversity and focus on protecting it without also understanding the role it plays in local livelihoods and local economies. And in turn, how local communities contribute to natural resource management.

So we’ve been exploring how our grantmaking can be more effective by approaching environmental sustainability, livelihoods, community resilience, and health holistically and with the intention of centering the needs and aspirations of smallholder farming communities. An example of this work is a new program launched by a consortium of development, environment, and health organizations in Ethiopia called FUTURES–My Forest, My Livelihood, and My Family. It works with government officials, community health and agricultural workers, and forest management cooperatives to design interventions that improve the lives of forest community members, especially women and young people, in southwest Ethiopia.

Mongabay: What can international conservation organizations and funders do better to support Indigenous-led grassroots leaders and initiatives?

Kai Carter: First and foremost, funders need to increase flexible and unrestricted funding to Indigenous-led organizations like AMAN, which is based in Indonesia and is the largest national Indigenous peoples’ organization in the world. At the same time, funders should recognize, prioritize, and promote Indigenous knowledge as we support conservation approaches. When Indigenous leaders are making the decisions about the landscapes around them, we can make sure the protection of those environments are informed by their expertise instead of executed at their expense.

Today, many Indigenous communities and leaders are under attack as they defend territories and rights, but their security needs are severely underfunded. The Packard Foundation supports Land is Life’s Indigenous-led security fund in Africa which provides rapid response financial, legal, physical, and digital security support to organizations and leaders experiencing threats due to their work.

Mongabay: Do you think rising awareness of racial injustice and colony legacy is leading to change? And what does inclusion really look like when it comes to leadership and engagement in the conservation space?

Kai Carter: I don’t believe it was a lack of awareness about racial injustice and the legacy of colonialism that prevented change in the first place. It has been the unwillingness to act and address the root causes of racial injustice and colonialism, and the unwillingness to accept our individual roles in perpetuating inequality, including within the conservation sector. Due to the persistent determination of activists and local communities in demanding change, decision-makers have yielded to the undeniable pressure to dismantle the inequities embedded in our society.

Meaningful inclusion in the conservation space means that decisions are made by communities that live in and rely on the resources of important ecosystems. This is most often Indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities, and should also include women and young people. These groups must lead decisions about local natural resource management.

At the same time, we need to make space for these voices at the global level where key decisions about climate change, agriculture, and oceans are made. Decisions made so far have often excluded the Indigenous communities, women, and young people who are closest to the natural environments we are trying to protect. We must acknowledge the harmful impact exclusion, colonialism, and injustice have had on the health of our planet.

Mongabay: What has been the impact of the pandemic on the communities the Packard Foundation’s Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Conservation grantmaking serves? And has COVID-19 led to any changes in your work or strategy?

Kai Carter: COVID-19 has understandably created urgent needs, exacerbated hardships, and shifted priorities for many of the communities we work with. The Packard Foundation’s primary focus is to be flexible and accommodate the complex challenges shouldered by our grantee partners and support those who have been hardest hit. The pandemic, as we know, is far from over and we are continuing to be responsive to evolving needs, especially amid second and third waves of the pandemic in regions with limited access to vaccines.

This time has revealed just how important local food systems are to communities. When supply chains were disrupted, the communities with strong and diverse local food systems continued to nourish themselves and their neighbors. These realities show the importance of the work of our grantee partners who advocate for food sovereignty and agroecological food systems that serve local food needs and cultures, like Bentara Papua and AgroEcology Fund.

Mongabay: Beyond what you’ve covered so far in the interview, what do you see as other major gaps in conservation? Or in other words, where does conservation need to do better?

Kai Carter: As noted earlier, it’s important to take a more holistic approach to conservation that takes into account livelihoods, health, nutrition, and culture, among other factors. I often refer to the Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on Planetary Health that advocates for a healthy, thriving planet through:

“…the achievement of the highest attainable standard of health, wellbeing, and equity worldwide through judicious attention to the human systems—political, economic, and social—that shape the future of humanity and the Earth’s natural systems that define the safe environmental limits within which humanity can flourish. Put simply, planetary health is the health of human civilisation and the state of the natural systems on which it depends”.

Our grantee partners are working towards these ideals of planetary health by creating sustainable economic and health opportunities within their communities, balancing them with conservation goals, and implementing community-centered interventions.

Partners like Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) in Indonesia exemplify this approach. ASRI maintains a medical center that provides high-quality, affordable healthcare to local communities that live near Gunung Palung National Park. To make care accessible to all, patients can make non-monetary payments for services, like seedlings and organic manure. Communities also receive discounts of up to 70% when they commit to stop logging in the national park. In addition to healthcare services, ASRI provides environmental education, organic farming, and economic development programs.

Mongabay: You spent a lot of time volunteering locally. Does this connect with the international themes and issues you work on at Packard?

Kai Carter: Yes, I particularly value the time I spend volunteering with high school students through the YMCA’s Youth and Government and Model United Nations programs. The students who participate see the world so differently than many leaders of the world today. They have a deeper understanding of gender and intersectionality. They are frustrated about how we have historically responded (or not responded) to climate change and global inequality. More importantly, they have amazing solutions to address these issues! For me, my work with them reinforces the need to include young people in the decisions we are making about our future, including grantmaking, policy, and interventions.

At the Packard Foundation, we’re working to support young people on their path to becoming conservation leaders. In 2018, we collaborated with an organization called United in Diversity to create and launch a new leadership program in Indonesia called BEKAL Pemimpin. The focus of BEKAL is to foster the next generation of environmental stewards.

Mongabay: What would you say to young people who are distressed about the current trajectory of the planet? Or put another way, what gives you hope?

Kai Carter: It is actually young people themselves who give me hope. I look at groups like the Sunrise Movement or the Young Feminist Fund and think these are the leaders with the creativity to change our current trajectory. They have clearly recognized the urgency of this moment and are meeting it in ways unlike any other generation. We saw the impact of this last summer with respect to racial equity.

With their unique perspectives, lived experiences, and ideas for change, young activists like Amanda Gorman, Malala Yousafazai, Greta Thunberg, and others around the world have had a crucial impact at a global level. To young people, I would say: continue to use your voice and advocate for your solutions. Myself and many others are listening.

Disclosure: The Packard Foundation is a Mongabay funder, but the foundation does not have editorial influence on our reporting. Mongabay does not have a grant from the Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Conservation (ALC) strategy highlighted in this interview.

Article published by Rhett Butler

Agriculture, Archive, climate equity, Conservation, Conservation leadership, COVID-19, Featured, Gender and Conservation, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Peoples, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Nature And Health, philanthropy, Public Health, Sustainability, transforming conservation

Ethiopia, Global, Indonesia

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