In this presentation, we look at the links between pandemics, conservation, and human-nature relations. We start by questioning who is invading whom?
The most serious pandemics in recorded history have their causes rooted in unsustainable anthropic intervention on land and biodiversity. With the world on lockdown, rapid social changes have increased the opportunities to re-think human-nature relations.
We argue that transitioning from the current crises demands that we first renew our relationship with nature, recognizing interdependence and finding ways to cushion the overwhelming pressures of teeming humanity while we adapt to nature’s response in the guise of a pandemic.
We conclude by showing examples of different cultures in the Amazon that could inspire a future rooted in a respectful and intuitive relationship with the natural world.
This may enable a relational cosmopolitics, where humans and other-than-humans are no longer seen as being in opposition but rather as interdependent.
This presentation was given as part of the International Online Joint Conference of the International Degrowth Research Networks, the International Society for Ecological Economics, and the European Society for Ecological Economics, hosted by the University of Manchester (UK) in 2021.
