Campesino justification for self-initiated conservation actions: a challenge to mainstream conservation

Northeastern Peru is considered a global conservation priority due to high biodiversity and acute threats tonatural habitat. Its non-indigenous migrant populations, known as campesinos, are presented by mainstreamconservation agents as the major threat to this area, as environmentally destructive, apathetic to nature, andonly responsive to economic and material incentives.But the campesinos of Northeastern Peru often initiate their own conservation projects, justifying theseactions with moral rationales. I divided these into anthropocentric and ecocentric categories. Justificationsincluded an appreciation of nature's intrinsic values, religious or spiritual value, an aspiration forsustainability and a concern for future generations. I found that conservation is also seen as part of thestruggle for social justice and recognition. Monetary incentives promoted by mainstream conservationagents were generally perceived in three ways: 1) as an opportunity for personal economic gain; 2) as anopportunity to sustain otherwise unaffordable conservation activities; 3) and when conservation was part ofa social struggle economic incentives were perceived as unnecessary, undesirable or even a hindrance.Governmental legislation and outside conservation agents generally remain biased towards using economicjustifications for local initiatives.I used social methodologies to record campesino justifications for conservation and their interactions withconventional conservation. My aim was to categorize and analyze campesino views on conservation,highlighting those which challenge mainstream conservation, political ecologists' paradigms, and those thatoffer alternatives for collaboration with local populations towards shared goals.