More-than-human Care: Weaving Flourishing Futures for Biodiversity Conservation in Brazil

Summary

This PhD research argues that biodiversity loss is a crisis of care rooted in extractivism, inequality, and colonial power. Grounded in feminist, Indigenous and participatory methodologies, it shows how more-than-human care is already practiced as a concrete form of resistance and environmental governance. Working with an artisanal fishing community, the Interstate Movement of Babassu Coconut Breakers, and a national science-policy platform in Brazil, the research demonstrates how reciprocity, territorial defense, and intergenerational knowledge protect ecosystems while sustaining livelihoods. These practices expose the limits of dominant, technocratic conservation and show that caring for biodiversity is inseparable from social justice and collective responsibility. The thesis contributes practical, community-rooted methods that make conservation more politically accountable, relational, and fair—supporting the possibility of living well with others on a continuously damaged planet.