Today I’m joined by Viviana Figueroa, an Indigenous Omaguaca woman from northern Argentina with a PhD in law. She is not only the first Indigenous woman in Argentina to earn a PhD in law, but also the country’s first Indigenous diplomat at the United Nations. Together, we explore who the Omaguaca people are and their relationship to land and biodiversity, as well as Viviana’s remarkable career and her contributions to international processes such as the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

“80% of the world’s biodiversity is found on Indigenous territories.”
If that sentence sounds familiar, it’s because it’s been widely repeated since a 2008 World Bank report—but how accurate is it really?

To unpack the truth behind this claim, I’m joined by Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, who recently co-authored a scientific paper critically examining the origins and implications of this figure.

Together, we explore what current research really says about the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and biodiversity, how Indigenous knowledge contributes to conservation science, and why it was important to correct this claim — even if it sounds positive.

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Our conversation is based on the article “ A baseless statistic could harm the Indigenous Peoples it is meant to support” (Fernández-Llamazares et al., 2024)

Today, I’m joined by Yon Fernández-de-Larrinoa, Head of the Indigenous Peoples Unit at the FAO, to explore another way of doing land restoration: the Indigenous Biocentric Restoration. The idea is simple — Indigenous cultures often perceive and relate to the land in fundamentally different ways. Because of their deep, long-standing relationship with their territories, their knowledge of the land can be more rooted and nuanced than what’s found in textbooks. Together, we’ll explore the different facets of this approach, its challenges, and what Yon believes are some of the keys to success when doing restoration.

Are Indigenous peoples always forest guardians? Or can they also become forest destroyers? In this episode, we explore the complex and nuanced reality behind these labels, through the case study of the Batwa community in the Democratic Republic of Congo. My guest, Fergus O'Leary Simpson, joins me to discuss his recent research showing why the answer is not as simple as it seems — and why understanding the social and economic context is key.

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Our conversation is based on the article 'Indigenous forest destroyers or guardians? The indigenous Batwa and their ancestral forests in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC' (Simpson et al., 2024). We also reference Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer during the discussion.

In this first episode, I’m joined by Jeremy Narby to discuss how the perception of Indigenous peoples and their shamans has evolved over the past 450 years, as well as in more recent history. We also explore how combining Indigenous and Western worldviews can lead to a richer understanding of the world around us.

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Our conversation draws on his books The Cosmic Serpent (Jeremy Narby) and Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge (Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley).