About CICADA

CICADA (Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives) targets the conceptual and practical potential of Indigenous peoples’ collective life projects to generate innovative regimes of environmental protection and alternative visions of development.

We bring together the projects of more than eighty academic co-investigators and collaborators, representing great depth and experience in partnered research with Indigenous partners globally. Particular regional comparative emphasis is placed on the Americas, the Circumpolar Region, Africa, and Oceania.

Our research program is structured by seven conceptual and two methodological research themes: 1) life projects and ontologies; 2) customary tenures and territorial rights; 3) livelihoods and food sovereignty; 4) politics of resource extraction; 5) conservation and protected areas; 6) cultural heritage in conservation; 7) indigenous rights, law, and interlegalities; 8) community mapping; and 9) visual methodologies.

Through CICADA, several projects and programs now join forces to generate perspective on conservation and development in Indigenous contexts globally. CICADA is composed of 5 distinct research programs, each with multiple research projects. Several independent projects also participate in CICADA. CICADA projects are organized along nine thematic axes and four geographic regions. Visiting professorships and collaboration with non-governmental organisations have further enriched our collaborative ties and conceptual underpinnings.

Conceptual Scheme