20th anniversary of the Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and Conservation

Working with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN, Jordan), representatives of the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP), concerned practitioners and academics, and representatives of Mobile Peoples from around the world - including Mongolia, Malaysia, India, Iran, Jordan, Sweden, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, and Peru - came together to discuss shared concerns. What emerged was the Dana+20 Manifesto on Mobile Peoples, a call to action for governments, conservationists, environmentalists, corporations and international stakeholders to recognise and respect the rights of Mobile Peoples and to deepen mutual understanding about the place of mobile ways of life in the future of our world.

Under the patronage of the HRH Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan, the Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and Conservation, emerged in Wadi Dana, Jordan 2002 in response to forced evictions of Mobile Peoples globally - including Indigenous, traditional, nomadic, and tribal peoples - from their homelands in the name of environmental conservation. It established key principles to ensure that conservation policies respect the rights of Mobile Peoples and work together with such Indigenous and traditional communities to maintain the earth's ecosystems and biodiversity.

Now, twenty years later, delegates met in Wadi Dana, Jordan to take stock of progress as well as the continuation and exacerbation of challenges to their territories of life and lifeways, including ongoing forced evictions, land grabbing and enclosures due to mineral extraction, agri-business, renewable energy development, conservation and tourism. New challenges were addressed, including the impacts of climate change, exacerbated by ongoing emissions from the use of fossil fuels by top emitter countries and the polluter elite. The event also critically engaged with the role of research and the nature of research collaborations with Mobile Peoples, with an emphasis on the development of equitable partnerships.

The School of Geography and the Environment, in collaboration with the Refugees Studies Centre at Oxford University, co-organised the event after more than a year of fundraising over the course of 2021. Representatives from SoGE include Dr Ariell Ahearn (Co-Chair of the Dana Standing Committee and co-organiser of the event), Elizabeth Hempstead (Research Assistant in SoGE and rapporteur for the event) and Sina Maghami Nick (DPhil Student and translator/AV support for the event).

Further information on the Dana Declaration: https://www.danadeclaration.org