PhD Spotlight: Johan Arango-Quiroga

Exploring community-led conservation

I’m writing my dissertation using meta-ethnographic methods to examine how Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ experiences of implementing community-led conservation are captured in scholarship. I’m also conducting a case study in Ecuador’s Intag Valley, where communities have resisted mining for 30 years and continue protecting their territories despite ongoing challenges, including government occupation.

“I’m particularly inspired by environmental and human rights defenders who continue their vital work despite threats to their lives and livelihoods.”

Creating more just systems

My research interests and motivation come from the same source: witnessing moments when communities, government officials, advocates, and other actors come together to protect nature and create more just systems. I’m particularly inspired by environmental and human rights defenders who continue their vital work despite threats to their lives and livelihoods. Furthermore, two experiences during my PhD crystallized this path. As a Science and Policy Fellow at the Center for Biological Diversity, I worked alongside campaigners, lawyers, and scientists conducting research to support campaigns against fossil fuel extraction. Then at Biodiversity COP16 in Colombia, I joined the Academia and Research Group and saw how my interdisciplinary skills could advance global policy conversations and strengthen connections with Indigenous Peoples and environmental advocates to support community-led conservation.

Advocating for greater Indigenous and Local Community autonomy

My goal is to use my scholarly work, community-based research methods, and experience in diverse spaces—from academic conferences to NY Climate Week to COPs—to contribute to conversations advocating for conservation and greater community autonomy. I’d like to stay in academia, but what matters most is finding a place where I can apply my interdisciplinary skills to advance just and equitable conservation and environmentalism.