Words and phrases commonly found in school textbooks, wildlife documentaries and the media around nature conservation are perpetuating “racist and colonial” myths, according to a new guide.
Survival International is calling for an end to the use of everyday language that it says is mired in racism, white supremacy, land theft and violence. The human rights group has published a guide to decolonising conservation terms, including “wilderness”, a word it says has been used to portray lands as empty so that they could be taken, when in fact they belong to Indigenous peoples.
