Scientific and Indigenous Ontologies in International Scientific Panels: Envisioning a pluriversal governance for the Amazon

This paper examines the prospects for including scientific and indigenous knowledge in the democratic dialogue in spaces of international environmental governance. Different governance models have focused on the reforms needed to enlarge ecological democracy and have nature’s interests represented in political spaces through the proper inclusion of scientific knowledge. However, they have not problematized ontological clashes over the authority to represent nature and the implications of these clashes for reforming governance structures. This study assesses these debates by analyzing the most prominent scientific bodies dealing with the climate emergency, the IPCC and the IPBES, in comparison to the Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA), the first scientist platform dedicated to the largest rainforest in the world. Through qualitative research based on interviews with scientists, indigenous leaders, and policy-makers involved in the governance of the Amazon, as well as the analysis of IPCC, IPBES, and SPA policy reports, the study proposes enlarging ecological democracy under a pluriversal governance. In this pluriversal space, nation-states, scientists, and Indigenous peoples would share the political stage to negotiate their different worldviews and the authority to represent their own natural worlds. This might trigger ontological clashes, but also the possibility of creating ontological coalitions around the protection of nature and the appropriate means to deal with the climate crisis.