Enrique Salmón, a Rarámuri ecologist, explains that among his people, iwigara refers to viewing humans as an intricate part of the ecosystem and nature as our kin. He calls this kincentric ecology.
Among the Rarámuri of Mexico, who have lived in an exceptionally ecologically diverse environment for thousands of years, conservation is critical. Countless endemic species — species that are only found in one specific geographic area — exist here. Yet, as Indigenous populations continue to be pushed off their land for various reasons or the very lands themselves become threatened, their abilities to care for their lands are diminished. While conservationists from other places may come in with goals of preserving the land, what of the land’s original stewards, the Indigenous people?