Heightened public awareness of the ever increasing loss of biodiversity has led to louder calls for effective nature conservation efforts. Most remaining biodiversity-rich areas are inhabited or used by indigenous peoples and local communities. In recent years a new ‘paradigm’ of ‘nature conservation with respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities’ has emerged. Two questions arise: What exactly does this policy shift mean in terms of international human rights law? And how has this new paradigm been translated and applied at the national and local level?

This study investigates how nature conservation initiatives interact with the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities from a human rights and legal anthropological perspective. The book is distinctive in that it provides a comprehensive review of international human rights law in the context of nature conservation; a critical appraisal of Peruvian nature conservation legislation in relation to the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities; and a thorough analysis of the interaction between three levels of regulation: the international level of human rights, the national level of Peru, and the local level of a specific protected area (the Güeppí Reserved Zone). It is based on extensive field work.