Batwa Indigenous Peoples forced eviction for "Conservation": A qualitative examination on community impacts.

In 1991, the Ugandan government formally established National Parks within the ancestral homelands of the Batwa Peoples. No consultation was carried out with local Batwa communities, and they were consequently forcibly evicted from their Forest home. With this, we sought to better understand the impacts of forced Land eviction through the lens of solastalgia. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with adult Batwa Peoples of varying age and gender in Uganda from August to November 2022. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was carried out on the interview transcripts to identify themes from the initial codes. Four overarching themes were identified, including: 1) Our love and connection with the Forest; 2) What was left in the Forest when we were evicted; 3) What eviction from the Forest did to us as Batwa Peoples; and 4) Batwa People's Landback and returning to the Forest ('Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands'). As movement towards the global "30 by 30" conservation agenda occurs, we urge researchers, policy makers, and leaders to listen to the voices of Indigenous Peoples like the Batwa with a key focus on Landback and movement towards a clearer understanding and appreciation of the impacts of Western conservation agendas on Indigenous Peoples globally

Land Body Ecologies: The London hub

This photo essay and accompanying text visualize and represent the work that was based in London, UK of a collective project called Land Body Ecologies (LBE), a global transdisciplinary network exploring the deep interconnections of mental health and ecosystem health. LBE\u27s research and action work combined science, art, and public engagement to understand and redress the ongoing crisis of land trauma among land-dependent and Indigenous peoples who nonetheless display remarkable resilience. The research and action have been rooted within communities seeking resilience for their interlinked culture, environment, and land rights, so that they could comprehend, document, and overcome the crises and traumas endured when their land suffers. LBE\u27s London-based work is presented through photos of the arts-science-community space that anchored the work around the world

Land Body Ecologies: A case study for global transdisciplinary collaboration at the intersections of environment and mental health

Land Body Ecologies (LBE) is a global, transdisciplinary research group seeking to understand the mental health dimensions of minority, Indigenous and other land-dependent communities’ relationship to ecologies in a changing environment. We posit that our project is a successful case of global transdisciplinary collaboration that can serve as an example for others. In this paper we present: (1) an overview of our project structure across various disciplines and geographies; (2) a description of how we manage day-to-day operations and decision-making; (3) details of how we operationalise collaboration through examples from three key areas – creative methodologies, language considerations and authorship; (4) a discussion on strengths and limitations of the project