Escaping the Practice of Exclusion

Abstract

Abstract Environmental racism and discrimination are often seen as social and political decisions of the past, with minimal influence on contemporary environmental health and management. In reality, decision-making around urban nature and green space planning is influenced by both historical and contemporary racism and other forms of discrimination. For the first time in decades, we see increased awareness, interest, and engagement with environmental justice (EJ) across diverse sectors of society including conservation biology, the geosciences, urban ecology, and planning. Unfortunately, engagement with EJ has yet to yield large-scale equitable change in environmental decision-making and conservation practices. This work breaks down how discriminatory practices and language are codified in how we approach contemporary urban conservation and planning and outline how environmental decision-making perpetuates environmental racism and discrimination. This work provides specific case studies across multiple cities to demonstrate the misalignment between EJ, objectivity-based intentions, and planning and conservation outcomes. It highlights examples from communities of color that have long been doing the work of pushing their respective countries toward better environmental stewardship and conservation practices. Finally, it concludes with a path forward for urban conservation and planning that align with EJ. Ultimately, if urban conservation and biodiversity researchers and practitioners are serious about protecting biodiversity, advancing EJ, and building inclusive conservation practices, then we must recognize the hidden ways inequality and environmental racism are built into contemporary decision-making and land management practices.