Indigenous-led conservation networks reveal systemic threats to migratory shearwaters across colonial trade routes and climate zones
Original framing: “‘The birds are a global citizen’: Indigenous groups in Australia and Alaska team up to track a feathered adventurer’s epic journey” — The Guardian - Environment
The shearwater’s decline mirrors the fate of other migratory species disrupted by colonial expansion, such as the passenger pigeon, whose extinction was accelerated by habitat destruction and market hunting. The Noongar peoples’ displacement from Kepa Kurl (King George Sound) during British colonization severed cultural ties to the land and its avian inhabitants. Historical trade routes, including those used by the East India Company, disrupted migratory patterns long before modern climate change.
The shearwater’s epic journey is not merely a marvel of nature but a mirror of colonial disruption, where Indigenous stewardship has been systematically undermined by extractive economies and fragmented governance.
The Noongar and Yup’ik peoples’ collaboration reveals a path forward: conservation must be reimagined as a decolonial act, where Indigenous sovereignty over land and knowledge is non-negotiable. This project’s success hinges on whether it can transcend the extractive research models that have historically sidelined Indigenous expertise, instead embedding Indigenous governance into global conservation frameworks. The shearwater’s decline is a symptom of a broader crisis in relational accountability, where humans have severed their ties to the more-than-human world. True solutions lie in restoring these relationships through Indigenous-led policy, economic reciprocity, and cultural resurgence, ensuring that future generations inherit a world where birds—and people—can thrive in harmony.