When Sustainability Initiatives and Indigenous Realities Meet: Ontological Violence in the Case of the “Paiter Suruí Carbon Credit REDD+ Project”

Abstract

Sustainability initiatives and Indigenous realities are increasingly engaging with each other across the world. Developed through diverse frameworks and supported by public and private actors, these initiatives involve claims of conservation and development. However, notions of development often assume common ground between Indigenous realities and sustainability initiatives, neglecting foundational differences that can lead to contemporary forms of colonization and violence. In this article, we explore how sustainability initiatives and Indigenous realities engage with each other by empirically examining the Paiter Suruí Carbon Credit REDD+ Project in Rondônia, Brazil. Drawing from a political ontology lens, we analyze moments of engagement between Indigenous realities and external actors, through which we theorize what we call ethical imposition and ontological violence—the disruption of foundational modes of life due to the unilateral enforcement of one’s own ethical framework onto others. We argue that despite the potential benefits of such programs, sustainability initiatives can ultimately lead to the disruption of Indigenous ways of life through the imposition of external ethical frameworks.