(Re)visiting the ‘-lands’: Conservationland and its multilevel bureaucrats in international biodiversity conferences

Abstract

The anthropology of international experts and their respective communities – Peaceland, Aidland, and Conservationland – have focused on international–local encounters in local contexts. What have been under-represented in the literature are encounters taking place in international contexts. In this article I discuss the similarities and differences between these ‘-lands’. I conceptualize the international conference sphere of Conservationland as a ‘no-man’s-land’ to provide a space to contextualize conservation bureaucrats attending such meetings. Building on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted during conferences of the Convention on Biological Diversity between 2018 and 2024, I showcase how bureaucrats across government levels (international to national) view their roles in the broader context of biodiversity conservation. I contribute to a growing conversation on the anthropology of professionals in global biodiversity conservation and highlight how global conferences as sites of encounters among bureaucrats set Conservationland apart from its neighbouring ‘-lands’.