Postdoc: Legal Empowerment for Biosphere Defenders in Latin America

Join Utrecht University as a postdoc in the DEFEND-BIO project, exploring how indigenous and peasant biosphere defenders in Colombia and Ecuador leverage law, local knowledge, and citizen data to safeguard biodiversity and their territories. Conduct fieldwork, collaborate internationally, and drive legal empowerment for sustainability.

Your job
This postdoctoral position is part of the NWO-funded project 'DEFEND-BIO: Biosphere defenders leveraging legal and governance tools for just sustainability transformations'. DEFEND-BIO focuses on the role of biosphere defenders in catalysing biodiversity protection using existing everyday practices and knowledges that facilitate their responses for legal safeguarding their territories. Its objective is to generate novel understanding of how indigenous and peasant biosphere defenders trigger integrated responses to biodiversity stewardship and human well-being.

DEFEND-BIO provides evidence to illuminate the contemporary debate on law for biodiversity stewardship. It reveals how biosphere defenders’ citizen data collection and monitoring as well as local practices can mobilize multiple knowledge systems and unleash values of responsibility and solidarity towards conserving, restoring and sustainably using biodiversity. The project will support indigenous and peasant biosphere defenders in LAC to use international and regional law and citizen-generated data as leverage in stakeholder engagement for protection of their territories. It develops interdisciplinary knowledge with policy implications to support the development of legal empowerment tools and mechanisms to implement the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (R2HE) and rights to protect biosphere defenders.

The project answers the following questions:

1. How do biosphere defenders in Colombia and Ecuador use laws and policies in everyday life to exercise the R2HE?
2. How do they leverage local values and traditional knowledges to position themselves as political agents to protect, restore and sustainably use ecosystems and biodiversity?
3. How does gender define the role of biosphere defenders in everyday forms of resistances against drivers of ecosystem degradation in Colombia and Ecuador?
4. How can citizen data generation using international and regional human rights law empower biosphere defenders in Ecuador and Colombia?

You will be based at Utrecht University but will conduct in-depth fieldwork in Ecuador and Colombia. You will work collaboratively with indigenous and peasant organisations in these countries as well as a team of Latin American researchers working on empowerment tools for protection of biosphere defenders and biodiversity conservation.

The position comprises the following activities:

• Analyse the use/leverage of national and global mechanisms (law and policies) for territorial defence and ecosystem protection at the local level and through living law in Colombia and Ecuador. Particularly in what concerns: (a) their use of national laws in the context of NBS and R2HE (b) their different urban/rural values and knowledges and the way they leverage them to protect, restore and sustainably use ecosystems and biodiversity (c) uses of transnational networks and narratives.
• Work with indigenous and peasant organisations to critically explore local values and knowledges used in the protection of biodiversity and the defense of their territories.
• Apply the knowledge dialogues method, by bringing biosphere defenders in dialogue with lawyers, experts and activist that have mobilized the law through litigation at national and regional level.
• Explore gender roles and practices that leverage action in the safeguard of biosphere defenders and the protection of their territories.

In addition, you will collaborate with a larger team and help organise the overall work and strategy of the project, including:

• support the organisation of round-table discussions, and participatory workshops with organisations from Colombia and Ecuador to exchange experiences about biosphere defenders’ knowledges and actions;
• gather and analyse data, participate in conferences, and (co-)author publications;
• lead the production of a policy brief on plural epistemologies to inform global debates on alternative uses and meanings of biodiversity and the production of a documentary video;
• being an active member of the Environmental Governance Group (participating in group activities, meetings, and seminars).

You are:

• a dedicated researcher who wishes to build a deeper understanding of issues of biosphere defenders, environmental justice, indigenous and peasant rights, and nature conservation, while generating knowledge that may help bring about a just, sustainable world;
• a team player who contributes to making a collaborative research project a success, but you also have the creativity, aptitude and qualities needed to do individual work when needed, especially when it comes to fieldwork;
• willing to nurture these qualities further over the course of the project, including how these could serve you in a further career in academia or beyond.

You possess:

• completed doctoral studies in Social Sciences, preferably with a focus on one or more of the following areas: feminist studies, legal studies, plural ontologies, political ecology, development studies, anthropology;
• demonstrated passion and aptitude for research;
• experience with working with indigenous organizations and/or peasants organizations, preferably in Ecuador and Colombia;
• proven experience with fieldwork research (narrative walks, knowledge dialogues, focus group interviews, policy labs and ethnographic research) and other qualitative research methods, preferably in Ecuador and Colombia and/or on topics related to political ecology, nature conservation, indigenous rights and gender relations;
• an excellent command of written and spoken English and Spanish;
• good skills in planning, taking initiatives, organising events, and presenting your work to a wider audience;
• proven skills in academic writing;
• interest in being part of and contributing to a caring, spirited, and engaging academic environment.

We offer:

• a position for 30 months;
• a working week of 38 hours and a gross monthly salary between €3,378 and €5,331 (salary scale 10 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

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Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth’s core to its surface, including man’s spatial and material utilisation of the Earth – always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty of Geosciences is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Human Geography & Spatial Planning, Physical Geography, and Sustainable Development.