This recent Perspective paper in Environmental Science and Policy explains how Indigenous Peoples are framed within contemporary debates on biodiversity loss and climate change, and why it is important to keep studying this ever-changing frame. Drawing on Debord’s ‘spectacle’, we analyse repetitive representations of Indigenous Peoples as simplified portrayals and narratives that mask deeper socio-economic and political realities. Today, representation politics shape biodiversity and climate funding, policies, and laws, increasingly through (social) media and Artificial Intelligence. We critically examine how such simplified and romanticized imaginaries of Indigenous Peoples as colonial ‘noble savages’ or ‘stewards of nature’ have evolved into their positioning as ‘climate stewards’, based on their assumed knowledge about land and the environment. This spectacular frame frequently celebrates Indigenous knowledge while systematically excluding Indigenous Peoples from meaningful environmental decision-making. Moreover, it obscures how Indigenous territories—often rich in biodiversity and increasingly central to climate mitigation strategies—continue to attract extractive industries and environmental initiatives that further threaten Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty. While the spectacle of Indigenous Peoples is sometimes also strategically embraced by them to gain political recognition, development, access to resources, or to provide a sense of pride, it also typically imposes unrealistic expectations about their capacity to address biodiversity loss and climate change, while disregarding many of the systemic challenges they face. To address these issues, this Perspective proposes a research agenda that emphasises a critical examination of the intersection of the spectacle and the environment. You can access the Perspective on my Publications page or here.

I sincerely thank Dennis Munyingwa, Gijsbert Hoogendoorn, Emmanuel Mogende and Robert Gordon for a fruitful collaboration. Last, the now late co-author Steve /Ui Kunta deserves special praise for his ideas and contribution. We will miss him dearly.