An interview by Deanna Pantín Parrish ’16

In this interview, we celebrate the publication of Little Book of Environment and Restorative Justice: A Multidimensional Approach to Undoing Settler Harms, a powerful new contribution to conversations on restorative justice. Co-authors Nirson Medeiros da Silva Neto, Ph. D., and Josineide Gadelha Pamplona Medeiros—writing alongside Wanbli Wapháha Hokšíla and João Salm—reflect on how their experiences in the Brazilian Amazon, Lakota country, and Abya Yala more broadly have shaped their understanding of socio-environmental conflicts and restorative responses.

In the exchange that follows, Nirson and Josineide discuss the origins of the book, the challenges of writing across cultures and continents, and the skills needed to engage environmental disputes in ways that honor Indigenous peoples, affected communities, and the Natural World.

Deanna:⁠ ⁠What inspired you to write The Little Book of Environment and Restorative Justice?

Nirson & Josineide: Our book, co-authored with professors Edward Valandra and João Salm, emerged from our shared desire to create something meaningful about how to address environmental harm and injustice through restorative justice approaches. For all of us, this concern is deeply connected to the legacy and aftermaths of settler colonialism across Abya Yala (the Indigenous name for what is now known as the American continents). Each author—one Lakota and three Brazilians—brought unique life experiences that shaped our engagement in writing the book.

Nirson: The Little Book of Environment and Restorative Justice emerged, in many ways, from more than a decade of learning and reflection. I have devoted nearly my entire professional career to researching and addressing socio-environmental conflicts in the Brazilian Amazon. More than a decade ago, however, restorative justice became part of my work. In July 2014, the Restorative Justice Clinic of the Amazon was established at the Federal University of Western Pará, Brazil, where I served as coordinator for ten years. Since then, the clinic has engaged in numerous conflicts involving Indigenous peoples, quilombola communities (known as maroons in the U.S.), and other traditional groups such as rubber tappers, Brazil nut gatherers, and artisanal fishers—many of them directly or indirectly linked to environmental issues.

From the outset, we recognized the need to expand the understanding of restorative justice to encompass complex disputes involving multiple stakeholders, differing power dynamics, and significant inequalities, among other challenges. We worked—initially in a highly experimental way—to develop theoretical perspectives and methodological strategies to approach these conflicts restoratively. Today, this work continues within the Graduate Program in Law and Development in the Amazon at the Federal University of Pará, where I currently work. 

Josineide: While serving as a state judge in Santarém, a city in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, I developed a judicial restorative justice program focused on children and adolescents. Although primarily aimed at juvenile justice, some of the cases we received had clear socio-environmental dimensions. In collaboration with the Restorative Justice Clinic of the Amazon, we addressed several cases involving Indigenous peoples, quilombola communities, and other local groups. This experience led me to pursue a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences, where I explored how theoretical and methodological frameworks of restorative justice could be applied to socio-environmental conflicts in the Brazilian Amazon.

While writing my dissertation, I was invited to join the Little Book project. I was deeply touched—although this series had already explored several important themes, it had never before addressed environmental matters and, as far as we knew, had not featured any Brazilian or Indigenous authors. It was, therefore, a wonderful opportunity to help fill that gap.

Deanna:⁠ ⁠Why is restorative justice a particularly good tool for navigating environmental conflicts in contexts with histories of colonization?

Nirson & Josineide: Environmental conflicts—or socio-environmental conflicts, as they are called in Brazil and other countries of Abya Yala South (South America)—are deeply rooted in the history and legacy of settler colonialism throughout the world. Many of these conflicts stem from the illegal occupation—or outright theft—of Indigenous lands by settlers, who arrived from elsewhere to claim territories already inhabited by Native peoples, without obtaining their free, prior, and informed consent.

This—what we call “The First Harm”—has triggered countless other harms, ranging from the genocide of Indigenous peoples to the climate crisis we face today, alongside innumerable instances of environmental damage and injustice. In our book, we argue that restorative justice offers a meaningful process for addressing the full complexity of contemporary environmental challenges.

More than simply changing lenses, as Professor Howard Zehr taught us, we need a multifocal lens—one that can simultaneously view the past, present, and future. The good living (buen vivir)of current and future generations depends on the actions we take today to holistically address contemporary environmental harm and injustice.

Deanna: ⁠What was challenging for you about writing this book?

Nirson & Josineide: Writing this book presented us with many challenges. First, we moved with our two children from the hot Brazilian Amazon to experience snow in Abya Yala North (North America, or Turtle Island, as it is also called by Indigenous peoples), where we lived for about a year. This immersion was essential to understand environmental issues in the U.S. and their connection to settler colonialism.

During that time, we traveled across much of the country, visiting a variety of environmentally protected areas—especially National Parks—to gain insight into the American environmental perspective. We noticed many similarities with Brazil, as both countries were colonized by European settlers and experienced the theft of Indigenous lands and the enslavement of Black people, along with the enduring legacies of those histories. In a little book aimed at a general audience and restorative justice practitioners, we sought to create a dialogue between the realities of these two countries.

Having a Lakota co-author added another layer of complexity and richness to this intercultural translation. It required bringing together different—and sometimes incommensurable—worldviews in a meaningful way. Writing in simple, practical language about a subject that is both complex and uncomfortable for many was no easy task.

Deanna: ⁠In your view, what specific skills should students of dispute resolution cultivate to engage with these kinds of justice-driven environmental challenges?

Nirson & Josineide: First and foremost, it is crucial for students of dispute resolution interested in working in socio-environmental disputes to recognize that they are likely engaging with a multigenerational problem intimately connected to settler colonialism, both in the Americas and around the world. Indigenous peoples have no history of degrading their ancestral lands to the extent that settlers have. For this reason, cultivating an informed sensitivity when working with Indigenous peoples and other communities affected by environmental harm and injustice is essential.

Beyond empathy, students also need to develop what might be called “ethnographic competence”—an effort to genuinely understand the cultural perspectives and lived realities of these groups. At the same time, they must be able to analyze environmental conflicts in all their complexity, recognizing that such disputes involve social, cultural, political, economic, ecological, psychological, and, for Indigenous peoples, even spiritual dimensions.

Finally, facilitation is also a key skill. These conflicts often bring diverse stakeholders—government representatives, businesses, social movements, NGOs, and others—into dialogue. Facilitating these multiparty discussions is inherently complex. When engaging in a restorative justice process, it is vital to skillfully support those responsible for harm in acknowledging their actions and seeking to repair the damage, restoring fractured relationships as fully as possible.

Deanna: ⁠Looking forward, what is one lesson you hope readers will take away from this book?

Nirson & Josineide: The book carries many lessons that we, as co-authors, learned throughout the writing process. Perhaps the most important of these is how deeply today’s environmental disputes are tied to the historical injustice that has long burdened Indigenous peoples: the forced seizure of their lands by settlers.

Settler colonialism, however, should not be understood as a closed chapter of the past. It is a living phenomenon that continues to reproduce itself in the present and will endure into future generations unless we interrupt its tragic course. In contemporary times, it often hides behind new names—such as “development”—through which settlers justify the ongoing occupation of Indigenous lands. We must find ways to engage in genuine dialogue with Indigenous perspectives, which understand the Natural World as a relative. Transforming our mindset is essential if we are to restore buen vivir (the good way of living) and, as the Lakota say, become good relatives, with all our relatives, human and other-than-human alike.