Sensibilisation: The role of awareness raising in biodiversity conservation in Kanaky/New Caledonia

Sensibilisation is a French term often translated to "awareness raising" but which encompasses a broader set of practices and philosophies intended to foster behavior change among target audiences. For those working on biodiversity conservation, sensibilisation is central to their work yet its meanings and methods vary. In this article, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork in Kanaky/New Caledonia to examine discourses of sensibilisation among conservationists using a political ecology framework. I use the concept of conservation morality to demonstrate how the moral imperative of conservation drives conservationists to use sensibilisation to enroll others into adopting specific attitudes and behavior. Two models of sensibilisation emerged: a Francophone and a Kanak model. The Francophone model centered scientific knowledge and was motivated by biodiversity protection, whereas the Kanak model was rooted in hands-on learning and motivated by perpetuating cultural and familial heritage. Both models seek to shape the territory's ecological future, but their power to capacitate change is predicated on asymmetrical knowledge and resource flows. I argue that the drive, and different motivations, for sensibilisation are reflective of broader tensions over the fate of the territory's political future as Independent from or a territory of France.