Pyhälä Aili

Description

Aili Pyhälä is Adjunct Professor in Global Development Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Fluent in 8 languages, she specializes in human-nature relations and Indigenous peoples’ knowledge and rights. She has extensive grassroots-level experience working with multiple indigenous and local communities around the world, as well as inter-ministerial work with national institutions in more than 25 countries. She has researched and worked with a number sustainability and wellbeing indicators, and has close to 20 years of experience evaluating development cooperation projects worldwide. Her previous research looks at the promotion (or imposition) of notions such as "happiness", “sustainability”, and “development” across cultures, knowledge systems, and socio-environmental settings, and the implications thereof. She is also a teacher-trainer in permaculture and ecovillage design, specialising on social tools for building community.

Keywords

Traditional Environmental Knowledge, Sustainability, Ethnoecology, Indigenous people

Affiliations

University of Helsinki

Source: ORCID

Education (2)

PhD

University of East Anglia

B.Sc.

University of East Anglia

Publications (58)

Show only peer-reviewed

2024

Decolonizing nature conservation according to natural law:

DOI

10.1177/11771801241255697

2022

Insights from practitioners in Madagascar to inform more effective international conservation funding

DOI

10.4314/mcd.v17i1.3

2021

Luonnonsuojelu luonnonlain mukaiseksi

Granted funding (15)

Indigenous Environmental Managers training course

FinCEAL Plus Bridges Travel Grant

2020 - present

Conservation legacies

Ellen MacArthur Foundation

2019 - 2020

Community conservation in Amazonia

FinCEAL Plus Bridges Travel Grant

2018

Activities and awards (13)

Visit

Adjunct Professor

University of Helsinki

2018

Membership

Member

Indigenous Research Methodologies Network

2017

Membership

Member / Academic Collaborator

CICADA (Center for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives)

2017