This perspective article invites readers to (re)imagine research as a means of practicing right relations with the places we inhabit and descend from. We anchor our work in a Kanaka Hawaiʻi, a Native Hawaiian cosmogeny and epistemology, one that recognizes all life as kin. We begin with the central question, “Where have the sand turtles gone?” to explore how a Kanaka Hawaiʻi-informed perspective, grounded in the genealogical creation chant, ke Kumulipo, can guide plastics research in Hawaiʻi. We elaborate this perspective through a moʻolelo, a story of a collaboration between a Kanaka Hawaiʻi cultural practitioner and a French and Swedish plastics researcher along the shores of Kapua, Waimānalo. By tracing the transformation of a conventional scientific study, we aim to grow entry points for research that is accountable to the place and the genealogical descendants of those specific lands, who have inherited the privilege and responsibility to steward them. We conclude by discussing how this perspective might offer critical insights for global environmental policy, such as the UN Plastic Treaty, urging a shift from treating Indigenous Peoples as stakeholders to honoring them as rights-holders. Ultimately, this work is a call to research in ways that honor the original peoples of the places where we are blessed to live, work, and research, particularly in ways that amplify the knowledge traditions and lifeways birthed from those specific lands. We write this piece for and with Waimānalo as a living, reciprocal co-author. We hope the experiences shared here return to and strengthen those places and people.

The current paradigm of biodiversity conservation, with its continued focus on the notion of pristine nature, has resulted in the separation of humans and nature at the expense of both biological and cultural–linguistic diversity. The continued annexation of land for the cause of conservation has resulted in the curtailment of both rights and access to local and diverse food sources for many rural communities. Indigenous Peoples and local communities are fundamental to conserving biodiversity through sustainable use of nature despite repeated attempts to dispossess them from their lands, cultures and knowledge. It has been this traditional and land-based knowledge that has contributed to the conservation of biodiversity whilst also supporting healthy, diverse and nutritious diets. If we are to achieve a more just and sustainable future, we need to continue to centre conservation initiatives around rights, access and equity whilst respecting a plurality of perspectives, worldviews and knowledge systems. Here we review alternative approaches that help reconcile the right to food with biodiversity conservation, such as biocultural rights, rights-based approaches and integrated land management schemes, with the aim of identifying optimal ways forward for conservation that break away from the dichotomous view that pits people against nature and instead embrace the importance of this symbiotic relationship.