The late entrance of Brazilian social sciences into the biodiversity conservation debate

This article intends to describe the insertion process of Brazilian social sciences in the environmental debate and, more specifically, in the discussion on biodiversity conservation. It aims to demonstrate the primacy of natural scientists in the initial construction of the field, outlining some explanations for the abstention of the social scientists in this first period. Following the process of incorporation of social sciences into the debate, this article tries to show the main contributions of anthropology, sociology and political sciences to the matter, and to map the debate in the Brazilian academic context. At last, we introduce the expectations of the main authors in the debate about the future of social research in the nature conservation field.