1. Despite evidence about the contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to conservation, prevailing strategies still seek their separation from nature, often triggering conflicts. Current pledges to expand global protected area coverage suggest a need for critical analysis of governance quality and the way conservation interacts with the wellbeing of IPLCs. 2. We present the case of Catimbau National Park in the Caatinga dry forest of northeast Brazil, where we explored connections between the wellbeing of IPLCs and landscape through different values, practices and institutions, and perceptions of how environmentally just the park's governance has been. 3. The wellbeing of IPLCs is inextricably connected with the Caatinga landscape, through multiple place-based relational values that, although differing between Indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants, have in both cases developed over generations. Although often framed as degraders, IPLCs exhibit a strong motivation to conserve, reflected through local institutions including forest gardens, sustainable use regulations, restoration activities and prevention of external encroachment. 4. The strict form of protected area implemented at Catimbau, instead of a locally-led or sustainable use reserve, explicitly targeted resettlement of IPLCs and livelihood reorientation. These imposed objectives have clashed with a way of life in this peopled landscape and precluded local stewardship on a larger scale. Long-term conflict arose through governance deficiencies which sparked multidimensional injustices. These include not only misrecognition of local values and customary institutions, but also lack of procedures for consent or decision making influence, plus distributional harms including tenure insecurity and denied development assistance. 5. Development and conservation strategies must reject narratives about poor, resource-dependent rural communities and embrace the opportunities that local knowledge and institutions bring for effective conservation. As conservation effortsPeople and Nature4 objetivos impostos colidiram com um modo de vida nesta paisagem povoada e impediram a gestão local em uma escala maior. O conflito de longo prazo surgiu por meio de falhas de gestão que geraram injustiças multidimensionais. Isso inclui não apenas o não reconhecimento de valores locais e instituições de usos e costumes, mas também a falta de procedimentos para consentimento ou influência na tomada de decisões, além de danos distributivos, incluindo insegurança de posse e negação de assistência ao desenvolvimento. 5. As estratégias de desenvolvimento e conservação devem rejeitar narrativas sobre comunidades rurais pobres e dependentes de recursos e abraçar as oportunidades que o conhecimento local e as instituições trazem para uma conservação eficaz. À medida que os esforços de conservação são expandidos pós-2020, o povo da Caatinga e além deve ser reconhecido como uma parte fundamental de qualquer solução. 6. Em áreas estritamente protegidas como o Catimbau, ...