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TOOL: Community Biodiversity Registers
Purpose: This tool can be adapted and used to document biological resources that the community
depends upon. It can be used as the basis for resource monitoring and management. It can also
document traditional names and uses in order to assert community rights over the resources and
associated knowledge and intellectual property.
Resource: Adapted from Learning Endogenous Development: Building on Bio-cultural Diversity (ETC
Foundation and COMPAS, 2007) and from material provided by the Centre for Sustainable
Development (CENESTA)
See Part II: Section II/B for a community experience with biodiversity registers in Iran
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Consider using this tool in conjunction with a community
Wild plants (grasses, shrubs,
sketch map (see Table 9).
trees, ferns)
Facilitate a discussion about objectives and motivations
Cultivated
plants
(fruits,
for developing a community biodiversity register.
vegetables,
grains,
legumes,
Community biodiversity registers generally involve the
herbs)
documentation of various biological resources used by
Wildlife (mammals, birds, fish,
and/or are found in the community’s territory or area
insects, reptiles, amphibians)
(see Box 29 for examples). Basic registers could include
Domestic animals (livestock,
each resource’s name and a general description. More
horses, herders such as dogs)
detailed registers could also include the location, relative
quantity or abundance, relative health, common or
traditional uses, methods for management and Box 29: Examples of biological resources
that could be documented in a register
conservation, threats, and so on.
This information could be documented in a number of
different ways, for example, physical collection and drying of plant specimen, well-organized
charts with written information, photographs or drawings, and audio recordings. Facilitate a
discussion and agreement about how the register will eventually ‘look’ and how it will be used.
Facilitate a discussion and agreement about types of information that would be appropriate to
document and in what forms. Although it may be useful in some situations to record locations or
traditional names of resources, doing so could also raise concerns about sensitive and valuable
information. Refer to Part I: Section III/B5 for further guidance about managing information. Seek
explicit agreement about how to retain community control and security of the register.
Discuss how the community would like to organize the documentation process. One approach is
to work with representatives of groups that use specific resources for different purposes (such as
traditional medicine, household consumption, handicrafts, and building materials). This may
require a committee or group to coordinate the overall process. They may wish to seek external
advice on specific techniques such as collection of specimen or construction of secure databases.
Discuss the timeframe and scope of documentation. The community may decide to document
only certain resources of particular importance, especially if they know and use hundreds of
different species. Take into consideration how resources are found in different habitats and how
they change over the seasons. For example, nomadic pastoralists may decide to record every
plant species encountered during each seasonal migration over a period of two or more years.
Undertake the agreed upon process, including opportunities for broad participation and some
form of consolidation and verification.
Conclude with a community endorsement of the register and plans for using it.
C2. Information and Communication Technologies
Communities are increasingly gaining access to technology such as computers, the internet, mobile
phones, cameras, and recording devices. They are actively using them to increase the voices of the