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Table 2: Indigenous peoples' and local communities' rights in international environmental law and policy
Recognized Right
Traditional knowledge, innovations, and
practices and other expressions of cultural
heritage
Customary sustainable use of biological
resources
Genetic resources, including for food and
agriculture
Indigenous peoples and community conserved
areas
Community-based adaptation to climate change
Livelihood-specific rights (farmers, livestock
keepers, and fisher folk)
Rights-based approaches to conservation
International Framework
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
World Intellectual Property Organization
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
International Union for Conservation of Nature
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
International Union for Conservation of Nature
Communities are gaining different types of rights (see Box 4). Some laws and policies prohibit external
actors from harmful actions by establishing minimum standards of conduct. Other laws and policies
mandate affirmative actions such as involving communities in decision-making processes that affect them.
Communities are not just stakeholders whose views
may or may not be considered. They are rightsProcedural rights include rights to participate
holders and thus have the right to be involved in
in decision-making, acquire information, and
decisions that affect them and their territories or
access justice. Substantive rights include
areas. Governments and other external actors have
rights to self-determination, self-governance,
the legal duty to ensure that those rights are realized.
freedom from discrimination, freedom to
practice culture, personal security, health,
Despite these international gains, external actors
and education.
often continue their harmful practices at the local and
Box 4: Examples of types of rights
national levels. For example, government projects are
developed and implemented without consideration of
local views or priorities; companies damage ecosystems through unsustainable extraction of natural
resources; NGOs impose top-down methods of ‘sustainable
development’; and researchers take communities’ genetic
resources and traditional knowledge without sharing benefits.
Indigenous peoples and local communities are thus exploring new
ways to secure their ways of life and territories and areas, both
proactively and defensively. Biocultural community protocols are
one instrument with the potential to improve interactions with
external actors towards this aim. Communities can use protocols
to proactively clarify their values, priorities, rights, and
responsibilities and call upon others to either act in supportive
ways or cease harmful practices. Protocols can help catalyze social
mobilization, strategic planning, and legal advocacy around
specific issues that affect communities’ territories and areas.
Overall, protocols provide a platform for constructive engagement
in accordance with community-defined plans and priorities (see
Figure 1 below). They enable communities to begin to take control
over the processes that affect their lives, rather than being the
passive recipients of ready-made decisions or victims of abuse.