The next twelve months is an important
Without ILCs’ input, there exists significant potential for laws
period in the development of international
intended to promote the overarching aims of the Rio Conventions
environmental law that will have marked
to instead further undermine the communities that have most
contributed to the protection of biodiversity and least contributed
impacts on the lives of indigenous peoples
to climate change. The legal and bio-cultural empowerment of
and local communities (ILCs). Negotiations
ILCs is therefore the indispensable condition of the local integrity
under the auspices of the United Nations
of international environmental law.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and
Yet there is a concern that the development of international
the UN Framework Convention on Climate
environmental laws and guidelines focus disproportionately
Change (UNFCCC) are likely to culminate in
on protecting the environment and access to ILCs' TK without
two instruments that will have significant
also empowering ILCs to ensure the conservation and
impacts on the lives of ILCs: the International
sustainable use of their natural resources and wider use of
Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing
their TK according to their bio-cultural values. Although there
is a significant body of work pertaining to sui generis systems
(IRABS) and the Programme on Reducing
of the protection of TK and associated GR, significantly less
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
emphasis has been placed on devising means to ensure locally
Degradation in Developing Countries
entrenched, holistic approaches to environmental law.
(REDD), respectively. The IRABS will regulate
The development of bio-cultural community protocols (BCPs)
the way traditional knowledge (TK) and
by ILCs is one way in which communities can increase their
genetic resources (GR) are accessed and how
capacity to drive the local implementation of international
the benefits arising from their use are shared.
and national environmental laws. A BCP is a protocol that is
REDD aims to contribute to the mitigation
developed after a community undertakes a consultative
process to outline their core ecological, cultural and spiritual
of climate change by facilitating payments
values and customary laws relating to their TK and resources,
for reducing deforestation in which ILCs live
based on which they provide clear terms and conditions to
and depend on for their livelihoods.
regulate access to their knowledge and resources.
In both the CBD and UNFCCC forums, ILCs and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are questioning the ability
of the respective instruments to adequately respect and
promote communities’ ways of life that have contributed to
the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. While
international regulatory frameworks are important for dealing
with modern global concerns such as biodiversity loss and
climate change, their implementation requires careful
calibration at the local level to ensure the environmental gains
and social justice they are intended to deliver. The local
implementation of environmental legal frameworks is most
likely to lead to environmental and social benefits when ILCs
have the right of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) over
any activities undertaken on their lands or regarding access
to their traditional knowledge, innovation and practices (also
referred to collectively as TK) and when they are able to ensure
that any activities or benefit-sharing agreements reflect their
The process of developing a BCP involves reflection about the
inter-connectedness of various aspects of ILCs’ ways of life
(such as between culture, customary laws, practices relating
to natural resources management and TK) and may involve
resource mapping, evaluating governance systems and
reviewing community development plans. It also involves
legal empowerment so community members can better
understand the international and national legal regimes that
regulate various aspects of their lives, such as ABS, REDD,
protected area frameworks, and payment for ecosystem
services schemes. Within the ABS framework, for example, a
community may want to evaluate what the community’s
research priorities are, on what terms it would engage with
potential commercial and non-commercial researchers
wanting access to their TK, what the procedures relating to
FPIC must be, and what types of benefits the community may
want to secure.
underlying bio-cultural values.
09