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four regions, with one country acting as
host for each region: West Africa (Mali),
South Asia (India), West Asia (Iran) and
the Andean region in Latin America
(Bolivia/Peru). The website includes
videos arising from some of these incountry participatory processes.
Forest Peoples Programme
www.forestpeoples.org
The Forest Peoples Programme supports
the rights of peoples who live in forests
and depend on them for their livelihoods.
It works to create political space for
forest peoples to secure their rights,
control their lands and decide their own
futures. Recent reports include those on
the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
the understanding of the ICCA
phenomenon with respect to varying
historical and regional contexts; identify
and support field-based initiatives where
ICCAs can be crucially safeguarded,
enabled, strengthened and/or promoted
in practice; and support consequent
national, regional and international
policy. This website includes a number of
results and analyses generated by this
process, as well as a wealth of
downloadable publications relevant to
ICCAs.
International Institute for Environment
and Development blog:
Community protocols can bring real
benefits for communities and combat
biodiversity loss
http://tinyurl.com/cp-iied-blog
Kalpavriksh – Environment Action Group
www.kalpavriksh.org
Kalpavriksh was estabished in India in
1979 and works on environmental
awareness, campaigns, litigation,
research and other areas. It has taken a
position on a number of environmentdevelopment issues, more often than not
confronting the State through measures
ranging from protest letters to street
demonstrations. The Kalpavriksh
website is part of the BioDWatch
listserve and the Campaign for
Conservation and Community Control
over Biodiversity.
Indigenous Peoples’ and Community
Conserved Areas and Territories
(ICCAs)
www.iccaforum.org
ICCAs are natural and/or modified
ecosystems containing significant
biodiversity values, ecological services
and cultural values, voluntarily
conserved by indigenous peoples and
local communities, both sedentary and
mobile, through customary laws or other
effective means. The ICCA Consortium
has been involved in a process to: deepen
A blog post by Krystyna Swiderska, lead
guest editor of this issue of PLA,
providing some background on
community protocols and outlining the
participatory processes involved in
developing an inter-community
agreement with the Quechua
communities.
n Full URL: www.iied.org/communityprotocols-can-bring-real-benefits-communiti
es-combat-biodiversity-loss
International Society of Ethnobiology
(ISE)
http://ethnobiology.net
ISE actively promotes and supports the
inextricable linkages between biological
and cultural diversity and the vital role of
indigenous and local peoples in
stewardship of biological diversity and
cultural heritage, which includes
recognition of land and resource rights,
as well as rights and responsibilities over
tangible and intangible cultural and
intellectual properties. The ISE is
committed to understanding the
complex relationships which exist
between human societies and their
environments. A core value of the ISE is