36
65 Swiderska with Milligan, Kohli, Shrumm, Jonas, Hiemstra and Oliva
The Samburu are Kenyan pastoralists. Their BCP
elaborates indigenous knowledge and breeding
practices, in particular for Red Maasai sheep, an
endangered indigenous breed with commercial
potential that has attracted attention from scientists.
system and situation of the community –
of which there is a huge diversity. That said,
most community protocols will entail
certain steps (see Box 6) but some may be
more limited in terms of their process and
contents, for example, when the protocol is
developed after an FPIC process to set out
the modalities for engaging in a project
(Lewis and Nkuintchua).
Impacts of community protocols and
facilitating factors
Some protocols have had significant
impacts, both internal and external. The
Bushbuckbridge BCP, for example, (Sibuye
et al.) fostered a sense of identity amongst
dispersed healers of two different language
groups, resulting in a registered healers’
association with 300 members, mainly
women, actively negotiating and pursuing
their needs. The process was facilitated by
a group of healers and the BCP drafted
with their active participation. The proto-
col has increased awareness of protected
area authorities that local healers are not
overharvesting. This has enabled the healers to negotiate some access to medicinal
plants in a protected area which had been
completely sealed off. Overharvesting has
been reduced due to improved awareness
generated by the process. The association
has signed an agreement with a cosmetics
company, which could lead to an ABS
agreement – and, after extensive discussion, the healers decided to pool some of
their knowledge so that benefits would
reach the group as a whole. The association
has appointed a committee to negotiate
with external actors on its behalf.
In Ghana, the Tanchara community
protocol not only revitalised stewardship of
biodiversity but also succeeded in getting a
mining company that threatened to destroy
its sacred sites and pollute its drinking
water to postpone mining until 2013. This
impact was facilitated by a local NGO which
started a dialogue between the communities and the mining company and
conducted a study on community perspectives on mining. In addition, the local NGO
has helped gain the support of the local
government for the CP by involving officials
in the development of the protocol and
taking them to visit affected communities.
Involving local government in the development of community protocols is vital to get
institutional backing and work towards the
legal recognition of CPs (Guri et al.).
In the case of Alto San Juan in Colombia, the novelty of the community protocol
instrument has hampered its political
recognition by local government – hence a
follow-up phase is needed to promote its
recognition, or develop community protocols on a region-wide basis, in order to
defend territorial rights in the face of illegal
mining. The development of community
protocols will be facilitated in communities
which have supra-community representation (e.g. the ASOCASAN council
represents 30 communities) (López and
Heiler).