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Assessing key opportunities and threats
Framework for research and action
Identifying key actors
Trend line analysis
Community visioning
Legislative theatre
What distinguishes a biocultural community protocol from other instruments such as management plans
is the explicit focus on understanding laws and policies, asserting rights and responsibilities, and clearly
defining community requirements for external actors to engage with them and their territories and areas.
The legal empowerment process behind it requires time, energy, strategic thinking, and attention to
detail, but is well worth the effort. The more the community understands and effectively uses their rights
and responsibilities, the more external actors will respect and comply with them.
The boxes below contain guiding questions for community discussion about different kinds of legal
systems and how they relate to each other. In the community protocol, you may wish to include the
following main types of information, among others: customary laws, rights, and responsibilities and the
norms and values that underpin them; specific national and international laws and policies; assertions of
overlaps or conflicts between legal systems; community-defined terms and conditions for engagement of
external actors; messages directed towards specific external actors to either cease harmful activities or
engage in constructive ones; and visions and plans for the future.
Customary Laws
Do you have customary laws relating to your territory or area? This may include rules or
regulations for the use of resources, sharing of traditional knowledge, and timing of important
social-cultural events.
How long have these customary laws been in place?
To what extent are they currently practiced? How does this compare to 10, 20, 50, or 100 years
ago? What factors have affected these changes over time?
Overall, to what degree do customary laws sustain the wellbeing of the whole community?
What are the gaps or shortfalls, if any?
How do these laws regulate different aspects of the community’s ways of life (for example,
social, cultural, spiritual, environmental, economic, and political)?
What are their underlying values and norms? How are these values and norms reinforced and
passed on to other authorities or younger generations?
According to the community’s customary laws, what are your customary rights and
responsibilities over your territory or area? How are the boundaries defined?
What are your customary rights and responsibilities related to local crops, plants, livestock
breeds, and wildlife? over the areas and habitats in which they are found, cultivated, bred,
kept, or grazed?
Are there any taboos or restricted areas from which no resources should be taken (during
certain times or permanently)?
Positive (Governmental) Laws and Policies
What are the community’s rights and responsibilities under international, regional, and
national laws and policies? Include those related to the territory or area and all resources
contained therein, human rights, culture and ways of life, and intellectual property.
What are the rights and responsibilities of external actors in relation to the community? For
example, some laws prohibit actions undertaken without your consent or that adversely affect
you. Others oblige governments to support different aspects of the community’s ways of life.
Which international, regional, and national laws and policies negatively affect your ways of
life? Are there any supportive aspects of these laws and policies? If not, how could they be
addressed?
Are there any tensions or conflicts between customary laws and positive laws? If so, how would
the community like to address them?