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Photo: © Bulatlat
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Women in the Philippines protesting against mining on World Indigenous Peoples Day.
This issue draws on a range of experiences of using these tools in different
biodiversity and natural resources contexts
to help understand how to support
community protocols and FPIC. A key
lesson is that, to be effective and to generate maximum benefits, CPs and FPIC
must be bottom-up processes, designed
and controlled by communities, not topdown ones designed and controlled by
government or commercial organisations.
The articles also suggest institutional
changes are needed if these bottom-up
processes are to be supported.
Developing the special issue
We were very pleased to be able to work
with IIED’s Agroecology and Food Sovereignty team and its networks in developing
this issue, in particular the Kalpavriksh
Environmental Action Group, India;
Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities
and the Environment; COMPAS
(COMPAring and Supporting Endogenous Development) Network; and the
Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT).
The issue benefited greatly from bringing together the experiences of biodiversity
practitioners through our guest editors
and contributors and those of participation practitioners through our editorial
board. This is an important role that
Participatory Learning and Action plays
– bridging the gap between different
communities of practice, enabling mutual
learning, and ensuring that newer participator y approaches draw on past
experiences and lessons.
We hope that the issue will provide
ideas and inspiration for biodiversity practitioners and other natural resources and
development workers, as well as those
tasked with implementing the provisions
of the Nagoya Protocol.