PART II / CHAPTER 4
BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS AND REDD
REDD investors are understandably look ing for
want to set out in a BCP. It is intended as a illustrative guide
transparency and security in any future REDD projects, and it
and not as either a rigid framework or as a precedent.
has been noted that achieving FPIC from ILCs improves local
support for agreements and increases their overall stability
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and longevity. By approaching REDD as more equal partners,
ILCs are better able to engage with investors on their own
Who we are
terms and to negotiate according to their bio-cultural values.
A description of the community’s cultural identity,
Subsequent agreement on the terms of REDD-related policy
milestones in the community’s development and
measures or projects and the provision of FPIC is also beneficial
traditional authority.
not only to ILCs but also to REDD investors and other
stakeholders.
Our traditional territory
With the aid of GIS and GPS technologies (which may
4.5 Expressing Development Needs,
Avoiding Exclusion
involve provision of such technology and capacity
building), the community will map out the land that
they inhabit and depend on, including spiritually
BCPs provide forest-dependent communities with an
significant places, areas for collection of non-timber
opportunity to define their development aspirations.
forest products, important hunting, fishing and
REDD is premised on the idea that funds received will be
grazing areas, etc.
directed towards the provision of alternative livelihoods to
any ILCs whose activities were causing deforestation.
Yet it remains unclear how these funds will be transferred
Our customary laws that govern
the use of our forests
from the national to local level. BCPs are an innovative
A description of the rules that govern the people that
and culturally sensitive way to articulate ILCs’ needs and
live in the community, with emphasis on the rules that
priorities and understand the underlying drivers of
support conservation and sustainable use of the forest.
deforestation and degradation in their region.
We face a number of pressures
There is a desperate need to ensure that ILCs are not
A description of the underlying drivers of deforestation
excluded from the forests they inhabit throughout the
and forest degradation that the community faces
course of national REDD-related initiatives to prevent
(agricultural expansion, legal/illegal logging, fire, etc).
deforestation or forest degradation. There is a widely-held
This could also include an assessment of the
view that a return to a “fines and fences, guns and guards”
governance systems they are engaged with (including
approach to forest protection must be avoided at all costs.
relationships with national and sub-national
By articulating the needs of communities in terms of
governmental authorities, level of corruption, etc.).
traditional, non-destructive uses of forests that should be
allowed to continue, BCPs can provide opportunities for ILCs
This is our preferred development path
to more visibly contribute to REDD objectives and potentially
What economic activities are necessary to ensure the
quantify the carbon benefits of such activities.
continued existence of the community? What is needed
to maintain the unique relationship between the
4.6 A REDD BCP in Outline
community and the forest (spiritual/sacred
sustainability)? What activities would offset pressure
Whilst every forest-dependent community is culturally diverse
on the remaining primary forests? This may also include
and lives in areas of biological diversity, the following outline
a reflection on lessons learned from earlier
of a REDD BCP is intended to set out a broad framework for
development initiatives.
the types of issues referenced above that a community may
1 9 . Lewis, J. Freeman, L. and Borreill, S. 2008. Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Sustainable Forest Management in the Congo Basin. Swiss Foundation for Development
and International Cooperation/ Anthroscape.
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