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Key outcomes of IUCN’s World Conservation Congress for Indigenous Peoples

3 October, 2016

At IUCN’s World Conservation Congress in Hawaii in September 2016 key motions were approved calling for the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities where protected areas have been created on their territories and lands.

This included Motion 80 seeking a strengthening of the Whakatane Mechanism, one of the few ways through which indigenous peoples can seek to secure rights that have been overridden when protected areas were created on their land; and Motion 29 affirming that the Territories and Areas Conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (ICCAs) such as collectively managed commons, sacred sites, and indigenous and community declared protected areas should be appropriately recognised and respected when overlapped by state-declared protected areas.

Motion 26, declaring that all protected areas and the sacred natural sites of indigenous peoples should be 'No-Go Areas' for destructive industrial activities like mining, dam-building and logging was also passed, as was Motion 66 which addresses the drastic impact of palm oil on both the biodiversity of ecosystems and the human rights of communities.

Participation, consent, traditional knowledge and customary sustainable use in protected areas: the World Conservation Congress

7 September, 2016

Best practices around indigenous peoples and the establishment, expansion, governance and management of protected areas was the focus of a discussion at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress.

The event, organised by Forest Peoples Programme, brought together 14 people at a knowledge café to discuss implementation of elements of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Plan of Action on Customary Sustainable Use.

The Plan of Action supports of the Convention’s mandate to conserve biological diversity, sustainable use, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from resources. There are three tasks as part of the plan, and Task 3 – on the theme of protected areas – was the focus of Forest Peoples Programme’s event at the World Conservation Congress.

Around the table was Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), who said: “In many countries, we’re still stuck in the old economic politics of development, where people think that to develop they need to clear the forests, and remove the people who live there. We have to come up with a new innovative model of development.”

The experts, among whom were indigenous people from Fiji, Chad, Iran, Peru and Panama, broke into three working groups to discuss three main elements of Task 3.

These were:

to promote indigenous peoples and local communities’ full and effective participation and prior informed consent in the expansion, governance and management of protected areas;

to encourage the application of traditional knowledge and customary sustainable use of biological diversity in protected areas; and

IUCN: Steps must be made to address the power imbalance against indigenous peoples

4 September, 2016

Steps will be made to grow the Whakatane Mechanism into a device that can help redress power imbalances against indigenous peoples, and become a conflict resolution tool that can be available to all for the long-term.

The decision was made as part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress, being held in Hawai’i until September 10. One of the events hosted by Forest Peoples Programme, Can Whakatane Conflict Resolution Processes Snowball to the Global? Resolving community/conservation conflicts brought together some 36 experts in their field to talk about the tension that occurs when indigenous peoples lose their rights to their land because it is designated as a national park or protected area. This frequently occurs despite their having been custodians of the land and the ecosystem for generations, and their presence and care for their lands being the reason why conservationists see value in it.

Introducing the event, UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples Vicky Tauli-Corpuz said: “People should really realise that these indigenous peoples have been living there for so long and have managed to save the forests, and save the marine life. They should be able to continue living there. What is it that’s making it so difficult?”

Progress made on recognising rights of communities - World Conservation Congress motions

1 September, 2016

Progress has been made on the issue of recognising the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities where protected areas have been created on their lands.

Ahead of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s World Conservation Congress, Forest Peoples Programme put forward a motion to strengthen the practice of the Whakatane Mechanism, which uses fact-finding field missions and multi-stakeholder meetings to resolve conflict between different parties in complex situations and so achieve a win-win for communities and conservation.

As the results of the motions were today revealed, the motion – Motion 80 – was passed by a majority of 497 to 20, with 326 abstentions.

The approval of this motion will help raise awareness of the Whakatane Mechanism as a tool that has proved successful in resolving conflicts in areas which have been given official ‘protected’ status, while also being the ancestral homes of indigenous peoples and local communities. These communities’ way of life frequently integrates traditional conservation methods, and the mechanism is a way to bring the parties together in a peaceful setting to understand different perspectives and seek a resolution that meets the needs of all.

Motion 29 was also passed, by a count of 637 to 20, with 186 abstentions. This motion called for recognition that many indigenous peoples and local communities care for, self-govern, protect, sustainably use, restore and enrich their territories.

Whakatane Mechanism Workshop at the IUCN World Conservation Congress – 3rd September 2016, Hawai’i

31 August, 2016

The value of an innovative mechanism designed to resolve conflicts where indigenous peoples and local communities live in formally-listed protected areas will be explored in a workshop at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s World Conservation Congress next month.

Forest Peoples Programme will host Can Whakatane Conflict Resolution Processes Snowball to the Global? Resolving community/conservation conflicts at the event, being held in Hawai’I from 1-10 September.

The workshop will introduce delegates to the Whakatane Mechanism and its potential for resolving conflict between indigenous communities and conservation practitioners.

Developed from 2008, the Whakatane Mechanism brings people together to discuss the conflicts, facilitates a fact-finding mission in the field where the conflict is occurring, then brings people together to resolve the problem.

Drawing on experiences from sites where the mechanism has been implemented, it will particularly focus on the situation of the Sengwer, who continue to be evicted from Embobut forest, in western Kenya.

The workshop format is based on the Maori kanohi-ki-te-kanohi style, which will allow attendees to take to the stage. It aims to simulate a real-life situation where the Whakatane process is being implemented.

Using the experience of those attending, the workshop will work through the various problems and challenges that practitioners can expect to confront during the process, giving delegates a firmer, more practical understanding of the potential for this tool in the resolution of community and conservation conflicts.

Whakatane Mechanism Workshop

27th August 2016

Whakatane Mechanism Workshop at the IUCN World Conservation Congress – 3rd September 2016, Hawaii

On 3rd September the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) will be hosting a workshop at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii. The objective of the workshop will be to introduce delegates to the Whakatane Mechanism and its potential for resolving conflict between indigenous communities and conservation practitioners.

For further information please download the workshop flyer HERE

Karen Indigenous People - Request for Consideration of the Situation

28 July, 2016

An Urgent Action / Early Warning submission has been submitted to UNCERD (UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) from the Karen Network on Culture and Environment, the Indigenous Peoples Education and Environment Foundation, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and Forest Peoples Programme, regarding the violation of the land rights of the Karen people in the Kaeng Krachan National Park.

It reads:

Request for Consideration of the Situation of the Karen Indigenous People Forcibly Evicted from the Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand, under the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s Urgent Action and Early Warning Procedure

1. The Karen Network for Culture and Environment, the Inter Mountain Peoples Education and Culture in Thailand Association, the Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples Network, Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation for Education and Environment, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and the Forest Peoples Programme (“the submitting organisations”) respectfully submit this short report for the consideration of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (“the Committee”) under its early warning and urgent action procedure (“EW/UA procedure”). It provides additional information and concerns regarding the continuing and escalating pattern of violence against the Karen indigenous people living in their ancestral territory, now incorporated into the Kaeng Krachan National Park (“KKNP”) by the State of Thailand (“Thailand” or “the State”).

Whakatane Mechanism launched at the WPC in Sydney, November 2014

24 February, 2015

The previous IUCN World Parks Congress (WPC) was held in Durban, South Africa in 2003. The historic marginalisation of indigenous peoples and local communities from conservation movements and policies resulted in a difficult push for the recognition of local communities’ rights, indigenous peoples’ contribution to conservation and the need for rights-based conservation approaches. Indigenous peoples and local communities were outside the system pushing to get in. However their efforts were successful and helped lead to the recognition of the “new conservation paradigm”.

11 years later, at the 2014 World Parks Congress in Sydney, indigenous peoples and local communities had a strong presence inside the process. Yet, the key question remains: How many in the conservation world have really moved to a focus on acknowledging that conservation needs to support indigenous peoples and local communities’ own ways of owning, sustainably using and conserving their lands?

Launch of the publication “World Heritage Sites and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights”

Friday 14th November 17.30 to 19.00, at the WIN Pavilion

Join us for the launch of a publication by IWGIA, FPP and Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation on “World Heritage Sites and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights”, chaired by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This book includes 20 case studies of World Heritage sites from around the world, with some relevant background articles. The case studies explore and document, from a human rights perspective, indigenous peoples’ experiences with World Heritage sites and with the processes of the World Heritage Convention.

They identify recurring concerns and systemic shortcomings in the implementation of the Convention, as well as opportunities the Convention may provide for indigenous peoples and the defence and promotion of their human rights.

Launch of the Whakatane Mechanism

Friday 14th November 17.30 to 19.00, at the WIN Pavilion
chaired by Aroha Te Pareake Mead

A Mechanism for promoting rights-based conservation through practical implementation of IUCN Resolutions, including redressing historical injustices and securing communities’ rights to their lands and territories.

Three pilot Whakatane Assessments are in progress in Kenya, Thailand, and DRC, and another in preparation in Indonesia. These will be presented and discussed at this official launch of the Mechanism, chaired by Aroha Te Pareake Mead, Chair of CEESP.

The Whakatane Mechanism originated from a dialogue between IUCN and indigenous peoples held in January 2011 at CEESP’s “Sharing Power” conference in Whakatane, New Zealand. It emerged out of the 2008 WCC’s call to develop “a mechanism to address and redress the effects of historic and current injustices against indigenous peoples in the name of conservation of nature and natural resources” (Res 4.052), and “a mechanism to … advance key recommendations of the Durban Accord and Durban Action Plan …” (Res 4.052).

Whakatane Mechanism

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