Principal Investigator: Dr Helen Newing
Project Dates: 2004/05
Funding Body: International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests
This project aims to evaluate the implementation by national governments of their international policy commitments on forests and indigenous peoples, and specifically on measures to recognise and take fully into account ‘traditional forest-related knowledge’ (TFRK). In order to do this, 15 national and regional case studies from Latin America, Africa and Asia are in preparation by local partner organisations. The case studies and a synthesis paper will form the major input into an Indigenous Peoples-led United Nations International Expert Meeting in December 2004, which aims to make substantive recommendations on ways to promote more effective national-level implementation of international commitments on TFRK and related issues for submission to the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). Following the Meeting, the case studies will be published as a book.
Background
Over the past 15 years a number of political commitments have been developed at the international level by which governments have undertaken to promote, support, protect and encourage the use of traditional knowledge and customary practices of indigenous peoples and traditional communities in the management and use of forest resources. However, to date there have been few independent reviews of the extent to which governments in different parts of the world have fulfilled their commitments. Such a review should take account of at least two different levels: firstly the reflection of international policy commitments in national policy and legislation, and secondly the nature and degree of implementation in practice. For example Newing and Wahl (2004) have recently evaluated Peruvian legislation and practice with respect to communal reserves, a protected areas category that reflects international policy on collaborative management of natural resources, and have found that whilst there are many innovative provisions within recent legislation, in practice indigenous peoples face severe restrictions on the recognition of traditional knowledge systems as valid systems of management.
For many other countries there is little information available on practice, even if suitable legislation exists. In order to fill this gap, the proposed collaboration will build on an indigenous peoples-led evaluation of international policy implementation coordinated by the International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests. Since December 2003, the International Alliance has commissioned 15 case studies to examine progress made in the implementation of international commitments. These case studies are constituted of 3 regional studies on Africa, Asia, and the Americas, and 12 national studies on Peru, Panama, Venezuela, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, India, Nepal, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia.
The specific focus of the case studies is to evaluate the implementation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF), plus related governmental commitments under the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD). The IPF and the IFF articulated over two hundred Proposals for Action (PfA), of which some 78 directly and indirectly concern indigenous peoples and other holders of TFRK – no less than 20 specific Proposals relate to TFRK. In 1997, the IPF Proposals for Action were endorsed by UNGASS at Rio + 5, while the IFF Proposals were accepted by intergovernmental consensus at the final meeting of the IFF in 2000. The United Nations Forum on Forests, set up in 2000, has been mandated to facilitate and promote the implementation of these IPF/IFF Proposals for Action. These proposals are not binding, but they do have moral force and have the potential to be used effectively in negotiations by indigenous peoples pushing for improved standards at the national and international levels.
Publications
Newing, H and Wahl, L (2004). Benefiting local populations? >Cultural Survival Quarterly 28, 38-41.
Project Partners
Project partners
International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, Thailand
Asociación Ixacavaa, Costa Rica
Costa Rican Government
Forest Peoples Programme, UK
Global Forest Coalition, Netherlands
World Rainforest Movement, Uruguay
Secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity