Important Publications on REDD+ for COP 18

As government representatives gather to consider solutions to, and means to mitigate the impact of, climate change at the 18th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, several significant publications on the impact of climate change and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) on the rights of Indigenous peoples have been launched by Natural Justice partners. 

The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) have published a briefing paper entitled "REDD+, Rights and Indigenous Peoples: Lessons from REDD+ Initiatives in Asia." The brief examines how far countries participating in REDD+ in Asia have advanced in addressing the social and environmental safeguards needed for the implementation of REDD+ and reflects on pilot activities in Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam. Their findings suggest that outstanding critical issues for Indigenous peoples include the lack of effective engagement, free, prior and informed consent, and unresolved land tenure and carbon rights issues. The brief can be downloaded here.  

The Forest Peoples Programme, has released a note that refers to the Indigenous Peoples Caucus position on REDD+ and analyses key issues and opportunities for Indigenous peoples to influence the current REDD+ negotiations in Doha. The note can be downloaded here. 

The Indigenous Peoples Caucus, on behalf of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC), released a statement to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) concerning REDD+ which raised issues such as the need to respect collective and customary systems of forest governance and management, the roles and contributions of Indigenous women, and the need for an independent complaints mechanism. The statement can be accessed here.

Video Repository on Forest Commodification

Forests are facing immense challenges from the increased commodification of their resources. Some incoming policies may worsen these challenges dramatically. To highlight the lived experiences of communities affected by forest commodification, the Global Forest Coalition has launched a repositoryof videos gathered from a variety of organisations and contexts. The repository has been launched as government representatives gather for the 18th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to highlight the results of commodification and the dangers of policies that ignore or intensify commodification processes. The repository organises the videos into three key thematic areas: exporting commodities; carbon: schemes, scams & cowboys; and rights and resistance.

The repository can be accessed here.

Miskitu BCP Launched in Honduras

Moskitia Asla Takanka (MASTA), a Miskitu community-based organisation, has developed and launched a Biocultural Community Protocol (BCP) with technical assistance from Natural Justice and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Regional Office for Mesoamerica. The BCP seeks to assert the right to and guide the process of obtaining free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for projects in La Moskitia.

The Miskitu community, with a population of around 70 000, live in the tropical rainforest ecosystems of La Moskitia in eastern Honduras. They are facing a series of challenges in their traditional territory, ranging from the destruction of primary forests through agricultural expansion, illegal trade of flora, fauna and drugs, as well as the commercial exploitation of their sub-soil resources. 

To face these and other threats to their natural and cultural environment, MASTA has focused their protocol on defining a mechanism for free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), a vital procedural right that has often been ignored by government and non-governmental development projects. The process of developing the BCP was guided by MASTA, together with representatives from 12 territorial councils and their respective community councils. With this protocol, MASTA is seeking to guarantee that future consultation and consent-seeking processes respect the Miskitu’s own institutions and decision-making procedures. 

To publicise the protocol and its implications to key stakeholders and other communities and organisations advancing Indigenous peoples’ rights, the protocol was presented to the public at an event in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in early November 2012. Further events are planned within the communities of La Moskitia for early 2013. 

The Biocultural Community Protocol of the Miskitu can be downloaded here. An article about the protocol published in the Honduran newspaper La Tribuna can be accessed here.

AIPP Report on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Adaptation

Climate change is increasingly impacting the livelihoods and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples through erratic rainfall, unpredictable climatic patterns, flooding, and increased water and food security. To explore these challenges, consider the ways that Indigenous peoples are responding to them and identify policy options to support Indigenous peoples' climate change adaptation, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) has released a report entitled “Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Adaptation in Asia.” 

The report reviews two case studies on Indigenous adaptation practices. The first, a survey of the Tangkhul Naga of northeast India, notes the significant impact of climate change in the community, including shifts in species of birds, reduced frost in October, increased pests and weeds, and shifting rain patterns. In response, the Tangkhul Naga have adjusted their agricultural practices to emphasise un-burnt shifting cultivation over rain-fed terrace paddies. The report also considers the adaptation practices of the Pidlisan-Kankanaey community of the Philippines. 

The report then summarises key international frameworks relevant to climate change adaptation. It concludes with policy recommendations on Indigenous peoples and climate change adaption, urging greater recognition of Indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge and community-based adaptation strategies, increased recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights, ensuring free, prior and informed consent in all mitigation and adaptation programmes, and providing sustainable livelihood diversification support to communities. 

“Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Adaptation in Asia” can be downloaded here.

ABS Stakeholder Meeting - Vanuatu

On 26 November, 2012, a national stakeholder meeting was facilitated by Vanuatu’s Department of Environment and Conservation together with the national GEF Small Grants Program on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS). The purpose of the meeting was to brief a range of diverse stakeholders on the Nagoya Protocol on ABS to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its significance to them, as well as to receive an update on the process of Vanuatu ratifying the Protocol. Vanuatu, which signed the Nagoya Protocol in 2011, is planning to ratify the Protocol in the near future depending on national regulatory requirements.

Johanna von Braun from Natural Justice and Andreas Drews from the ABS Capacity Development Initiative provided technical input to the meeting and supported discussions on the next steps for both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in this process. After a fruitful debate both stakeholder groups identified a number of priority areas to be targeted in the immediate and medium-term future.

Groundbreaking Resolution by Ecuador's National Court of Justice

Via iucn.org/

A resolution has been signed by all 21 judges of the National Court of Justice, a court with jurisdiction throughout all of Ecuador, declaring that judges in the province of Galapagos have the standing to hear cases on environmental crimes. Judges in the area had previously refused to hear around 100 cases, arguing lack of expertise. The cases then had to be heard in the Provincial Court of Justice, some 1 000 kilometres away, severely limiting access to justice. 

The Provincial Prosecutor of Galapagos sought a consultation with the National Court of Justice as several cases, including unauthorised fisheries and the capture of marine protected species, were not being heard. The National Court of Justice has the authority to issue rulings when there is doubt on the meaning of Ecuadorian laws. The consultation was formally requested by the Attorney General of Ecuador, and the consultation process included engagements with civil society. Ultimately, the National Court of Justice held that the judges of the territorial section where the offense occurred are the competent authorities to hear such cases in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code of Ecuador. 

Hugo Echeverria, a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and a member of the Conservation Sector of Galapagos, says the resolution is important because it "answers a legal question on judicial competence, which had various legal criteria, all equally respectable; and historic, because it is the first time the Plenary of the National Court addresses an issue of environmental judicial procedure, showing the leading role that the judiciary has on the new legal field of environmental law."

Read more about the resolution in English here and in Spanish here.

Oceania Biodiscovery Forum & ABS Capacity Development Workshop in Brisbane

From 19-22 November, 2012, the first ever Oceania Biodiscovery Forum took place in Brisbane, Australia. The meeting was jointly facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Eskitis Institute of Griffith University, the Australian Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC) and the ABS Capacity Development Initiative. This meeting was followed by an Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS)  capacity development workshop for ABS Focal Points and other relevant stakeholders in the Pacific region from 22-23 November.

The Biodiscovery Forum provided a platform for exchange on the nature of bioprospecting activities by Australian research institutes, both public and private. A number of researchers shared the nature of their work, ranging from small-scale commercial bioprospecting activities to large-scale gene banks of marine genetic resources. These activities were then discussed against the backdrop of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing to the Convention on Biological Diversity and Australia’s draft policy as a user of genetic resources as well as the existing permit system as a provider of genetic resources. A number of national and regional benefit sharing examples with local communities were shared with participants. 

Both the European Commission and Switzerland shared their current status in implementing the Nagoya Protocol as users of genetic resources, and the extent to which genetic resources would be protected once they left their country of origin. This led to substantial debate as some participants were not satisfied with the current interpretation of both Switzerland and the European Commission in relation to the temporal scope of the Nagoya Protocol as well as their definition of what constitutes ‘access’. In their view the current wording would result in too many resources currently in gene banks being excluded from the Protocol’s protection and subsequently undermine the very purpose of the Protocol.

Finally, the Biodiscovery Forum ended with a visit to the Eskitis Institute, which houses a wealth of terrestrial and marine compounds to support the Institute's search for novel drug- and cell-based therapies against cancer, infectious diseases and neurological diseases. 

The ABS Capacity Development Workshop, the third of a series of three regional workshops in 2012, targeted ABS Focal Points and other relevant stakeholders from the Pacific region. Representatives from the Cook Islands, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Niue, Kiribati, the Federation of States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Samao, Palau, Nauru, Tonga, Vanuatu as well as the overseas territories of American Samoa and New Caledonia participated . Also invited were representatives from South Africa and Jamaica to facilitate further South-South exchanges. 

At the request of participants from previous workshops, this training focused on Prior Informed Consent and Mutually Agreed Terms as the two key elements of implementing ABS. Johanna von Braun from Natural Justice served as one of the key resource people in the workshop together with Daniel Robinson (University of New South Wales), Morten Tvedt (Fridtjof Nansen Institute), Geoff Burton (United Nations University), Ben Phillips (SEWPaC), Clark Peteru (SPREP) as well as Andreas Drews and Susanne Heitmueller from the ABS Capacity Building Initiative. Further presentations included a presentation of Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) as relevant community governance structures for ABS by Alifereti Tawake and a presentation on relevant funding opportunities by the GEF Small Grants Programme.