African BCP Initiative Workshop Kicks Off

Natural Justice, ETC Compas and the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), supported by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative (ABS Initiative) and the Ford Foundation, are hosting the African Biocultural Protocol Initiative Workshop from 5-7 November in Nairobi Kenya.

The workshop brings together representatives of the NGOs and CBOs that have been collaborating on the African BCPI and BCP processes in India. They are partners and/or community representatives from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Benin, Senegal, India, New York and the Netherlands.

The main agenda for the African Bio-cultural Community Protocol Initiative (BCPI) Workshop in Nairobi is to draw out key lessons and best practices on the development and utilization of Bio-cultural Community Protocols (BCPs) or Community Protocols, as they are also called. BCP is a framework that articulates community values, procedures and priorities as contained in traditional knowledge, practice and customary norms. They are useful as a basis of engaging with external actors such as governments, companies, academics and NGOs. They can also be used to catalyze constructive and proactive responses to threats and opportunities posed by land, resource and knowledge developments. BCPs are recognized under the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS), are in the current draft of the AU Guidelines on ABS and in some national policy frameworks. Further, the international and national laws that affirm the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities also provide a legal basis for BCPs.

In 2011 and 2012 the African Bio-cultural Community Protocol Initiative (BCPI) explored how African community could accept BCPs based organisations, NGO’s, lawyers and governments as a suitable legal tool to secure community rights, fair equitable access and benefit sharing. Since 2012, community partners in six countries have undertaken the African BCPI. The six African countries are South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Ethiopia and more recently Zimbabwe.

Participants get down to business

The overall objective of the BCPI Workshop is to provide a forum for sharing experiences, evidence-based key lessons and articulating best practices on the development and utilization of BCPs. This will involve assessing the tools and processes used in the development of BCPs and highlighting the challenges and crosscutting issues emerging on their development and utilization. More specifically, participants will be engaged in sharing the relevant experiences and key lessons derived from BCP processes, dialogues including evaluating the importance of connecting with NGOs and CBOs, highlighting any challenges and cross-cutting issues. They will also seek to highlight successes achieved by communities in utilization of BCPs in priorities/thematic areas and how these can be used in other contexts. The workshop will also formulate recommendations, identify opportunities and strategies for the journey ahead.

Kenya’s New Mining Bill, 2014

Natural Justice’s work in Kenya has focused around the LAPSSET project. One major factor around our work has been the myriad of bills in Parliament waiting passing that will regulate community land, mining, oil and gas, energy and infrastructure.

One of the more significant and impactful pieces of legislation, the Kenya Mining Bill 2014 was passed on its third reading last week.  The bill repeals the former archaic remnant of a long-forgotten epoch, the Mining Act from 1940 and still in force, which fails to adequately meet the current demands of the emerging sector.  The primary objective of the bill is to consolidate all of the current laws related to mining.  It also seeks to implement a number of articles within Kenya’s Constitution pertaining to land management, respect for the environment and agreements for natural resources.

As the bill stands, there are certain concerns that still need to be addressed.   A major concern is the wide discretionary powers held by the Cabinet Secretary, which belie transparency and good governance, though the latest draft has attempted to create a body known as the Mineral Rights Board that takes some powers, though minimal, away from the Cabinet Secretary.  The definition of community in the bill is also disconcerting.  In the Interpretation section of the bill, a community is defined as (a) a group of people living around exploration and mining operations area; or (b) a group of people who may be displaced from land intended for exploration and mining operations.  The definition, worryingly, does not clarify what ‘around’ or ‘group’ means nor does it include other communities who may still be affected by mining operations.

Another issue is the failure to include provisions adequately dealing with consultation with communities in relation to mining activities.  There should be consultation with communities in all aspects of the planning process according to international law and best practices, however the bill is silent on this.  The bill has provided for royalties to be shared among the National Government  – 70% to the County government – 20% and to the community where mining operations occur – 10%.  This is an improvement from the previous allocation of 5% to communities. Finally, the Mining Bill outlines the acquisition of community land without consent if the Cabinet Secretary considers it to be contrary to national interest.  This is a vague and arbitrary term.  The bill fails to provide a solution for communities who refuse to allow their land to be used for mining.  Natural Justice shall continue to follow up on the developments and discussions around this law with community members and partners as it awaits presidential assent.

Assisting Communities Assess the Impacts of LAPSSET

The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Project, touted as the “first single gigantic, integrated, transformative and game-changer infrastructure project” the Government of Kenya has embarked upon is said to lead to an increase in the GDP by 3%. Whilst such growth has the potential of being extremely beneficial to the country there has been little discussion of the costs born by its citizens, in particular the communities around the infrastructure and extractive sites. 

In the ecological rich and culturally diverse Lamu archipelago, the site of the mega port, the hunter-gatherer, farming and fishing communities of the area are now witnessing the projects first stage of construction and questioning the benefits and costs of such a project.  In collaboration with its partner, Save Lamu, Natural Justice is working with an international natural resource economist to assist the communities in Lamu determine the potential costs of the port on their health, social and cultural well-being.

On the 11^thto 16^th October 2014, Members of Natural Justice Kenya and Natural Resource Economics travelled to Lamu to meet with various stakeholders, including Save Lamu, fishermen, business people and County Government representatives. The assessment will result in a report to be used by Save Lamu and members of the community in their discussions with Government to ensure a port that is beneficial to the community and environmentally sound.

Final SUARA Community Filmmaking Workshop of 2014 held in Sabah

Credit: SUARA / BEFF

Since its inception in 2011, the Borneo Eco Film Festival (BEFF) has run a training programme for aspiring community filmmakers called SUARA ("voice" in Bahasa Malaysia). In 2014, four workshops were held throughout the year, culminating in a five-day intensive workshop from 29 October to 2 November at the Sabah Forestry Department's district office at Lok Kawi.

There were over 40 participants from 24 villages and towns across Sabah, who learned practical skills in storytelling, pre-production, filming, and post-production. By the end of the workshop, each of the seven groups conceptualised and produced their own short film (including on topics such as Indigenous Rungus beadwork and the journey of a young urban Indigenous man from the forests of northern Sabah). Two of the films have been selected for public screening at the upcoming Centenary celebrations of the Sabah Forestry Department in the week of 9 November 2014. Congratulations to all of the participants and thanks to the many sponsors, supporters, and volunteers. For more information, check out local media coverage in Sabahkini and the Daily Express.

Local Communities Rise to the Forefront of Global Conservation Practice

While the global conservation movement has increasingly come to recognize the importance of indigenous and other local communities in terms of delivering conservation on the ground, much more needs to be done in terms of actively contributing to efforts to secure and strengthen local land and resource rights, according to Fred Nelson, Executive Director of Maliasili Initatives. Such rights are the foundation for rural livelihood security and a key part of recognized human rights, but also the building block for local conservation systems.

The upcoming World Parks Congress provides an opportunity to advance dialogue and new collaborations around these issues, and further ground durable conservation practices in local rights, interests, and actions. Read the full article here.

Legal and Dialogue Training in George, South Africa

From 20 to 22 October 2014, Natural Justice, with the support of Southern Cape Land Committee, hosted 3 days of legal and negotiation training in George, South Africa, involving community members from across the Karoo, likely to be impacted by hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking"). The meeting was supported by Ford Foundation Southern Africa.

With the support of Centre for Environmental Rights, participants from the community in Nelspoort together with representatives from the Anti-Fracking Task Team and Khoi-San representatives, engaged in one day training on fracking generally, as well as relevant environment and participation laws in South Africa. In addition, the role of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights was discussed, as was the principles of free, prior and informed consent and consultation in international law.

Subsequent days were spent discussing principles and differences between different methods of engaging with external actors, in addition to the role of legislation in supporting engagement between community and the government around fracking issues.

The training session complemented ongoing discussions with community representatives about different methods of mobilisation and the use of the law and participatory methodologies to support this.

New Material on the African Commission on Human and People's Rights

Natural Justice has co-produced a community-friendly brochure on the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, as part of the Human Rights and Grievance Mechanisms program of the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO).

The brochure sets out a summary of the African Commission, the African Court and interesting provisions within the African Charter as well as the "Who, What, When, Where and How" of filing a complaint. See the brochure, and other brochures produced by SOMO with its partners, on the Human Rights & Grievance Mechanisms website.