Sixth Annual Heart of Borneo Conference in Sabah

The Heart of Borneo. Credit: WWF

The Heart of Borneo is a transboundary conservation initiative spearheaded by the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Holly Jonas (Natural Justice) attended the initiative's sixth annual conference on 10 November 2014 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, which focused on the theme "Enhancing Biodiversity towards No Net Loss and Beyond within the Heart of Borneo Landscape".

The conference was opened by Datuk Sam Mannan (Director of Sabah Forestry Department), who underscored the need for political sustainability in decision-making on environmental sustainability, and Datuk Seri G. Palanivel (Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment), who committed to applying for additional funds for the Heart of Borneo under the 11th Malaysia Plan. Dr. Greg Asner (Carnegie Institution for Science) delivered the keynote address on his team's groundbreaking work on remote sensing 3-dimensional mapping using the Carnegie Airborne Observatory.

Two Meetings on Biocultural Community Protocols held in Mexico

From September 29 to October 3, 2014, Johanna von Braun and Barbara Lassen from Natural Justice contributed to two meetings on BCPs in Mexico. The meetings were organized by GIZ (German Development Cooperation) under the project “Governance of Biodiversity” and CONABIO , Mexico’s National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity.The first meeting brought together representatives from indigenous peoples and local communities from different parts of Mexico. The second meeting informed representatives of government agencies, research institutions and NGOs.

Natural Justice presented on lessons learned from BCP processes and on examples of protocols in Africa. Regional examples were presented from the Potato Park in Cusco, Peru; the Guna peoples in Panama; and from Alto San Juan in the Colombian Chocó (Natural Justice supported IIAP and ASOCASAN in developing this BCP in 2010). Mexican communities from all over the country presented on existing processes towards the recognition of their customary norms and rights to land and resources.  These local processes include internal regulations for ‘ejidos’ and rural communities, as well as autonomy processes of indigenous communities.

Participants exchanged on the experiences in and outside of Mexico and debated the merits of BCPs in the Mexican legal context. In some cases the existing processes already fill the function of a BCP, in others local processes could be strengthened by a stronger focus on community rights under national and international law. In a number of communities, local norms and regulations need to be made more visible and a BCP could support the dialogue of communities with government agencies and other actors.

Seeking Feedback on New Publication: Human Rights Standards for Conservation (Part I)

A Bajau Laut child begging from tourists near Tun Sakaran
Marine Park, Malaysia. (cc Harry Jonas)

Despite increased recognition that conservation initiatives can violate the human rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, addressing 'unjust' conservation remains a contemporary problem. The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Natural Justice are seeking feedback on a series of technical reports that aim to provide clear guidance about the human rights obligations of conservation actors, and specific details of the rights and forms of redress available.

Quito II: Second Dialogue Held in Ecuador to Discuss Methods for Financing Biological Diversity

Braulio Souza (centre), Executive Secretary
to the CBD, gives closing remarks at the meeting.

There is no question that biological diversity is being lost at an unsustainable rate and that this trend needs to be halted through a variety of different approaches. Important questions exist, however, about how to pay for those approaches. To help answer those questions, several governments, as well as the European Commission and the CBD Secretariat, convened a meeting in Ecuador called the Second Dialogue Seminar on Scaling up Finance for Biodiversity from 9-12 April 2014 to discuss issues regarding financing biological diversity.

Representatives from governments, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), NGOs and other organizations presented on a broad range of topics in plenary sessions, including: CBD and UN efforts in the area of financing (the High Level Panel on Resourcing and the Biodiversity Finance Initiative); the Global Environmental Facility's strategy for the next four years; and community monitoring of biodiversity. Jael Eli Makagon from Natural Justice presented on community protocols as a way of ensuring the full participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in biodiversity financing. Several small group sessions were held, during which specific questions were asked by the organizers regarding many different topics, including perverse subsidies, taxation issues, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Natural Justice legally supports the National Khoi-San Council in historic benefit sharing agreement

On 19 August 2013, the indigenous San and Khoikhoi groups signed a historic benefit sharing agreement with Cape Kingdom Nutraceuticals Pty under South Africa’s Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004. Cape Kingdom Nutraceuticals is a pharmaceutical company that processes Buchu, a small shrub endemic to the Western Cape used for its essential oils. Buchu’s medicinal qualities are associated with the traditional knowledge (TK) of the Khoikhoi and San peoples. The agreement acknowledges that the Khoikhoi and San’s medicinal plant knowledge predates that of subsequent South African inhabitants and that the Khoikhoi and San are “legally entitled to a fair and equitable share of the benefits that result from the commercial development of the Buchu plant.” Although the San Council was previously involved in entering into similar agreements, this marks the first time the Khoikhoi represented by the National Khoi-San Council (NKC), entered into such an agreement where their TK is recognized as such.

During November 2012 Natural Justice entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Khoi-San Council. Under this agreement, Natural Justice offers legal support to the NKC in its ongoing struggle for legal recognition of its collective rights which includes amongst others, legal processes relating to benefit sharing.  Natural Justice was also able to assist the NKC in forming a negotiating team with the San council represented by Roger Chennels.  In terms of this historic partnership,the NKC and the San council act as a representative structure for the Khoikhoi and San peoples to protect their rights around associated traditional knowledge for related plants. 

It is all too rare for a private company to recognize, especially financially, traditional knowledge and the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples. Under the benefit sharing agreement with Cape Kingdom, the Khoikhoi and San communities will receive 3 percent of the profits related to Buchu products. Cape Kingdom also commits to share its knowledge of the commercial use of the plant with the indigenous communities in exchange for the San and Khoikhoi endorsing the products. In response to the agreement, NKC Chairperson Cecil LeFleur stated: “We are very proud and excited to be part of this process. Today we share the benefits of our historical knowledge with Cape Kingdom Nutraceuticals. We feel that this partnership will be to the benefit of the Khoikhoi and San people in South Africa, and will contribute to our development and empowerment.”

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FPP Resource on RSPO Dispute Resolution System

Via www.forestpeoples.org/

The Forest Peoples' Programme has produced a booklet documenting the dispute resolution system of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a not-for-profit association formed in 2004 in response to the urgent and pressing global call for sustainably produced palm oil. While the document identifies numerous shortcomings with the RSPO complaints system, it seeks to ensure that communities are capable of accessing the current system. According to the booklet, "it provides basic information and guidance to civil society organisations and affected local communities on how the RSPO complaint process works and the various steps involved in submitting a complaint."

The booklet can be downloaded here. 

National Geographic Post on Biocultural Diversity

Via nationalgeographic.com

Gleb Raygorodetsky of Natural Justice-partner the Sacred Sites Initiative has drafted a post at National Geographic on the intensifying erosion of the earth’s biodiversity entitled "Pulsating Heart of Nature: How to Ensure Our Collective Bioculturally Resilient Future." He notes the limits in the capacity of linear, reductionist thinking in seeking solutions to this degradation and encourages integrative fields of inquiry to develop new and more meaningful responses. 

He concludes by emphasising the need for a more holistic worldview based on valuing biocultural diversity, and lays out the following requirements for achieving this transformation: 

 “We must embrace change as an inalienable part of life, rather than trying to avert it at any cost. We must be realistic about the scope and scale of what should be done to correct the course, as well as what each of us is capable of doing him or herself. We must also expand our notion of community from a group of people united by their geographic or genetic proximity, to a broader global community inclusive of other like-minded individuals and groups united by their recognition of the value of biocultural diversity as the very ‘pulsating heart’ of Nature. We must work towards a biologically and culturally rich world not only through our work, but more importantly by changing our own thinking and actions.” 

 The post can be accessed here.

World Food Day

Today (October 16) is World Food Day, celebrated every year to mark the founding of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in 1945 and to highlight challenges in providing food security. The official theme of this year's World Food Day, announced by FAO, is "Agricultural Cooperatives: Key to Feeding the World." The theme was chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.

In honour of World Food Day, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Alliance's daily ECO briefing on the CBD's 11th Conference of Parties (COP-11) has focused on the role of agricultural biodiversity and food sovereignty in attaining food security. The briefing includes several insightful articles on the close relationship between rights-based biodiversity conservation and food security. The Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) Consortium prepared a contribution for the briefing on "The Interdependence of Food Sovereignty and ICCAs." Other articles consider in situ conservation, the threats to biodiversity posed by genetically modified organisms and synthetic biology, small-scale fisheries, and violations of human rights in India's forests. 

Learn more about World Food Day and how to get involved from FAO here. Find the CBD Alliance's ECO briefing marking World Food Day here. 

New Publication and Website from UNDP-GEF

The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has published a major report on the work done since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 to support communities and civil society organisations in their efforts to implement environment-cum-development initiatives entitled "20 Years: Community Action for the Global Environment." It has also released a new website, www.biodiversity-products.com, which showcases biodiversity products produced by partners of the SGP. 

The publication tracks the work of communities and affiliated organisations who have partnered with the GEF SGP to blend conservation and development. It describes itself as "a celebration of two decades of communities and civil society organizations proving themselves capable of the task, of their hard work, of the risks they took together with their partners and supporters, and of all SGP stakeholders demonstrating that sustainable development can be achieved."

The website, which currently features GEF SGP grantees in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, will eventually have global scope. The site defines biodiversity products as any "consumable, useable, artistic, or medicinal remedy created from the wealth of biodiversity." The website offers visitors the opportunity to join an online community focused on biodiversity products and also enables visitors to search for biodiversity products by classification, nation or region. 

Find the GEF SGP summary of "20 Years: Community Action for the Global Environment" here and download it here. The biodiversity products website can be accessed here and products searched for here. 

IUCN Journal on PAs and Conservation Re-Launched

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has released the first edition of its re-launched PARKS: The International Journal of Protected Areas and Conservation. The journal includes contributions on a wide range of subjects important to protected areas and conservation including ocean protection, protecting indigenous grasslands in New Zealand, the impact of veterinary fencing in southern Africa, the linkages between human health and well-being and protected areas in Canada, and a discussion of motivations for hunting in Iran. The journal was co-edited by Sue Stolton and Nigel Dudley of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and Equilibrium Research. 

Two articles consider Target 11 of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which references "other effective area-based conservation measures", which can include Indigenous peoples' and local community conserved territories and areas (ICCAs). An editorial by Nik Lopoukhine, Chair of the IUCN WCPA, and Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, seeks clarity on which “management approaches are, and are not, to be included within the land and water areas established under the auspices of the target.” “Meeting Aichi Target 11: What Does Success Look Like for Protected Area Systems?” is authored by several  IUCN and United Nations Environment Programme staff and argues for “a holistic interpretation of Target 11 as a way for the global community to use protected areas to change the current unacceptable trends in global biodiversity loss.” 

The full journal can be downloaded here. Information on the journal and links to individual articles can be found here. Find IUCN on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IUCN. 

Environmental Law Association Conference in Cape Town

Photo via www.elasa.co.za

On 25 August 2012, Laureen Manuel of Natural Justice attended the Environmental Law Association’s annual conference, which focused on the legal challenges facing South Africans in a changing world and country in the context of sustainable development. The conference was attended by environmental lawyers, specialist academics and authors, and government and NGO representatives. 

The conference included five sessions with topics including the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), water and waste law and management, biodiversity conservation, community involvement and energy efficiency, as well as the implications of the South African Maccsand court case which held that mining companies must not only seek permission from the Department of Mineral Resources but also from local authorities if the land is not zoned for mining. The final session included presentations on the challenges and possible solutions relating to planning and environmental law with a specific focus on land use and requisite multiple authorisations.

New UNEP Global Environment Outlook

The Earth System is the basis for all of the consumption and work undertaken by the 7 billion human beings who now live on earth. Through increased exploitation of the earth’s resources, the Earth System’s ability to sustain human existence is rapidly deteriorating. The fifth United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global Environment Outlook (GEO), released this month, traces the state and trends of the global environment through a wealth of data, information and knowledge about the environment. It also links this information to potential policy responses and provides an outlook into the future of the environment. 

The GEO is divided into three sections. The first, the state and trends of the global environment, uses the drivers, pressures, state, impacts and responses (DPSIR) analytical framework to investigate the latest state and trends of the global environment under the themes of atmosphere, land, water, biodiversity, and chemicals and waste. The second presents an appraisal of policy options that show potential for enabling the accomplishment of internationally agreed goals. The final section considers options for a global response. 

Natural Justice team members Johanna von Braun, Kabir Bavikatte and Holly Shrumm contributed to chapter five of the GEO which focuses on global threats to biodiversity. Natural Justice partners Bas Verschuuren (ETC COMPAS) and Ashish Kothari (Kalpavriksh) also contributed to chapter five. 

The full GEO can be downloaded here. Chapter five on biodiversity can be downloaded here.

E-Module on TK and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity

Natural Justice has developed a number of draft e-learning modules to support communities developing biocultural community protocols (BCPs) to increase their understanding of key international legal frameworks, concepts and programmes. These modules supplement ‘BCPs: A Toolkit for Community Facilitators’. 

The second module in this series examines international law’s recognition of and protections for communities’ traditional knowledge and sustainable uses of biodiversity. Traditional knowledge, innovations, and practices (often referred together as ‘traditional knowledge’) are developed and nurtured over many generations. They are underpinned by spiritual beliefs and customary laws that reinforce communities’ identities, cultures, and ways of life. They enable communities to live within the natural limits of specific territories, areas, or resources upon which they depend for livelihoods and wellbeing. They are also integral to Indigenous languages, spiritual beliefs, and culturally appropriate education, health, and nutrition. 

There are several international agreements that address traditional knowledge and customary sustainable uses of biodiversity. The focus of this module is the most prominent agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity. From the outset of the Convention, the Preamble recognizes “the close and traditional dependence” of many Indigenous peoples and local communities on biological resources. Thereafter, two Articles in particular grant important rights to Indigenous peoples and local communities: Article 8(j) on traditional knowledge, innovations and practices; and Article 10(c) on customary sustainable uses of biodiversity. 

The module can be downloaded here. The BCP Toolkit can be downloaded here. The documents are not final and any comments can be directed to Holly Shrumm (holly (at) naturaljustice.org) and Harry Jonas (harry (at) naturaljustice.org).

"Seeds of Freedom"

A new film, "Seeds of Freedom", has been released by the Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network (ABN) along with GRAIN, Navdanya International and MELCA International. It is narrated by actor Jeremy Irons and features indigenous farmers from the ABN as well as interviews with Dr Vandana Shiva, Percy Schmeiser, Henk Hobbelink and Kumi Naidoo.

From seedsoffreedom.info, "Seeds of Freedom charts the story of seed from its roots at the heart of traditional, diversity rich farming systems across the world, to being transformed into a powerful commodity, used to monopolise the global food system. The film highlights the extent to which the industrial agricultural system, and genetically modified (GM) seeds in particular, has impacted on the enormous agro -biodiversity evolved by farmers and communities around the world, since the beginning of agriculture."

More information can be found at seedsoffreedom.info. 

Ulu Papar Community Congress

Harry Jonas attended a Community Congress focusing on biocultural diversity from the 18-22 of April. The Congress was hosted by the communities of Ulu Papar, held in Buayan and organized by the Global Diversity Foundation's community researchers. It was attended by a range of community members, including from Batu Puteh, Kudat and the Kinabalu area. 

Over the two main days of work, community representatives, NGOs and Sabah Parks representatives engaged in a number of sessions including on indigenous and community conserved areas, medicinal plants, community-based tourism, agriculture and tree planting, land issues, traditional knowledge, customary law (tagal), and the development of Ulu Papar. Community members also developed a draft resolution that among other things references the Ulu Papar Biocultural Community Protocol. In addition to the work, participants enjoyed Kampung Buayan's hospitality and good food, played football (Kg Buayan triumphed!), engaged in cultural performances and sang songs together. Harry thanks Pastor Julius and Irene for putting him up, JKKK Albert and KK John for hosting the Congress, and GDF for the excellent organization.

View photos from the Congress here.

Kinabalu Biocultural Law Project

On the 20th of December, Natural Justice and Borneo Conservancy entered into a Memorandum of Understanding relating to the Kinabalu Biocultural Law Project. The project will be undertaken in partnership with the Sabah Biodiversity Centre and will explore with a number of Dusun communities living around Kinabalu Park (Sabah, Malaysia) innovative ways of engaging with laws towards protecting their biological and cultural diversity. The project will build on the work undertaken by partners to the Projek Etnobotani Kinabalu (Kinabalu Ethnobotany Project) and a recent study on traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous peoples' and community conserved areas (some outputs of which are available online). The project will also benefit from input from Dr. Agnes Lee Agama (South East Asia Coordinator of the Global Diversity Foundation) acting in her personal capacity. Natural Justice looks forward to working with the communities and team on the project.

L-R in the photo: Dorothy Lim, Lanash Thanda, Alice Mathew, and Daniel Doughty (Borneo Conservancy); Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas (Natural Justice).