Participatory photography workshop held in Melangkap, Sabah

On 16 May, Borneo Conservancy Initiative and Natural Justice co-organised a participatory photography workshop with the five villages of Melangkap in Sabah, Malaysia. The workshop was facilitated by Remmy Alfie Awang, a Global Diversity Foundation community researcher from the nearby village of Bundu Tuhan. Remmy led the community participants through an introduction to digital cameras, the basics of taking pictures, and a practical session around Melangkap Kapa. The participants will be using photography to document and communicate various aspects of their communities, traditions, and ways of life as part of a broader process to develop a community protocol, which is supported by the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme of Malaysia. Additional workshops on photo editing as well as participatory video and mapping are currently being planned.

We are very grateful to Remmy for leading such an excellent workshop and to all of the participants and our hosts in Melangkap Kapa!

Apply for Global Environments Summer Academy - 2013

Via www.global-diversity.org

The third Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA) on Socio-ecological Interactions in a Dynamic World will be held from 27 July – 18 August, 2013 at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Bern. This year's academy will focus on the human dimensions of global environmental change, ranging from adaptive community management to planetary processes. The academy has been organised by the Global Diversity Foundation, in partnership with the Rachel Carson Center, since 2011. 

Organisers are seeking applications from students in the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences – as well as from professionals already working in advocacy, law, media or policy – who focus on the relationship between environment and society. 

According to GESA’s description, “every year the course focuses on different themes within the broad concern of human dimensions of global environmental change. The course spans local to global scales and diverse ecosystems, exploring the most critical contemporary environmental issues from multiple perspectives including biocultural diversity, environmental history, political ecology, sustainability studies and personal activism.” 

More details about course content, financial information and registration can be found here. Applications to GESA should be submitted here before 15 January, 2013.

GDF-Natural Justice Darwin Workshop

As part of Natural Justice's emerging partnership with the Global Diversity Foundation (GDF), Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas provided input to a training workshop and planning meeting from 10-12 March, attended by 34 participants from the GDF and Sabah Parks, and held at Sabah Parks' Crocker Range Park headquarters, Keningau, Sabah. The workshop's aims were to provide participants further understanding of the relevance of international law to local communities' lives, to further discuss the application of bio-cultural community protocols to the communities with which GDF is working, and to plan future work. Specifically, the meeting covered:
- International laws relating to communities' management of natural resources;
- Bio-cultural community protocols;
- Field updates from community researchers about the workshops in Buayan and Bundu Tuhan (see earlier blog posts), the wildlife corridor and the anti-dam campaign;
- Group discussions about key issues affecting local communities, what information communities might want to convey to other stakeholders, and in which format (including written word, GIS maps, video and photo); and
- Group discussions to plan practical ways forwards.
The meeting concluded with GDF's community researchers agreeing a programme of community meetings in the Ulu Papar valley and Bundu Tuhan to obtain further information about relevant factors (such as the extent of community managed forests, location of cultural sites and land management practices) towards the development of community protocols calling for the recognition of their role in managing indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs). Harry and Holly thank Agnes, Adam, James and the GDF community researchers for hosting them for the past 3 weeks - and are already looking forward to the return.

Reviewing Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas in Malaysia

The Global Diversity Foundation (GDF) is managing a project in Sabah entitled: Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Sabah, a Consolidation of Issues and Experiences in Relation to Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use. Component 2 of the project aims to compile a state-wide review of indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) in Sabah, emphasising the identification of existing and potential ICCAs, and documenting communities’ experiences in establishing and managing ICCAs. One of the specific aims is to promote the traditional ecological knowledge and customary practices that are used or can be applied in the management of ICCAs, and inform the access and benefit sharing processes in the context of ICCAs and protected areas in general. In that context, Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas met with leaders of the Bundu Tuhan community (who live adjacent to the Kinabalu National Park - pictured) to discuss their twin concerns about the possible designation of their community forests as a Forest Reseve, and their work towards the recognition of their land as an ICCA. The meeting addressed bio-cultural community protocols, the community's development plan and the proposal to include the community's land in a wildlife corridor. Natural Justice was subsequently invited to provide further input to the ICCA work, specifically to explore with GDF how the communities with which GDF is working can provide evidence to support the designation of their villages and/or surrounding areas as ICCAs.

Malaysian Bio-cultural Community Protocol

As part of the Global Diversity Foundation's (GDF) Darwin Initiative-funded project entitled, “Participatory Approaches to Nominating the Crocker Range Biosphere Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia” Natural Justice was invited to facilitate the development of a bio-cultural community protocol. The communities in the Ulu Papar area, situated northwest of the Crocker Range Park (protected area), face a serious threat from a proposed dam. If constructed, the dam will inundate the Ulu Papar catchment area and force the relocation of a number of villages. GDF is working with Partners of Community Organizations (PACOS) Trust to engage with the multiple issues surrounding the proposed dam. Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas provided training to 7 of GDF's community researchers in Kota Kinabalu, who then facilitated a two day workshop whose focus was to look beyond the immediate threat of the dam to the communities' medium- to long-term plans for natural resource management. The workshop marks the first of a series towards the development of a community protocol setting out the wider context in which their lives and livelihoods exist, including: the contributions they are making to the conservation and sustainable use of Ulu Papar's natural resources; the customary laws relating to natural resource use; the interlinkages between local biodiversity and Dusun culture; and the community's visions for the future of the full range of traditional and modern land use in the area. The community protocol will request specific assistance from institutions the community can call on to achieve their endogenous development aspirations from within the community, other villages, NGOs, and government agencies.

Sui Generis Seminar, Sabah, Malaysia

Natural Justice took part in a seminar on ABS, Traditional Knowledge and Sui Generis Systems, organized by the Global Diversity Foundation in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The one day event is part of a seminar series exploring issues relating to conservation, customary uses of natural resources and legal frameworks, and included presentations from Dr Abdul Fatah (Sabah Biodiversity Centre), Professor Gurdial S. Nijar (Centre for Excellence in Biodiversity Law), Jannie Lasimbang (PACOS), and Kabir and Harry from Natural Justice. Holly Shrumm and Gino Cocchiaro were also at the event attended by community members, NGOs, researchers, government officials and students, among others. The seminar was intended to provide input to the draft ABS regulations being developed by the Sabah Biodiversity Centre, specifically with regard to how best to balance the promotion of biotechnology research, the conservation of biodiversity, the protection on traditional knowledge and communities' rights to the customary uses of their natural resources. See the Centre's website for more information.

Promoting Rights-based Approaches to Conservation in Latin America

Natural Justice recently wrote a briefing note on the use of BCPs in rights-based approaches to conservation. Our partners at GDF-Mesoamerica translated it into Spanish for use at a COMPAS regional Latin American meeting. Both the English and Spanish versions of the briefing note can be found on Natural Justice's publications page.

The Global Diversity Foundation's Mesoamerican Programme

As a part of Natural Justice's exploration of partnership with the Global Diversity Foundation's Mesoamerican Programme, Harry Jonas presented on rights-based approaches to livelihoods, in situ conservation and the protection of traditional knowledge at the Instituto de Ecologia in Xalapa, Veracruz. The lecture was followed by a seminar with researchers from the Institute to discuss the opportunities and challenges of community empowerment around natural resource use and traditional knowledge. He thanks the Mesoamerican Programme coordinators, Carlos del Campo and Claudia Camacho, for organizing an excellent visit.

Oaxaca, Mexico

In the context of ongoing discussions about coordinating the international development of bio-cultural community protocols between Natural Justice, UNEP, UNU, UNESCO, the Foundation for the Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, the COMPAS Network and the Global Diversity Foundation (GDF), Natural Justice is meeting with the coordinators of the GDF Mesoamerican Programme to explore synergies for future work. Carlos del Campo and Claudia Isabel Camacho are hosting Harry Jonas in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, to discuss rights-based approaches to assist communities living in the Chinantla area of Oaxaca with recent concerns they have about a planned decree to set aside their land as a protected area. For more information on GDF and the Mesoamerican Programme, see: www.globaldiversity.org.uk