Indigenous peoples’ conservation territories and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities (ICCAs): status, prospects, options and opportunities in Indonesia (short title:ICCAs in Indonesia)
Purpose
This meeting is being called to explore the concept, practice, limitations and opportunities of ICCAs in Indonesia, and– if appropriate– provide initial stimulus and support to a broad alliance of organizations and people willing to engage in appropriate follow-up activities.
Co-sponsoring organizations (alphabetical order, main sponsors only)
Forests Peoples Programme (FPP); ICCA Consortium; People’s Coalition for Fisheries Justice (KIARA); Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme for South and South-East Asia (NTFP-EP); WWF Indonesia.
Summary
ICCAs are a widespread reality throughout the world. They are also a strongly emerging concept for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and numerous national policies on sustainable livelihoods, human and indigenous rights and conservation of nature. In the eve of recent affirmation by the Indonesian government to “recognize, respect and protect Adatrights” and in the occasion of the General Assembly of the ICCA Consortium in Indonesia, foreseen in October 2011, a national Symposium has been called to explore whether and how ICCAs are– in concept and practice— applicable to the specific case of Indonesia. If they are, the Symposium will explore theirlimitations and opportunities and ways to appropriately recognize them and support them to deliver their livelihoods, rights and nature conservation benefits.
Expected outputs
Broad common understanding of the meaning, practices and legal context of ICCAs in Indonesia
Joint strategic posture of diverse Indonesian organizations on the value, limitations and opportunities of embracing an ICCA-related agenda
As appropriate, follow-up initiatives identified, in particular policy-oriented initiatives and site-based analyses of prospects and needs (the ICCA Consortium, other co-sponsoring organizations and GEF SGP are ready to support such initiatives in the months to follow)
As appropriate, initial discussion of ICCA documentation in Indonesia and preliminary identification of possible ICCA cases to be illustrated at forthcoming international events in 2012 (Rio +20, World Conservation Congress, etc.).
Background
Throughout the world, indigenous peoples and local communities relate to nature, use natural resources for their livelihoods and perceive them as essential in their lives. Nature intertwines with their knowledge, practices and spiritual and material values and is closely related to their customary and legal rights over land, water and natural resources and culture. Despite the enormous global importance of state-property and private property, communal ownership and control (and/or community-based decisions and action) still encompass a vital proportion of the land and water bodies significant for global biological and cultural diversity. In fact, a close association is often found between a specific indigenous people or local community and a specific territory, area or body of natural resources. When such association is combined with de facto local governance and conservation of biological and cultural diversity, it has now become usual to speak of “ICCAs”.1
ICCAs include cases of continuation, revival or modification of traditional practices, many of which are of ancient origin. They also include new initiatives, such as restoration and innovative uses of natural resources taken up in the face of new threats or opportunities. Some ICCAs conserve ecosystems that have had minimum human influence, while others manage various kinds of regulated uses in small to large stretches of agricultural, pastoral and hunting and gathering lands, as well as forests, wetlands, mountain, coastal and marine areas. Many ICCAs are Sacred Natural Sites. Equally impressive is the diversity of traditional and modern institutions and rules that govern ICCAs, and the variety of their motivations and objectives. Such diversity, designed through time to fit specific ecological and social situations, is ICCAs’ true wealth but also contributes to their vulnerability, as some state governments are not comfortable dealing with unique institutions that may not fit the country’s legislative and procedural requirements.
ICCAs have not had an easy relationship with modern state agencies. In recent history they were often neglected when not forcibly assimilated into protected areas or development initiatives (tourism, extractive industries, infrastructures…) developed by the state and/ or the private sector. Rarely the institutions governing ICCAs have been appropriately recognised and supported. More often, they have been treated as invisible, disrespected or damaged, with the consequence that many ICCAs have today ceased to exist and provide benefits, or are under severe impending threats.
Local governance institutions, tenure security and self-determination regarding land, natural resources and culture are crucial for the survival of ICCAs as they are for advocates of indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights. As a matter of fact some assert that full recognition and support of ICCAs is one of the most powerful and direct ways of implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).2Some indigenous peoples have started using the concept to affirm their governance capacities and rights even for lands and natural resources currently encompassed into state protected areas. They stress that such areas were, and some still are, de facto ICCAs, and they can effectively govern them with common benefits for themselves and all other national stakeholders.3
The world of conservation began to take serious notice of ICCAs at the World Parks Congress of Durban, in 2003. ICCAs were then defined by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as “natural and/or modified ecosystems, containing significant biodiversity values, ecological benefits and cultural values, voluntarily conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities, both sedentary and mobile, through customary laws or other effective means”.4 Today, ICCAs are fully embraced by both IUCN and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as one of the four main governance types for protected areas,5 to be autonomously governed by indigenous peoples and local communities and properly supported as part of the legal obligations of all 193 CBD countries that are parties to the Convention, including Indonesia.
Importantly, neither the CBD nor the IUCN assume that ICCAsshould be recognised as protected areas and/or incorporated in national protected area systems. As a matter of fact, they can be considered as the major component of conservation recognised to take place outside national protected areas systems. They can be recognised as part of the system if the relevant indigenous peoples, local communities and governments so wish, but they can also remain part of “other area-based conservation measures” that concur to the country’s agreed biodiversity targets. 6
Rationale
On the eve of recent affirmation by the Indonesian government that it will prioritize the needs of its forest communities, “recognize, respect and protect Adat [customary] rights” and implement legislation that has rarely been implemented in the past decade, Indonesia seems poised to become one of the most sensitive countries in the world with respect to ICCAs. It is important news that the Indonesian government agreed to work closely with civil society and indigenous groups to develop and implement a new national strategy to grant significant land rights to the people who live in and around the archipelago’s estimated 130 million hectares of forest.7 It is thus appropriate to call, as part of this collective reflection, a meeting to explore whether and how ICCAs are– in concept and practice— applicable to the case of Indonesia. If this is so, we could then also explore what specific limitations and opportunities exist in the country and how ICCAs could be appropriately supported to deliver their livelihood and natureconservation benefits and to strengthen the security of land and resource tenure for the concerned communities and peoples.
A specific occasion for such a meeting presents itself in October 2011, when the ICCA Consortium (www.iccaforum.org ) will hold its General Assembly and Coordinators’ retreat in Indonesia.The ICCA Consortium encompasses a diverse group of organizational Members from around the world working at the local, national, regional, and international levels to advocate for and realize appropriate recognition and support for ICCAs. Some representatives of Consortium Member organizations are already in Indonesia, but others will travel there in October. Together, they could take time to participate in the Symposium and contribute their extensive experience to the discussion of Indonesia-specific cases and issues.
Structure of the event
The Symposium is foreseen to encompass two full days. Broadly, it is expected that during the first day a variety of case examples of “ICCA-like” situations in Indonesia will be illustrated, as well as a few reports and comments from international participants. During the second day, several working groups will explore in-depth a number of questions, seeking clarity about the extent of the ICCA phenomenon in Indonesia, as well as its characteristics and current key issues and prospects. The results of the working groups will be brought together as conclusions of the Symposium and recommendations for follow-up.
Financial sponsorship
The ICCA Consortium (with funding from The Christensen Fund, UNDP and GIZ) will sponsor most international participants. WWF Indonesia will sponsor several local participants as well as accommodations and meals for all participants. Natural Justice (with funding from Swedbio) will sponsor two international participants. CIFOR has kindly made available its facilities in Bogor at a preferential rate.
Dates
13-14 October 2011 (arrival in Bogor the 12 of October)
Participants
Between forty and eighty participants are expected to attend, most of whom from Indonesia; the ICCA consortium will provide experience also from other Asian countries, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
Location
CIFOR Campus, Bogor, Indonesia
Contacts of key organisers (alphabetical order)
FPP — Maurizio Farhan Ferrari, maurizio@forestpeoples.org
FPP — Emil Kleden kleden.emilola1@gmail.com
GFC — Hubertus Samangun hsamangun@yahoo.com
ICCA Consortium — Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend , gbf@cenesta.org
ICCA Consortium — Vanessa Reid nessiereid@gmail.com
KIARA — Riza Damanik riza.damanik@gmail.com
NTFP-EP — Crissy Guerrero crissyg33@yahoo.com
WWF Indonesia — Cristina Eghenter awing@samarinda.org ;ceghenter@www.or.id
1 The acronym stands for “Indigenous peoples’ conserved territories and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities”. For more information see: Bio-cultural diversity conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities— examples and analysis. and www.iccaforum.org.
2 Stevens, S., “Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and International Human Rights Law through Recognition of ICCAs”,Policy Matters 17, 2010 (in press).
3 Confederación Mapuche, Del co-manejo a la gobernanza, 2008.
4 Borrini-Feyerabend, G., A. Kothari and G. Oviedo, Indigenous and Local Communities and Protected Areas– Towards Equity and Enhanced Conservation, IUCN Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 11, Gland (Switzerland) and Cambridge (UK), 2004.
5 Lausche, B., Guidelines for Protected Areas Legislation. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 2011; CBD COP 10 Decision X/31 on Protected areas, 2010; Dudley (ed.), Guidelines for Applying Protected Areas Management Categories, IUCN/ WCPA Best Practices in Protected Areas Series, Gland (Switzerland), 2008.
6 CBD Aichi Target 11, 2010– http://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/
7 http://www.rightsandresources.org/blog.php?id=780
