Panel on TK Documentation, Valorisation and Compliance

On 27 February 2013, Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice) and Rodney Sibuyi (Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association) participated in a panel discussion together with Tom Suchanandan (South African Department of Science and Technology - DST) and Lazarus Kairabeb (Nama Traditional Leaders Association, Namibia). The panel was moderated by Barbara Lassen (ABS Initiative) and dialogue and questions followed brief presentations by panelists. The...

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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...

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IDLO Publications on Customary Justice

The International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) has released three edited volumes on customary justice. "Customary Justice: Perspectives on Legal Empowerment" was edited by Janine Ubink and "explores the relationship between traditional justice and legal empowerment. It discusses key aspects of traditional justice, including the rise of customary law in justice sector reform, the effectiveness of hybrid justice systems, access to justice...

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Seventh Pan-African ABS Workshop

Natural Justice’s Lassana Kone and Gino Cocchiaro are attending the seventh Pan-African Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Workshop hosted by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs from 25 February to 1 March 2013 in Phalaborwa, South Africa. The main objectives of the workshop are to collect reflections and comments on the draft AU Guidelines regarding its use and usefulness, consider the “Traditional Knowledge and Plant Genetic Resources...

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Presentation at National University of Juridical Sciences

On 24 February, 2013, Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) was invited by the Nature Committee of the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata to speak to students on Biocultural Rights and Access and Benefit Sharing. Thereafter Kabir co-chaired a mock session on negotiating the Nagoya Protocol with law students from law schools across India....

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Meeting on the Scope of BCPs in Bhubaneswar

Natural Justice and Vasundhara jointly organised a meeting on 22 February 2013 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha District, to discuss the scope of Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) in asserting community rights. The meeting was facilitated by Sankar Pani (Natural Justice) and was attended by representatives from various civil society organisations working in Odisha. Mr Y Giri Rao (Vasundhara) welcomed participants and presented the keynote address....

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Launch of the Philippines ICCA Consortium

In the Philippines, the future of conservation is directly linked to Indigenous peoples. Recent spatial analysis shows that the vast majority of the country's remaining forests and key biodiversity areas are located within Indigenous peoples' ancestral domains. From 19-21 February, Koalisyon ng Katutubong Samahan ng Pilipinas (KASAPI, the national Indigenous peoples' coalition of the Philippines) and the Philippine Association for Inter-cultural...

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Second Meeting of the ARI-BCP

Natural Justice and the Law, Environment and Design (LED) Lab organised the second meeting of the Asia Regional Initiative on Biocultural Community Protocols (ARI-BCP) at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore from 18-20 February, 2013. The meeting was attended by ARI-BCP participants from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal working to support tribal rights, fishing community rights, the rights of communities affected by extractive...

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LAPSSET Dialogue Meeting in Nairobi

On 15 February 2013, Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice) attended a stakeholder dialogue meeting on the on-going plans and sharing of updates on the implementation of the Lamu Port and Lamu Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting was facilitated by Save Lamu and included over 50 participants from communities affected by LAPSSET, national civil society organisations, multinational organisations and Kenyan...

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Pastoralist BCP Programme Planning - Nairobi

Natural Justice's Gino Cocchiaro met with Life Africa Trust, Kivulini Trust and the Marsabit Accountability Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on 14 February. The meeting was to plan the two-year programme, supported by the GEF Small Grants Programme, that is being coordinated by the organisations to support the Borana and Samburu pastoralist communities to strengthen community governance systems through the development of community protocols...

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Document Reveals Gas Company Plans for Manú National Park

Via guardian.co.ukA new document reveals Pluspetrol interests in the gas reserves of Manú National Park in the Peruvian Amazon. Unesco considers the  park's biodiversity to exceed that of any other place on Earth. The national park is also home to Indigenous peoples with no regular contact with outsiders. The document is entitled “Research Plan for Geological Exploration and Surface Geochemistry in the Manú National Park and its Buffer...

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EMRIP Submission on Indigenous Peoples and Access to Justice

Orang asli (Indigenous peoples) of Malaysia celebrate asuccessful High Court judgment in 2012. Photo via The Star.On 11 February, Natural Justice made two submissions to a Human Rights Council-mandated study by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) on access to justice in the protection and promotion of the rights of Indigenous peoples. The draft study will be presented at the sixth session of EMRIP in July.The first submission...

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L’accès à la Justice des Autochtones Pygmées en Province du Nord Kivu

Mission de médiation foncière entre les populationsautochtones pygmées et non pygmées dans 4 localitésdu Groupement Ufamandu 1er, en territoire de Masisi.Photo de PIDP-Kivu.En date du 11 février 2013, Natural Justice, en collaboration avec le Programme d’Intégration et de Développement du Peuple Pygmée au Kivu (PIDP-Kivu) a soumis une étude conjointe sur l’accès à la justice des autochtones pygmées dans la province du Nord Kivu, au Mécanisme...

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Community Visioning Workshop in Melangkap

Harry Jonas (Natural Justice) worked with Lanash Thanda and Alice Matthew (Borneo Conservancy) from 8-10 February to facilitate a workshop in Melangkap, a cluster of villages in Sabah, Malaysia, to begin to explore the communities' futures. The participants looked ahead to Melangkap in 2030 to think through what might be the positive and negative changes, and to think through how to avoid the negative. The workshop and related meetings with...

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Major Court Victory for Tana River Delta Communities

Photo via www.facebook.com/pages/KenwebIn a significant victory for community land rights, the Kenyan High Court Judge Mumbi Ngugi has ruled that all land use plans for the Tana River Delta must be developed with the full participation of local communities. The Court also ordered that the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority must share current short and long term land use plans and that plans will be periodically reviewed. The ruling is a major...

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CAO Audit of IFC Investments

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent recourse mechanism of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has released an audit of the IFC’s financial sector investments together with a response from the IFC. The audit considered 188 of the IFC’s 844 financial sector investments and has revealed significant risks from these investments as they potentially cause environmental and/or social harm. The audit determines that while...

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ICCA Consortium Newsletter Recaps 2012

The Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCA) Consortium has released the third edition of its newsletter, which focuses on Consortium events and activities from the final months of 2012. The newsletter blends coverage of work at the international and regional level with activities in specific countries and locations. The newsletter highlights the continued emergence of the ICCA Consortium, especially at the 11th Conference...

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Prospectus sur les Protocoles Bioculturels Communautaires

Natural Justice vient de publier la version française de son prospectus sur les Protocoles Bioculturels Communautaires (PBCs). Ce prospectus fournit une définition des PBCs souvent utilisés par les peuples autochtones ainsi que les communautés locales en réponse  aux menaces et opportunités causés par le développement des terres et des ressources, la conservation, la recherche ainsi que d'autres cadres juridiques et politiques. C’est aussi un...

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LED Lab Mapping in Sariska Tiger Reserve

The team from the Law, Environment and Design (LED) Lab, a new partnership between Natural Justice and the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, visited three villages in the core area of the Sariska Tiger Reserve to begin a resource mapping process with the Gujjar community. The team was accompanied by KRAPAVIS, a local NGO. The team worked with the community on a cognitive mapping exercise where different groups gathered to fill...

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RRI Reports on Secure Land Tenure

The Rights and Resources Initiative has released two ground-breaking reports highlighting the importance of secure land tenure in broader national and international law and policy and for investors. “Landowners or Laborers: What choice will developing countries make?” considers the implications of policies, especially in Africa, that seek rapid development by ceding control of land and resources to external actors. It contrasts these policies...

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