Traditional Knowledge Bulletin |
- This week in review … ECOSOC appoints new PFII members
- Meeting review: UNU-IAS public symposium on indicators of resilience in SEPLS
- This week in review … Southern African countries discuss capacity-building strategy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage
- This week in review … Indigenous groups in the Amazon report climate change impacts
- This week in review … IPBES stakeholder meeting urged to include local knowledge
- Resource: IIED report on FPIC and extractive industries
- This week in review … ICTSD piece comments on WIPO IGC negotiations on TK
- This week in review … Consultation opens on WIN scoping paper
This week in review … ECOSOC appoints new PFII members Posted: 08 May 2013 04:23 AM PDT Members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2014-2016 UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK: The President of the Economic and Social Council announced the appointment of eight Members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the term 2014-2016 who had been nominated by indigenous peoples' organizations. Previously, the Council had elected seven members nominated by governments. One member remains to be elected by the Council from the Asia-Pacific region. Their term begins on 1 January 2014 and lasts until 31 December 2016. The appointed members nominated by indigenous organizations include: Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine; Dalee Sambo Dorough; Joan Carling; Raja Devasish Roy; Kara-Kys Arakchaa; Maria Eugenia Choque Quispe; Edward John; and Valmaine Toki. The government-nominated members include: Joseph Goko Mutangah; Gervais Nzoa; Mohammad Hassani Nejad Pirkouhi; Oliver Loode; Aisa Mukabenova; Alvaro Esteban Pop Ac; and Megan Davis. Read the PFII release … Read the ECOSOC release … |
Meeting review: UNU-IAS public symposium on indicators of resilience in SEPLS Posted: 08 May 2013 04:20 AM PDT Public Symposium held on Indicators of Resilience in SEPLS YOKOHAMA, JAPAN: Held on 22 April 2013 at the UNU-IAS, and focusing on the resilience of the world's socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS), this symposium featured speakers from Bioversity International and the UN Development Programme, two member organizations of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative. In his opening remarks, Wataru Suzuki, Coordinator of the International Satoyama Initiative at UNU-IAS, provided some background on the long collaborative process that has led to the development and testing of a set of twenty indicators for resilience in SEPLS. Nadia Bergamini, Bioversity International, shared some of the results of the initial testing of the indicators and lessons learned; and emphasized their usefulness for establishing a common understanding at community-level of threats and solutions and for determining which strategies can be undertaken to strengthen resilience. Diana Salvemini, UNDP, presented the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative Project, a collaborative effort under IPSI, which supported local community activities in ten countries to promote sustainable landscape-level management approaches, and is projected to support activities in ten additional countries. Read the release, including links to presentations … Download the UNU-IAS policy report Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes (SEPLS) [pdf] … |
This week in review … Southern African countries discuss capacity-building strategy for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage Posted: 08 May 2013 04:17 AM PDT Southern Africa: Towards a sub-regional capacity-building strategy for intangible cultural heritage PARIS, FRANCE: For the first time, Southern African countries met to create the professional and institutional environment required for the effective safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in the sub-region. Held from 30 April o 2 May 2013 in Harare, Zimbabwe, a meeting of experts and officials from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe addressed the basic components of a future capacity-building strategy in Southern Africa for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage at the sub-regional level. A number of UNESCO workshops and pilot projects on community-based inventorying in the sub-region since 2009 had laid the groundwork for the initiative. Read the UNESCO release … |
This week in review … Indigenous groups in the Amazon report climate change impacts Posted: 08 May 2013 04:15 AM PDT Indigenous tribes say effects of climate change already felt in Amazon rainforest CALIFORNIA, USA: Tribal groups in the Amazon rainforest are already being affected by shifts wrought by climate change, reports a paper published last week in the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. The paper, which is based on a collection of interviews conducted with indigenous leaders in the Brazilian Amazon, says that native populations are reporting shifts in precipitation patterns, humidity, river levels, temperature, and fire and agricultural cycles. These shifts, measured against celestial timing used by indigenous groups, are affecting traditional ways of life that date back thousands of years. "Indigenous groups who have lived in the Amazon for centuries, even millennia, are seeing signs that the climate is changing there," said Steve Schwartzman, lead author of the study and director of tropical forest policy at Environmental Defense Fund. "Indigenous people are telling us rainfall and river levels have changed; the fires they're dealing with are different now; and the climate systems they used to depend on for growing crops have become unpredictable." In particular, indigenous interviewees mention concerns about drier conditions making it more difficult to control fires traditionally used for small-scale rotational agriculture. For generations, indigenous farmers set fires based on the position of stars in the sky – reflecting the time of year – with the expectation that the fires wouldn't spread into humid forest areas. But drier conditions today mean that savanna fires can easily move into rainforests, damaging them and reducing their capacity to withstand drought and future burning. Read the article … Read the abstract of The natural and social history of the indigenous lands and protected areas corridor of the Xingu River basin, by Stephan Schwartzman et al … |
This week in review … IPBES stakeholder meeting urged to include local knowledge Posted: 08 May 2013 04:13 AM PDT Global biodiversity panel urged to heed local voices PARIS, FRANCE: A stakeholder meeting of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was held from 29-30 April 2013 in Paris, France. A key issue that emerged was how to involve voices from the global South, including those of indigenous communities, traditional and local knowledge holders, women, and civil society organizations. Experts are concerned the panel could become ensnared by northern government agendas, private-sector lobbying or the interests of the vocal conservation sector, at the expense of livelihood concerns and biodiversity priorities of local communities in the developing world. And many insiders are worried that the IPBES bureau and multidisciplinary expert panel are already too skewed towards conventional scientific voices and government ministries, and are failing to represent more diverse voices and communities in developing countries. Read the article … |
Resource: IIED report on FPIC and extractive industries Posted: 08 May 2013 04:09 AM PDT FPIC and the extractive industries: a guide to applying the spirit of free, prior and informed consent in industrial projects This report seeks to articulate the relevance of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) to company policy and practice, while also providing a balanced consideration of the relative responsibilities of government and civil society. Oil, gas and mining companies are increasingly aware of the need to secure the trust of local communities to gain a 'social license to operate'. Implementing a project without it can lead to operational delays, financial costs and litigation, or even project closure, violence and loss of life. FPIC is an indigenous peoples' right, established in international conventions, requiring companies to engage with local communities to agree together on how projects are implemented; it is also a crucial part of gaining the social license to operate. There is a growing set of FPIC regulations to comply with, and responsible companies are increasingly aware that they need to have policies relating to FPIC. This paper offers guidance to those companies who are looking to engage with FPIC in a meaningful way. It focuses less on the letter of the law, which may differ in different jurisdictions, and more on exploring 'the spirit of FPIC', a deeper commitment to engage with local communities to reach shared agreement, allowing people to have a meaningful voice in deliberative decision-making processes related to their own development. The authors offer a three-level framework of transferable principles to implement the 'spirit of FPIC', as well as references to the plentiful step-by-step guidance that exists on implementing FPIC. The framework is intended to challenge companies to move beyond a culture driven by minimal compliance-based thinking, towards one based on a greater understanding of the importance of stakeholder engagement practices; an understanding which should benefit business as well as communities. It involves: complying with requirements for FPIC under international and national law, company policy and obligations to third parties, such as project lenders; implementing the 'spirit of FPIC' throughout the project life-cycle, by employing timely, transparent, deliberative processes to reach mutual agreement on future developments, whether or not this is required by third parties; and applying the 'spirit of FPIC' not only to indigenous communities, but to all significantly affected local communities, in line with emerging good practice guidance. Download the report [pdf] … |
This week in review … ICTSD piece comments on WIPO IGC negotiations on TK Posted: 08 May 2013 04:07 AM PDT WIPO Negotiators Make Headway on Draft Instrument on Traditional Knowledge GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: The 22-26 April meeting of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) saw delegates work in informal and small drafting groups in order to whittle down a text fraught with brackets. Though some parts of the text – such as the definition of traditional knowledge – appear to have fewer brackets than before, the document still reflects important disagreements between countries on core issues. One particularly contentious issue under "scope of protection" continues to be a mandatory disclosure requirement in patent applications regarding the origin of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. Another issue that turned heated during the discussions was whether traditional knowledge found in the public domain or that is known and used outside the community is eligible for protection. Read the article … |
This week in review … Consultation opens on WIN scoping paper Posted: 08 May 2013 04:04 AM PDT Help build an enduring World Indigenous Network (WIN): Community consultation is now open! DARWIN, AUSTRALIA: The WIN International Reference Group and the WIN Secretariat have drafted a scoping paper which suggests a structure for the future of the WIN and asks a series of discussion questions. The scoping paper is open to community consultation for seven weeks – from 6 May to 21 June 2013. Participants can either share ideas through three themed discussion boards or make a more formal online submission. At the same time, the WIN website has a dedicated section for indigenous and local community land and sea managers to share their stories and projects. Further information, including link to the scoping paper … View the stories and projects webpage … |
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