Opional Secion Indigenous peoples’ systems of resource management and conservaion

RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 83 5. Traditional indigenous economies are usually based on the utilization of a broad range of wild and domesticated animal and plant species. Indigenous peoples manipulate their natural environment accordingly. This increases the complexity of an ecosystem’s microhabitat pattern and thereby often enhances, rather than reduces, biodiversity. Many of the so-called ‘wildernesses’ – like the savannas of East Africa, the woodlands of Northern Australia, the dry forests of mainland Southeast Asia or even the Amazon rainforests – should rather be called ‘cultural landscapes’ inasmuch as they have been created or at least shaped, and in any case maintained, for centuries through indigenous peoples’ constant interaction with their natural environments. 6. Closely related to, and in some cases the result of the use of a broad variety of species and microhabitats is the high degree of decentralization of indigenous peoples’ resource use systems mentioned above. Indigenous communities are, generally, to a large extent economically self-sufficient. They are able to satisfy most household needs locally; both production and consumption occur locally. Little energy and matter leave the local sys- tem. In general, most traditional indigenous resource use systems show properties which largely correspond to those identified as the fundamental principles found in highly sus- tainable self-regulated systems, like the utilization of existing natural processes, recy- cling, symbiosis and small-scale spatial diversity; a high structural and functional com- patibility with the organizational principles found in nature, etc. 7. What is crucial about such small autonomous systems is that they are clearly more sensitive to ecological problems than larger, more complex ones. For indigenous peoples, to be sensitive to ecological problems is a question of survival. What this, of course, requires is an intimate knowledge of the natural environments and processes. In indigenous cultures, experts exist who are peculiarly aware of Nature’s organising principles, sometimes described as entities, spirits, or natural law Posey 1996: 31. Although Indigenous Knowledge is highly pragmatic and practical, Indigenous Peoples generally view this knowledge as emanating from a spiritual base: all Creation is sacred, the sacred and the secular are inseparable, spirituality is the highest form of conscious- ness, and spiritual consciousness is the highest form of awareness. In this sense, a di- mension of Indigenous Knowledge is not local knowledge, but knowledge of the univer- sal as expressed in the local. Clarke: 382. 8. Indigenous peoples’ traditional economies are so-called subsistence economies, whose functional logic differs fundamentally from the now globalised model of the capi- talist market economy. Indigenous subsistence economies are need-oriented, which means that production aims – and therefore the overall level of production is geared – at fulfilling the totality of individual and communal needs, as defined by the prevalent values of the society. The crucial implication is that in contrast to the logic of capitalist commodity produc- tion, which is based on the primacy of profit maximization, production stops when needs are met. Especially in non-monetized indigenous economies, driving production beyond this level just does not make sense, as there is simply no use for accumulated surplus. The self-amplifying mechanism of profit maximization, capital accumulation Module-4 RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 84 and reinvestment in production, leading to exponential growth, is absent. Therefore, subsistence economies have an inherent tendency to rather ‘underuse’ than fully exploit or over-exploit natural resources. This is provided, of course, that the resource base is still sufficient, which again in most cases depends on whether the respective indigenous community retains uncontested control over its territory. 9. But even then, over-exploitation of certain resources is possible – and at times has oc- curred among many indigenous communities. However, because of their intimacy with their natural environment, and their direct and vital dependence on it, self-regulation processes are more likely to occur in time. Explicit and implicit conservation rules, both age-old and recent, can be found among indigenous peoples all over the world. Often, they are embedded in ritual practices and regulations. Nevertheless, just as often, neither explicit nor implicit conservation rules may be found, or, even where prevalent, there may be “little correlation between beliefs prescribing certain practices and actual behavior” Colchester 1994: 27. And yet, as among Amazo- nian Indians, balance is achieved. Many Amazonian Indians, it has been found, have an opportunistic rather than conserva- tion attitude to the environment and achieve ecological balance because their traditional political systems and settlement patterns encourage mobility. Indians thus move their vil- lages, fields and hunting expeditions to fresh areas once localities are exhausted because it requires less effort than does obtaining diminishing returns from the present locations. Balance is thus achieved unintentionally by negative feedback rather than through con- scious concern with excessive use. Market demands and other pressures that sedentarize and enlarge these communities, thus disrupting traditional residence and settlement pat- terns, coupled with new technologies such as outboard engines that cut travel times and machines to process crops, may upset these negative feedback cycles and cause indigenous communities to over-exploit their locale. Ibid. Under such drastically changed conditions, affected indigenous communities also have to devise explicit conservation rules. It has been found that self-imposed conservation rules are more likely to emerge among indigenous communities than elsewhere. In In- dia, for example, a “forestpovertytribal interface” Poffenberger et al. 1996:4 has been identified with respect to successful community forest management: Forest protection activities appear most common in areas that are characterised by signif- icant concentrations of forest, poverty, and high tribal populations. Cultural and economic ties to the forest often lead tribals to play a leadership role in establishing controls over degrading forests, although low-caste and low-income groups are also active. Ibid. Some of the decisive factors that ensure compliance with self-imposed conservation rules are the small size of traditional communities ‘where people know each other’, the prevalence of customary law, traditional authority, and social control exerted and sanc- tions imposed by the community. Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development:5 Module-4 RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 85

II. UNDRIP PROVISIONS ON RIGHTS TO LAND, TERRITORY RESOURCES

A. Core Aricles

The UNDRIP recognizes the importance of land, territory and resources for indige- nous peoples, and several articles refer to the rights of indigenous peoples over these. The central articles in this respect are 25 and 26. In addition, Articles 8 and 10 clearly provide for protection from dispossession. Article 25 Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other re- sources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard. Article 26 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. 2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupa- tion or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired. 3. States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned. Article 8 1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimila- tion or destruction of their culture. 2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for: a. Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities; b. Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources; c. Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or un- dermining any of their rights; d. Any form of forced assimilation or integration; e. Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them. Article 10 Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No reloca- tion shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples con- cerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return. Module-4 Present a list of the relevant UNDRIP pro- visions. Involve participants in reading the provi- sions. Discuss and elaborate on each provision. Suggested Method RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 86 LINKS Other international legal instruments relevant for indigenous peoples’ right to land, ter- ritory and resources are: • The International Labor Organization’s ILO Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries Convention No. 169 • International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights • The Discrimination Employment and Occupation Convention, 1958 of the ILO Con- vention No. 111

B. Related Articles 1. On the recognition of customary laws regulating rights to land and resources

In recognition of the fact that indigenous peoples have their own customary laws regulating access to land and resources, the UNDRIP has included an article that emphasizes that these have to be taken into account. Article 27 States shall establish and implement, in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned, a fair, independent, impartial, open and transparent process, giving due recognition to indigenous peoples’ laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems, to recognize and adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples pertaining to their lands, territories and resources, including those which were traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used. Indigenous peoples shall have the right to participate in this process. LINKS Other international legal instruments do contain provisions, although not very explicit, which are relevant to the recognition and protection of customary laws regulating rights to land and resources. Among them are: • ILO Convention No. 169 • International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights • Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination • ILO Convention No. 111

2. On the right to redress for past injustices

A separate article in the UNDRIP addresses past injustices and dispossessions, and provides for the right to redress, both in the form of restitution and compensation: Article 28 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed con- sent. Module-4