Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs) cover 12-22% of the earth’s territory. There is convincing evidence that ICCAs not only sustain many unique cultures and livelihoods, but that they are also far more effective at forest conservation and restoration than conventional protected areas. It is also broadly recognised that Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) play a central role in the implementation of ecosystem conservation and restoration strategies on the ground. Together with other members of the ICCA Consortium we promote the legal and political recognition of ICCAs and the autonomous governance structures and rights of the communities that manage them.
The Community Conservation Resilience Initiative
Conserving biocultural diversity and respecting and promoting the rights and role of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women in nurturing biocultural diversity is of fundamental importance to reducing and reversing deforestation and biodiversity loss in general.
The aim of the Community Conservation Resilience Initiative (CCRI) is to contribute to the implementation of the CBD’s 2011-2020 Strategic Plan and Aichi Targets by providing policy advice on effective and appropriate forms of support for community conservation (see CCRI methodology). The project is documenting and reviewing the findings of bottom-up, participatory assessments in 22 countries (see map below) of the resilience of community conservation initiatives and the support that should be provided to strengthen these initiatives. The results of the assessments are being widely disseminated and fed into the deliberations of the Convention on Biological Diversity and related international policy processes through an active outreach and advocacy campaign. You can view and download all of the CCRI publications to date here. The project will run until April 2019, and numerous CCRI projects have already led to inspiring results, teaching us a great deal about the best ways to design, develop and implement community conservation projects.
The CCRI was established by an informal alliance of national and international Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, non-governmental organisations and social movements that shared a joint belief in community governance and rights-based approaches to ecosystem conservation and restoration. Aside from the Global Forest Coalition key partners include Natural Justice, the International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests, the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee and the ICCA Consortium.
Today is International Day for Biological Diversity, and the theme this year is “Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health”. Unfortunately, many biodiversity conservation schemes globally see communities as part of the problem and actively seek to exclude them from protected areas, which seriously harms their food security and access to traditional health care. We believe in a rights-based approach, where local communities and Indigenous Peoples are supported to protect and conserve biodiversity themselves. Instead of denying communities access to land …
From 18 to 21 March 2019, 32 representatives of local community groups, women’s groups and NGOs gathered for a West African skillshare on gender-sensitive community-based forest conservation and restoration initiatives,…
By Fundaexpresión, a Global Forest Coalition Women2030 partner in Colombia The key role that peasant women play in Colombia and the rest of the world in forging community processes to…
Press Release by All India Forum of Forest Movements (AIFFM) On 13 February, the Supreme Court of India, hearing a decade-old petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Forest Rights…
By Global Forest Coalition As world leaders gather in Katowice, Poland, to discuss how to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we present this photo essay showcasing the conservation…
Download the summary report here Introduction The CCRI assessment was conducted in three diverse biological-cultural landscapes in India: Buxa-Chilapata forest area (BTR-CPT) in the state of Bengal, Eastern India, the…
Welcome to the 57th issue of Forest Cover, the Global Forest Coalition’s magazine. It provides a space for environmental justice activists from across the world to present their views on…
This brief provides a summary of the 2018 global report of the Community Conservation Resilience Initiative (CCRI) and sets out overarching recommendations for select draft decisions of the 14th Conference…
Welcome to the 56th issue of Forest Cover, the Global Forest Coalition’s magazine. It provides a space for environmental justice activists from across the world to present their views on…
Rural communities in Georgia practice a wide range of forest and biodiversity conservation techniques, which have great potential to provide sustainable livelihoods and protect the environment. This has been highlighted…
Download the summary report here Introduction The CCRI assessment in Georgia involved three communities. Two of them, Sakorintlo and Okami, are in East Georgia, in the region of Shida Khartli…
