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Collective and tenure rights for sustainable Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems in the context of the 10th anniversary of the VGGT and the IYAFA 2022


05/05/2022 - 

New York / Online – Despite the importance of Indigenous Peoples lands for biodiversity and their spiritual, social, cultural value as sources of identity, Indigenous Peoples’ rights over their lands have been historically disregarded. Tenure insecurity has led Indigenous Peoples to forced evictions, displacement and relocation affecting their security and cultural survival.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Indigenous Peoples and their food security differently around the world: those with access to land and who rely on their Indigenous Peoples’ food systems to generate food are coping better than other communities who rely heavily on the market to meet their food needs.

Within the framework of the 10th anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT) and the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022, this side-event provided an opportunity to discuss emerging issues related to collective rights to lands, territories and resources.

 

 

 

Territorial rights, criminalization and violence

“The lack of recognition of Indigenous Peoples in regions such as Asia and Africa, including in some regions of Latin America, as well as the lack of recognition of territorial rights are among the most serious challenges that Indigenous Peoples face worldwide. It is this lack of recognition of our territorial rights that has led to the increasing murder and criminalization of Indigenous Peoples around the world” emphasized Dario Mejía Montalvo (Zenú People), the new Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). “We welcome the existence of these voluntary guidelines (VGGTs) which are soft though instruments that have significantly helped to advance the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples in several countries. Its section 9 clearly determines the need for countries to recognize and respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and especially their collective rights to communal lands.”

 

No step back – the VGGTs as a tool for accountability

“We commemorate rather than celebrate the 10th anniversary of the VGGTs, because the fact is that, while the voluntary guidelines are now being widely used in a variety of powerful and meaningful ways, there is still a substantial gap between the global guidance and norms, and practice in many countries. Secure land tenure rights are simply not where they need to be to meet the Global Goals,” emphasized H.E. Gabriel Ferrero, Ambassador of Spain and CFS Chairperson. “Land and its governance are the bedrock on which all other food security and nutrition efforts are build.” Indigenous Peoples territories very often play a key role for biodiversity and carbon capture and many other global public goods. The VGGTs are one of the most relevant globally agreed instruments in this regard, he added.

Collective rights to achieve the SDGs

"The VGGTs continue to be the top priority for FAO's tenure work,” underscored Benjamin Davis, Director of FAO’s Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division. “The interface of land tenure and collective and customary rights of Indigenous Peoples is central to change and achieving the Global Goals," he emphasized.

 

Health and land rights

“There are clear links between health and empowerment of Indigenous Peoples, land rights and Climate Change,” explained Jessie Schutt-Aine, Chief of the Office of Equity, Gender and Cultural Diversity at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). “By implementing the PAHO/WHO policy on ethnicity and health, members acknowledge intercultural approaches to health, centered around equity and respect" she added.

 

Challenges and opportunities for the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights in fisheries in the context of the IYAFA 2022.

“What we see often is that in the implementation of the VGGTs, the fisheries part is neglected, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples in relation to fisheries are even more neglected,“ problematized Nicole Franz, Fisheries planning officer at FAO. “Collective action is necessary to defend and claim those rights, which requires organization and an enabling environment for participatory processes.” The Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small Scale Fisheries are a tool to contextualize the VGGT in fisheries, based on the recognition of customary tenure rights, promotion of traditional knowledge, meaningful participation in decision making based on FPIC and UNDRIP, as well as in the planning, implementation and monitoring of projects. “With the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA), there is global momentum for Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights in fisheries. It is our responsibility to seize the opportunity,” she concluded.

Liseth Escobar from the Fundación Omacha highlighted that challenges in the Amazon basin in the context of fisheries includes a broad number of stakeholders involved, and the fact that FPIC and human rights are not always respected. “The VGGTs play an important role considering they have become a framework to defend Indigenous Peoples’ rights and territories from a human rights approach. The VGGTs are a crucial reference to generate inclusive policies and new legal frameworks, and a strong tool that states must implement in order to generate social and natural welfare,” she concluded.

Challenges and opportunities for the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and natural resources through the implementation of the VGGTs

“Indigenous Peoples manage or have tenure rights over at least 38 million km2 in 87 countries or one-fourth of the earth’s land, with high biodiversity and mostly intact landscapes, yet their territorial rights are not respected,” urged Kundan Kumar, an Expert on  Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights. The Environmental Justice Atlas shows over 1440 conflicts, many related to climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. “If we recognize the agency and leadership of Indigenous Peoples to manage the land and territories, we can reach the global targets for biodiversity conservation much more easily,” Kumar added. Unclear tenure rights can be a major risk to both Indigenous Peoples and for investments. Therefore, implementing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) without proper collective rights is likely to lead to violations of rights and conflicts. “There is an urgent need to formally recognise Indigenous Peoples and their territorial rights as basic conservation and NBS strategy. We should make a strict UNDRIP compliance a funding condition for all conservation and NBS projects,” he concluded.   

“Translating the VGGTs into Hindi and five Indigenous Languages thanks to FAO, spoken by over 22 million people in India, has received a very positive response, “ said Ramesh Sharma, National Coordinator of Ekta Parishad. “The VGGTs are very much supporting sustainable and culturally acceptable provisions which ensure the rights and justice to the majority of marginalised communities in India, and across the world,” he concluded.

 

The way forward

“Despite the robust value of the VGGTs, land tenure threats persist. As pastoralists, we see intergenerational conflicts unresolved. Privatizing previously collective lands, commodification, and climate change pose increased challenges. We are not putting the necessary resources to put the VGGTs into practice, and therefore tenure risks persist. The political will to make it happen is a missing link,” emphasized Kimaren Ole Riamit, Maasai people, member of the GCF Indigenous Peoples advisory group and team leader of the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA).

Yon Fernández de Larrinoa, Head of the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit provided closing remarks. “We tend to separate fisheries, forestry, and natural resources, but this is not how Indigenous Peoples food systems look at nature. Unless we rethink the way that we generate and produce food, unless we learn from Indigenous Peoples food systems, and biocentric restoration, and we place them at the center of policy discussions where they are treated as knowledge holders, we will have the disassociation between normative frameworks and a reality of violence and displacement.

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