This session focused on the varying dimensions of vulnerabilities of resources dependent local communities in the landscapes harboring iconic species such as the tiger. The human dominated landscapes of South Asia are also the home to rich biodiversity. The state in such areas has taken up the initiative to conserve this biodiversity through the declaration of Protected Areas and Tiger reserves, wherein human activity is often severely restricted.

While conservation of such areas has a multitude of benefits for the larger community in terms of the ecosystem services provided, and cultural and aesthetic values, it can potentially pose a challenge for meeting day-to-day requirements of local people who live in their immediate borderlands. Management solutions for addressing the resultant conflict are often inadequate and misdirected as often they lack the experience and the skills to address these issues. The lack of collaboration among development agencies and lack of livelihood opportunities in the larger landscape compound the problems and result in increased social, economic and ecological vulnerabilities of local people. The situation is further complicated by human Tiger conflicts, issues of access and benefit sharing (where permissible), lack of awareness and direct involvement of local communities in the conservation and an imbalance in sharing the benefits of tiger tourism, resulting in a lose-lose situation for both the local people and conservation efforts.

There are several examples across the region that have successfully been able to link conservation efforts and local livelihoods at the Protected Area level, by encouraging local community support for activities that support the park’s conservation objectives. Such models need to be up-scaled and replicated through exchange of experiences and ideas and policy reforms and institutionalization.

Key Themes:

Livelihoods, Wildlife & Fisheries, Indigenous Issues, Conserved Areas

Authors:

Ruchi Badola (Wildlife Institute of India)

Syed Ainul Hussain (Wildlife Institute of India)

Pariva Dobriyal (Wildlife Institute of India)

Nand Kishore Agarwal (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu)

Archi Rastogi (CBD)

Dispossession and restricted access of Indigenous Peoples to traditional lands and waters are a common feature in many of the world’s coastal areas due to the economic value of resources found in the coastal zone (e.g., mineral resources, forest products, wildlife, and fisheries resources) and the disregard for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, cultural practices and systems of governance. This ongoing disregard for indigenous peoples’ rights and needs continues despite the existence of a raft of international and regional instruments to respect and protect such rights. Here we examine the dispossession of local indigenous people to traditional fishing grounds and adjacent lands in South Africa and Canada’s Pacific Northwest Coast and the struggles and strategies employed to secure rights of access to these areas and resources. Dispossession and restricted access have been a feature of South Africa and Canada’s socio-political past from earliest Colonial times until the present time. From early Colonial times in Canada and in South Africa, forced removals of Indigenous Peoples from traditional lands, restrictions on customary fishing, hunting and forestry practices were largely driven by racially based ideologies supported by discriminatory policies and laws that facilitated ownership of and access to common pool resources for a particular sector of the population. However, despite the demise of these oppressive and discriminatory regimes and the promulgation of legal provisions in both countries to support redress and restoration of socio-economic rights, these rights have not been secured and customary systems of marine resource governance have not been respected.

Key Themes:

Indigenous Issues, Governance, Rights & Conflict, Livelihoods, Engagement, Education & Empowerment

Presenters:

Merle Sowman (University of Cape Town)

Dawn Foxcroft (Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council)

Don Hall (Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council)

Lissa Cowan (Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council)

During this session, presenters offered comparative account of the struggles of traditional fishers in South Africa and the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations in Canada to have their socio-economic rights to fisheries resources recognised and restored. A historical review of the two contexts, outlining the marginalisation and exclusion of these groups from the mainstream economy, examines the efforts and strategies of traditional fishers to have their rights to marine resources recognised through legal action.

Presented Material:

UNESCO Biospheres, such as the Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere Reserve Association (BLBRA – June 29, 2011), promote the growth of environmentally sustainable businesses along with encouraging all people, including industry, with nature to work better together.

In the 1990s an economic benefit was seen to develop gypsum mines within the Bras d’Or Lake watershed but environmental impacts were also recognised. Joe Googoo of We’kokma’q (meaning the end of the bay) started as a full time fisherman at the age of 18 with two licences. He loved oysters but most have been killed off by the MSX parasite that may have been brought in via ballast discharge. Some of his living oysters were overwintered, frozen in shallow salt waters. These seemed to be fighting off the parasite. He fought back using native traditions. Now it is up to the other cultures to determine why he was successful.

Key Themes:

Places & Spaces, Engagement, Education & Empowerment, Livelihoods, Fisheries & Wildlife

Presenters:

Eliot Frosst (BLBRA)

Stan Johnson (CEPI appointi – Eskasoni First Nations Gape Breton)

Small businesses can benefit from using the concept of environmentally sustainable promotion. Examples of this include, Jeremy White of the local craft beer brand, ‘Big Spruce Brewing’ who started to make beer from organically grown hops on the shores of Big Bras d’Or. That which started out as a small ‘fun business venture’ has become a year round operation employing many locals. His craft beer is now sold in the Nova Scotia Liquor stores and at local Farmers Markets. The brewery is open for regular sales of his beer and other social gatherings. His knowledge has been used by many other local sustainable breweries in Cape Breton and Mainland Nova Scotia such as the Tatamgouche Brewery. Eskasoni has started several ecotourism businesses such as guided walks on Goat Island Trail. This with the Iona Highland Village tour fits into the ‘two-eyed seeing’ model. Greg Silver’s sailing operation shows tourists the importance of development in an environmentally friendly way. Ben Eoin Ski Hill overlooks the lake and has developed an ‘Outdoor Classroom’ in collaboration with the BLBRA. This venture as well as with a large citizen science initiative called the ‘Bras d’Or Watch’, are designed to engage and educate residents and visitors about the valuable and charismatic ecosystem of the Bras d’Or Lake biosphere.

The Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere promotes environmentally sustainable development and the ‘two-eyed seeing’ concept in their guiding principles.

Societies across the world have long been undergoing important changes to address issues of inequality, ensuring equal rights and opportunities are available to all individuals, but there is still much progress to be made. Traditionally, women were the “custodians of the hearth”. Now women are gaining access to the same opportunities and same pay as men. Efforts to understand the experiences of youth in the 21st century are also being increasingly emphasized, as well as the intergenerational aspects of communities that support youth and create pathways for them to be engaged in activities that strengthen their wellbeing and sense of connection to the environment. However, change is not evenly spread across nations.

As discussed in the presentations found on this page, the involvement of women and youth in conservation and natural resource management can promote education and sustainable livelihood opportunities, in turn helping to support social and environmental wellbeing, boosting the local economy within their communities, and challenging conventional notions of resource based livelihood activities as “men’s work”.

In the studies found here, interview data, observations and other findings are shared from local communities in locations such as Tajikistan, Iran, Liberia, and Canada. They demonstrate that the process of challenging traditional views of the role of women and youth (particularly in rural communities) is not always easy, but can bring many benefits to the wellbeing of the local community, economy and environment.

Key Themes:
Factors of Success in Community Conservation, Livelihoods, Engagement, Education & Empowerment

Click titles to expand sections below:

Small-scale fisheries make vital contributions to conservation, health, livelihoods, and the cultural identities of people across the globe. Despite these social and ecological complexities, fisheries are often treated as a resource to be managed for the purpose of efficiency and economic profit. Increasingly, local communities are resisting prevailing approaches that treat fish as a commodity by engaging in efforts to (re)envision “fish as food.” This session presented a series of place-based experiences that demonstrate ways of using food systems as an organizing concept to protect small-scale fisheries, build sustainable communities and impact fisheries policy by exploring the food-related values that surround fisheries in local communities; the strategies communities are using to support enhanced access to local fish as a part of community-based food systems; and the interactions among food security, livelihoods, and conservation goals in particular settings.

Insights were shared from L’sitkuk (Bear River First Nation, Nova Scotia), Lockeport and Sandy Point, Nova Scotia, Kakisa and Deline, Northwest Territories, and two Indigenous communities from Lake Huron and Lake Superior. Ultimately, the session aimed to foster community capacity through sharing experiences, while offering new insights into community conservation and livelihoods.

Key Themes:

Livelihoods, Wildlife & Fisheries, Climate & Environmental Changes

Presenters:

Kristen Lowitt (Mount Allison University), Charles Levkoe (Lakehead University), Sherry Pictou (Mount Saint Vincent University), Andrew Spring (Wilfrid Laurier University), Colleen Turlo (Ecology Action Centre), Satya Ramen (Ecology Action Centre), Chief Dean Sayers (Batchewana First Nation), Patty Williams (Food Action Research Centre, Mount Saint Vincent University)

Videos & Presentations:

The Local-Global Leaders Dialogue brings indigenous peoples’ representatives and local civil society leaders together with national policymakers and global thought leaders on priority issues in the areas of communities, conservation and livelihoods. This discussion focuses on around three priority themes:

(i) securing and expanding rights to communal lands, territories and natural resources;

(ii) how indigenous peoples and local communities are  engaging in environmental conservation supporting sustainable livelihoods; and

(iii) creating political, legal and institutional space for indigenous peoples and local communities to contribute to policymaking and planning, as well as how they can best be supported in policy.

Speakers:

Kristen Walker-Painemilla (Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environment, Economics and Social Policy SVP, Policy Center for Environment and Peace at Conservation International)

Antonio Benjamin (National High Court of Brazil/ Chair of the World Commission on Environmental Law)

Kanyinke Sena (Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Coordinating Committee of Africa)

Pasang Dolma Sherpa (Center for Indigenous Peoples Research and Development, Nepal (CIPRED))

Yeshing Juliana Upun Yos (Sotzil Association, Mayan Kaqchikel woman from Guatemala)

Stewart Maginnis (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)

Key Themes:

Governance, Rights & Conflict,  Indigenous Issues,  Livelihoods,  Wildlife & Fisheries,  Climate & Environmental Changes

Video:

Tropical ecosystems are home to a stunning array of plants and animals, and provide vital benefits including water provision, climate regulation, and carbon storage. They also provide direct life support for some of the planet’s most vulnerable human populations–some fighting for their very survival in lawless regions. The two social groups featured during this panel discussion were an indigenous tribe in the Brazilian Amazon protecting a huge tract of rainforest from illegal logging and gold mining, and pastoralists in the deserts of Mali taking control of resource management and countering poachers to protect a threatened elephant population.  In both cases, powerful outside forces threaten to destroy an ancient way of life and vital natural ecosystems.

These two large and long-term projects have many commonalities despite their different settings (African drylands and Amazonian forest) and cultures (pastoral people and indigenous people).  Both projects are succeeding in challenging circumstances. Thoughts on why this is the case were presented and discussed during this session.

Key Themes: 

Engagement, Education & Empowerment, Livelihoods, Places & Spaces, Conserved Areas

Authors:

Molly Bartlett (International Conservation Fund of Canada)

Barbara Zimmerman (International Conservation Fund of Canada and Environmental Defense Fund)

Susan Canney (Oxford University, Wild Foundation and International Conservation Fund of Canada)

Anne Lambert (International Conservation Fund of Canada)

The need for greater attention on the widespread lack of accessibility between local and international markets in rural and/or developing areas, and means of shifting attitudes and behaviours through increasing local levels of education and awareness toward conservation are emphasized as central themes running throughout the resources on this page. With personal and professional accounts from sites in Indonesia, Bali, India, Kenya, the Caribbean, and Canada’s West Coast, a discussion is built around market competitiveness, resiliency, livelihood sustainability, and the importance of community partnerships.

Impacts on the vulnerability of local economies due to natural resource dependency, power structures in governance systems and several other unforeseen local factors are presented here. With this information, we strive to inform and empower individuals – and unite governments, private sectors, NGOs and communities under the common goal of increasing wellbeing of humans and nature through prosperous and sustainable local livelihood opportunities.

Key Themes:

Livelihoods, Places & Spaces, Engagement, Education & Empowerment

Click titles to expand sections below:

In many nations – particularly those which are considered to be developing or affected by conflict, it has been found that women are often primarily responsible for ensuring their household needs (such as access to potable water, food, and energy) are being sufficiently met. As such, they play a critical role in the management and use of natural resources. However, as emphasized by the speakers who contributed to this session; there is still a concerning lack of understanding regarding the notable impact women can have on the policy development and implementation process within their respective communities, and beyond. In appreciation of this, a discussion of comparative traditional and/or cultural gender relations and dynamics of power (which limit potential female participation in governance) is provided through personal accounts by women hailing from Madagascar, Guatemala, Hawaii, and Pakistan.

An emphasis is placed on the need to push toward equal recognition of women’s knowledge and capacity to contribute to sustainable development and natural resource management. As human and environmental well-being go hand in hand, it is important to recognize that policies which consider the interests of both spheres simultaneously are more likely to be effective in the long-term -and to be well regarded by local communities. Therefore, active participation of all demographics, including females, in sustaining livelihoods and natural resource management can only lead to a more rich set of perspectives and priorities in the decision making process.

Key Themes:

Engagement, Education & Empowerment,  Factors of Success in Community Conservation, Livelihoods, Governance, Rights & Conflict, Conserved Areas

Panelists:

Shaelene Kamaka’ala, from Hawaii, jointly founded the Kahana Kilo Kai program for grassroots and community-based ocean monitoring, and is currently a Community Based Fisheries Area coordinator.

Meher Marker Noshirwani (Pakistan) works in the field of women, development, environment and climate change, and is the Regional Vice Chair for Asia of the IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP).

Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy (Madagascar) has a particular interest in ocean governance, indigenous communities and human rights defense. She focuses on coastal communities as the future of the fisheries in Madagascar, and currently coordinates Madagascar’s LMMAs (Locally Managed Marine Areas) Network.

Yeshing Juliana Upún Yos is a Mayan Kaqchikel woman from Guatemala. She focuses on the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially as they relate to natural resources and sustainable development, with a focus on biodiversity conservation based on traditional knowledge.

Discussion Facilitated by Kristen Walker-Painemilla (Chair, IUCN Commission on Environment, Economics, and Social Policy (CEESP))

Video:

Key themes found throughout the resources below relate to how Indigenous communities are facing and responding to environmental and livelihood sustainability challenges, drawing on Indigenous perspectives on the environment and natural resource stewardship. A dialogue is built through personal accounts both from within Canada, and internationally.

Indigenous knowledge (IK) has the potential to provide invaluable insight for community-based development and conservation efforts through the sharing of multi-generational intellectual capital within and between communities and organisations. This traditional knowledge system provides a means of addressing both environmental and social concerns simultaneously, and sustainably. By incorporating Indigenous knowledge in the policy process, and going beyond simply the duty to consult with aboriginal peoples, we gain unmatched insight into sustainable social-ecological management – for the benefit of all.

Session Chair

Maureen Googoo

(A Mi’kmaq journalist from Indian Brook, Nova Scotia)

Key Themes:
Indigenous Issues,  Livelihoods,  Climate & Environmental Change,  Governance, Rights & Conflict

Click titles to view videos and presentations: