Regional Initiatives
Natural Justice is working with partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to develop the theory and practice of biocultural community protocols. At the same time, we are developing regional programmes to ground the concept of biocultural rights, which will include working on legal empowerment with Indigenous peoples and local communities as well as providing additional training to lawyers.
Natural Justice also worked successfully in the negotiations of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing to ensure that community protocols are referenced in the final text. The recognition of community protocols in international law marks a turning point in the approach’s development. For the first time, governments are required to support the development of community protocols, with an emphasis on gender representation, and to take them into consideration in matters relating to traditional knowledge. We are working to ensure that national implementation of the Nagoya Protocol upholds the highest international standards and in accordance with local values and customary laws and procedures.
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Publications
Bio-cultural Community Protocols: A Community Approach to Ensuring the Integrity of Environmental Law and Policy (Natural Justice and UNEP, 2009) |
African Bio-cultural Community Protocol Initiative Inception Meeting: Working towards the Legal Recognition of Bio-cultural Community Protocols within National Policies (Natural Justice, 2011) |
Towards a People’s History of the Law: Biocultural Jurisprudence and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (Bavikatte and Robinson, 2011) |
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Exploring Bio-cultural Community Protocols in the Sri Lankan Context: A Report of an International Consultation and Training-of-Trainers Workshop (Natural Justice, 2010) |
Exploring Bio-cultural Community Protocols in the Indian Context: A Report of a Training Workshop (Natural Justice, 2010) |
Meeting of the Representatives of African Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and Community-based Organisations on Bio-cultural Community Protocols (Natural Justice, 2010) |
