Search the SPREP Catalogue

'Oceanic diplomacy' as concept and practice : When practitioners and scholars think of Pacific diplomacy, they usually have in mind a form of diplomacy built on Western practices and protocols, and focused on the engagement between modern sovereign Pacific Islands states and their accredited ambassadors.

Understanding the scale, location and nature conservation values of the lands over which Indigenous Peoples exercise traditional rights is central to implementation of several global conservation and climate agreements

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Natural Justice collaborated during 2013–14 with a group of lawyers and experts on the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to clarify the following issues:| Which conservation actors have responsibility for upholding international human rights standards?| Which international human rights standards are most relevant in a conservation context?| Which redress mechanisms are available to indigenous peoples and local communities when human rights are infringed by conservation initiatives? We determined that, while states are traditionally seen as the primary duty bearers under international law, human rights norms are increasingly considered to apply to non-state entities. This supports our conclusion that international organisations, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and philanthropic foundations have human rights responsibilities under international law.

Indigenous peoples and local communities have managed and protected a variety of natural environments and species for a variety of reasons, cultural, spiritual and aesthetic, as well as socio-economic. Today, there are many thousands of indigenous territories and other areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities across the world. Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ conserved territories and areas (ICCAs) are natural and/or modified ecosystems containing significant biodiversity values, ecological services and cultural values, voluntarily conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities, both sedentary and mobile, through customary laws or other effective means. They help maintain genetic diversity, conserve threatened species, and provide corridors for species’ movements. The cultural and economic livelihoods of millions of people depend on them for securing resources such as energy, food, water, fodder, shelter, clothing, and for providing income. ICCAs contribute to global food security by conserving important crop wild relatives, and traditional and threatened landraces. ICCAs play a critical role in ensuring access and respecting rights to customary sustainable use of biodiversity and also provide a fertile classroom for the passing on of inter-generational environmental knowledge, innovations and practices.

PACC reports

Reports from the PACC project