Addressing unforeseen threats and opportunities with the Strategic Response Mechanism
Unforeseen threats to indigenous and community land rights can arise quickly and require rapid action to be countered effectively. Just as rapidly, critical windows of opportunity to secure rights can appear–and if not seized, can easily be lost.
The Strategic Response Mechanism (SRM) is designed to enable timely, flexible responses to these unforeseen opportunities and threats. It complements RRI’s annual planning process by allowing for rapid response to unexpected and time-limited opportunities. Up to US$100,000 can be dispersed to grantees in as quickly as a few weeks, allowing Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) to be effective in shifting political landscapes.
SRM proposals are evaluated and approved through a simple, expedited process. In order for an activity or project to qualify for SRM support, the activity must meet all five criteria:
Capitalizes on a political window of opportunity, which is typically lost if not leveraged quickly
Supports a critical moment in a social mobilization process
Innovates, exploits higher risk opportunities, and has potential to accelerate impact or develop RRI partnerships
Is a new or newly-expanded activity
Has outcomes dependent on incremental funding and connectivity at the right moment
This Strategic Response Mechanism provided financial support to the Legal Defense Institute (IDL) of Peru in support of communities affected by the 2014 Norperuano pipeline oil spill. IDL worked to ensure that the reparations for damages and health care ordered by the judicial court ruling actually reached the affected communities in Loreto, Peru.
Context
In June 2014, 2,500 barrels of oil from the Norperuano Pipeline spilled in Peru’s Loreto region, severely impacting the Indigenous Cuninico, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, and Nueva Esperanza communities, among others. These communities have lived in the Amazon Forest region and stewarded the land for generations. The spill, which occurred in the Cuninico River, has impacted their ability to grow crops and access clean water. The communities worked together, with the support of the IDL, to file a case against Peru’s Health Ministry (MINSA) and the regional government of Loreto in order to request specialized health care for the communities affected by the oil spill.
On April 23, 2022, the communities of San Francisco, Nueva Esperanza, Cuninico and Santa Rosa discuss the new health plan. Credit: IDL
The impact
IDL designed and implemented a community-led health plan for four of the communities affected by the 2014 spill of 2,500 barrels of oil.
IDL also led a successful campaign to raise public awareness on progress in compliance with the court’s rulings and published a document outlining the process of monitoring and enforcing ruling compliance.
Their efforts resulted in 17 media stories being published about their struggle, including Wayka’s “The tragedy after an oil spill has a woman’s face”, featuring video interviews with community members. The impact was also documented by AIDA, Diario La Republica, Servindi, and Expreso, among others. Public pressure is extremely important and a way communities can help ensure regional governments and judicial bodies adhere to hearing schedules and protocols.
IDL produced a report on the valorization of damages in the community—both ecological and economic—sharing this information with community members, judicial officials, and PetroPerú. With this information, the affected communities are more equipped to reach a fair agreement with Petroperú throughout the compensation negotiations.
With RRI’s support, the Epistema Institute published six policy briefs on strategic issues of land tenure reform in response to the Indonesian land bill. The institute was also able to hold several meetings with Parliament legal drafters and experts as well as with Parliament Commissions and conduct regular information meetings with civil society organizations.
RRI is supporting the town of Cofán, Eduador to protect the Indigenous community after six Petro Ecuador oil wells were built without community consultation. The wells significantly impacted the community as they cut through the center of their territory. PetroEcuador has shown no signs of intent to negotiate, and the community is bracing for armed conflict. Activities expected to be completed with SRM funding included:
Leading the legal action against the Ecuadorian government based on the violation of the community’s FPIC rights.
Organizing online and in-person workshops to inform community members on the legal action needed.
Promoting communications campaigns to raise awareness and impact to influence local and national authorities.
Implementor ASOMCAUCA (Association of Afro-descendant Women of Northern Cauca)
Funding Amount $100,000
Details
RRI is supporting the Association of Afro-descendant Women of Northern Cauca in its fight to to gain recognition and protection of Afro-descendant community conservation systems in the Pacific Cauca region in Colombia. Activities began in December 2021, but will be ongoing until 2023 and include:
Organization of assembly for the socialization and discussion of the project with the communities for approval of the workplan.
Identification, delimitation, and mapping of conservation areas in each Community Council.
Holding assemblies for each of the Community Councils to officiate the areas to be conserved.
Organization of follow-ups, evaluations, and monitoring of activities to track the evolution of the process in each area, to gather lessons learned, and to plan next steps.
Implementor FECOFUN (Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal)
Funding Amount $69,765
Details
After Nepal’s federal government announced its intention to demarcate nearly 110,000 hectares of community forest lands as strict protected areas, RRI’s collaborator FECOFUN, the Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal, sprung into action. With SRM funding, FECOFUN and its allies mobilized to counter this demarcation, drive, engage civil society, and generate resources and advocacy forums to build critical mass against the proposal. FECOFUN’s mobilization benefits from the increasing global attention to conservation-related human rights abuses in Nepal, highlighted in the review of the WWF by an Independent Panel of Experts and a recent publication from Amnesty International. Since the approval of the SRM in early November, a sustained media campaign is underway and is steadily building momentum.
This SRM, approved in early October, is progressing satisfactorily and activities have begun in the form of local, provincial and national level meetings with key stakeholders.
Results expected from this SRM include the formation of clear policy guidelines arising from discussions with local government representatives from select municipalities to develop community friendly standards and follow-up from governments. This will ensure that the new Sustainable Forestry Management Standard is true to its name in letter and spirit, and will replace the “Scientific Forest Management” (SciFM) which was promoted over the customary practices of Community Forestry User Groups (CFUGs). GFN and its allies have advocated against SciFM since before its dominance in policy, critiquing its implications on rightsholders and overall efficacy. In line with these critiques, SciFM has failed to produce the promised benefits on forest management and is being reviewed by a government task force to be replaced.
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