Date 2021 - 2022
Country Nepal
Implementor GFN (Green Foundation Nepal)
Funding Amount 30,604
Details
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.
Date 2021 - 2022
Country Indonesia
Implementor Walestra
Funding Amount 49,989
Details
The National Conservation Director (MoEF) approved the first Partnership for Ecosystem Restoration for two “Women’s Caring for the Environment” groups (KPPL) in Bengkulu province on Sumatra Island. The conservation partnership was granted to two women’s groups, KPPL Sumber Jaya and KPPL Sejahtera, based respectively in Karang Jaya village and in Sumber Bening village, in Rejang Lebong District. The KPPL Sumber Jaya group with 40 members was granted 37,66 ha and the KPPL Sejahtera group with 42 members was granted 40,52 ha in the Kerinci Seblat Nasional Park. This is a breakthrough because these are the first community groups in the conservation area buffer zone to become partners in managing conservation areas for the ecosystem restoration scheme in a National Park in Indonesia. Importantly, the project also strengthens food security for the women’s groups, who grow fruit trees and other edible plants in their nursery to plant in the national park area.
Date 2021 - 2022
Country Guatemala
Implementor ILRC (Indian Law Resources Center)
Funding Amount 100,000
Details
This SRM’s progress is tied to the Court’s scheduling as it supports the bringing of the Maya Q’eqchi’ Agua Caliente Indigenous Community v. Guatemala case to the IACHR, a culmination of a 45-year struggle to secure legal ownership rights of the Q’eqchi’ people in 16 communities in Guatemala. The people of Agua Caliente and the surrounding communities have endured illegal and endless delays and irregularities in survey, titling, and registry processes that have allowed private companies to exploit minerals in the communities’ lands, skirting requirements for community consultation,
ILRC is presenting an argument to the Court on how Guatemala’s failure to recognize the legal, social, and political character of Indigenous Peoples violates the country’s human rights obligations under international law. This is a critical case because it raises the issue of Indigenous Peoples’ permanent sovereignty over natural resources – one of the main elements of the right of self-determination of ‘peoples’ under international law — for the first time before the IACHR. A hearing in February 2022 has the potential to deepen jurisprudence on Indigenous Peoples’ collective property rights in Guatemala that could set a new legal precedent on Indigenous land titling applying to all countries in the Americas. In anticipation of the upcoming hearing, ILRC’s legal team is collecting data and testimonies, and working with community leaders to serve as witnesses before the IACHR.
Read the blog post.
Date 2021 - 2022
Country Nigeria
Implementor WATER (Wise Admin. of Terrestrial Environment and Resources)
Funding Amount 40,000
Details
To date, WATER has organized two community workshops to share information and identify community members’ roles and responsibilities. FPIC was obtained from the communities during these meetings and a court case against Sibawood Industry and Agriculture was filed, with four plaintiffs and four witnesses from affected communities. WATER is in the process of supporting ICCA registration to better protect the Ekuri forest long-term.
Date 2021 - 2022
Country Colombia
Implementor Hileros/PCN (Black Communities process of Colombia)
Funding Amount 47,546
Details
Following the mobilization of 56 communities the territorial level communities at the territorial level who had not previously received information on the government’s plan to implement the multipurpose cadaster, a road map of the legal-political strategy for influencing the multipurpose cadaster implementation plan was agreed upon.
The road map addresses: 1) continued pedagogic formation at the community level to ensure that communities are well-prepared and equipped with critical information to debate during the government meetings; 2) definition of crucial spaces and moments for participation in meetings with actors supporting the multipurpose cadaster plan and request information (World Bank, IDB, USAID, AFD) and governmental institutions involved in the implementation plan (IGAC, ANT, Minister of Finances, National Development Institute, DANE, SNR); 3) alliance-building with Indigenous groups (CNTI and MPC); and 4) coordination with regional and/or local governments (District of Cartagena in the Caribbean region; Northern Cauca region, and Pacific region).
Pending activities include a national forum for Afro-descendant communities to consolidate the plan for influencing at the national level and completion of a communications strategy.
Date 2021 - 2022
Country Indonesia
Implementor Papua Study Center
Funding Amount 33,773
Details
This project supported legal action by the Marfenen Adat community against the Navy, the Governor, and the Agrarian Affairs Minister. Unfortunately, the Court ruled in favor of the military based on its consideration of only “formal” land tenure evidence and not the customary tenure rights of Marafenfen community on their land. Papua Study Center and the Save Aru Movement -together with community leaders and their lawyers – are strategizing to appeal the Court’s decision while intensifying local mobilization in support of Marafenfen Peoples.
For context, the Aru Islands are an archipelago south of Papua. The Indonesian Navy seized 689 ha to build an airport on their traditional hunting grounds. The community reports that the military set up a highly profitable business of wildlife meat (using machine guns to kill animals) and an illegal trafficking of protected species.
