On the 15th of March, Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas joined Agnes Lee Agama (South East Asia Regional Coordinator, GDF) at a meeting hosted by Dr Fatah (Director, Sabah Biodiversity Centre) to discuss potential collaboration on an ABS capacity development initiative for Sabah. Dr Fatah explained that the first draft of the Sabah ABS Regulations would be ready by April, with the intention of finalizing them by June. In the meeting, Natural Justice provided advice on structuring a programme to facilitate the Regulations' implementation, including to view the community workshops as potential for experience-sharing between the Biodiversity Centre and communities, as well as considering establishing a multi-stakeholder dialogue towards the development of a set of ABS guidelines for Sabah. The meeting concluded with agreement to continue the discussion in Cali, Colombia, where Dr Fatah will be attending the 9th meeting of the Working Group on ABS together with Natural Justice's Johanna von Braun, Holly Shrumm, Kabir Bavikatte, Gino Cocchiaro and Harry Jonas.

As part of Natural Justice's emerging partnership with the Global Diversity Foundation (GDF), Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas provided input to a training workshop and planning meeting from 10-12 March, attended by 34 participants from the GDF and Sabah Parks, and held at Sabah Parks' Crocker Range Park headquarters, Keningau, Sabah. The workshop's aims were to provide participants further understanding of the relevance of international law to local communities' lives, to further discuss the application of bio-cultural community protocols to the communities with which GDF is working, and to plan future work. Specifically, the meeting covered:
- International laws relating to communities' management of natural resources;
- Bio-cultural community protocols;
- Field updates from community researchers about the workshops in Buayan and Bundu Tuhan (see earlier blog posts), the wildlife corridor and the anti-dam campaign;
- Group discussions about key issues affecting local communities, what information communities might want to convey to other stakeholders, and in which format (including written word, GIS maps, video and photo); and
- Group discussions to plan practical ways forwards.
The meeting concluded with GDF's community researchers agreeing a programme of community meetings in the Ulu Papar valley and Bundu Tuhan to obtain further information about relevant factors (such as the extent of community managed forests, location of cultural sites and land management practices) towards the development of community protocols calling for the recognition of their role in managing indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs). Harry and Holly thank Agnes, Adam, James and the GDF community researchers for hosting them for the past 3 weeks - and are already looking forward to the return.

The Global Diversity Foundation (GDF) is managing a project in Sabah entitled: Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Sabah, a Consolidation of Issues and Experiences in Relation to Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use. Component 2 of the project aims to compile a state-wide review of indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) in Sabah, emphasising the identification of existing and potential ICCAs, and documenting communities’ experiences in establishing and managing ICCAs. One of the specific aims is to promote the traditional ecological knowledge and customary practices that are used or can be applied in the management of ICCAs, and inform the access and benefit sharing processes in the context of ICCAs and protected areas in general. In that context, Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas met with leaders of the Bundu Tuhan community (who live adjacent to the Kinabalu National Park - pictured) to discuss their twin concerns about the possible designation of their community forests as a Forest Reseve, and their work towards the recognition of their land as an ICCA. The meeting addressed bio-cultural community protocols, the community's development plan and the proposal to include the community's land in a wildlife corridor. Natural Justice was subsequently invited to provide further input to the ICCA work, specifically to explore with GDF how the communities with which GDF is working can provide evidence to support the designation of their villages and/or surrounding areas as ICCAs.

Kabir Bavikatte and Olivier Rukundo from Natural Justice, were in Windhoek, Namibia as the legal advisors to the African Group in its preparations for the 9th Meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABSWG9) in Cali from the 22nd to the 29th of March 2010. The African Group deliberated on its position for ABSWG9 over three days. The work of the African Group concluded with the development of a consensus position that will be presented to the African Ministers for Environment and will be advocated as the African position in Cali.

Natural Justice will be hosting the Pan African Indigenous and Local Community Meeting in September 2010. The Indigenous Information Network will be a partnering organization and the Meeting will be supported by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative for Africa. The Meeting which will take place over 3 days will bring together around 50 representatives of indigenous and local communities across Africa and will review the outcomes of the 9th Meeting of the Working Group on ABS. The Meeting will also strategize the way forward leading to the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity that will take place in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. The Meeting will also focus on the development of sui generis systems and rights based approaches for the protection of traditional knowledge and biological diversity stewarded by communities in Africa.

Kabir Bavikatte and Olivier Rukundo (Associate- Natural Justice) met with Susanna Chung (First Secretary Political, South African Permanent Mission to the UN) to discuss the way forward to continue the first joint sitting between the African ABS negotiators and the Africa WIPO IGC negotiators to coordinate their positions in the WG on ABS and the WIPO IGC and to reduce overlaps. The first joint sitting was organized in December 2009 in Nairobi, by Gino Cocchiaro (on behalf of IDLO) supported by the ABS Initiative for Africa and Natural Justice. This joint sitting was hugely successful and a resolution was taken at the end of this meeting to continue these co-ordination meetings at regular intervals to develop an African common position on the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.

Susanna Chung informed us that she had a mandate from the African Union to organize the 2nd joint sitting of the African ABS and WIPO IGC negotiators from the 19th-23rd of April in Geneva. This joint sitting would be funded by the African Union. Olivier Rukundo, Gino Cocchiaro and Kabir Bavikatte were to be designated as the resources persons for this joint sitting. Further efforts are being made by Natural Justice to raise funds to ensure the long term sustainability of these important joint sittings.

Kabir Bavikatte met with Jonathan Davies, the CBD Focal Point of Liberia and Dr. Andreas Drews, Co-ordinator of the ABS Initiative for Africa to discuss the development of sui generis systems for the protection of traditional knowledge in Liberia, through the development of community protocols and community led documentation of their traditional knowledge. This discussion took place in the context of the draft Liberian ABS law which also seeks to protect the rights of the holders of traditional knowledge. The meeting agreed that the way forward would be for Natural Justice to facilitate the development of two biocultural protocols with 2 ethnic communities in Liberia in partnership with a local organization. Based on these protocols, a national meeting would be organized with the leaders of the different ethnic groups represented by the National Traditional Council (the body of leaders of the different ethnic groups in Liberia) to present the protocols and to strategize on the way forward to secure the rights of Liberian communities to their traditional knowledge and resources. This would be the first stage of a three year project aimed at securing the rights of the holders of traditional knowledge in Liberia. Natural Justice has been asked to submit a budget for these activities that it will undertake on behalf of the Liberian government.

Silvia Ribeiro

Es grave e irresponsable el intento de FAO de legitimar los transgénicos como solución al hambre y la crisis climática en el tercer mundo, cuya expresión más reciente es la conferencia Biotecnologías agrícolas en los países en desarrollo (Guadalajara, México, 14 de marzo). Frente a las críticas que van en aumento, los funcionarios de FAO (Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura) declararon que la biotecnología es más que transgénicos y ellos sólo plantean opciones. Pero los documentos que coordinó la FAO para la conferencia no recogen cuestiones fundamentales sobre biotecnología, como el dominio de las empresas trasnacionales sobre todo el sector. Ignoran también los resultados a la vista del uso de biotecnología agrícola: la contaminación transgénica de las variedades campesinas, el aumento del uso de agrotóxicos de esos cultivos (que empeora el cambio climático) y otros impactos sobre el ambiente y la salud de los consumidores.

Si FAO hubiera querido realizar un proceso de discusión sobre opciones, no podría haber organizado una conferencia sesgada, sin la participación de los actores fundamentales, y desechando las posiciones críticas. Ahora, lo que hace la FAO es condonar la apropiación de las semillas y la cadena alimentaria del planeta que crece por parte de unas pocas trasnacionales de transgénicos, lo cual agravará el hambre y el caos climático.

La conferencia partió de un proceso errado desde el inicio: no estaban –y siguen sin estar– los campesinos y agricultores familiares y sus organizaciones, que son nada menos que los que producen la alimentación de la mayoría del planeta y son la clave más importante para enfrentar la crisis climática y alimentaria. Este rol fundamental de las campesinas, pastores, pescadores artesanales y otros pequeños productores ha sido confirmado con nuevos datos en varios reportes recientes. (Por ej. ¿Quien nos alimentará? Preguntas ante la crisis climática y alimentaria, del Grupo ETC www.etcgroup.org/es/node/4952 <http://www.etcgroup.org/es/node/4952> )

Pero la FAO no se preocupó por esta notable falta, sino que consideró que invitando a una decena de individuos de organizaciones no gubernamentales internacionales cumplía con la formalidad participativa. La mayoría de esos invitados seleccionados por FAO son de organizaciones de las trasnacionales de la industria de los transgénicos (como Croplife y Biotechnology Industry Organization, BIO) u organizaciones de grandes agricultores industriales y ONG e instituciones que son favorables o turbiamente ambiguas a los transgénicos. Como excepción, Pat Mooney, director del Grupo ETC, aceptó integrar el comité de pilotaje de esta conferencia, luego de mucha insistencia de parte del secretariado de la FAO que aseguró sería un proceso justo y neutral.

El 23 de febrero 2010, Pat Mooney, Premio Nobel Alternativo y uno de los más profundos conocedores del trabajo de la FAO desde hace 40 años, renunció públicamente a este comité, luego de constatar que en todo el proceso, la FAO nunca tomó en cuenta ninguna de sus observaciones y recomendaciones, pero sí usó su nombre para justificar ante organizaciones mexicanas que no les permitirían participar en la conferencia, pero que Mooney representaba sus preocupaciones.

Entre muchas otras ausencias graves en los documentos, una de las más ofensivas es el hecho de que aunque la conferencia se realiza en México, centro de origen del maíz, la FAO no se ha dignado incluir en el reporte ni pedir cuentas al gobierno mexicano sobre la contaminación transgénica de variedades nativas. Ni sobre la ya ocurrida ni la que ahora promete el gobierno con la aprobación de 24 siembras experimentales de maíz transgénico a favor de las trasnacionales Monsanto, DuPont-Pioneer y Dow.

Uno de los principales organizadores de la conferencia, Shivaji Pandey, por décadas funcionario del Centro Internacional del Investigación Agrícola sobre Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT) ubicado en Texcoco, México y actualmente presidente del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Biotecnología de la FAO, contestó con una breve y aséptica nota a las preocupaciones que dirigieron a la FAO más de mil 500 organizaciones de 70 países demandando que la FAO debía llamar la atención del gobierno mexicano ante la escalada de contaminación y restablecer la moratoria, por ser centro de origen del maíz. Pandey contestó con su mantra de que la biotecnología incluye muchas tecnologías, que tienen mucho potencial y los transgénicos sí, algunos riesgos, pero que en definitiva era un problema nacional. ¿Cómo puede un funcionario de la FAO considerar el centro de origen del maíz del mundo –siendo además uno de los cuatro principales cereales bases de la alimentación de toda la humanidad– un problema nacional?

No hay en los documentos para la conferencia ninguna mención a la gravísima contaminación transgénica en centros de origen y diversidad como México. Sin embargo, los mismos funcionarios de Cibiogem que en México aprobaron en forma irresposable condonar la contaminación trasgénica pasada y aumentarla para permitir el lucro de las trasnacionales, serán ponentes en la conferencia de la FAO ¡en el tema de bioseguridad! Seguramente no mostrarán las críticas que han recibido de más de 700 científicos contra la aprobación de siembras de maíz transgénico (www.uccsnet.org <http://www.uccsnet.org> ).

Mientras tanto, afuera, en calles, plazas y centros de Guadalajara y otras partes del mundo, habrá una gran variedad de actividades de la sociedad civil y organizaciones campesinas para denunciar estas falacias y defender, realmente, las alternativas campesinas que necesitamos para enfrentar las crisis. Definitivamente, no incluyen transgénicos.

Publicado en La Jornada, México, 27 de febrero 2010

Gino Cocchiaro and Kabir Bavikatte met with Dr. Krishna Ravi Srinivas of Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) www.ris.org.in on the 28th of February 2010 in New Delhi. Dr. Srinivas was extremely interested in the concept of Traditional Knowledge Commons that Natural Justice has been working on and the meeting explored possibilities of collaboration between Natural Justice and RIS. Two proposals were discussed- The first was the possibility of developing a pilot Traditional Knowledge Commons between a community and the FRLHT (Foundation for the Revitalization of Local Health Traditions) in India with the first meeting in June 2010. The second was the possibility of Natural Justice and RIS putting together a panel on Traditional Knowledge Commons at the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) from the 10th-14th of January 2011 in Hyderabad, India. The Conference will be hosted by the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) whom Natural Justice contacted in India regarding presenting a paper on Traditional Knowledge Commons under the sub-theme of New Commons (Digital Commons, Genetic Commons, Patents, Music, Literature etc.)

Gino Cocchiaro and Kabir Bavikatte met with Ruchika Bahl, Director (Global) Law for All Initiative, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public in New Delhi on the 28th of February 2010. The meeting focussed on the work of Natural Justice relating to bio-cultural protocols and the possibility of providing support to some of Ashoka's fellows working on issues of community rights and the environment. The meeting also discussed the criteria for an Ashoka fellowship in the context of Natural Justice's work on bio-cultural protocols. The meeting concluded with a commitment from both Natural Justice and Ms. Bahl to continue to explore possibilities of working together in the long run.

Gino Cocchiaro and Kabir Bavikatte from Natural Justice were in India to provide input for a workshop on Biocultural Community Protocols for Livestock Keepers. The workshop was organized by LIFE Network India, Lokhit Pashu Palak Sansthan and the Rain-fed Livestock Network. The workshop was attended by a number of key organizations across India working with pastoralists and livestock keepers and representatives of the government and scientific sector. The workshop also included representatives of livestock keepers organizations from Philippines, Uganda, Argentina and Kenya (international members of the LIFE Network).

Kabir Bavikatte presented on the 'Background and Rationale of Community Protocols' and 'Biocultural Protocols and the International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing'. The presentations were very well received and sparked off an interesting discussion about the role of Biocultural Protocols in securing livestock keepers rights in India. Experiences were also shared on how the Raika Protocol has been used in an Indian context to assert the grazing rights of the Raika in the Kumbalgarh forest.

Natural Justice was also presented with the Lingayat Biocultural Protocol that was developed by the Lingayat community in Tamil Nadu to protect their indigenous breeds of cattle. Copies of the Raika Protocol that had been translated into Hindi and the Lingayat Protocol that was translated into Tamil were also available to the participants. The high point of the workshop was an overwhelming agreement amongst the participating organizations that a momentum can be built around livestock keepers rights by developing a number of protocols with livestock keeping communities assert their rights to their breeds, ways- of life and ecosystems. Natural Justice was approached by the Maldhari livestock keepers of Kutch who have conserved the indigenous Banni buffalo and the Kangayam cattle breeders of Tamil Nadu to support them in developing their own biocultural protocols in 2010.

Johanna von Braun and Kabir Bavikatte were invited to Pretoria by the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) to discuss the possibilities of future collaboration between DST's work on indigenous knowledge systems and Natural Justice. The DST was represented by its Director General Prof. Yonah Seleti, Hlupheka Chabalala of the National Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Tom Suchanandan, Director: Advocacy and Policy Development. The meeting discussed the work of Natural Justice in the context of bio-cultural protocols and traditional knowledge commons. The meeting concluded with an agreement on 4 key areas of collaboration:

1) A joint proposal by DST and Natural Justice to develop the first small pilot on traditional knowledge commons in South Africa
2) A proposal for a scoping study to be conducted by Natural Justice on the possible development of traditional knowledge based first aid kits by the Bushbuckridge Traditional Health Practioners Association based on their bio-cultural protocol. This scoping study will be the basis of a larger proposal to national and international donors to seek financing for a larger project that would be implemented by Natural Justice, the DST and a range of local partners in the Bushbuckridge region.
3) A Natural Justice proposal to provide legal advice to the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) in its engagement with a community in the Northern Cape for further research on a local medicinal plant used by the community. Part of the proposal will be the development of a bio-cultural protocol based on which an ABS agreement could be entered into between the MRC and the community for the use of their traditional knowledge relating to this plant.
4) Natural Justice was also asked to submit a proposal to develop a feasibility study for the DST on a South African law dealing with Sui Generis Systems to protect traditional knowledge. The law would have to be developed in the context of the various other laws in South Africa that refer to traditional knowledge.

The high point of the meeting was a strong support by the DST for bio-cultural community protocols as the way forward to protect community knowledge and resources and a readiness to make bio-cultural protocols national policy through the potential South African sui generis law. The meeting also explored ways in which Natural Justice and the DST could collaborate on the ongoing negotiations at the WIPO IGC.

As part of the Global Diversity Foundation's (GDF) Darwin Initiative-funded project entitled, “Participatory Approaches to Nominating the Crocker Range Biosphere Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia” Natural Justice was invited to facilitate the development of a bio-cultural community protocol. The communities in the Ulu Papar area, situated northwest of the Crocker Range Park (protected area), face a serious threat from a proposed hydroelectric dam. If constructed, the dam will inundate the Ulu Papar catchment area and force the relocation of a number of villages. GDF is working with Partners of Community Organizations (PACOS) Trust to engage with the multiple issues surrounding the proposed dam. Holly Shrumm and Harry Jonas provided training to 7 of GDF's community researchers in Kota Kinabalu, who then facilitated a two day workshop whose focus was to look beyond the immediate threat of the dam to the communities' medium- to long-term plans for natural resource management. The workshop marks the first of a series towards the development of a community protocol setting out the wider context in which their lives and livelihoods exist, including: the contributions they are making to the conservation and sustainable use of Ulu Papar's natural resources; the customary laws relating to natural resource use; the interlinkages between local biodiversity and Dusun culture; and the community's visions for the future of the full range of traditional and modern land use in the area. The community protocol will request specific assistance from institutions the community can call on to achieve their endogenous development aspirations from within the community, other villages, NGOs, and government agencies.

Natural Justice took part in a seminar on ABS, Traditional Knowledge and Sui Generis Systems, organized by the Global Diversity Foundation in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The one day event is part of a seminar series exploring issues relating to conservation, customary uses of natural resources and legal frameworks, and included presentations from Dr Abdul Fatah (Sabah Biodiversity Centre), Professor Gurdial S. Nijar (Centre for Excellence in Biodiversity Law), Jannie Lasimbang (PACOS), and Kabir and Harry from Natural Justice. Holly Shrumm and Gino Cocchiaro were also at the event attended by community members, NGOs, researchers, government officials and students, among others. The seminar was intended to provide input to the draft ABS regulations being developed by the Sabah Biodiversity Centre, specifically with regard to how best to balance the promotion of biotechnology research, the conservation of biodiversity, the protection on traditional knowledge and communities' rights to the customary uses of their natural resources. See the Centre's website for more information.

Kabir Bavikatte as per the request of the chairperson of the African Group of ABS negotiators developed a briefing document on ABS for African ministers who will be attending the Pan African Ministerial Conference in Windhoek from the 8th to 10th of March 2010. Kabir Bavikatte as the team-leader of the African team of drafters along with Olivier Rukundo an associate of Natural Justice, has helped prepare briefing documents for the African Group of negotiators to aid them in their preparations for the 9th Meeting of the Working Group on ABS to be held in Cali, Colombia from the 22nd to the 28th of March 2010.

Kabir Bavikatte along with Olivier Rukundo has been chosen to be an advisor to the African delegation to participate in the Co-Chairs Informal Inter-regional Consultation (CIIC) in Cali from the 16th to the 18th of March 2010. The CIIC which has been mandated to consult on preambular text, definitions and provisions relevant to the consolidation of operative text of the International Regime, will identify concrete solutions in order to facilitate and accelerate the negotiations at the 9th meeting of the Working Group on ABS

Por Silvia Ribeiro

Del primero al 4 de marzo 2010 se realizará en Guadalajara, México, una conferencia “técnica” internacional de la FAO (Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura) sobre cómo se podría manipular y/o hacer transgénico casi todo lo que esté vivo: desde los cultivos y microorganismos hasta los bosques, peces y ganado, pasando por cómo usar más biotecnología en procesos agroindustriales.

Cínicamente, los objetivos manifiestos de la conferencia afirman que se hace para plantear las “oportunidades y opciones” para los países pobres frente a las crisis alimentaria y climática. Para ello la FAO, con apoyo y dinero del gobierno mexicano, tendrá una conferencia cerrada, sólo para invitados, en un hotel de lujo y rodeada de elementos de “seguridad” (nada alimentaria), limitando enfáticamente la participación real y las propuestas y perspectivas de aquellos que afirma necesitarían sus supuestas soluciones.

Entre los organizadores de la conferencia se encuentra también el Banco Mundial y el CGIAR, ambas instituciones con largas colas que pisar por su impacto negativo sobre los más desposeídos. El gobierno de Estados Unidos e instituciones vinculadas a las industrias de transgénicos están entre los financiadores. Es lógico, ya que la conferencia es uno de los intentos más burdos de la FAO para promover y legitimar a los transgénicos, beneficiando a las trasnacionales que los monopolizan.

Son muchas y graves las agresiones que encarna esta conferencia. Una de ellas es que la conferencia se realiza al mismo tiempo que se autorizan las siembras de maíz transgénico en México, centro del origen del cultivo, en un claro intento del gobierno por legitimarse y tratar de tapar las críticas internacionales por este crimen de proporciones históricas, arropándose con la “indiferencia” de la FAO frente al tema. Peor aún, espera que la FAO no sólo no lo critique, como es su deber según su propio mandato y tratado, sino que termine afirmando que, contra la voluntad de campesinos, indígenas y la vasta mayoría de la población del país, sería bueno para México sembrar transgénicos. O al menos, que la coexistencia de transgénicos con otros cultivos es posible, falacia inventada por las trasnacionales. En Europa, donde se aceptó la coexistencia, ahora hay una campaña masiva para suspenderla, porque la contaminación transgénica –y todos los impactos ambientales, de salud y económicos que conlleva– son incontenibles.

Aunque el tema de la contaminación transgénica es grave en cualquier parte del mundo, la contaminación del maíz transgénico en México es devastadora, porque al ser el centro de origen, significa dañar el acervo genético y el reservorio de diversidad del maíz para todo el mundo. Frente al caos climático, uno de los elementos fundamentales es justamente que exista diversidad de semillas, lo que permitiría enfrentar los cambios del clima, con semillas adaptadas a diferentes circunstancias, que estén en manos de los campesinos, no contaminadas y no restringidas por patentes y control de mercados. Pero la orientación del evento es la contraria.

A partir de los documentos que se han publicado para la conferencia, queda claro el intento de la FAO por ignorar que se trata de tecnologías –sean transgénicos o biotecnología en general– que están controladas en porcentajes abismales por unas pocas trasnacionales, que monopolizan tanto los mercados como las patentes. Las pocas referencias que se hacen sobre esto, se restringen a buscar “opciones” para poder cumplir con los derechos de propiedad intelectual y acuerdos comerciales –y por tanto favorecer a las trasnacionales– en lugar de cuestionarlos por constituir un robo de las empresas a los bienes comunes, un asalto a las semillas que son “patrimonio de los pueblos al servicio de la humanidad”, como lo expresa la Vía Campesina.

Ignorando este contexto fundamental y evitando discutir seriamente los daños ambientales y a la salud, los documentos de la conferencia son altamente útiles a las trasnacionales. Pretenden disimular los transgénicos englobando todo en el término supuestamente neutral de “biotecnología”, donde entraría desde el yogur que hacía la abuela hasta los transgénicos de Monsanto. En esto y en otros puntos, como el ocultamiento de que los transgénicos producen menos y usan más químicos, es vergonzosa la repetición prácticamente literal de argumentos y fuentes de la industria de transgénicos en los documentos.

Estas falacias no quedarán sin contestar. Entre muchas otras actividades y manifestaciones de la sociedad civil que se realizarán en esos días en Guadalajara, la Red en Defensa del Maíz, Vía Campesina y la Asamblea Nacional de Afectados Ambientales convocan el 2 y 3 de marzo a una primer audiencia titulada “La contaminación transgénica del maíz: ¿crimen de lesa humanidad?”. Habrá testimonios nacionales e internacionales de campesinos, indígenas, activistas, intelectuales y científicos, construyendo un expediente que será presentado en tribunales internacionales. La FAO y esta conferencia constarán en el expediente.

*Publicado en La Jornada, México, 13 febrero de 2010

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One of Natural Justice's associates will be guest-editing an upcoming issue of the journal Policy Matters, which is produced by IUCN's Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. The issue will focus on innovative rights-based approaches and processes that ensure the local integrity of environmental laws and policies on the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. We will be working with colleagues at GTZ, IUCN, UNU-IAS, GDF, COMPAS, and the University of Edinburgh, among others, to publish the issue in time for the CBD Conference of Parties in October.

Natural Justice recently wrote a briefing note on the use of BCPs in rights-based approaches to conservation. Our partners at GDF-Mesoamerica translated it into Spanish for use at a COMPAS regional Latin American meeting. Both the English and Spanish versions of the briefing note can be found on Natural Justice's publications page.

Natural Justice is writing a book for release at the 9th Meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing called Rights-based Approaches to ABS and REDD: The Foundation of their Social and Environmental Integrity. The book argues that both ABS and REDD run the risk of further undermining the ways of life of communities whose knowledge, innovations and practices conserve and sustainably use natural resources and demonstrates that empowered communities can counter this tendency by adopting rights based approaches to either framework. It provides legislative updates on both incumbent laws and uses the example of the Bushbuckridge Traditional Healers' bio-cultural community protocol (BCP) to illustrate the way communities can use BCPs to engage the law to secure conservation and customary use of natural resources. For more information, see our Publications page.

Natural Justice is contributing two case studies to an IUCN Rights Based Approaches portal. A recent IUCN publication called Conservation with Justice focuses on rights-based approaches to conservation and sets out a "stepwise approach." With reference to the stepwise approach, we will detail how the capacity building work with the K2C's Bushbuckridge Traditional Healers and the development of a bio-cultural community protocol increased the healers' organization, governance and participation in community decision-making, and will illustrate how the Raika community protocol is helping the community to challenge their exclusion from the Kumbalgargh Forest.