What we do |
Forest Peoples Programme
supports forest peoples to secure and sustainably manage their forests,
lands and livelihoods. Our strategies to achieve this include:
FPP has extensive and long-term field programmes
in Venezuela, the three Guyanas (Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana),
Central Africa, and South and South-East Asia. See 'Publications
and Reports' for details. We carry out national and international
advocacy focused on policy-making related to forests and human rights,
and work collaboratively with many NGOs and environmental and human
rights networks to help coordinate NGO positions on international
forest policy and related intergovernmental and private sector initiatives.
Since 1992 we have acted as policy adviser to the
International
Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests
- the only intercontinental movement of indigenous peoples in the
tropics. Originally set up in 1990 as a project of the World
Rainforest Movement (WRM), in 1997 FPP became an independent
NGO, now registered as a charity in England. FPP is distinctive
among the NGOs active in these international fora in adopting a
rights-based approach to environment and development issues. We
put forward clear, accurately documented arguments based on on-the-ground
research in collaboration with indigenous peoples and other forest-dwelling
communities, as well as on detailed desk-based analysis.
FPP promotes forest peoples' rights in the following ways: Supporting forest peoples' organisations: FPP supports forest peoples to assert their rights to control and manage their territories and forests. We provide training and technical support, policy advice and fund-raising assistance to forest peoples' organisations to build up their capacity to defend their rights, participate effectively in national and international policy making and promote sustainable community development. International Forest Policy: By publishing detailed analyses, FPP challenges top-down 'global' solutions to the forests crisis that entrench unjust power relations that lead to more, not less, deforestation. Through advocacy and supporting indigenous representation in international forest policy-making, we work to ensure that forest peoples' rights are placed at the centre of policies aimed at 'saving the forests' and 'halting climate change' and that the underlying causes of forest-loss are addressed. Encouraging Responsible Finance: FPP works to ensure that publicly and privately financed projects on forest peoples' lands only go ahead with the communities' free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). We also identify mechanisms by which affected communities can hold the financial institutions to account for flawed project design and implementation. Environmental Governance: Most of the planet's areas of high biological diversity are on the territories of indigenous and tribal forest peoples, who for generations have been managing the environment according to their traditional ways ('customary use'). Yet every continent has conservation policies that deny local peoples' rights by forcing them off their lands in order to create 'wilderness' areas. We support indigenous and local communities to engage with conservationists to change their policies, recognise indigenous territorial rights and find new ways of working together to achieve their mutual aims of environmental conservation. Legal and Human Rights Support: Many forest peoples experience racial and cultural discrimination and are denied rights to lands and livelihoods, to organise and to represent themselves. FPP opens space for discussion on indigenous peoples' rights and provides technical legal assistance to help forest peoples tackle these injustices. By building the capacity of their organisations to use national and international legal processes FPP helps forest peoples challenge violations of their rights, promote legislative reforms and pursue legal cases through the courts. Community-based Forest Management: FPP researches and advocates community-based forest management building on traditional resource-use practices, as an alternative to industrial forest exploitation. We analyse the internal and external obstacles to community resource management. We help forest peoples' organisations to strengthen or adapt their traditional decision-making bodies to enable them to engage more effectively with outside agencies in order to regain control over their lands and forest resources. Mapping: FPP provides participatory, community-based training for forest peoples' communities using modern GPS mapping techniques to enable them to map and demarcate their territories and traditional systems of resource use. We help forest communities use these maps to obtain legal recognition of their land ownership through the courts and develop community-based resource management systems on their lands. Extractive industries: FPP works closely with local communities and indigenous peoples' organisations to support them in their struggles against destructive development projects. We promote the direct involvement of affected communities in discussions with the private sector to ensure that 'best practice' industry standards on forestry, plantations, dams, palm oil and logging respect the rights of indigenous and forest peoples to their customary lands and to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) about industry actions that affect them. Intellectual Property Rights: FPP researches the legal options open to indigenous peoples to secure their intellectual property and cultural heritage against unfair exploitation by outsiders. Through publications, workshops and coordination of advocacy, we support indigenous initiatives to protect their knowledge through the exercise of their customary laws and increased control over projects exploiting their culture, lands and natural resources. Documentation Forest Peoples Programme Annual Reports (pdf): 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 All reports, briefings and publications relating to our activities are available in the Publications and Reports section of this website.
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