Customary sustainable use

After years of painstaking work and multiple community consultations, the indigenous Wapichan people of southern Guyana have set out agreements and proposals for caring for their territory in a ground-breaking plan titled Baokopa’o wa di’itinpan wadauniinao ati’o nii (Thinking together for those coming behind us).

The following article, by Maurizio Farhan-Ferrari, Coordinator of the FPP's Environmental Governance Programme, has just been published on the Landscapes Blog for People, Food and Nature:

Indigenous Resource Management Systems: A holistic approach to nature and livelihoods

PRESS INFORMATION

Georgetown, 7 February: The indigenous Wapichan people of Guyana, South America, will make public today a locally-made digital map of their traditional territory alongside a ground-breaking community proposal to care for 1.4 million ha of pristine rainforest for the benefit of their communities and the world. The territory’s rich variety of rainforests, mountains, wetlands, savannah grasslands and tropical woodlands are the homeland of 20 communities, who make a living from small-scale farming, hunting, fishing and gathering, which they have practised over the whole area for generations. The same area, located in the South Rupununi District, south-west Guyana, has an outstanding abundance of wildlife, including endangered species such as giant river otters, jaguars, and rare bush dogs as well as endemic species of fish and birds, like the Rio Branco Antbird.

The grassroots proposal comes at a crucial time because the entire Wapichan territory in Guyana, like many other parts of the Amazon basin and Guiana Shield, is threatened by mega road and dam projects as well as external plans for logging, mining and agribusiness development. In common with many indigenous peoples across Guyana and South America, the communities are vulnerable to land grabs and marginalisation because they lack secure legal title over much of their traditional lands.

Case Studies and Synthesis Paper

Article 10(c) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) states that Parties shall: (...) protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirements.

Some years ago, Parties to the Convention requested practical information about, and examples of, sustainable use of biological diversity by indigenous and local communities, and asked for advice on how best to implement this article (see Decision V/24 and Decision VII/12). In response to this request, indigenous peoples, local communities, and support organisations from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Guyana, Suriname, Thailand and Venezuela set up a project to produce case studies in which they documented sustainable customary use within their communities.

This complemented an existing desire to create a written record of their traditional practices, which until then had largely relied on oral transmission from one generation to the next. The project therefore enabled this knowledge to be documented and safeguarded, and demonstrated to others how these forest peoples use their lands and resources.