Territorial management planning

Based on the community mapping experiences and the customary use studies, several indigenous and local communities are in the process of developing community-based management plans. In these plans, communities outline how they will manage, use, preserve and develop various resources and places within their traditional territories. The plans are intended to guide and regulate sustainable use and protection of biological resources by the communities involved. Although the development of these plans is based on traditional knowledge and customary practices and rules, western tools and skills (such as mapping technology and resource management planning) are also used.

Management plans offer communities a structured way of maintaining and applying traditional practices and rules related to natural resources and can help to defend communities’ lands against outside threats. Moreover, the plans can play important roles in negotiations about land and resource rights. Many communities incorporate climate change challenges and potential solutions into the community management plans.

Relevant resources

Guidelines for the management of the Ye'kwana and Sanema territories in the Caura River basin in Venezuela

1 March, 2013

This participatory study on natural resources, their uses and proposals for their management, was carried out by the Indigenous Organisation of the Caura River Basin (KUYUJANI) and the National Experimental University of Central Guayana Anthropology Department, in conjunction with the Ye'kwana and Sanema communities, with support from Forest Peoples Programme.

Introduction by authors

Castellano (8.2 MB)

Ye'kwana (8.9 MB)

Wapichan people in Guyana make community based agreements for protecting ancestral forests

Povo Wapichan

2 May, 2012

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).

Brochure - English (0.5 MB)

Brochure - French (0.5 MB)

Brochure - Spanish (0.5 MB)

Brochure - Portuguese (0.5 MB)

Territorial Plan - English (12 MB)

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

16 March, 2012

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

Wapichan people in Guyana present territorial map and community proposals to save ancestral forests

20 February, 2012

Several participants said that the Wapichan land use planning and mapping work has the potential to become a model for other IPs

Highlights:

Completion of a community digital map of traditional use and occupation of Wapichan wiizi (territory) by Wapichan mappers and a GIS specialist.
Community map is based on thousands of waypoints geo-referenced with satellite imagery.
The land use map has been finalised through multiple validation meetings in Wapichan communities as well as consultations with the Makushi and Wai Wai communities to the North and South of Wapichan territory.
Over 80 community consultations and workshops have been carried out to compile the innovative territorial plan titled Thinking Together for those Coming Behind Us.
The land use plan includes proposals to establish a Wapichan Conserved Forest and contains dozens of inter-community agreements on actions to secure land rights, promote sustainable use of resources and enable self-determined community development.
Participants at the Wapichan map and plan launch event in Georgetown, Guyana, praised the work as a potential model for other indigenous peoples in Guyana, and throughout the world.

Press Release: Wapichan people in Guyana showcase community proposal to save tropical forests on their traditional lands

7 February, 2012

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.

Press Release - English (0.2 MB)

Comunicado de prensa - Español (0.2 MB)

Wapichan film: "In the future we hope our grandchildren can still use the forest as it is very important to us"

1 February, 2012

Wapichan people in Guyana talk about why the forest is important to them and thank donors for their solidarity in supporting their efforts to establish a community conserved forest. February 2012.

Ugandan Batwa complete 3-D Model of their Bwindi Forest ancestral area

7 July, 2011

Batwa participants applying their traditional knowledge to the model. Uganda, 2011

In 2009 a group of Batwa representatives from Uganda travelled to Ogiek communities in Kenya to learn about their situation and the different advocacy strategies they were using. One of these strategies was the use of Participatory 3-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM), which helped the Ogiek engage Kenyan agencies on their rights to their ancestral territory, the Mau Forest. The Batwa walked away from this visit impressed by the simplicity of the P3DM technique and hopeful of replicating it in their own context.

Two years later in June 2011, the Batwa, with support from the ARCUS Foundation, began their own three-dimensional modelling of their ancestral territory, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. More than 100 representatives from the Batwa communities surrounding Bwindi, including youth, elders, women and men attended the exercise over a three-week period.