FPP Welcomes the Adoption of the New “Core Human Rights Principles for Private Conservation Organizations and Funders”

The launch of the “Core Human Rights Principles for Private Conservation Organizations and Funders” comes as a timely and welcome reminder to private conservation actors of their responsibilities to respect human rights. In 2022, states parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity renewed and expanded their commitment to follow a human rights-based approach to conservation. It is also well-evidenced that conservation action is most effective when it respects human rights. Achieving rights-based conservation, however, will require all actors in the space – both state and non-state – to fundamentally reimagine their approach to conservation.

These Principles do not define new rights or duties; they are an important elaboration and clarification of some of the key existing human rights norms and standards applicable to conservation. One important element of the Principles is that conservation actors must respect international human rights norms and standards, which may set a higher bar than national laws; this is particularly relevant in the context of conservation-related law enforcement activities, which have too often been associated with serious human rights abuses. Another crucial clarification in these Principles is that the responsibility to respect human rights goes beyond a safeguarding, or “do no harm”, approach. The Principles note, for example, that private conservation actors should “support Indigenous Peoples … in exercising their rights and advancing the realization of their rights…”. This proactive support for the exercise of rights within conservation action is a critical component of a human rights-based approach.

Private conservation organizations and funders must urgently internalize and effectively implement these Principles to transform their approach towards conservation. A recently-launched guide, Conservation and Human Rights: An Introduction, developed by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS) at the University of Oxford and the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), can support these conservation actors with tools to guide them in their implementation of these Principles. The guide provides an overview of human rights and human rights-based approaches, as well as of international human rights norms and standards, particularly those relevant to conservation. It then offers practical tools for conservation actors to use to implement social safeguard and human rights due diligence procedures; human rights impact assessments; free, prior, and informed consent processes; grievance mechanisms; and remedy and restitution. It also includes tools for supporting rightsholders to exercise and realize their rights, in particular their rights to their lands, territories, and resources.

These newly-launched Core Principles, together with practical tools such as the ICCS and FPP Conservation and Human Rights guide, can help private conservation actors to achieve rights-based conservation. Dismantling decades of deeply ingrained exclusionary structures and practices within conservation will not be easy, but the widespread support for these Core Principles offers hope that conservation actors will put in the work to create new models of conservation that are more effective, more inclusive, and more equitable.

Read the "Core Human Rights Principles for Private Conservation Organizations and Funders" via the website of the UN Environment Programme