Lorena Arce takes us through the steps from how to become a part of the ICCA Consortium to registering your community in the global database
Lorena Arce is the ICCA Coordinator for Cono Sur and Focal Point for Latin America, as well as Director of Observatorio Ciudadano, an ILC Member. She's one of many participants from the joint ILC, NAMATI and IIED, Community Land Protection Learning Initiative. The Initiative is designed to build a supportive cross-regional community of practice that facilitates learning between community land rights advocates . It equips ILC members with the practical skills to support communities to document and protect their indigenous and customary lands while strengthening local land governance, natural resource management, and the land rights of women and members of marginalized groups.
THE COMMUNITY LAND PROTECTION LEARNING INITIATIVE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ILC MEMBERS TO LEARN FROM PEERS HOW TO PROTECT COMMUNITY LAND
INDIGENOUS AND COMMUNITY CONSERVED AREAS
A close association is often found between a specific group of indigenous peoples or local communities and a specific territory, area or body of natural resources. When such an association is combined with effective local governance and conservation of nature, we call this an “ICCA”. ICCA stands for “territories and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities” or “territories of life”.
ICCAs embrace international human rights standards and specially the rights of indigenous people. Any action of support that doesn’t come directly from an ICCA must be done with the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of those involved.
For more information on the international legal framework underpinning the rights of indigenous peoples, please see the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, ILO 169.
Learn more
To learn more about ICCA and the ICCA Consortium watch the film "ICCAs and the ICCA Consortium – Conserving territories of life” (20 min.) You can also visit ICCA website where you will find more information about the life of the ICCA Consortium, who we are, what we do and where we work. You can also discover more about ICCAs, read about them through publications, case studies and communities’ own voices.
Take action
If you want to take action to strengthen your ICCA or give support to them you will find many ways to do so, including:
- Register your ICCA in the ICCA Registry and/or in the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA). More information here.
- If you are interested in joining the ICCA Consortium movement, here you will find how to do it.
- Are you looking for more information? Contact a Regional Coordinator, check who and where they are here.
learn from other participants
