This volume presents a comprehensive overview of biocultural rights,
examining how we can promote the role of indigenous peoples and local
communities as environmental stewards and how we can ensure that their
ways of life are protected.
With Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) or Community Protocols (CPs)
being increasingly seen as a powerful way of tackling this immense
challenge, this book investigates these new instruments and considers
the lessons that can be learnt about the situation of indigenous peoples
and local communities. It opens with theoretical insights which provide
the reader with foundational concepts such as biocultural diversity,
biocultural rights and community rule-making. In Part Two, the book
moves on to community protocols within the Access Benefit Sharing (ABS)
context, while taking a glimpse into the nature and role of community
protocols beyond issues of access to genetic resources and traditional
knowledge. A thorough review of specific cases drawn from field-based
research around the world is presented in this part. Comprehensive
chapters also explore the negotiation process and raise stimulating
questions about the role of international brokers and organizations and
the way they can use BCPs/CPs as disciplinary tools for national and
regional planning or to serve powerful institutional interests. Finally,
the third part of the book considers whether BCPs/CPs, notably through
their emphasis on "stewardship of nature" and "tradition", can be seen
as problematic arrangements that constrain indigenous peoples within the
Western imagination, without any hope of them reconstructing their
identities according to their own visions, or whether they can be seen
as political tools and representational strategies used by indigenous
peoples in their struggle for greater rights to their land, territories
and resources, and for more political space.
This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of
environmental law, indigenous peoples, biodiversity conservation and
environmental anthropology. It will also be of great use to
professionals and policymakers involved in environmental management and
the protection of indigenous rights.
The Open Access version of this book, available at
www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license
