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188 Indigenous Peoples, Forests and REDD Plus Sustaining, Enhancing Forests Thru Trad’l Resource Management i ii Indigenous Peoples, Forests and REDD Plus Indigenous Peoples, Forests & REDD Plus: Sustaining & Enhancing Forests Through Traditional Resource Management Copyright © 2010, Tebtebba Foundation All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Published by Tebtebba Foundation No. 1 Roman Ayson Road 2600 Baguio City Philippines Tel. 63 74 4447703 Tel/Fax: 63 74 4439459 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.tebtebba.org Editorial Board: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz & Raymond de Chavez Editor: Wilfredo V. Alangui, Grace Subido & Ruth Tinda-an Book design, lay-out and production: Paul Michael Nera, & Raymond de Chavez Assistant: Marly Cariño & Marissa Maguide-Cabato Cover Artwork: Centro para la Autonomía y Desarollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CADPI), Nicaragua Printed in the Philippines by Valley Printing Specialist Baguio City, Philippines ISBN: 978-971-0186-01-3 Sustaining, Enhancing Forests Thru Trad’l Resource Management iii iv Indigenous Peoples, Forests and REDD Plus Sustaining, Enhancing Forests Thru Trad’l Resource Management v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................. vii Acronyms .................................................................. xi Indigenous Peoples & the Naimina Enkiyio Forest in Southern Kenya: A Case Study ............................................................ 1 The Tasba Pri Kuakuail II Community’s Relationship with the Forest in Nicaragua ........................................... 59 The Dayak Jalai Peoples & their Concept of Dahas in Ketapangan District, West Kalimantan, Indonesia: A Case Study ................. 119 vi Indigenous Peoples, Forests and REDD Plus Sustaining, Enhancing Forests Thru Trad’l Resource Management vii INTRODUCTION Many of the last remaining tropical forests in the world to- day are found in indigenous peoples’ territories. The main rea- son for this is that forest-dwelling and forest-dependent indigenous peoples regard forests not only as the source of suste- nance and livelihoods but the very basis of their identities, cul- tures and their social organizations. Thus, they continue to sustainably use, conserve and protect these forests which is home to them. Their cultural, social, economic and spiritual relationship with their forests are deeply-rooted and attempts to dis- place them from these are met with severe resistance. Several have fought and continue to fight against the attempts of colonialists, nation-states and corporations to expropriate their forests and extract the resources found therein or convert these into grazing lands and monoculture tree or agriculture planta- tions. This explains why many conflicts are found in countries which are hosts to tropical forests. Indigenous peoples’ desire to ensure that these forests are conserved, protected and sustainably used is not solely for them and for their past and future generations but also for other living and non-living things, the deities and the unseen. Because of their traditional knowledge and practices of managing the forest ecosystem, including its resources and services, they have and continue to contribute to climate change mitigation. So even before REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and For- est Degradation) came into the picture,1 indigenous peoples are already reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation. We call this the “redd” in small letters. 1 We distinguish reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (in small letters) from REDD (in capital letters). The former is the practice done by indigenous peoples and other forest peoples in defending their forests from deforesters and practicing their traditional forest management systems which are strictly regulated by customary laws. REDD is the official programme being negotiated at the UNFCCC. viii Indigenous Peoples, Forests and REDD Plus When we, in Tebtebba, heard about REDD and then REDD Plus, our first reaction was that this is nothing new. We thought that if there are incentives to further enhance indigenous peoples’ systems in using the forests sustainably as well as protecting and conserving these, then these should be supported. Of course, along the way we realized it was not as simple as this. There are risks that the incentives will not go to indigenous peoples. There is the risk that because forests are acknowledged for their con- tributions in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, indigenous peoples might be displaced from their forests or prevented from using these. This is when we decided that if we are able to generate resources for forests and climate change, the first thing we would do is to encourage our indigenous colleagues to first do the research and documentation of their traditional forest management practices and knowledge. These information will be very useful not only for themselves but also for their work in convincing decision makers that their indigenous traditional systems on forests will be crucial in ensuring the success of REDD Plus. Thus, when we succeeded to get funds from the Norwe- gian Forest and Climate Change Initiative coursed through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), this is what we did. We entered into formal partnerships with several indigenous peoples’ organizations whom we have been working with for several years, and agreed that one of the first joint work we will do is research. We chose eight partners from Asia, Latin America and Africa. We will provide them support to undertake case studies on how their own people are doing their forest management. They will look into the customary systems of forest management which are still practiced. What are their peoples’ views, knowledge and beliefs related to the forest ecosystem and what are the practices on forest management? This was accompanied by another research which looked into the national policies and programmes which are affecting their rights to their lands and their forests and their capacity to contribute to climate change mitigation. The drivers of deforestation in their countries were examined under this research project. While the analysis of policies and programmes was implemented by all of our eight partners, the case studies on traditional forest management were done in three countries only. Sustaining, Enhancing Forests Thru Trad’l Resource Management ix Our partners who did these case studies were Institut Dayakologi (ID) and Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) for Indonesia; Centro para la Autonomía y Desarollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CADPI) for Nicaragua; and Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development (MPIDO) and Loita De- velopment Foundation (LDF) for Kenya. The project partners conducted series of community consultations and meetings to inform the communities about the project and to get their con- sent for their community and forests as showcase areas which are successfully managed and sustained by indigenous peoples for generations. Social preparations and capacity building ac- tivities were also conducted by the project partners with indigenous peoples’ organizations and communities. This book contains the case studies in these three countries. One vital element about these case studies is that the ones who did the research and wrote the cases were indigenous research- ers, themselves. We convinced our partners that they are the best persons who can document and do the research and writ- ing up of how their forests have been conserved. Tebtebba’s main mission is to help enhance the capacities of indigenous persons to do research and to write the research results themselves. We think that unless indigenous peoples hone their research capabilities, they will always be objects of research. There is always the risk that their practices, views and perspectives will be misrepresented. So we had to insist with our partners that their staff or their local organizations be the ones to do the case studies. These case studies showcase the living examples of how indigenous peoples’ knowledge and practices and customary laws on forest conservation and natural resource management are crucial for sustaining these remaining forests. The case studies showed the multiple uses and benefits of forests to indigenous peoples including socio-economic, cultural and spiritual benefits. Other benefits include the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and improvement of local and national governance of forests. The recognition, pro- tection and fulfillment of indigenous peoples’ rights over their forests and the sustained use of their knowledge in sustaining these forests are crucial for the success of REDD Plus or any other forest and climate change programme. x Indigenous Peoples, Forests and REDD Plus The publication of this book is a result of the collective efforts of Tebtebba, our project partners and the local indigenous peoples organizations’ and communities they are working with in the three demonstration areas. For this, I would like to thank all our partners who shared efforts in successfully coming up with these case studies. Thanks also to all my colleagues in Tebtebba including Marissa Maguide-Cabato of the Research Desk and Grace Balawag, our Project Assistant,

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