EL DERECHO A ORGANIZARSE Y DERECHOS CULTURALES ESENCIALES AL MANEJO COMUNITARIO DEL BOSQUE

The report by Friends of the Earth International emphasizes that Community Forest Management (MCB) cannot exist without organized communities and the protection of their cultural and spiritual ties to their territories. It identifies the right to association as a fundamental human right supported by international declarations, and argues that cultural rights—though less explicitly defined in international law—are inextricably linked to land tenure and biodiversity conservation. The text advocates for using international legal frameworks to pressure national governments to implement these rights, while stressing that legal action should be part of a broader strategy of social mobilization.

• Community organization is a prerequisite for Community Forest Management (MCB) because the forest is a collective space and the practice requires an organized community to succeed; without it, MCB cannot exist.
• The right to organize is a fundamental human right supported by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 22), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• While legal frameworks provide tools for advocacy, they are limited and should not replace social mobilization; legal outcomes depend on judges who may lack context, and there is a risk of demobilizing communities by placing their future in the hands of third parties.
• Cultural and spiritual rights are among the least defined and least supported in international agreements, yet they are fundamentally linked to territory; protecting the land is the primary way to protect the associated culture and spirituality.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), specifically articles 8j and 10c, protects the traditional knowledge and customary use of biological resources, which cannot be dissociated from the territories where these practices occur.
• Integrating biocultural heritage is considered essential for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to address the drivers of biodiversity loss and avoid the illogical separation of nature conservation from cultural practices.

APA

Rojas, I. (2020). EL DERECHO A ORGANIZARSE Y DERECHOS CULTURALES ESENCIALES AL MANEJO COMUNITARIO DEL BOSQUE. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/El-derecho-a-organizarse-y-derechos-culturales-esenciales-al-manejo-comunitario-del-bosque_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf

Chicago

Rojas, Isaac. EL DERECHO A ORGANIZARSE Y DERECHOS CULTURALES ESENCIALES AL MANEJO COMUNITARIO DEL BOSQUE. Friends of the Earth International, 2020. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/El-derecho-a-organizarse-y-derechos-culturales-esenciales-al-manejo-comunitario-del-bosque_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rojas |first1=Isaac |title=EL DERECHO A ORGANIZARSE Y DERECHOS CULTURALES ESENCIALES AL MANEJO COMUNITARIO DEL BOSQUE |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=December 2020 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/El-derecho-a-organizarse-y-derechos-culturales-esenciales-al-manejo-comunitario-del-bosque_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rojas2020derecho, author = {Rojas, Isaac}, title = {{EL DERECHO A ORGANIZARSE Y DERECHOS CULTURALES ESENCIALES AL MANEJO COMUNITARIO DEL BOSQUE}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/El-derecho-a-organizarse-y-derechos-culturales-esenciales-al-manejo-comunitario-del-bosque_Amigos-de-la-tierra-internacional.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }