BCP_Initiative_handout-Spanish-online_version.pdf

This fact sheet by Natural Justice introduces Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) as tools for indigenous and local communities to document their values and rights to better engage with external actors and protect their territories. It details the endogenous process required to develop these protocols and provides case studies from Ghana, Malaysia, Kenya, India, and South Africa where BCPs have been used to combat illegal mining, secure land use zones, protect biodiversity, and manage traditional medicinal knowledge.

• Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) are tools used by communities to express their values, procedures, and responsibilities under customary, state, and international law. They serve as a foundation for collaboration with external actors such as governments, companies, academics, and NGOs, and can be used to respond to threats and opportunities regarding natural resource management, land development, and conservation.
• The process of developing a BCP must be endogenous, inclusive, and based on the community's own resources, knowledge, and experiences. It is intended to promote intra- and inter-community dialogue, including across generations, to increase the community's capacity for self-determination and ensure that external collaborations are conducted with transparency, honesty, and cultural sensitivity.
• In Ghana, the Tanchara and Daffiama communities worked with CIKOD since 2003 to develop organizational tools, including resource mapping and institutional strengthening. These tools enabled customary leaders to respond in culturally appropriate ways to threats such as an illegal gold mine.
• In Sabah, Malaysia, nine villages spent 8 years conducting participatory action research—including 3D modeling and oral histories—to establish a Community Use Zone within a state park that overlapped their customary lands, using a BCP to secure their rights and livelihoods.
• In India, organic farmer associations in Tamil Nadu used legal empowerment regarding the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 to protect indigenous rice varieties against the threat of monocultures. Similarly, the Raika and Maldhari pastoralist societies in Rajasthan and Gujarat used BCPs to advocate for grazing rights under the Forest Rights Act of 2006.

APA

Natural Justice (n.d.). BCP_Initiative_handout-Spanish-online_version.pdf. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/BCP-Initiative-SP.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. BCP_Initiative_handout-Spanish-online_version.pdf. n.d. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/BCP-Initiative-SP.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=BCP_Initiative_handout-Spanish-online_version.pdf |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/BCP-Initiative-SP.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljusticendbcpinitiativehandoutspanishonlineversionpdf, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{BCP\_Initiative\_handout-Spanish-online\_version.pdf}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/BCP-Initiative-SP.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }