Biocultural community protocols (BCPs)

The document describes Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) as community-determined frameworks that define values, procedures, and priorities to guide engagement with governments, companies, and NGOs. It outlines how BCPs help communities secure customary rights and respond to threats like illegal mining or infrastructure projects. The briefing provides case studies from Ghana, Malaysia, Kenya, India, and South Africa, illustrating the use of BCPs for resource mapping, legal empowerment, and the protection of traditional knowledge and biodiversity. It also promotes a four-part Toolkit for Community Facilitators to support the endogenous development of these protocols.

• Biocultural community protocols (BCPs) serve as frameworks that define community-determined values and priorities, establishing the rights and responsibilities under international, state, and customary law to facilitate engagement with external entities such as NGOs, academics, companies, and governments.
• The development of a BCP is intended to be an inclusive, empowering, and endogenous process that utilizes a community's own knowledge and skills to increase its agency and ensure external engagements are conducted with integrity, transparency, and respect.
• Case studies demonstrate that BCPs and associated community tools enable local populations to protect their territories and livelihoods: in northern Ghana, the Tanchara and Daffiama communities used them to respond to an illegal gold mine; in Sabah, Malaysia, nine villages used participatory research to secure customary rights within a state park; and in Lamu, Kenya, communities used them to demand the upholding of legal rights regarding a multi-billion dollar infrastructure project.
• In India, BCPs and legal empowerment are used to protect agro-biodiversity and livestock breeds: organic farmers in Tamil Nadu engage with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the 2002 Biological Diversity Act to counter mono-crops, while Raika and Maldhari pastoralists use BCPs to advocate for livestock keepers' rights under the 2006 Forest Rights Act.
• In South Africa, traditional health practitioners in Bushbuckridge developed a BCP to prevent the overharvesting of medicinal plants and the unauthorized use of traditional knowledge, utilizing rights under the 2004 Biodiversity Act to engage a cosmetic company and establish a nursery.

APA

Natural Justice (n.d.). Biocultural community protocols (BCPs). https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Brief-intro-BCP.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. Biocultural community protocols (BCPs). n.d. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Brief-intro-BCP.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=Biocultural community protocols (BCPs) |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Brief-intro-BCP.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljusticendbiocultural, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{Biocultural community protocols (BCPs)}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Brief-intro-BCP.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }