Brief intro to BCPs

This briefing by Natural Justice introduces Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs), which are community-determined frameworks used by Indigenous peoples and local communities to articulate their values and rights when engaging with external actors such as governments and companies.

• Biocultural community protocols (BCPs) serve as tools for communities to define their own values, procedures, and priorities, establishing a basis for interaction with external entities including NGOs, academics, companies, and governments. They are designed to help communities respond proactively to opportunities and threats related to research, conservation, legal frameworks, and land and resource development.
• The development of a BCP is intended to be an inclusive, empowering, and endogenous process that relies on the community's own skills and knowledge. The goal is to increase community agency and ensure that external engagements are characterized by integrity, respect, transparency, honesty, and social and cultural sensitivity.
• In Ghana, the Tanchara and Daffiama communities in the north used organizational development tools since 2003, including action planning and resource mapping, to increase their capacity to 'develop from within'. These tools helped customary leaders address threats to natural resources, sacred groves, and territories, specifically including an illegal gold mine.
• In Sabah, Malaysia, nine villages spent 8 years conducting participatory action research—utilizing 3-D models, photo exhibitions, oral histories, and livelihood assessments—to create a BCP. This effort aimed to secure customary rights and livelihoods by establishing a Community Use Zone within a state park that overlaps their customary lands.
• In Kenya, a coalition of civil society organizations, religious leaders, local fishing communities, and Indigenous peoples responded to a multi-billion dollar mega-infrastructure project in Lamu. Rather than opposing the project entirely, they used a process of visioning and consultation to demand that their rights under national, regional, and international law be upheld, focusing on unbiased impact assessments and the right to information.
• In India, different communities have used BCPs and legal empowerment to protect biodiversity and land rights. Organic farmers in Tamil Nadu engaged with the 2001 Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act and the 2002 Biological Diversity Act to protect indigenous rice varieties. Meanwhile, Maldhari and Raika pastoralists in Gujarat and Rajasthan used BCPs to advocate for livestock keepers' rights and customary grazing lands under the 2006 Forest Rights Act.
• In Bushbuckridge, South Africa, traditional health practitioners formed an Association in 2009 and developed a BCP to combat the overharvesting of medicinal plants and the unauthorized use of traditional knowledge. Utilizing the 2004 Biodiversity Act and Bioprospecting, Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations, they established a medicinal plants nursery and engaged with a local cosmetic company.

APA

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

Chicago

Natural Justice. Brief intro to BCPs. n.d. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Brief-intro-BCP.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=Brief intro to 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{naturaljusticendbrief, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{Brief intro to 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} }