Exploring The Development And Use Of Biocultural Community Protocols To Help Secure Community Interests And Rights In Relation To Extractive Industries

The report outlines a methodology for creating biocultural community protocols—documents that record a community's customary laws, governance, and visions—to help them negotiate with extractive industries. It provides action research questions, guidance for facilitators, and tools for community mobilisation and external engagement, while highlighting the legal and structural challenges faced by communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

• Biocultural community protocols are described as both a process and an outcome that documents a community's identity, including its "territory, customary laws, institutions and decision-making systems, traditional knowledge and natural resource stewardship, governance and/or management systems, visions and plans for the future".
• Community protocols serve three primary inter-related objectives: internal community mobilisation through visioning, the development of strategies for external interactions (including aspirational and defensive demands), and the creation of a framework for community-led interactions with external actors.
• The document identifies several negative effects of extractive industries on communities, including environmental pollution, unsustainable exploitation of vital resources, social and cultural intrusion, and "Direct serious human rights violations by outsiders".
• The methodology emphasizes 'endogenous development,' which is development driven from within communities rather than by external actors, seeking to enhance local control by utilizing "locally available resources, knowledge, skills, strengths, culture and leadership".
• The framework suggests that the most ideal time to develop and use a community protocol is during the 'exploration' phase of a mining project, allowing the community to "define the terms of investor engagements from the beginning".
• The report highlights a systemic lack of effective legal recognition for Indigenous peoples' inherent rights, including self-determination, customary laws, and rights to territories, which "actively undermine Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ abilities to respond" to external threats.
• A critical challenge in the extractive sector is the 'top-down approach' to community consultation often endorsed by international organisations like the World Bank, which may disregard international and customary law.
• The document warns of 'elite capture,' where a small, influential group of community members may use the protocol process to "protect or further their interests" at the expense of the broader community.
• Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is presented as a minimum international legal standard, defined as an ongoing process where communities have the right to seek more information, say "no", or withdraw entirely at any stage of negotiation.
• The report provides specific case studies: in Bushbuckridge, South Africa, traditional health practitioners used a protocol to negotiate access to protected areas; in Tanchara, Ghana, the community used a protocol and a 'Community Health Impact Assessment Tool' to engage government authorities regarding illegal gold mining.

APA

Booker, S., Jonas, H., Makagon, E., von Braun, J., & Wilke, M. (2014). Exploring The Development And Use Of Biocultural Community Protocols To Help Secure Community Interests And Rights In Relation To Extractive Industries. Natural Justice. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Framework-methodology.pdf

Chicago

Booker, Stephanie, Holly Jonas, Eli Makagon, Johanna von Braun, and Marie Wilke. Exploring The Development And Use Of Biocultural Community Protocols To Help Secure Community Interests And Rights In Relation To Extractive Industries. Natural Justice, 2014. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Framework-methodology.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Booker |first1=Stephanie |last2=Jonas |first2=Holly |last3=Makagon |first3=Eli |last4=von Braun |first4=Johanna |last5=Wilke |first5=Marie |title=Exploring The Development And Use Of Biocultural Community Protocols To Help Secure Community Interests And Rights In Relation To Extractive Industries |publisher=Natural Justice |date=2014 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Framework-methodology.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{booker2014exploring, author = {Booker, Stephanie and Jonas, Holly and Makagon, Eli and von Braun, Johanna and Wilke, Marie}, title = {{Exploring The Development And Use Of Biocultural Community Protocols To Help Secure Community Interests And Rights In Relation To Extractive Industries}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2014}, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Framework-methodology.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }