THE LIVING CONVENTION VOLUME II

The guide presents a methodology to re-center international law around the social-ecological relationships of Indigenous peoples, local communities, and peasants. It critiques the fragmentary nature of state and international law, which often compartmentalizes resources and conflicts with customary law. To address this, the authors apply a 'Traditional Resource Rights' (TRR) approach to 'bundle' disparate legal provisions into categories of rights organized by a landscape-based logic. The document also provides international definitions for Indigenous peoples, local communities, and peasants, and discusses the distinction between 'hard' and 'soft' international law.

• International law is characterized as inherently fragmentary and compartmentalized, which often undermines the integrity of social-ecological systems. This fragmentation manifests in three ways: the tendency to isolate interdependent aspects of landscapes, the disaggregation of community lives across different state agencies, and the conflict between positive law (based on private property) and customary law (based on collective values).
• The document proposes a 'counter-mapping' methodology based on Traditional Resource Rights (TRRs) to re-center international law. This approach involves 'bundling' individual provisions from various legal instruments into integrated categories of rights, shifting the focus from distinct legal blocks to the rights of peoples to protect their connection with nature.
• The methodology for the accompanying Compendium (Volume I) involves a comprehensive review of international law across multiple sectors, including human rights, the Rio Conventions (climate change, biodiversity, and desertification), intellectual property, and food sovereignty. Instruments were selected for inclusion if they were negotiated within the UN system and confer legal obligations on States.
• The internal structure of the resulting Compendium follows a 'landscape' logic rather than a legal one, moving from substantive human rights of individuals and communities outward to rights concerning land tenure, agricultural fields, forests, and dry lands, and finally to procedural rights.
• The document distinguishes between three key groups: Indigenous peoples, defined by historical continuity with pre-colonial societies and ancestral roots in their lands; local communities, defined by lifestyles linked to natural cycles and sustainable use of biodiversity; and peasants, defined as those engaging in small-scale agricultural production with a special dependency on the land.
• There is a recognized dichotomy between 'hard law' (binding treaties and customary international law) and 'soft law' (voluntary instruments). The document notes ongoing debate regarding the legal weight of decisions issued by Conferences of the Parties (COP) to international treaties, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity.

APA

Jonas, H., Godio, J., Makagon, J., & Jonas, H. (2020). THE LIVING CONVENTION VOLUME II. Natural Justice. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-Living-Convention-Vol.-II-Methodology-2020.pdf

Chicago

Jonas, Harry, Joyce Godio, Jael Makagon, and Holly Jonas. THE LIVING CONVENTION VOLUME II. Natural Justice, 2020. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-Living-Convention-Vol.-II-Methodology-2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jonas |first1=Harry |last2=Godio |first2=Joyce |last3=Makagon |first3=Jael |last4=Jonas |first4=Holly |title=THE LIVING CONVENTION VOLUME II |publisher=Natural Justice |date=2020 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-Living-Convention-Vol.-II-Methodology-2020.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jonas2020living, author = {Jonas, Harry and Godio, Joyce and Makagon, Jael and Jonas, Holly}, title = {{THE LIVING CONVENTION VOLUME II}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2020}, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-Living-Convention-Vol.-II-Methodology-2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }