Search Climate Insights Directory

The Khoikhoi Peoples’ Rooibos Biocultural Community Protocol (BCP), published in 2019 by Natural Justice, serves as a formal framework to assert the Khoikhoi people's rights as traditional knowledge holders of Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis). It outlines the community's history of dispossession, their organizational structure for granting Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and the mechanisms for sharing benefits from the commercialization of Rooibos through a dedicated trust.

This guide, produced by the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association and Natural Justice, establishes a biocultural protocol for traditional health practitioners in Bushbuckridge. It outlines the role of these practitioners in community health, the spiritual and traditional methods used to harvest medicinal plants, and the challenges they face regarding land access and the protection of indigenous knowledge. The document asserts the rights of practitioners to access protected areas for medicinal resources and sets conditions for researchers and commercial entities seeking to use their traditional knowledge.