“Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Territory”
An Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Territory (IBCHT) is a territory where indigenous communities are free to continue their traditional ways of life and to use and develop their indigenous biocultural heritage. It is a designation that is freely adopted by the community or communities within an indigenous territory and is — or should be — recognized by the state and enjoy its full legal protection.
Why “territory”?
Unlike many Western analysts who tend to treat land primarily as a productive resource, indigenous peoples often see land as part of something greater. The word “territory” may be used to describe this holistic perspective of land which includes not only the productive function of land, but also the concepts of homeland, religion, spiritual sites, ancestors, culture, the natural environment, and other resources like forests, water, and below ground minerals. The territories of nearly all indigenous peoples are under threat. Securing land rights and control over local resources is a prerequisite for the protection of IBCH. The IBCHT designation, therefore, is appropriate for areas with legal recognition as indigenous territories or for territories where indigenous communities are still seeking formal recognition.
How is an IBCHT different than a protected area?
The concept of IBCHT was inspired in part by people-inclusive approaches to conservation that have gained growing recognition in recent years. This includes the protected landscape approach or, to use the language of the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) protected area categorization, Category V. The 1994 Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories defines Category V, Protected landscape/seascape as:
An area of land, with coast and sea as appropriate, where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, ecological, and/or cultural value, and often with high biological diversity.
Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area.
The IUCN’s protected area governance type known as “Community Conserved Area” also helped inspire the IBCHT approach. A CCA is defined as:
Natural and modified ecosystems, including significant biodiversity, ecological services, and cultural values, voluntarily conserved by indigenous peoples and local and mobile communities through customary laws or other effective means.
When the management objectives of a Category V protected area are implemented by indigenous peoples according to the CCA governancea a type, the result is a protected area that very much resembles what is currrently being proposed under the rubric of an IBCHT. Nevertheless, the latter is significantly different on a philosophical and political level. An IBCHT rejects the conservation lexicon of protected arepproaches and does not necessarily adhere to the over-arching objectives of a protected area system. Although many indigenous peoples understand that classifying their homes and sacred lands as protected areas may under certain circumstances be a politically feasible way to gain some protection, most realize that such an approach does not get at what they truly seek — the recognition and realization of their basic human rights as peoples. By contrast, the IBCHT approach expressly responds to the requirements of the human rights system and is meant to directly address the needs and concerns of indigenous peoples.
What distinguishes an IBCHT from any other indigenous territory?
If an IBCHT is primarily about enabling indigenous communities to continue their traditional ways of life and asserting their rights over traditional lands and resources, then what makes it different than other indigenous territories? The difference is that most indigenous territories are under threat and their inhabitants have no coherent strategy with which to defend their heritage. When indigenous communities choose to make their territory an IBCHT, they are communicating their intention to defend their heritage with the tools made available by the IBCHT approach. They are also stressing that, in doing so, they are helping countries meet their obligations for poverty alleviation, biodiversity conservation, and human rights.