From Consultation to Co-Creation: Recognising Indigenous Peoples' Knowledge and Customary Governance in Biodiversity and Carbon Standards
What does meaningful recognition of Indigenous Peoples' knowledge and customary governance systems look like within biodiversity and carbon market standards?
Despite being custodians and protectors of the Earth's land and waters, Indigenous Peoples' knowledge, other local knowledges, and customary governance are often undervalued and not meaningfully included in carbon markets. This diminishes the rights and interests of both Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as well as the effectiveness of projects and the benefits they offer to peoples and planet.
Standards, certification systems, and market frameworks are starting to include provisions relating to Indigenous Peoples' knowledge and customary governance. However, significant questions remain regarding how Indigenous Peoples' knowledge, other local knowledges, and customary governance systems are recognised, respected, protected, and incorporated in practice. Approaches vary across standards, and there are few opportunities for direct exchange between standards bodies, Indigenous representatives, practitioners, and other market actors.
Hosted by the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Engagement Forum, this dialogue will bring together representatives from Indigenous Peoples, local communities, standards bodies, project developers, practitioners and other market actors to:
Share experiences of how Indigenous Peoples' knowledge, other local knowledges and customary governance are being recognised within biodiversity and carbon standards.
Explore emerging good practices, including approaches relating to knowledge sovereignty, Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), community-led monitoring and governance.
Identify challenges that arise when moving from requirements on paper to implementation in practice.
Strengthen dialogue and relationships between standards bodies, Indigenous representatives, practitioners and other market actors.
Who should attend?
This dialogue is intended for:
Indigenous Peoples' representatives, practitioners and project leaders
Local community representatives
Biodiversity and carbon standards bodies
Project developers and implementers
Researchers and civil society organisations
Donors, market integrity initiatives and policy stakeholders interested in Indigenous Peoples' knowledge, customary governance and environmental market integrity.
Registration
Participation is limited to support a meaningful and interactive discussion. Places are available on a first-come, first-served basis. We encourage interested participants to register early to secure a place.
For questions regarding the event or participant invitations, please contact the Forum team at forum@icvcm.org.
About the Engagement Forum
The Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Engagement Forum is a unique self-governed space built for, and led by, Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities. The Forum is hosted by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) but operates independently. The Forum's core aim is to ensure that the rights and interests of both Indigenous Peoples and local communities are central in a high-integrity carbon market. The Forum holds a neutral position on carbon markets and seeks to enable communities to self-strengthen so that they can choose whether to engage in the market in an informed way - not as beneficiaries but as co-owners and equal partners.
The Forum has identified Indigenous Peoples' knowledge and customary governance as a priority area within its Carbon Market Engagement Strategy. Within this, the Forum is exploring how Indigenous Peoples' knowledge systems can be meaningfully respected and included within evolving market frameworks and integrity initiatives where communities choose to engage.
To read more about the Forum, please visit: https://indigenousengagementforum.org/