Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.8: Importance of Free, Prior and Informed Consent
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FPIC has been a requirement of the certification system
of the Forest Stewardship Council, with regard to timber
products, dating back to 1994. The scheme is the most widely
accepted measure of ethical and environmentally sound
forestry. It is also required by the more industry-orientated
Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification
schemes. Both schemes stress the implementation of FPIC relative
to international agreements, but the Forest Stewardship
Council also now recognizes indigenous peoples who do not
have legal recognition of their land and have extended FPIC
to cover non-indigenous local communities. 9
As early as 2000 the World Bank’s World Commission on
Dams released the strongest guidelines with regard to largescale
hydro dams. These guidelines accepted that indigenous
peoples have the right to say “Yes” or “No” to dams on their
lands. 10
Conservation is an area that has advanced rapidly, given
an initially poor history in dealing with indigenous peoples.
The World Commission on Protected Areas, the International
Union for Conservation of Nature and the Worldwide Fund
for Nature have all accepted that implementing best practice
demands that national parks and nature reserves should only
be set up only after an agreement with indigenous peoples has
been negotiated, which respects the right to consent. 11
FPIC became the focus of a dialogue stream of The Forests
Dialogue, which covered mitigation around climate change.
The aim is to collaboratively integrate FPIC, as part of a legal
framework for human rights, in programs for “Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
(REDD).” There seems to be substantial progress, with the
second dialogue on the issue happening in May 2012, in
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, making various
commitments to protect community rights. Concerns remain,
however, over aspects of REDD Plus such as the World Bank
Forest Carbon Partnership, which appears to apply the lower
standard of interpreting FPIC. 12