English - Natural Justice

constituted areas such as conservancies as well as traditionally protected areas such aspastoralist communities’ customary grazing reserves. Nevertheless, the ultimate impact willdepend on its implementation, which is inextricably linked to the country’s broader politicalstruggles.Samburu herder protecting his flock in northern Kenya. © Natural JusticeFourth, some new protected areas, wildlife, environmental, freshwater, and marine laws aremore inclusive of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ institutions and customaryresource use practices, providing greater and more appropriate rights in relation to natureconservation and management policies, as well as over wildlife and tourism benefits. Fifth,there are examples of better coordination among government agencies, leading to moreintegrated implementation of otherwise disparate laws and policies, for example, withregard to socio-economic rights, Indigenous peoples’ territories, and wildlife management.Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Integrated Legal FrameworksBolivia has recognized Lands of Original Communities (TCOs, in Spanish) since 1994. In thenew constitution of 2009, this concept has been replaced by the broader concept “OriginalIndigenous Peasant Territories” (TIOCs, in Spanish). These entities represent a formalrecognition by the State of the autonomy of the relevant Indigenous peoples, and allowthem to manage their territories through their own governance structures. The conceptsrespect the Indigenous perspective on the concept of ‘territory’, which unites the aspect ofpolitical control, power and administration with the exercise of property rights over the landand the natural resources that can be found on the land. Notably, TCOs and TIOCs are notconservation areas in the strict sense. However, most TCOs include high biodiversity and areecologically stable and a significant degree of the ecosystem integrity is due to thetraditional interaction between Indigenous peoples and their territories. For that reason,fourteen areas have the double status of TCO and protected area.Namibia provides Africa’s leading example of a formalized, government-crafted process ofdevolving clearly delineated rights over wildlife to rural communities. Through CommunalConservancies, adopted in policy reforms shortly after Namibia became independent fromSouth Africa in 1990, local communities can apply for and receive broad user rights overwildlife and both commercial and subsistence uses. Since the first of these conservancieswere created in 1998, over 70 Communal Conservancies now cover nearly 15 millionhectares, which is more than 16% of the country’s total area and roughly the same amountof land contained in Namibia’s formal protected area system.