What is new at IPACC?

ELECTIONS 2012

IPACC will be holding its triannual elections in 2012. All member organisations will be invited to submit nominations for the three representatives from their sub-region. Those names will go on to ballots that are sent out to members in that subregion. Once the 18 member Executive Committee has been elected, those members then vote for the IPACC Chairperson, Deputy Chair and Regional Gender Coordinator. Election dates are to be announced once formalised by the Trust and ExCo. 

CBD SBSTTA 16 & COP11

IPACC members will be preparing for the 16th SBSTTA and 11th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The SBSTTA will be in Montreal in April 2012, and the COP in Hyderabad, India in October.

Rio+20

IPACC members have prepared a report on the UNEP Green Economy Initiative. The report is to be released online and in print. The report, developed in cooperation with Natural Justice and OSISA, focuses on the human rights of indigenous peoples, the natural resource economy of indigenous peoples, the problem of commodification of lands and nature, and the need to integrate ecological principles into African economics. 

IPACC delegates will join the world at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in Brazil in June 2012. This marks the 20th anniversary of the original UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio in 1992. Indigenous peoples and others have expressed their concern about the failure of the current political dispensations to tackle the combined crises of climate change, land degradation, pollution, and declining biodiversity on which most African indigenous peoples rely. 

Rio will be a time to reassess global governance and accountable democracy in the 21st century. 

IUCN World Conservation Congress

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will hold its World Conservation Congress in Jeju, South Korea in September 2012. IPACC is a member of WCC and participated in the Regional Conservation Forums in Brazzaville, Rabat and Johannesburg in 2011, in preparation for the Congress. 

IPACC will be working with the IUCN to host a Knowledge Cafe on the rights of indigenous peoples in relation to World Heritage Sites in Africa. The event will look at the compliance of multilateral agencies and national governments to international norms and standards on the rights of indigenous peoples and human rights more broadly. 

COP17 REVIEW

IPACC delegates left Durban after two weeks of intensive lobbying and participation in the 17th Conference of Parties. COP17 was very slow to resolve key issues of relevance to the planet as a whole and African indigenous peoples in particular. The final agreement was announced only on Sunday 11 December, more than 24 hours late. IPACC is analysing the results and will report back to members on the key issues of human rights safeguards, integration of traditional knowledge into Adaptation policy instruments, a new lifeline for the Kyoto Protocol, and a transparent and effective mandate for the operations of the Green Climate Fund. 

IPACC leaders lobbied various African negotiating teams, cooperated with civil society networks, supported the logistics of the global indigenous peoples' caucus, and contributed to the inter-religious network of We Have Faith that operated out of the Diakonia Centre. 

IPACC leaders in Durban for climate negotiations

IPACC members contributed to the 17th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17), which began in Durban, South Africa on 28 November. 

Indigenous activists in Africa focussed on two major themes to be considered at the COP, REDD+ mitigation agreements, and the implementation of the Cancun Adaptation Framework. IPACC is calling for a Regional African human rights mechanism to protect indigenous peoples against land alienation and other rights abuses as a result of REDD+ and related mitigation efforts being sponsored by Annex 1 countries in the tropical territories of the world. Further, IPACC members are calling on African governments to get serious about adaptation policy and practices, based on human rights, equity and the integration of traditional knowledge into national adaptation platforms. 

IPACC held its first formal side event in Durban at 8pm on 2 December 2011 at the Exibition Centre to report back on its regional consultations on adaptation (see news item from N'Djamena). With WWF funding, IPACC launched a new publication of African voices responding to REDD+. 

IPACC worked with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) to run a workshop on pastoralism, technology and adaptation. IPACC worked with Natural Justice on the role of CBD instruments in responding to climate change and protecting fundamental rights. 

IPACC along with indigenous leaders from the Amazon and the Arctic participatedin the mass rally of faith communities at the King's Park Rugby Stadium on 27 November 2011, which will included an address by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, COP17 President Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres. IPACC was represented by Jeniffer Koinante, a Yiaku leader and Deputy Chair of IPACC from Nanyuki, Kenya. 

Vital Bambanze, is elected as the Chairperson of the 4th session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

BREAKING NEWS: Burundian Senator and founder of UNIPROBA, Mr Vital Bambanze has been named to the UN Expert Mechanisms on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. On 11 July 2011, he was elected as the Chair for EMRIP's 4th sessional meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. As Chair, he is the Rapporteur for EMRIP in its relations with the UN Human Rights Council. 

His role will assist in the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the African continent. Bambanze is a leading indigenous rights activist in Africa, having been one of the first indigenous people in Burundi to get a university education. He later formed Unissons pour la Promotion des Batwa (UNIPROBA), a national indigenous organisation involved in advocacy and development. Bambanze served on the national land commission, helping to secure the first-ever legal land rights for the highly marginalised Batwa people. 

Bambanze joins Mr Kanyinke Paul Sena of Kenya who has a three year mandate on the UN Permananent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Sena recently attended the June 2011 session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to call for greater engagement with indigenous peoples on the nomination and management of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Ms Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim from Chad is the indigenous peoples' representative to the UN Environment Programme's Major Groups. She will host an pan-African conference on climate change adaptatation in Ndjamena in September 2011.

Mr Kapupu Diwa Mutimanwa (DRC), Messe Venant (Cameroon) and Mr Jean Nganga (Congo) have attended the July 2011 Regional Conservation Forum of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), held in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. Mutimanwa and Nganga have emphasised the importance of indigenous peoples in conservation and Protected Areas. Mutimanwa, Venant, Bambanze (Burundi),  and Joseph Itongwa (DRC) represented IPACC at the CBD technical meeting on the issue of 'bushmeat' trade and sustainable hunting rights iin Nairobi during June 2011. Mutimanwa has further been nominated by indigenous peoples in Africa as the Francophone focal point for the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. 

In 2011, IPACC is focussing on two major advocacy campaigns:

Climate change and biodiversity

The 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be coming to Durban, South Africa in November / December 2011. IPACC is focussing on lobbying African states to put climate adaptation at the top of the agenda. IPACC will be hosting workshops and side-events on human and natural adaptation, looking to bridge the gap between science and indigenous knowledge systems.

IPACC will also continue to lobby for stronger rights monitoring mechanisms associated with carbon sequestration and market-related mechanisms for mitigation (conserving carbon in plants and soil), known as REDD+.

Also on environmental issues, IPACC will continue its efforts to protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples living in or around Protected Areas. The Convention on Biological Diversity's Programme of Work on Protected Areas requires national governments to assess the social impacts of conservation, and ensure participation, good governance and equitable benefit sharing. IPACC is working with the IUCN and other NGOs to ensure indigenous peoples have a role to play in national Protected Areas policy and practices.

Human Rights capacity building

IPACC is launching a new programme to help build the capacity of member organisations to submit 'shadow' reports on the human rights and civil rights of indigenous peoples in Africa. The focus in 2011-2012 is on reporting to the UN Universal Periodic Review, and closer cooperation with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Additional capacity building work is being done in relation to representing indigenous peoples of Africa in the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

During 2011, IPACC is hosting the Secretariat for the UN Major Group on Indigenous Peoples, coordinated by Ms Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim; IPACC's has nominated two representatives to the communication for the Global Forest Coalition, Ms Jeniffeer Koinante (Kenya) and Ms Sada Albachir (Niger); IPACC continues to liase with the International Land Committee, coordinated by Mr Vital Bambanze; and IPACC hosts the Secretariat of the IUCN Theme on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, Equity and Protected Areas.

IPACC's mission

IPACC's purpose is to unite diverse community based indigenous peoples' organisations into a network and alliance for effective advocacy. IPACC's elected Executive Committee is dedicated to the co-ordination of advocacy strategy and activities which promote the rights and voices of indigenous peoples at national, sub-regional, African and international levels.

IPACC promotes recognition of and respect for indigenous peoples in Africa; promotes participation of indigenous African peoples in United Nations' events and other international forums, and strengthens leadership and organisational capacity of indigenous civil society in Africa.

IPACC supports contact visits between indigenous peoples and inter-country cooperation and training. IPACC also conducts pilot projects related to the inter-generational transmission of traditional knowledge of biodiversity; sustainable livelihoods and equitable access and use of natural resources; participatory landscape mapping; the assessment and certification of tradtional knowledge of tracking; and innovative approaches to fighting poverty.

IPACC works in partnership with the Technical Centre for Agricultural Cooperation with Rural Areas (CTA EU-ACP); Cybertracker Foundation; African Biodiversity Network; the Pan-African Climate Justice Network; the SA Climate Action Network, the Documentation Centre for Indigenous Peoples (DoCIP), Conservation International, WWF International, Indigenous Information Network, Wildlife Conservation Society, the Global Diversity Foundation, Nederlands Centrum voor Inheemse Volke, and UNESCO's working group on Education for Sustainable Development. IPACC is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and host of the Secretariat for the Theme on Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, Equity and Protected Areas.

IPACC is accredited with the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Environment Programme, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the UN Educational Scientific, Cultural and Communications Organisation (UNESCO). IPACC has observer status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. IPACC is in strategic cooperation with the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Who is indigenous in Africa?

The rights of indigenous peoples in Africa have been formally recognised by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2003, and then approved by the African States with the passage of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the General Assembly in 2007. Still, there is some confusion about the meaning of the term and still some resistance by certain civil servants and diplomats who have not followed the evolution of these rights standards.

In January 2010, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has adopted the most progressive legislation on the continent, recognising indigenous peoples in alignment with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2010, Central African Republic became the first African country to ratify the ILO Convention 169 on the rights of indigenous and tribal communities. Also in 2010, Kenya overturned centuries of colonial law by recognising the land rights of indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples in its new Constitution. Burundi provides constitutional protection to indigenous peoples and allows them a fixed number of seats in Parliament. South Africa and Namibia both have process underway to recognise the rights of indigenous peoples, and Morocco has created a Royal Commission dealing with indigenous Amazigh language, culture and education.

Peoples claiming to be ‘indigenous’ in Africa are mostly those who have been living by hunting and gathering or by transhumant (migratory nomadic) pastoralism. These are distinct peoples who's economies and cultures are different from the national dominant cultures. They are reliant on the sustainable use natural resources. Their cultures are closely linked to the special environmental conditions under which they have survived - for example deserts, oases, mountain territories, savannah drylands and equatorial rainforests.

The legal concept of 'indigenous' rights in Africa is a new one but is being integrated into Africa constitutions and case law. All Africans are 'indigenous' in the literal sense of the word. The rise of an organised civil society claiming rights as indigenous peoples is tied to major economic and environmental changes in Africa which are putting nomadic, transhumant, hunting and herding peoples at risk.

The main risk for indigenous peoples is land alienation and the loss of biodiversity caused by agricultural settlers and extractive industries such as logging and mining. Climate change is also amplifying these problems, reducing the capacity of ecosystems to support rural communities.

Colonialism entrenched the power of agricultural elite within the State structure. The State in Africa often works in concert with international capital and multinational corporations to alienate valuable natural resources which place both biodiversity and cultural diversity in jeopardy.

IPACC recognises that all Africans should enjoy equal rights and respect. All of Africa’s diversity is to be valued. Particular communities, due to historical and environmental circumstances, have found themselves outside the state-system and underrepresented in governance. These ‘first-peoples’ or ‘autochthonous peoples’ have associated themselves with the United Nations’ standards on the rights of indigenous peoples. This is not to deny other Africans their status; it is to emphasise that affirmative recognition is necessary for hunter-gatherers and herding peoples to ensure their survival. IPACC uses the language of the CBD to note the common interests of indigenous and local communities .

IPACC's value system has developed through years of dialogue between indigenous leaders. IPACC emphasises the important link between biological diversity and cultural diversity, and the fundamental role that natural resource users have in conservation and wildlife management. IPACC operates within the framework of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, affirming the integrity of the state while assuring that democracy is only alive when all peoples have the right of self-determination and to play an active role in natural resource management and good governance.

IPACC affirms three core principles: participation of indigenous peoples in decision making, pluralism in African economies that allow for sustainable hunting and gathering, nomadic pastoralism, fishing and other non-agricultural activities in arid, semi arid and humid forest areas, partnership between indigenous peoples, their respective States and the private sector to find sustainable and mutually acceptable solutions to challenges of the environment, quality of life and good governance.

In November 2003, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights adopted a report of its working group recognising that there are indigenous peoples in Africa whose rights are being violated. In September 2007, all but three African states voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Three states abstained and non-voted against. In 2007, the ACHPR advised the African Union that supporting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples would be in harmony with the African Charter.