24 Fabien Girard et al.
This is an issue which deserves full consideration, inasmuch as:
[…] the concepts of biodiversity and conservation are not indigenous and,
indeed, are alien to Indigenous peoples. This does not mean they do not
respect and foster living things, but rather that nature is an extension of
society. Thus, biodiversity is not an object to be conserved. It is an integral
part of human existence, in which utilization is part of the celebration of
life.
(Posey, 1999, p. 7)
As Posey further clarified, “[t]he problem then is not one of whether indigenous
and traditional peoples are or are not ‘natural conservationists’,
81 but rather who
(and how) are we to judge them?” (ibid.; also see Tauli-Corpuz, 2016, para. 15).
Despite all the negative connotations and implications of these representations, there is evidence that IPLCs have been able to use them “as means to gain
recognition within national and transnational environmental discourses” and
to “transform nonindigenous peoples’ ideas of their identities not only within
the nation-state, but also in transnational arenas” (Ulloa, 2005, p. 215; also see
Coombe, 2011, pp. 89–90). This agency of IPLCs has also to be considered while
exploring BCPs/CP.
Overview of the Book
All these issues and more are addressed in this book, which is the first attempt at a
comprehensive study of BCPs/CPs mainly within the context of ABS legislation,
with a large geographic reach, including case studies from Africa, Latin America,
North America, and the Pacific.
The book is organised in three parts. The first part opens with conceptual insights aimed at providing the reader with foundational concepts such as
biocultural diversity, biocultural rights, and community rule-making, a grasp of
which is a prerequisite for progressing through the second and third parts of the
book. In this first part, Kelly Bannister explores the principle of consent within
Canadian ethics policy initiatives as an illustrative example of how the relational emphasis of biocultural ethics can complement biocultural rights-based
approaches by encouraging not only justice of rights but also relational justice
through right relationships. Ingrid Hall then contributes two chapters. The first
delves into the Peruvian Potato Park, home to the concept of Sumaq kawsay,
translated as “well-being”, examining how a non-governmental organisation can
play the role of an ontological diplomat in the CBD forum. In her second chapter,
she analyses how IPLCs challenge the nature-culture dualism within the CBD
through ethnographic observations during three CBD meetings in 2019: the First
Global Thematic Dialogue for Indigenous Peoples and Local C ommunities, the
11th Meeting of the Working Group on Article 8j, and the 23rd M eeting of the
This is an issue which deserves full consideration, inasmuch as:
[…] the concepts of biodiversity and conservation are not indigenous and,
indeed, are alien to Indigenous peoples. This does not mean they do not
respect and foster living things, but rather that nature is an extension of
society. Thus, biodiversity is not an object to be conserved. It is an integral
part of human existence, in which utilization is part of the celebration of
life.
(Posey, 1999, p. 7)
As Posey further clarified, “[t]he problem then is not one of whether indigenous
and traditional peoples are or are not ‘natural conservationists’,
81 but rather who
(and how) are we to judge them?” (ibid.; also see Tauli-Corpuz, 2016, para. 15).
Despite all the negative connotations and implications of these representations, there is evidence that IPLCs have been able to use them “as means to gain
recognition within national and transnational environmental discourses” and
to “transform nonindigenous peoples’ ideas of their identities not only within
the nation-state, but also in transnational arenas” (Ulloa, 2005, p. 215; also see
Coombe, 2011, pp. 89–90). This agency of IPLCs has also to be considered while
exploring BCPs/CP.
Overview of the Book
All these issues and more are addressed in this book, which is the first attempt at a
comprehensive study of BCPs/CPs mainly within the context of ABS legislation,
with a large geographic reach, including case studies from Africa, Latin America,
North America, and the Pacific.
The book is organised in three parts. The first part opens with conceptual insights aimed at providing the reader with foundational concepts such as
biocultural diversity, biocultural rights, and community rule-making, a grasp of
which is a prerequisite for progressing through the second and third parts of the
book. In this first part, Kelly Bannister explores the principle of consent within
Canadian ethics policy initiatives as an illustrative example of how the relational emphasis of biocultural ethics can complement biocultural rights-based
approaches by encouraging not only justice of rights but also relational justice
through right relationships. Ingrid Hall then contributes two chapters. The first
delves into the Peruvian Potato Park, home to the concept of Sumaq kawsay,
translated as “well-being”, examining how a non-governmental organisation can
play the role of an ontological diplomat in the CBD forum. In her second chapter,
she analyses how IPLCs challenge the nature-culture dualism within the CBD
through ethnographic observations during three CBD meetings in 2019: the First
Global Thematic Dialogue for Indigenous Peoples and Local C ommunities, the
11th Meeting of the Working Group on Article 8j, and the 23rd M eeting of the