Indigenous peoples and local communities

Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) are often the primary stakeholders living within, utilising resources from, and governing KBAs. They often have knowledge about the area, its biodiversity and history that spans generations. IPLCs are therefore a crucial stakeholder in the KBA Programme, and are involved in many ways, including participation in National Coordination Groups.

Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) plays an important role in many aspects of the work around KBAs from identification, to site evaluation and delineation, to monitoring. For example, ILK can be applied in assessing species composition, abundance and distribution, and in discovering the extent of natural resource use and exploitation over time.

Whilst the process of KBA identification and delineation does not directly affect the customary or legal ownership/management/use rights of any rights-holders because KBA identification and delineation does not include any steps to advance management activity, Free Prior and Informed Concept (FPIC) will be required before any steps are made to advance management activities that might affect the rights of indigenous and other natural resource-dependent communities. FPIC is also required in other cases, for example where information based on previously unpublished ILK data is entered into the World Database of KBAs.