active· Governance

F.a: Securing Bio-cultural Rights of IPLCs in the National ABS Policies and Community Forest Management Plans in Nepal

The securing of biocultural rights of indigenous and local communities (IPLC) in Nepal's national policies and legislation and management plan of community forestry is one of the challenging issue for IPLCs in Nepal. Despite lots of community efforts, sti ll there are lacking explicit legal provisions on bio-cultural rights of IPLCs in the national policies and local level forest management plans. The aim of this project is to secure these rights in legislation as well as in policies and plans at different levels of government. The project has the following dimensions: Local level training in the western high hill region and in the border region with India(western Terai Arc landscape); A national level workshop on biocultural rights in Kathmandu; Documentati on and mapping of traditional knowledge, customary practices and bio-cultural practices as well as revision of forest management plan for securing bio-cultural rights will be conducted in two community forest groups (Myagdi and Bardiya districts); Based on the material collected in the project, a resource booklet on biocultural rights will be published in Nepali and a summary in English; The lessons learned from the project would be shared at the CBD COP15 conference in China in 2020. The main expected resu lt of the project is to incorporate the policy and legal provisions on bio-cultural rights in the national policy and legislation and to establish functional practices for the securing bio-cultural rights in the local communities as well as national level. The IPLCs will be able to claim their bio-cultural rights based on their community protocols or forest management plans. The main beneficiaries of the project are indigenous communities and community forest groups covered by the project. Other key stakeho lders in the project include other community-based organisations in project communities, other NGOs involved in workshops and training, and government officers at different levels. The aim is to have more than 140 people participating in trainings and work shops. In addition, about 230 households would benefit from biocultural surveys and updated forest management plans. Project is implemented by Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN) -järjestö, www.fecofun.org.np.