Operating Principles and Guidelines

Operating Principles and Guidelines

The SPACES initiative supports governments of Global South countries with the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) by developing National nature conservation strategies and unlocking financing (e.g., protected areas, other effective area-based conservation measures, and Indigenous and traditional territories). 

The SPACES partner organizations understand that high-quality implementation of the GBF cannot be achieved without operating in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples (IPs, LCs, and ADPs), women, and youth rightsholders – respecting their rights and traditions and adhering to the highest standards of international human rights law, including UNDRIP,  ILO169,  and the Tkarihwaié:ri CBD Code of Ethical Conduct, among others1.  Increased support and investment in their stewardship of natural capital and keeping healthy ecosystems on which they depend intact, is a critically important component of the GBF that the SPACES program supports.

Recognizing that the spatial initiatives required to implement the GBF, if not well designed or implemented,  can be detrimental to rightsholders, all SPACES partners agree to adhere to following guidelines:

  1. All SPACES partner organization employees working meaningful amounts of time on SPACES programs will successfully complete the FAO IP&LC FPIC e-learning or similar training. 
  2. SPACES will ensure host governments understand and agree to these guidelines as a part of the signed MOU  required before SPACES projects begin. 
  3. SPACES planning initiatives will involve IPs, LCs, ADPs, women, youth and other stakeholders, and work collaboratively to ensure that their respective perspectives are heard, included in the initiative design phase, and supported throughout the process. 
  4. SPACES teams will communicate transparently about the SPACES programme with all rightsholders and stakeholders it engages with, and endeavour to engage comprehensively with all relevant stakeholders, including information on the SPACES Feedback Mechanism, which is publicly available on the website. 
  5. SPACES will not make recommendations that exert pressure on any rightsholders or stakeholders to conform to data use that is not in line with their own priorities. 
  6. While the responsibility for policy lies solely with the host government, the SPACES process may provide a fact base (e.g., scientific data, international case studies, interviews) as one source of input for the creation of policy, and provide project management and other support to implement policies that advance the rights of IPs, LCs, ADPs, women and youth in achieving the GBF targets.
  7. All SPACES recommendations will include the highest standards of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in alignment with Mo’ otz Kuxtal Voluntary Guidelines2, in support of collective self-determination and traditional forms of deliberation and decision-making, and including separate youth consultations to capture intra-community differences and ensure intergenerational consent.
  8. No SPACES recommendations will be designed with timelines or budgets that do not allow for a robust FPIC process.
  9. SPACES will not recommend or support host governments to displace or forcefully remove IPs, LCs, or ADPs from any area to achieve GBF outcomes. 
  10. SPACES will work to build government and non-government implementing partners awareness of the Land Rights Standard.
  11. SPACES will recommend that national implementation steering committees include representation from IPs, LCs, ADPs, women and youth, as relevant to each country’s demographic makeup. 
  12. In the case of national territorial border disputes (e.g., disputed between neighboring countries, disputed in international courts, etc.), SPACES will abide by sovereign boundaries as recognized by the United Nations, and recognize Indigenous territories and governance systems that span national boundaries and promote cross-border cooperation in accordance with UNDRIP Article 36
  1. Key elements of human rights laws and standards include, but are not limited to: 

    – The distinct and differentiated rights of Indigenous Peoples, as affirmed by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169);

    – The rights of local communities, Afro-descendant Peoples, and other marginalized ethnic groups, as affirmed by multiple instruments including ILO Convention No. 169 (applicable to “Tribal Peoples”), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, and the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and its general recommendations 34 (racial discrimination against people of African descent) and 23 (Indigenous Peoples);

    – The equal roles and rights of women within these peoples and communities, as affirmed by the aforementioned legal instruments and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), along with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) general recommendations, namely General Recommendations 39 (on the rights of Indigenous Women and Girls), 37 (on Gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change), and 34 (on the rights of rural women);

    – The equal roles and rights of youth, within these peoples and communities, with special attention to the rights of girls, as affirmed by the aforementioned legal instruments and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, along with the Committee on the Rights of the Child general comments, namely general comment No. 11 on Indigenous children and their rights and the CEDAW Committee’s General Recommendation 39 as it pertains to the rights of Indigenous girls; and

    – The rights of youth within these peoples and communities.

    (see. Land Rights Standard (RRI) for more information) ↩︎
  2. The Mo’ otz Kuxtal Voluntary Guidelines for the development of mechanisms, legislation or other appropriate initiatives to ensure the “prior and informed consent”, “free, prior and informed consent” or “approval and involvement”, depending on national circumstances, of indigenous peoples and local communities for accessing their knowledge, innovations and practices, for fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of their knowledge, innovations and practices relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and for reporting and preventing unlawful appropriation of traditional knowledge. ↩︎