Story from Frank Weisenberger, Frank Weisenberger Consulting
Some of the world’s most biodiverse areas are held and managed by Indigenous peoples and traditional communities. With a close relationship to their natural environments, Indigenous peoples have developed unique knowledge and effective management practices that contribute to biodiversity conservation and to the sustainable natural resource use. Being so closely connected to nature also means that Indigenous peoples are often first and most severely affected by environmental degradation and the impacts of climate change. In many places, Indigenous peoples have no secure tenure rights and are excluded from decisions affecting their environment, which increases their vulnerability and limits their ability to contribute to conservation efforts.
Since CCNet was formed, conservation coaches in different parts of the world have collaborated with Indigenous partners to help adaptively manage Indigenous or communally-owned resources. Innovations such as Healthy Country Planning were co-developed with Indigenous peoples, and numerous Indigenous colleagues have been trained as planners and conservation coaches. Over the years, a community of Indigenous Open Standards practitioners and coaches working with Indigenous communities has emerged.
To improve sharing and learning and allow this community to grow, we launched the “Community of Practice: Indigenous OS Projects” in April 2019. To connect community members, we established an email listserv (ccnet_indigenous_projects@npogroups.org). In addition, the Coach Database can now display affiliation with the Indigenous OS Projects community of practice. We are also developing a web-based repository of tools and resources, such as Healthy Country Planning presentations. Please feel free to download, use, share, and adapt them to your local needs and circumstances.
If you would like to sign up for the CoP Indigenous OS Projects listserv, or if you would like to be identified in the Coach Database for your work with Indigenous communities, contact Frank Weisenberger via email. Please reach out to us if you would like to share materials that you have found useful in your practice of the Open Standards or Healthy Country Planning with Indigenous projects.
