Indigenous Peoples Policy

Purpose

This policy articulates Conservation International's commitment to recognize, respect, support, and promote the rights, cultural heritage, knowledge, intellectual property, livelihoods, and critical role in nature stewardship of Indigenous Peoples. This policy aligns with and supports the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and other international agreements and instruments while improving the outcomes of CI's mission to empower human societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity.

Scope

This Indigenous Peoples Policy applies to all of CI's work, including place-based projects, partnerships, policy advocacy, communications, institutional operations, and CI initiatives. This policy should also be used in coordination with and guided by CI's Safeguards System (CISS) to avoid or minimize adverse environmental and social impacts, and to enhance positive impacts to the maximum extent possible in our projects. This Policy applies to all CI employees, interns, fellows, volunteers, and representatives (jointly, "CI Staff"), as well as CI grantees/awardees, contractors, suppliers, consultants, and their employees, sub-grantees/awardees, and representatives (jointly, "Delivery Partners") engaged by CI. The application of this Policy will not be limited by the absence of legal recognition or identification of Indigenous Peoples by a state. It will also not be limited by the legal status of titling of Indigenous lands, resources, and territories. Additionally, in areas where CI works where communities are mixed, or Indigenous Peoples live in close proximity to different social and ethnic groups, this Policy should be applied for the benefit of both the Indigenous Peoples and other groups living together or in close proximity. Such other groups may include but not be limited to those that identify as Local Communities, Afro-descendant Peoples, Traditional Tribes, and Tribal People.

Our principles and actions

CI recognizes the importance of using its voice as an institution to support the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their advancement. CI adheres to a set of principles about how we work and what actions we support with Indigenous Peoples, seeking to be a model for exemplary Indigenous relationships that are based on shared power, shared learning, and systems change. These principles are vital for building long-term partnerships and apply in all of CI's work:

• CI recognizes that Indigenous Peoples are critical and necessary partners in achieving CI's mission. Indigenous Peoples have played an important role, through the perpetuation of their knowledge systems and practices, in maintaining biodiversity that benefits all people. Issues related to Indigenous Peoples and development are complex and require special measures to ensure that Indigenous Peoples participate in, lead where possible, and benefit from activities supporting biodiversity conservation in their traditional areas. CI takes seriously and honors our responsibility as a partner with Indigenous Peoples in all areas of its work and actively seeks opportunities to increase Indigenous Peoples' access to and capacities with technical and financial resources.
• CI commits to a culture of peace. CI commits to a culture of peace that supports the inextricable link between people and nature. CI also commits to promoting a culture of peace that seeks social and climate justice, equality, cooperation, and solidarity between all peoples.
• CI respects the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their governance systems, including their traditional and customary decision-making, representatives, and authorities. CI supports efforts by Indigenous Peoples to gain legal designation and management authority over their ancestral lands, territories, and resources, while respecting national sovereignty, in recognition that Indigenous control over Indigenous lands, territories, and resources is a precondition for the protection of biodiversity and the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.
• CI respects the rights of Indigenous Peoples to determine their own development with identity. CI's work activities recognize, respect, and preserve the culture, knowledge, and practices of Indigenous Peoples, offering support in adapting to changing conditions in a manner and in a timeframe acceptable to them. CI supports the perpetuation of Indigenous Peoples' cultural identity and development with identity by sharing skills and resources that can assist in transmitting knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local knowledge systems to the youth and future generations of Indigenous Peoples.
• CI respects the choice of Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation or remote groups with limited external contact. This is also known as peoples "in voluntary isolation," "isolated peoples" or "in initial contact," to remain isolated and to live freely according to their culture.
• CI respects Indigenous rights to collective or communal property. CI recognizes the right of Indigenous Peoples to communal property of land and territory, forest, freshwater, and marine areas and resources and their knowledge and local knowledge systems, recognizing that Indigenous sustainable management over traditional and customary lands, territories, and resources is essential for the long-term protection of biodiversity and human well-being.
• CI respects Indigenous rights to knowledge created by Indigenous Peoples. CI respects the right of Indigenous Peoples to their knowledge and the local knowledge systems and practices that form their cultural heritage and intellectual property, which are important for the sustainable management of lands, territories, and natural resources and for climate change mitigation. CI subscribes to and respects the data sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples as described in the CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance and implements the CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance. CI acknowledges and seeks to elevate Indigenous innovation, including the creation of new knowledge based on Indigenous theories and Indigenous teaching methods and practices.CI seeks to learn and strengthen its conservation practices through consensually shared knowledge and skills of our Indigenous partners.

Our Actions

Guided by our principles and consistent with our positions, CI will take the following actions:

Ensure Consistent Project Delivery

1. Shared Responsibility: CI will ensure that all CI staff and Delivery Partners are aware of the shared responsibility to meet the requirements of CI's Indigenous Peoples Policy. CI requires all CI Staff to abide by CIʻs Indigenous Peoples policy and complete a CI policy acknowledgment form. CI requires grantees/awardees, contractors, suppliers, consultants, and their employees, sub-grantees/awardees, and representatives to acknowledge awareness and compliance with CIʻs Indigenous Peoples Policy in grantee agreements and contracts.
2. Respect in Design and Implementation: CI will co-design and co-implement projects in a way that fosters full respect for Indigenous Peoples' identity, dignity, individual and collective rights, livelihood systems, and cultural uniqueness as defined by the Indigenous Peoples themselves in accordance with their worldview. Through the application of CI's Safeguard System, projects that include activities with direct engagement with Indigenous People may require an Indigenous Peoples Plan that details the extent and type of engagement, training/awareness-raising needs of project staff and delivery partners, and a description of how the grievance mechanism is accessible and appropriate, among other things. This timebound Indigenous Peoples Plan outlines measures to avoid adverse impacts and enhance culturally appropriate benefits in each project activity that may have a direct or indirect impact on Indigenous individuals or communities and are required to assess and comply with the following:
   1. Consent: We ensure processes that respect Indigenous Peoples' free, prior, and informed consent in decisions that impact their communities, lands, territories, or natural resources. We understand that consent is an iterative process and must be continually reviewed and obtained at all phases of a project or initiative that involves Indigenous Peoples.
   2. Participation and Decision Making: We ensure the full, effective, and equitable participation of Indigenous Peoples in decisions that impact their communities, lands, territories, or natural resources and their development plans or life plans. We promote the leadership of Indigenous knowledge holders in all aspects of our work and engage in good-faith negotiation.
   3. Transparency: We ensure open, honest, and accountable engagement with Indigenous Peoples. This includes establishing activity-specific, independent, grievance redress mechanisms that are designed with potentially affected communities of Indigenous Peoples and take into account language barriers or limitations.
   4. Benefit-sharing: We ensure that Indigenous Peoples in the areas where we work benefit from activities supporting biodiversity conservation in culturally appropriate ways, inclusive of gender and generations, that are developed with their full and effective participation and agreed to with their free, prior, and informed consent. In addition to monetary benefits, these benefits may take the form of technology or science transfer, influence sharing, or increased recognition or formalization of Indigenous Peoples' authority over land use decisions or other natural resource use decisions. We recognize the reciprocity in our work with Indigenous Peoples. Any benefit provided to Indigenous Peoples from conservation activities is an acknowledgment of the unique contributions that Indigenous Peoples make to our work and its success.
   5. Risk Assessment and Management: We require risk and impact assessments for activities that may potentially impact Indigenous Peoples or their cultural heritage or their territories, lands, and waters. We ensure that these assessments provide sufficient information to assess whether free, prior, and informed consent has been properly provided and to determine whether suitable avoidance, mitigation or compensation measures may be required.

Invest in Indigenous Representation and Long-Term Relationships

• Representation in Staff and Leadership: CI will ensure Indigenous representation at staff and leadership levels within CI. CI will continue to prioritize and commit to the representation and inclusion of Indigenous Peoples on our Board of Directors and within senior leadership. CI will ensure the presence and empowerment of Indigenous champions through staff positions and fellowships across the organization to serve as a resource to and for Indigenous staff.
• Indigenous Advisory Groups: CI will continue its practice of formal and informal gathering of Indigenous expertise and leadership to guide the organization, maintaining both internal and external Indigenous leaders to advise on organizational and programmatic decision-making. These groups will advise on decisions that will involve or impact Indigenous Peoples, share global developments or opportunities related to Indigenous Peoples, and share lessons learned with CI's global and field teams to support organizational learning.
• Indigenous Staff Recruitment and Retention: CI seeks to be a model for exemplary Indigenous employment practices that are culturally informed, leverage unique strengths, and are characterized by fairness, reasonableness, and an absence of bias and harassment. CI recognizes work and life experiences as alternatives for formal education requirements for recruitment and advancement. When appropriate, CI will advertise positions in places and through methods that increase awareness by Indigenous Peoples and include a preference for Indigenous language skills. CI will ensure the recruitment, retention, and advancement of Indigenous Peoples are prioritized and monitored in the organization's diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan.
• Translation and Indigenous Language Preservation: CI will require Indigenous translation services be provided when engaging with Indigenous communities or partners, when those services are available, by: Contracting with external, preferably Indigenous-owned or Indigenous-led service providers, when available, or Providing time coverage outside of normal job duties for CI staff members who are Indigenous speakers to serve as translators, or Compensating members of Indigenous communities or partner organizations with fair market value for services provided.
• Procurement and Collaboration Practices: CI will ensure that CI business practices and processes in procurement and granting welcome, adapt to, and pro-actively engage Indigenous-owned, Indigenous-led, local-community-owned, or local community-led small businesses, vendors, and grantees. In keeping with CI's commitment to CARE Principles and its Statement Regarding IPLC Data and Works, this includes agreements to ensure that intellectual property and other relevant provisions are respectful of collectively held Indigenous knowledge, data, innovations, and cultural practices.

Invest in Organizational Learning

1. Staff Training: CI will provide training that fosters understanding, and cultural competence within CI and with its delivery partners on Indigenous culture, rights, and effective partnership practices. For external training services, vendors that are Indigenous-owned or Indigenous-led will be preferred.
2. Communications: CI will ensure that transparency about intended use has been provided and informed consent has been secured (using an interpreter or assisted translation if necessary) before a photograph or any other form of media captures for CI the images or sounds of Indigenous Peoples and communities or their cultural or traditional practices or customs. CI will further develop its systems and tools to abide by use limitations and preferences communicated by Indigenous Peoples in releases obtained during the informed consent process. CI will ensure that all formal CI communications use appropriate and culturally sensitive language, with supporting toolkits, guides, and training provided to all staff.
3. Celebrating Partners: CI will actively promote the successes of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and provide opportunities for direct knowledge sharing and learning at various levels of the organization, including the Board, conferences, internal learning events, and other opportunities. CI will ensure awareness and recognition of the work and contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to CI publications, proposals, and other programmatic content
4. Prioritizing Listening: CI will provide space in engagements and meetings with staff, leadership, partners, Board of Directors, and donors to share ongoing challenges, barriers, or gaps facing Indigenous or local communities.
5. Monitoring and Reporting: CI holds itself accountable to the people it serves including Indigenous Peoples, communities, our Delivery Partners, donors, and CI staff. CI is committed to accountability and transparency through routine project and program monitoring with the local community. CI also ensures appropriate, accessible, and safe reporting mechanisms to share concerns. This includes the options for reporting confidentially and/or anonymously at the project level through locally and culturally sensitive grievance channels and organizationally through CI's Ethics Hotline. All concerns, reports, and investigations will be dealt with on a need-to-know basis and all records will be held securely. Communication regarding concerns, reports, and investigations will be kept confidential and secure.

Definitions

• CARE Principles: The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance are people and purpose-oriented, reflecting the crucial role of data in advancing Indigenous innovation and self-determination. "Indigenous data" under the CARE Principles include the Indigenous languages, knowledge, practices, technologies, natural resources, and territories embedded in Indigenous cultural heritage. It also includes data collected by governments and institutions about Indigenous Peoples and their territories, which are intrinsic to Indigenous Peoples' capacity and capability to realize their human rights and responsibilities to all of creation. The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance include collective benefit (C), authority to control (A), responsibility (R), and ethics (E). Detailed guidance on the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance can be found on the Global Indigenous Data Alliance website.
• CISS- CI Safeguard System: System of policies, standards, and procedures for the screening, due diligence, mitigation, monitoring, and reporting of environmental and social risks and impacts. The purpose is to provide CI staff and Project Teams with procedures to avoid (or minimize) adverse environmental and social impacts and to enhance positive impacts to the maximum extent possible throughout the project cycle.
• Development with Identity: As defined in the FAO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, “[d]evelopment with identity upholds the notion that peoples' sociocultural expressions, values, and traditions should not be threatened by the development process. Identity is of fundamental importance to indigenous peoples, who see their livelihood security, well-being, and dignity as being inextricably linked with the continuation of their traditions and the preservation of their ancestral lands and territories. Indigenous peoples have differing conceptions of what constitutes 'poverty' and 'well-being.' According to many of them, well-being is a multidimensional condition defined by a range of human experiences, including social, mental, spiritual, and cultural welfare. Relatedly, poverty cannot be defined only in terms of material standards; one is poor not only when resources are low, but also when one is unable to live a desired lifestyle. For this reason, indigenous peoples advocate a holistic view of development and livelihood security that transcends models based solely on conventional economic criteria.”
• Good-Faith Negotiation: Structured, well-documented process of engagement between Indigenous Peoples and project proponents, often based on recognized land rights, to reach contractually binding agreements over environmental and social impact and benefit sharing, as well as implementation and enforcement arrangements. Such agreements ensure the time, decision-making autonomy, respect for rights and access to the technical, legal, and financial resources necessary for Indigenous Peoples need to achieve some level of equality in their dealings with non-Indigenous interests.
• Indigenous Peoples: CI identifies Indigenous Peoples in specific geographic areas by the presence, in varying degrees, of:
  • Self-identification as members of a distinct Indigenous social and cultural group and recognition of this identity by others.
  • Collective attachment to geographically distinct habitats, ancestral territories, or areas of seasonal use or occupation as well as to the natural resources in these areas. It may also apply to communities or groups that have lost collective attachment to distinct habitats or ancestral territories in the area, because of forced relocation, conflict, prior resettlement, dispossession of lands, natural disasters, or incorporation into urban areas.
  • Customary cultural, economic, social, or political systems that are distinct or separate from those of the mainstream society or culture.
  • A distinct language or dialect, often different from the official language or languages of the country or region in which they reside. This includes a language or dialect that has existed but does not exist now due to impacts that have made it difficult for a community or group to maintain a distinct language or dialect.
  • The national context and the rights conferred with the term Indigenous vary significantly among countries. Indigenous Peoples often are ethnically different from the dominant national culture, and frequently their traditional territories, whether terrestrial or marine, are not recognized by national governments. While Indigenous Peoples may have similar characteristics to disadvantaged or marginalized rural population groups, they share a unique set of rights that are increasingly part of national constitutions, other legislation, and international instruments such as the UNDRIP and the ILO's Convention No. 169.