CBMIS is not a new methodology or process. Indigenous peoples have traditionally and continuously been monitoring changes within their own ecosystems, resources, and other developments within their environment in the past until the present times. Indigenous peoples had always openly shared or reported to their communities any changes that they observed in their environment which, in turn, they also collectively analyze and make their own actions and decisions in response to such changes.

This publication is a knowledge product arising from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Capacity Building on REDD+ for Forest-Dependent Indigenous Peoples in East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia Regions Project, with Tebtebba Foundation as the Recipient. The project aims to strengthen: (i) the knowledge of targeted forest-dependent indigenous peoples on REDD+ Readiness at the national level; and (ii) knowledge exchange at the regional level.

The discrepancies registered in some countries covered by this study between existing legislation on indigenous peoples and the capacity of National Designated Authorities and Accredited Entities to properly understand, own and fulfill obligations related to indigenous peoples... and their lack of awareness and low level of information on the GCF pose significant challenges. [T]hese would significantly jeopardize the potential opportunities deriving from indigenous peoples’ engagement in the GCF activities and programs at the national level as well as GCF’s capacity to fully acknowledge and facilitate the effective positive contribution of indigenous peoples in pursuing its transformational goals for mitigation and adaptation.

his coffee table book is a result of efforts by local communities, indigenous peoples and SIBAT’s renewable energy staff to capture the wide range of experiences in developing Communitybased Renewable Energy Systems or CBRES.

This publication fulfils the aim of the Hydro Empowerment Network in South and Southeast Asia (HPNet) in early 2016, supported by WIsions, to empower the local change agents or community organizers to express themselves or relate their stories through media. SIBAT acknowledges Green Empowerment for providing the skills training
in photography given to SIBAT staff and select community members. Old photographs were also used to depict and highlight the subjects that were
featured in the book.

SIBAT acknowledges Tebtebba for its support to the publication of this book. For Tebtebba, CBRES supports the sustainable development of indigenous communities, living in the remotest and poorest parts of rural areas that are deprived of access to sustainable energy. Establishing indigenous community-owned and managed lowcarbon renewable energy systems—and sustaining these—is an important pillar in the full development of indigenous peoples’ communities.

Through this book, policymakers and the general public can be informed of the evidences of the viability of the CBRES strategy to provide sustainable energy access for the Philippine rural poor.

Traditional livelihoods of indigenous peoples, which are proven to be sustainable over generations, are usually regarded as insignificant, obsolete, impractical and not financially gainful. These are not recognized as a distinct production force and system contributing to the overall economic well-being of local communities and the country, in general.

Contrary to claims, traditional livelihood systems of indigenous peoples are still very vibrantly practiced and contribute—not only to food security and subsistence—but to the overall well-being of their communities.

Raising indigenous peoples’ interests at the GCF is a long and continuing arduous process that requires a lot of energy and effort. Indigenous peoples have made significant inroads in the GCF and are opening spaces to meaningfully engage with the GCF at global and national levels... 

This publication was conceived to consolidate the reports, letters and briefing notes of indigenous peoples’ engagement with the GCF thus far. It also aims to celebrate the achievements and account for the challenges and opportunities that indigenous peoples face in the Green Climate Fund.

The survival and development of indigenous languages will require the will and efforts of indigenous peoples as well as the implementation of supportive policy, especially in the field of education... 

Adopted by the General Assembly [in 2007], the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples-along with other relevant human rights standards-provides the foundation for developing policies and laws related to the promotion and strengthening of indigenous languages. 

- Fact Sheet on Indigenous Languages, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2008

Many indigenous peoples make and use maps to assert their rights to lands and waters, to manage their territory, to preserve knowledge of their own history, culture and environment, and to communicate some of this knowledge to others. There is thus a wealth of experience and lessons to draw on. Among those who have not made maps in their own communities, there is great interest in learning about the opportunities and risks of mapping and about the range of tools and technologies available for recording spatial information. Moreover, mapping has been identified as an important tool for presenting evidence about key issues that affect indigenous peoples at national and global level.

Since the turn of the millennium, the UN system has made solid progress to strengthen its attention and support to indigenous peoples, with the establishment of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples—and the adoption of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These developments confirm the relevance and importance of indigenous issues to the core purposes of the United Nations, and provide the UN system with a common normative framework and specialized mechanisms to promote implementation within Members States and the UN system itself.

Since the turn of the millennium, the UN system has made solid progress to strengthen its attention and support to indigenous peoples. The most visible institutional and normative breakthroughs are the establishment of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the establishment of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP)—and the adoption of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). These developments confirm the relevance and importance of indigenous issues to the core purposes of the United Nations, and provide the UN system with a common normative framework and specialized mechanisms to promote implementation, within Members States and the UN system itself.

This report provides an overview of the present state of play of the extractive industries in relation to indigenous peoples, taking as its point of departure the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples(UNDRIP) in 2007, together with the 2009 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues International (UNPFII) Expert Group Meeting on Extractive Industries, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility, and the 2009 International Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the Extractive Industries. The report is divided into four chapters and concludes with a set of recommendations 

Authors: Dr. Cathal Doyle and Mr. Andy Whitmore, published in 2014 by Tebtebba, Indigenous Peoples Links and Middlesex University.

Philippine education department publishes revised edition of "Understanding the Lumad"

The Philippine Department of Education, with the permission of Tebtebba and Silingang Dapit sa Sidlakang Mindanao (SILDAP-SE), has published the revised edition of "Understanding the Lumad." The education department, through its Indigenous Peoples Education Office (IPsEO), decided to publish this "to make it more widely available to...public school teachers in Mindanao and others who are working with indigenous peoples in various education programs."

"The Department of Education (DepED) has earlier adopted the National Indigenous Peoples Education Policy Framework (DepED Order No. 62, s. 2011 or “DO62”) as a response to the long-standing call of indigenous communities for reforms in the education system that would make it capable of valuing and nurturing culturally rooted education..."

Tebtebba Foundation and Sildap-SE published the book in 2011 to help popularize the issues and situations of indigenous peoples in Mindanao, southern Philippines, who are called Lumad. The idea for the book was first broached by Fr. Frank Nally of the Columban Fathers who approached Tebtebba. Tebtebba and Sildap-SE then partnered together to undertake the research. One value of the book was that Lumad researchers were the ones who researched and wrote the various stories.  

Understanding the Lumad is our humble contribution to efforts that surface the Lumad’s voices. Only when we have a genuine understanding of who the Lumad are, can we begin the process of tearing down the walls of prejudice, ignorance and discrimination that have oppressed the Lumad and denied them of their rights for so long.

Original version

This handbook is an introduction to the human rights of indigenous women.  It provides details on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as the only instrument specifically for women. It also provides a brief overview of the other available human rights mechanisms.

The handbook is published by Tebtebba and the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP).

This publication contains two documents: the Indigenous Peoples’ Agenda and the Alta Outcome Document. Tebtebba is reproducing these in three languages—English, Filipino and Cebuano.

A collective effort of indigenous leaders and representatives from 60 organizations nationwide, the Indigenous Peoples’ Agenda was first formulated in 2010 after President Benigno Aquino had just assumed office. But to their dismay, indigenous peoples did not get any substantive government response. 

The Alta Outcome Document, which Philippine UNDRIP Network members and other indigenous peoples also endorsed. Agreed upon by 700 indigenous representatives from all over the world during the Global Indigenous Preparatory Conference in Alta, Norway on June 10-12, 2013, this document contains recommendations for the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in 2014.

“Indigenous peoples are vital to, and active in, the many ecosystems that inhabit their lands and territories and may therefore help enhance the resilience of these ecosystems… [T]hey interpret and react to the impacts of climate change in creative ways, drawing on traditional knowledge and other technologies to find solutions which may help society at large to cope with impending changes.”  

- UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

These case studies reveal the secrets of indigenous peoples in protecting, conserving and managing their forestlands.The findings, conclusions and recommendations all point to one thing—policy makers and development planners need to rethink or reorient their mindsets and framework towards forest management.

Reports of the Community-Based Monitoring and Information System Workshops. Global workshop was held on 26-28 April 2013 in Bonn, Germany and the Philippine workshop was on 25-27 February 2013 in Quezon City, Philippines.

About the research

Addressing disparities in development outcomes of marginalized and excluded groups such as those of indigenous background is central to all sustainable development efforts. This study represents the first attempt at consolidating existing evidence on violence against indigenous girls, adolescents and young women and is based on a recommendation of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to United Nations agencies to address gaps in knowledge on the magnitude, nature and context of violence against these groups. It is in step with similar recommendations arising out of the United Nations Secretary-General’s 2006 studies on violence against children and violence against women respectively.

Using illustrations from Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America, the study reaffirms the universality of violence across all socio-economic groups and cultures but finds that violence is heightened for indigenous girls, adolescents and young women when their communities’ broader contexts – such as colonial domination, continued discrimination, limited access to social services, dispossession from ancestral lands, militarization and intercommunal conflicts – intersect with personal circumstances such as age, sex, ethnicity and by patriarchal value systems of indigenous and wider societies.

This study finds that the types of violence which have been documented with respect to indigenous girls and young women are embedded in a narrow space of evidence which, though widening through a number of qualitative and quantitative sources remains insufficient.

Notwithstanding the noticeable gaps in information, the report aims to spur a call to action to governments, United Nations agencies and special mandate holders, indigenous communities, and women’s and children’s rights organizations to work collaboratively to end the impunity of violence. It also aims to tackle issues such as the structural, underlying causes and risk factors that lead to violence while paying close attention to deficits in information and strengthening of the capacities of government institutions and civil society organizations in preventing and responding to violence.

The fight against biopiracy and its injustices was the main impetus for the push to have an international treaty to be developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Convention’s third objective of fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources is itself the result of tough negotiations in the early 1990s when the misappropriation, even theft, of the resources of developing countries and of indigenous peoples and local communities gained international attention.

After almost 20 years, when the Convention’s broad provisions proved to be inadequate, the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing was forged in October 2010. This new legally binding international treaty, however, was born in an atmosphere of controversy when its core content was ultimately decided by a few during the final days of the 10^th meeting of the CBD’s Conference of Parties in Nagoya, Japan.

This book, co-authored by six civil society participants who were actively engaged with the government negotiators and negotiation process, provides a rich account of the background and development of the Protocol. It analyzes the main provisions of the Protocol and recommends several actions that can be taken at the national and international levels to ensure that the Protocol objective of fair and equitable benefit-sharing can be delivered with justice restored. 

UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples