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ICCA Consortium, Upholding ‘Territories of Life’

As a Member of the ICCA Consortium, Plateau Perspectives participates in responding to emerging threats and opportunities by promoting ICCA self-strengthening processes at local level along with networking, peer-support and advocacy at national and international levels. More information about how the Consortium operates can be found on the ICCA Consortium website.

A close association is often found between a specific indigenous people or local community and a specific territory, area, or body of natural resources. When such an association is combined with effective local governance and conservation of nature, we speak of an “ICCA.”

ICCA sounds like an acronym, but it is not.  It is an abbreviation for “territories and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities” or  “territories of life.”   (Source: ICCA Consortium)

 

On the International Day for Biological Diversity, in May 2019, the Consortium released a 20 minute video journey through several territories of life across the world. In this short film, indigenous peoples and local community custodians will give an intimate glimpse into why their territories and areas are cradles of cultural and biological diversity and how they are seeking recognition and support.

 

In June 2019, Plateau Perspectives co-sponsored and participated in the West and Central Asia and the Caucasus 2019 Regional Assembly, which was held in Yerevan, Armenia with participants joining from Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan.

One ‘project’ that Plateau Perspectives is supporting in Central Asia is the recognition and strengthening of Yagnob ICCA, which is comprised of a community in Yagnob Valley, Tajikistan, who are descended from the ancient Sogdian Empire (see here). In addition, much of their territory has recently been declared as a national park (see short film), for which a management plan is currently being developed – with a focus on ‘co-management’ approaches in order to give greater agency to local communities and to support the protection of their language and culture as well as the extraordinary biodiversity in their Territory of Life.

Additionally, at the Annual General Meeting of the Consortium held in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India in December 2019, Plateau Perspectives’ international director was appointed as Auditor of the accounts for the consortium, to serve as representative of the membership and thus help ensure transparency and accountability in regard to funded projects and financial operations.

Araketke | Tendik Clinic

Araketke works alongside local government, organizations, and individuals to provide under-served communities, especially in northern Kyrgyzstan, with primary medical care, inclusive preschool education, teacher training, English language curricula and courses, innovative educational technology, community development, and sustainable financial enterprises.

One of the foundation’s main projects is situated in the village of Tendik (“Equality”), which has grown quickly over the last decade. The government has welcomed the foundation as it partners with the community to develop accessible health information and provide primary care to this under-served population.

Tendik Clinic has served more than 3,000 people since it opened in December, 2014.

For more information about Araketke-Bereket, please visit their website or facebook page.

 

To donate to the Tendik Project:

Qomolangma (Mt Everest) Glacier Foundation

The Qomolangma (Mt Everest) Glacier Environmental Protection Foundation (QGF) was established in April 2012 with start-up funds provided by the Tibet Qomolangma Glacier Water Resources Development Co. Ltd. QGF is registered as a public foundation with the aim to promote and support both conservation and poverty alleviation in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China. QGF also seeks to serve as model for corporate social responsibility.

The Foundation organizes conservation and community development activities, including inter alia environmental research, education and awareness, and recognizing and rewarding local champions and organizations for their outstanding contributions in conservation and development.

Over the years, QGF has carried out many public welfare and environmental conservation activities, receiving strong support and praise from local communities and government authorities alike. The majority of its activities focus on environmental conservation, and around one-third of its financial resources are dedicated to targeted poverty alleviation in rural areas – with special attention given to the Mt Everest region.

To date, QGF has contributed to leadership development (training course for government officials and village leaders), capacity building for conservation (training community rangers from the Qomolangma (Mt Everest) National Nature Preserve), community development (village sanitation including garbage collection and eco-toilets, development of community ecotourism, and agricultural quinoa production), and environmental awareness (ecology seminars for university faculty and students, modelling corporate social responsibility, development sustainable use ‘best practices’ for Cordyceps collection).

Other projects under development with Plateau Perspectives include the development and establishment of a Tibet Bird Club, development of community-based ecotourism and adventure tourism with a focus on horse-riding (with Horseback Planet Society), and development of appropriate conservation tools and protocols for community rangers in the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (with Lapis Guides), and more.

QGF is led by Prof Gongbo Tashi, formerly the national projects manager responsible for Plateau Perspectives’ work in China. Plateau Perspectives’ International Director, Dr Marc Foggin, also serves as International Consultant for the QGF Board of Directors.

The World Yak Herders Association

“Rural communities from High Asia are among the most vulnerable peoples in the world. At such as high altitude the main activities go around pastoralism, where yak keeps a prominent position as a native grazing animal from the alpine tundra ecosystem. But, traditional yak mobile husbandry is declining in all the countries where is to be found due to different causes, in spite of being connatural to the high-altitude grasslands of Central Asia, and its proven benefits: the high quality of the milk, meat and wool hair produced there, and what is much more important, its decisive contribution to restrain the soil desertification and the glacier melting processes on the crucial environment of High Asia, from which almost half of the World´s population depend to obtain water resources for the urban and farming settlements. To correct this wrong dynamics, the communities engaged on traditional yak-herding practices require a programme of urgent global protection, and the creation of a global network of indigenous producers and further projects to empower this network represent decisive steps onwards to achieve it.”

Santiago Carralero

Map produced by Santiago Carralero
Yak herding regions in High Asia
Photo by Santiago Carralero
Bio-cultural diversity (ethnic groups)

 

 

 

 

 

 

For further information:

 

An association supported by a wide range of grassroots and international partners

 

kora | High performance yak wool clothing

Kora produces high performance outdoors clothing with yak wool purchased directly from herders. The goal of this entreprise is to help the people and the ecology of the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau to thrive. By sourcing from nomadic herders, kora helps them to adapt to change while maintaining their culture, knowledge and traditions.

Largely dependent on the yak, two main options are available to Tibetan herders to enhance socioeconomic development: diversifying their livelihoods, and adding value to locally available products. Building on the latter, the Kegawa Herders Cooperative has partnered with kora since 2012 to raise levels of financial return on yak wool. They now sell a previously undervalued product – fine yak wool – directly to a specialist garment producer (kora), shortening the value chain.

The local community and kora are thus contributing to the development of ‘ecological animal husbandry’ – focusing on the high grassland area’s primary resources (pasture and livestock) and ensuring that resource governance and management practices are sustainable. This mutually beneficial partnership is run on fair trade principles. It also is consistent with the development plans of local government.

 

 

For more information…

Kegawa Herders Cooperative

Kegawa ecotourFollowing several years of close collaboration with Tibetan grassroots organizations in the Yangtze River headwaters, the need for effective community structures that could foster and enable the development of local enterprises became evident. This was further highlighted by successes observed in 2008 in South Gobi (Omnogov), Mongolia, where community groups in grassland areas had recently been organized and strengthened, with excellent socioeconomic effect as well as improved social cohesion and enhanced sense of cultural identity.

The Cooperative was established by herders in the Yushu area to produce and sell livestock products, to help provide employment, and to generate income for local community members in ecologically sound ways. It seeks to fill the notable gap between state level programs and individual (household) management of grassland resources – returning to more community-oriented governance mechanisms, yet still maintaining individual commitment and benefit as community members are both investors and company shareholders. With its officials elected and important topics discussed at annual general meetings, this model of resource governance and asset management is a truly bottom-up, collaborative approach to rural development. The members also have chosen to share coop dividends annually amongst themselves, proportional to each person’s investment, but only after a first tranche was set aside for a social fund and another tranche used to reinvest in or strengthen the core fund.

Kegawa dressFollowing market research, the coop members have chosen to focus primarily on the development of ‘ecological’ livestock products (meaning that their pastoral practices should be demonstrably sustainable), on value-add products such as handicrafts, and on community-based ecotourism. A shop and a library have been established in the nearby county town, Zhiduo, to increase members’ access to affordable assets and information. Special trainings also have been delivered to support the development of handicrafts, sewing, computer skills, business management, and trade languages.

In addition, grassland environmental monitoring has been instituted by the Kegawa Herders Cooperative to ensure that chosen approaches are ecologically sound. It is not only livestock grazing practices, however, that may impact grassland condition; and it is increasingly evident that climate change is affecting plant phenologies and glaciers – with flowers appearing earlier in the season and rising snowlines being noted by the community environmental monitors.

The cooperative also has other working groups that cover topics including wildlife monitoring, education/awareness, ecological husbandry (livestock management), handicrafts development, specialist trainings, and garbage collection.