ESSC - ESSC’s review of IPRA in new IGES publication

ESSC's review of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) was presented in the recently released publication of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) titled "Critical Review of Selected Forest-related Regulatory Initiatives: Applying a rights perspective."

This review was undertaken on the premise that there is a need for independent monitoring and assessment of the development and reform of forest regulatory frameworks from the perspective of rights in terms of law making, content and implementation. The review aimed to capture not only the diversity in the types of regulatory initiatives that impact forest-dependent people, but also the diversity in the history of forest management and the current approaches to forest management that can be found in different parts of the region. Countries included in the review were India, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Peter Walpole and Dallay Annawi, ESSC Executive Director and Researcher respectively, discussed the history of the marginalization of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines, efforts to have their rights recognized by the State, the process of drafting the IPRA, salient points of the IPRA, and opportunities, gains, and challenges after 10 years of IPRA's implementation. A previous ESSC editorial shared the summary of this IPRA review.

The four regulatory initiatives discussed in the book are the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 for India, the Revisions to the Land Code (1958) which recognizes the existence of "Native Customary Rights" in Sarawak (but broadened to cover selected aspects of the forest regulatory framework and the use of the judicial system by indigenous groups in Malaysia), the 2007 Community Forest Act for Thailand, and the 1997 IPRA for the Philippines.

The review was part of the three-year programme of research (April 2007 - March 2010) of the IGES Forest Conservation, Rights and Livelihoods Project.