SCELG Awarded FAO Consultancy on Collective Rights to Natural Resources

February 2020: Prof Elisa Morgera has been awarded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) an international consultancy to prepare a Legislative Study on Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights to land, territories and other natural resources and the law, including marine resources. The study will include a set of national legal assessment questions to support national and local processes to make use of the study. Research for the study is expected to be global in scope and will be carried out throughout 2020 with a view to submitting the study to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2021.

The study will be prepared by engage partners and researchers in different regions, reviewing national legislation related to indigenous peoples’ rights and natural resources from a variety of countries, representing different legal traditions. This will be aimed at identifying legal challenges for indigenous peoples to assert collective rights to land, territories and other natural resources, as well as legal trends and legislative options for enhancing their protection and effectiveness. The outline of the workshop will be discussed in a workshop in Rome in spring 2020 and the first draft of the legislative study will be discussed in webinars and online forums, and additional feedback will be collected from rightsholders and stakeholders.

Policy-relevant research

SCELG has a long-standing partnership with FAO at the intersection of human rights and biodiversity law. This consultancy was awarded to SCELG in recognition of its ongoing research on indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ human rights and natural resources, including the BENELEX project, MARINE BENEFITS and the One Ocean Hub. The award also follows on from Prof Morgera’s contribution to the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.