Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) are natural and/or modified ecosystems containing significant biodiversity values, ecological services and cultural values, voluntarily conserved by Indigenous peoples and local communities, both sedentary and mobile, through customary laws or other effective means (Borrini-Feyerabend et al., IUCN 2004). ICCAs range from areas managed by ancient traditional practices to new initiatives set up by communities in the modern era as a means to maintain culture and natural resources or enhance biodiversity. Examples of ICCAs include indigenous territories, indigenous protected areas, cultural land- and seascapes, sacred sites and species, migration routes of mobile indigenous peoples, bio-cultural heritage territories, sustainable resource reserves, fishing grounds, and community-managed areas.
The ICCA Consortium was formed during the 2008 World Conservation Congress by several mutually respected small Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and organizations representing indigenous and community constituencies with years of experience working on ICCA issues. The group developed a broad programme to promote the recognition and appropriate support of ICCAs at national and international levels. More details are available at the www.iccaform.org website.
The Registry is an online database containing information on ICCAs worldwide, maintained by the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). The Registry has been set up to build a knowledge base about ICCAs that increases information about these special areas, documents their values, enhances understanding and recognition of their purposes and impacts, and increases engagement of local and traditional communities in biodiversity conservation and policy arenas.
The two main types of information stored include: (1) descriptive information, such as the main habitats within the ICCA and the names of the community or communities living within or near the ICCA, and (2) spatial information, such as the size, location and boundaries of the area. Additional details are included where available, such as information about the history, governance and management of an area, details on community decision-making processes and socio-economic factors. Multimedia data, such as photos and videos, are incorporated within case studies to broaden the visual features of communities and the richness of their knowledge and conservation efforts.
All case studies submitted to the Registry are georeferenced and available to the public through interactive maps or country lists. All other data contained within the Registry (i.e., submitted via the registration questionnaire) are currently offline and not accessible to the general public. Once the Registry is fully online in the coming years, content will be freely available to the public via the webpage, providing the ICCA community has given their consent. However, if a community does not feel able to allow information about their ICCA to be freely available, they can specify this within the “Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) Form”. Completion of this form is mandatory when submitting information about an ICCA. Communities can choose the extent to which their information is shared as follows:
You have two options for contributing information about an ICCA: by (1) registering the ICCA and by (2) creating a case study. Because the ICCA Registry adheres to the principle of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), you must first review the "FPIC Information Sheet" and then complete the “FPIC Form”. To register an ICCA, the Registry questionnaire can be completed and submitted online via this website on the %{participate_link} page. The Registry questionnaire can also be downloaded as a PDF or Word document, completed offline and sent to UNEP-WCMC staff at iccaregistry@unep-wcmc.org. Information is welcome at any time on any ICCA worldwide.
You have two options for contributing information about an ICCA: by (1) registering the ICCA and by (2) creating a case study. Because the ICCA Registry adheres to the principle of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), you must first review the "FPIC Information Sheet" and then complete the “FPIC Form”. To register an ICCA, the Registry questionnaire can be completed and submitted online via this website on the participate page. The Registry questionnaire can also be downloaded as a PDF or Word document, completed offline and sent to UNEP-WCMC staff at iccaregistry@unep-wcmc.org. Information is welcome at any time on any ICCA worldwide.
This website is still in early stages of the ICCA Registry online database. As such, it only contains information for a small number of countries, including four pilot countries that were selected during the initial phase of the project (Fiji, Kenya, México and the Philippines).
The site will gradually be updated with more countries and sites as greater numbers of communities participate, so please do check back for updates. New contributions on ICCAs in any country can be submitted at any time. To submit information about an ICCA, please read the FAQ "How do I submit information about an ICCA to the Registry?" or visit the participate page.
