Rights based approaches are another way to ensure that conservation is being carried out in a fair and just manner. Rights-based Approaches to conservation (RBA) can be understood “as integrating rights norms, standards, and principles into policy, planning, implementation, and outcomes assessment to help ensure that conservation practice respects rights in all cases, and supports their further realisation where possible” (Campese et al., 2009). RBA to conservation with justice puts an emphasis on conservation but highlights the livelihoods and rights aspects of projects, programmes, and activities (Greiber et al., 2009).
Adopting rights-based approaches to conservation serves to ensure that the protection of rights and biodiversity conservation are mutually reinforcing.
Download the IUCN publication on Conservation with Justice; a rights-based approach.
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples by the Human Rights Council in 2014. She is an indigenous leader from the Kankana-ey Igorot people of the Cordillera Region in the Philippines. In this video, she discusses the special importance regarding the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in nature conservation.
