Subnational | PANORAMA

Southeast Asia

Involving youth through heritage education in the conservation of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, Philippines

Marlon

Martin

Developing a multi-stakeholder network (farmers, community members, government agencies and the academe)

Creation of collaborative research projects on Indigenous and Local Knowledge

Re-valorization of the Indigenous culture through its integration in the education system

Establishment of a multi-functional community knowledge centre

Training high-school teachers on traditional knowledge and local culture

Development of a participatory management plan

The parties of the Laponia Process envisioned to create a new management plan for the property using the values within three areas: the natural environment and its high values; the living Sámi culture and reindeer industry; and the historical heritage arising from previous usage of the land. This participatory management plan is based on a shared understanding of the World Heritage property by all stakeholders involved in the process and the implementation of the plan. Besides the governing institutions (municipalities, county, governmental agencies in charge of heritage conservation), important stakeholders to be considered and integrated in this participatory process are the Sámi villages which are organizations responsible for the reindeer husbandry within a specific area. It is a legal entity and they are organized through village meetings.

The platform for dialogue created with the Laponia Process.
Reindeer Husbandry Act (member of a Sámi village organization).
The constitution provides special protection to Sámi people and their rights.
The Sámi are the Indigenous people of Sweden (determined by the Parliament) which gives them a special legal status in Swedish law.
The Right of Public Access.
Willingness from the authority to try something new, new working methods for management.

Management plans where different stakeholders have to compromise all the time might be too unspecific. There can be themes in the management plan that the organization have no prerequisites to implement and then people will be disappointed if the organization is not working with them. For instance, in our management plan, there are sentences that state how we should be working with the Sámi language, and therefore, we are doing it to some extent. But language is not our main focus and then sometimes people may be disappointed with the results.

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

Adopting an enabling legal framework

In order to grant the management responsibility to a local entity, a new legal framework had to be created. The Laponia Ordinance is the only legislation applying to a World Heritage Site in Sweden. It enables the County Administrative Board and the Environmental Protection Agency to hand over responsibilities to Laponiatjuottjudus. In normal cases it is the municipalities or the County Administrative Board that administrate a new World Heritage Site.

A willingness from the authorities to try new solutions in management.
Not to be afraid to think outside the box.
A willingness to compromise.

It is really hard to give recommendations how stakeholders in other countries should work with a similar process, because so much depends upon the situation in the country, how the relationship between the different stakeholders, inhabitants in the area, is. It is necessary to understand well which possibilities the government, authorities, and local people have to participate in a process such as the Laponia Process.

It is fundamental to know what is possible to do with the legal framework because the proposal must be compatible with the rest of the country’s legal framework.

Subnational

Establishment of an inclusive dialogue process: the Laponia Process

The Laponia Process was an approach to dialogue created and developed by a diversity of stakeholders in the Laponian Area World Heritage property. Since Laponia is a large area which consists of several protected areas, to establish a coordinated management system as a whole has been very challenging since its inscription in the World Heritage List. The County Administrative Board of Norbotten and the Sámi communities and municipalities of Jokkmokk and Gällivare started originally to prepare their conservation programs independently. The Laponia Process started by the initiative of the Governor of Norrbotten in 2005 including all stakeholders in a process of dialogue based on a set of common values, which would lead the parties to agree in crucial issues and the terms in which the Laponian Area should be managed. All decisions were determined to be taken by consensus, and new regulations for the national parks and nature reserves were requested. In 2006, the parties signed a common agreement which they sent to the Government, which contained:

A set of common basic values
Common intentions for a number of efforts
The establishment of a temporary Laponia delegation
Preparations for the start of a World Heritage management group with a Sámi majority on the committee.

The political will of the Governor of Norbotten, the Sámi village organizations through the association Midjá Ednam, the interest of the municipalities of Jokkmokk and Gällivare, and the endorsement of the SEPA were essential conditions for starting the process. The initiative originates in the acceptance of the different realities of the parties involved and the strong will to co-create a new management for the Laponian Area. Moreover, there was enough financing for the project and each group participated with the same economical prerequisites.

To be able to establish an organization based on consensus and develop a new way of management, one needs to listen to people and try to learn why they are thinking and doing like they are (it is norms and values that forms their ideas and practise) but also openly explain why one is thinking and doing in the way one is, because that also depends on the norms and values one has in life. This process takes time, and it is about learning new knowledge from each other and accept it. This is also a process one cannot do in the office, one needs to go out and meet people in their ordinary life regularly. It cannot be rushed or think it can be a quick fix. The Laponia Process took six years until all stakeholders involved could agree upon a common organization and management plan.

To do a process like the Laponia Process – you need to have time, financing, and the “right” people involved. Listen to each other. Time to take home tricky questions and discuss them with other representatives for the stakeholders, before decisions are made.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

North Europe

Laponiatjuottjudus: a participatory management system in the Laponian Area World Heritage, Sweden

Åsa

Nordin Jonsson

Establishment of an inclusive dialogue process: the Laponia Process

Integrating traditional working methods as a base for dialogue

Adopting an enabling legal framework

Development of a participatory management plan

North Europe

Laponiatjuottjudus: a participatory management system in the Laponian Area World Heritage, Sweden

Åsa

Nordin Jonsson

Establishment of an inclusive dialogue process: the Laponia Process

Integrating traditional working methods as a base for dialogue

Adopting an enabling legal framework

Development of a participatory management plan

Agreements to reinforce the actions of local and regional authorities

In addition to the resources that the territorial entities in Colombia must, by law, allocate to the conservation of water resources, different government and civil society actors have also become contributors of other sources of resources for this purpose through inter-administrative agreements that provide support both in technical and economic resources for the sustainability of the project in the areas, solidarity agreements with Community Action Boards, or collaboration agreements for the Integrated Management of Micro Watersheds.technical and economic resources for the sustainability of the project in the areas, the solidarity agreements with the Community Action Boards or the collaboration agreements for the Integral Management in Micro Watersheds Supplying Aqueducts and Areas of Environmental Interest, in addition to the environmental governing bodies and the municipalities.

Government and civil society actors united and committed to the conservation of the micro-watershed.

It is necessary that there be an axis of articulation for the different conservation efforts among the intervening actors.

Entirety

Local

Subnational

Financial sustainability based on budgetary allocations of local and regional authorities

Allocation of a percentage of departmental and municipal budgets to water conservation.

National law that declares of public interest the areas of strategic importance for the conservation of water resources that supply water to municipal and district aqueducts, for which the departments and municipalities must allocate a percentage of no less than 1% of their income for the acquisition and maintenance of such areas or to finance payment schemes for environmental services.

A complement between political will and regulatory framework is necessary for financing to be consolidated into concrete actions.

Medium-term Strategic Plan for the Conservation of Areas elaborated among the network of stakeholders based on the environmental and socioeconomic diagnosis.

The Plan, which considers a 10-year time frame, was developed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) based on the implementation of the methodological tool "Planning for Conservation Areas" (PCA).

The plan has five programs, namely:

1. Conservation and Restoration Strategies

2. Sustainable use and management of biodiversity and its ecosystem services.

3. Knowledge and research

4. Empowerment

5. Articulated and shared co-management (participatory environmental governance).

The willingness of the actors involved and technical assistance from support organizations.

Synergy and commitment among all stakeholders are important elements for the orientation and implementation of management instruments.

Entirety

Local

Subnational

Conservation agreements for the management and sustainable use of land

Implementation of 50 conservation agreements, restoration of 600 ha of water protection strips and management with public institutions to include the area in the land-use plans of the municipalities.

Articulation of representative actors from both civil society at the community level and local institutions whose political will is aligned with conservation objectives.

An important lesson learned by those leading the processes has been to understand that the sustainability and success of the process depends to a great extent on the commitment of the NGOs and the communities, considering that the commitment and support from the local government (mayors' offices and other associated entities) is temporary depending on the political context of the interests, objectives and priorities proposed by each government period according to its line of work, so it is necessary to work permanently with this last actor.

Entirety

Local

Subnational