Indigenous and community conserved area

Indigenous and community conserved areas are defined by the connection between a community, its governance institutions, and a positive conservation outcome. The community may hold rights under customary law, formal law, or a combination of both; legal ownership is not required in every case. The term includes territories and areas conserved by Indigenous peoples, local communities, and other locally organized groups.

Governance is the central distinction from a protected area imposed or managed solely by an external authority. Decisions can concern access, hunting, fishing, forest use, fire, water, restoration, or sacred sites. Some areas are intentionally established for conservation, while others conserve biodiversity as a consequence of cultural practices and livelihood rules. The broader phrase territories of life emphasizes that ecological protection and social identity are often inseparable.¹

Effective ICCAs depend on legitimate governance, secure tenure or access rights, and the ability of communities to enforce their own rules. Institutions may include village assemblies, clan authorities, elders' councils, cooperatives, customary courts, or Indigenous governments. Their authority is often layered with municipal, national, and regional law, making recognition and coordination important.

Conservation outcomes vary by place and cannot be assumed from the label alone. Community monitoring, locally adapted restrictions, and long-term knowledge can maintain habitats and species, while external extraction, land dispossession, weak rights, or internal inequality can undermine protection. International conservation policy increasingly treats Indigenous peoples and local communities as rights-holders and governance actors, not merely participants in projects.² Respect for free, prior and informed consent is particularly relevant when governments or organizations seek to designate, map, or finance an area.³

ICCAs can overlap with, surround, or exist independently of government-designated protected areas. The International Union for Conservation of Nature recognizes governance by Indigenous peoples and local communities as one of the principal governance types of protected and conserved areas.⁴ An ICCA therefore describes who governs and how conservation is achieved; it is not necessarily a single legal category or a uniform management model.

Global biodiversity policy has increasingly recognized these areas in discussions of area-based conservation, ecological connectivity, and the rights of Indigenous peoples. The Convention on Biological Diversity's Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calls for effective conservation of important areas while recognizing the contributions, rights, and governance of Indigenous peoples and local communities.⁵ Reporting systems such as the World Database on Protected Areas and the ICCA Registry can improve visibility, but registration should not override confidentiality, customary authority, or community consent.

Many ICCAs are not visibly marked as reserves because conservation is embedded in ordinary livelihood practices. Examples include seasonal closures of fishing grounds, sacred forests, rotational grazing rules, community forests, watershed protections, and customary restrictions on particular species or places. Marine examples can involve locally governed coastal waters, while inland examples may include communal rangelands and forest territories.

Documentation can create both opportunities and risks. Recognition may support land rights, funding, legal defense, and inclusion in conservation planning, but maps and databases can expose sacred locations or make collectively held resources easier for outsiders to appropriate. Gender, age, caste, class, and the position of migrants or minority groups can shape who benefits from community governance. For that reason, strong practice combines ecological evidence with safeguards for cultural integrity, internal accountability, confidentiality, and meaningful consent.¹³

ICCA

A common abbreviation for Indigenous and community conserved area; the plural is ICCAs.

Territories of life

A term used by many Indigenous peoples and communities for places where collective governance, culture, livelihoods, and conservation are interconnected.

Free, prior and informed consent

A right-based process requiring information, adequate time, and voluntary agreement before measures affecting Indigenous peoples are approved.

Governance type

The authority and decision-making arrangement through which a protected or conserved area is governed.