Posted on May, 22 2026
Title of the Assignment : Pathways to securing Indigenous Peoples and Local communities’ rights for community-led conservation in the Congo Basin
Type: Consultancy Service Agreement
Work location: Remote
Submission deadline: 3 June 2026
Background
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs/LCs) are central to protecting forests and biodiversity in the Congo Basin. Their lands, territories, knowledge systems, and governance practices have sustained ecosystems for generations. However, despite strong commitments by governments and international agreements, many IPs/LCs still lack secure land and tenure rights, face weak protection of their territories, and have limited influence over conservation decisions that affect their lives. These structural gaps undermine their ability—not their willingness—to exercise their customary responsibilities to safeguard biodiversity as a shared good and to ensure fairness for future generations in accessing and benefiting from natural resources.
Advancing the rights and the conditions that enable responsibilities of IPs/LCs is therefore essential for locally led conservation that restores nature while delivering equitable outcomes, reinforcing cultural continuity, and supporting community leadership. Without clear and enforceable pathways to land rights, participation, benefit-sharing, and decision making, communities cannot fully exercise their stewardship roles or access emerging opportunities such as biodiversity finance or Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs).
During the First Global Congress of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs/LCs) from the Forest Basins (Brazzaville, 2025), communities raised key issues affecting the Congo Basin, and articulated clear demands in the Brazzaville Declaration, including:
1. Recognition, protection and security of their land rights and tenure;
2. Protection of their lands, territories and leaders to stop killing them and decriminalization;
3. Respecting Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for full and effective participation;
4. Respecting traditional knowledge, science, practice and innovations;
5. Access to direct financing to include climate and biodiversity finance.
Governments reaffirmed their commitments to instruments they have endorsed— particularly the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)—and called for concrete action in the Congo Basin, including:
- Legal recognition of indigenous territories
- Integration of indigenous lands into national land use plans
- Establishing a committee to track compliance with land rights commitments
- Full and effective participation of IPs/LCs
- Recognition of ICCAs in national laws and policies such as National Biodiversity
- Strategic Action Plans (NBSAPs)
Despite this recognition, IPs/LCs across the Congo Basin continue to face systemic gaps—including weak or absent enforcement of legal protections—that undermine their ability to exercise collective rights and to steward their lands according to their customary responsibilities. These gaps do not diminish communities’ long-standing commitment to conservation; rather, they limit the conditions under which responsibilities can be meaningfully exercised, especially when territorial security, governance authority, and equitable participation are not guaranteed. Strengthening rights recognition and the accompanying legal and policy frameworks is therefore essential not only for safeguarding livelihoods, identity, and self-determination, but also for redressing historical injustices and enabling more equitable and effective conservation outcomes.
Regional and global commitments—such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)— underscore the centrality of securing rights to achieving effective biodiversity conservation. Moreover, as custodians of biodiversity and holders of traditional knowledge, IPs/LCs require robust legal protection to fully contribute to their stewardship practices. Such protection creates the enabling conditions to integrate Indigenous knowledge systems with scientific approaches, advancing more holistic, just, and inclusive responses to biodiversity loss and climate change.
This consultancy responds to calls from IPs/LCs, governments, and WWF offices to better understand what legal and institutional pathways exist, where they fall short, and how they can be strengthened to support Indigenous and community-led conservation in the Congo Basin.
Purpose of the consultancy
Conduct a comprehensive study on the status, legal and policy frameworks, and institutional arrangements governing the rights and responsibilities of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs/LCs) in conservation, recognizing that responsibilities must be grounded in secure rights, appropriate authority, and fair governance
Submission Instructions
Submit proposals to ie : [email protected]
Subject line: “Application for Consultancy: Pathways to securing Indigenous Peoples and Local communities’ rights for community‑led conservation in the Congo Basin »
Deadline: 3 June 2026 by 23:59 EAT
Currency :( ie) USD/CHF
Late submissions will not be considered.
For RFP submissions, technical and financial proposals should be submitted as separate documents.
