Community Conserved Areas

• • NOTOC**

Community Conserved Areas

Community conserved areas are territories and ecosystems governed or stewarded by Indigenous peoples and local communities whose institutions, customs and livelihoods contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. Internationally, many are described as Indigenous Peoples' and Local Community Conserved Territories and Areas, commonly abbreviated as ICCAs, or as "territories of life."

These areas can include forests, grasslands, mountains, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, fishing grounds and culturally important sacred landscapes. They differ widely in size, ecological conditions and systems of governance, but share an important principle: local communities retain a significant role in making decisions about the land, waters and natural resources on which they depend.

Evidence from numerous countries shows that community conservation is not simply an alternative way to administer conventional protected areas. It can represent a distinct system of governance grounded in customary institutions, collective land tenure, cultural traditions, local knowledge and long-term relationships between communities and ecosystems.

Indigenous Lands and Conservation Outcomes

Research increasingly supports the importance of Indigenous governance for biodiversity conservation. A systematic review of 111 studies examining Indigenous peoples' lands and conservation found that most reported positive relationships between Indigenous territories and conservation outcomes. Secure land tenure, effective Indigenous governance and sufficient resources for stewardship repeatedly appeared as important conditions for success.

The findings reinforce a broader shift in conservation thinking. Earlier conservation models frequently emphasized establishing protected areas controlled primarily by national governments or conservation agencies. Community conservation instead recognizes that many landscapes regarded as ecologically valuable have been occupied, managed and protected by Indigenous peoples and local communities for generations.

Recognition of these communities as governing authorities rather than merely stakeholders can therefore be central to conservation effectiveness.

Experience in Australia illustrates how this relationship has evolved in formal biodiversity policy. Over approximately 25 years, national biodiversity strategies increasingly acknowledged Indigenous stewardship. Researchers nevertheless warn that recognition can remain incomplete when Indigenous institutions are incorporated into systems ultimately controlled by government agencies rather than recognized as autonomous governance structures.

ICCAs and Territories of Life

The ICCA concept encompasses territories where a community has a close and often long-standing relationship with an ecosystem, maintains functioning governance institutions and achieves conservation outcomes through its stewardship.

These territories are frequently referred to within the international ICCA movement as "territories of life." The term emphasizes that they are not simply areas designated for wildlife protection. They may simultaneously support food production, fishing, grazing, cultural practices, spiritual traditions, community identity and economic livelihoods.

Indonesia provides one of the clearest examples of the scale community conservation can reach. In 2026, Indonesia's national ICCA registry contained more than one million hectares distributed across 527 registered areas governed by 192 Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Spatial analysis identified approximately 29.5 million additional hectares of Indigenous and community-managed landscapes that could potentially satisfy ICCA criteria. This indicates that officially documented community conservation may represent only a fraction of the territory already governed through local institutions.

Indonesia's ICCA movement has also been developing stronger community networks intended to obtain formal recognition while maintaining local authority over territories rather than transferring management to external conservation institutions.

Recognition and Registration

Documenting an ICCA can help communities establish evidence of their governance systems, territorial boundaries and conservation practices.

Guidance developed in Indonesia describes a community-centered registration process involving customary governance, legal frameworks, territorial documentation, peer review and submission to national or international ICCA registries.

Registration can increase visibility and potentially strengthen recognition, but documentation alone does not necessarily guarantee legal protection. Community conservation therefore increasingly intersects with wider questions concerning Indigenous rights, land tenure and government recognition of customary institutions.

The ICCA Registry maintained through international conservation institutions provides a global mechanism for documenting such territories. Recent additions include Indigenous territories in Ecuador, Peru and Canada, demonstrating the diversity of governance systems represented within the international movement.

In Madagascar, five community-governed territories covering nearly 32,000 hectares were added to the ICCA Registry. The territories illustrate ways customary governance, livelihoods and biodiversity conservation can operate together.

Legal Rights and Governance

Secure rights to land and natural resources are among the most important foundations of successful community conservation.

Communities may conserve an area in practice for generations without their governance authority being formally recognized by national law. This creates vulnerability to mining, infrastructure development, commercial agriculture, logging, urbanization and other external pressures.

Indigenous organizations have consequently used legal recognition, organizational formalization and internally developed governance rules to strengthen territorial defense.

Research from the Peruvian Amazon demonstrates why governance authority matters. Indigenous perspectives on conservation co-management emphasize political participation, Indigenous rights, traditional practices and decision-making authority rather than simply inviting communities to participate in conservation programs designed by governments.

Community conservation therefore raises a fundamental governance question: whether Indigenous peoples and local communities are participants in conservation systems created by others or governing institutions with authority over their own territories.

Community Conserved Areas and 30x30

Community conserved areas are increasingly relevant to international commitments to protect or conserve at least 30 percent of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030.

One mechanism receiving growing attention is the designation of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures, or OECMs. These are areas outside conventional protected-area systems that nevertheless achieve sustained conservation outcomes.

Indigenous and community-governed territories may qualify as OECMs where conservation outcomes and governance conditions meet applicable standards.

This approach potentially allows countries to recognize areas contributing to global biodiversity goals without converting them into conventional state-managed protected areas.

However, recognition must be designed carefully. Counting Indigenous territories toward national conservation targets without securing community consent, rights and governance authority could reproduce older forms of exclusionary conservation.

Indigenous and community organizations participating in regional ICCA discussions have therefore argued that Indigenous and traditional territories should be recognized as a distinct pathway toward achieving international biodiversity targets.

Traditional Knowledge and Customary Governance

Many community conserved areas depend upon governance systems that developed long before contemporary conservation agencies.

These systems can include customary rules governing hunting, fishing, forest use, water resources, sacred sites, seasonal grazing and access to particular habitats.

In Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, the U'un Tidung community has been revitalizing customary adat law governing forests, wetlands, rivers and fishing grounds around Kampung Dagat. The territory illustrates how community conservation can encompass interconnected terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems rather than isolated protected sites.

In India, Orans and Devbanis are sacred community-conserved landscapes particularly associated with Rajasthan and neighboring regions. Conservationists and community representatives have sought stronger recognition of these landscapes within contemporary conservation systems.

Pastoral communities provide another example. Traditional mobility, seasonal grazing and collectively enforced rules can maintain extensive rangelands and mountain ecosystems. Such landscapes are sometimes overlooked because conservation policy has historically favored clearly bounded protected areas rather than mobile systems of land use.

Biocultural Mapping

Community biocultural mapping can help communities document relationships between their culture, history and territory.

Work in African rainforest communities has used mapping to document historic occupation, customary resource use and cultural relationships with landscapes.

Such maps may provide communities with evidence supporting territorial claims while simultaneously recording ecological and cultural knowledge.

Mapping can therefore serve both conservation and political purposes: identifying important habitats while demonstrating that apparently "wild" landscapes often have long histories of human stewardship.

Sacred Forests and Cultural Landscapes

Some community conserved areas derive their protection partly from cultural or spiritual traditions.

The Rocher du Loup ICCA in Cameroon is a coastal sacred forest protected by the Iyassa community. Its conservation is closely connected with cultural importance and customary stewardship, while urban expansion places increasing pressure on the territory.

Sacred forests and similar landscapes demonstrate how cultural values can contribute directly to biodiversity conservation.

Such areas challenge distinctions that sometimes separate environmental protection from cultural heritage. For the communities governing them, ecological stewardship, history, spirituality and collective identity may be inseparable.

Community Conservation in Africa

Examples from several African countries illustrate the variety of community conservation institutions.

In Guinea, communities manage territories where spirituality, customary governance, livelihoods and biodiversity stewardship operate together.

In Sierra Leone, the Sugar Loaf ICCA has become an example of local conservation alongside efforts to establish a stronger national network of community conserved areas.

In the Central African Republic, BaAka and Sangha-Sangha youth have participated in initiatives combining traditional knowledge with sustainable livelihood practices. Involving younger generations can be especially important because community conservation depends upon the transmission of knowledge and institutions across generations.

Madagascar's recently registered territories demonstrate another pathway through which locally governed landscapes can gain greater national and international visibility.

Marine and Coastal Community Conservation

Community conservation is not limited to terrestrial environments.

Fishing communities often maintain customary institutions regulating access to fisheries, coastal habitats, wetlands and marine resources.

African fishing communities have argued that expansion of offshore oil and gas development threatens both marine biodiversity and community-based ocean governance.

Bangladesh illustrates another challenge. Artisanal fishers and fishworkers maintain local knowledge and systems of resource use, but customary tenure and community fisheries governance may receive inadequate recognition under national law.

Without secure rights, communities can lose access to resources they have traditionally managed even where their practices contribute to conservation.

The Tidung territory in Malaysian Borneo illustrates a more integrated land-sea approach. Community governance encompasses rivers, wetlands, forests and fishing grounds rather than treating each ecosystem separately.

Pastoral Territories

Pastoral landscapes represent another important form of community conservation.

Pastoralists can manage large territories through mobility rather than permanent occupation of a single parcel. Seasonal grazing allows communities to respond to variations in rainfall, vegetation and water availability.

The Bayanbulag pastoralist community has used territorial demarcation alongside seasonal grazing practices and collective rules to manage grasslands and mountain forests.

Such examples demonstrate that conservation governance does not necessarily require excluding productive land uses. Grazing, fishing, harvesting and other livelihoods can coexist with biodiversity protection when communities maintain institutions regulating resource use.

Conservation, Livelihoods and Economic Sovereignty

Community conservation frequently succeeds because conservation and livelihoods are linked rather than treated as competing objectives.

Indigenous communities in Argentina participating in the Red TICCA network have connected territorial defense with ancestral education, barter systems, economic sovereignty and protection of water and natural resources.

This approach recognizes that communities require viable economies if they are to maintain long-term stewardship.

Conservation programs that impose restrictions without providing communities with secure rights or sustainable economic opportunities can undermine local support. Conversely, conservation strategies built around existing livelihoods may strengthen both ecosystems and communities.

Financing Community Conservation

International biodiversity financing is increasingly being directed toward community-led initiatives.

A Global Biodiversity Framework Fund-supported project in Papua New Guinea is intended to assist Indigenous peoples and local communities in Enga, Chimbu and Jiwaka provinces while improving management of hundreds of thousands of hectares and supporting sustainable livelihoods.

The Baiyer River Wildlife Sanctuary provides another example of international organizations recognizing community contributions to conservation.

Such programs can provide important financial and technical resources, but the relationship between funding institutions and community governance remains critical.

External support can strengthen community conservation when it finances institutions already responsible for stewardship. It can become problematic when funding effectively transfers decision-making power from communities to outside organizations.

Threats to Community Conserved Areas

Community conserved areas face many of the same pressures affecting biodiversity globally, but communities can also confront political and economic threats directly related to land rights.

Mining, fossil fuel development, urban expansion and infrastructure development can place community territories under intense pressure.

Adivasi communities in Bastar in central India, for example, face pressures associated with mining and militarization. The situation illustrates how conflicts over natural resources can threaten both Indigenous communities and the ecosystems they govern.

The Rocher du Loup sacred forest faces urbanization pressures, while coastal communities in Africa have raised concerns about offshore fossil fuel development.

Where communities lack legally recognized tenure, conservation accomplishments may provide little protection against development concessions granted by governments.

Indigenous Leadership and Local Solutions

Indigenous leaders from different parts of the world increasingly emphasize that conservation solutions already exist within their communities.

Community initiatives include forest protection, restoration, reforestation, protection of endemic species, territorial monitoring and revival of customary institutions.

These approaches shift attention away from the idea that conservation expertise must primarily come from external organizations.

Traditional ecological knowledge can complement scientific research while community institutions provide governance structures capable of applying that knowledge over long periods.

Successful conservation therefore often depends not simply on consulting local communities but on recognizing their authority and providing conditions in which local governance can continue.

The Importance of Networks

Local conservation institutions can become stronger when communities organize across regions and countries.

National ICCA networks can help communities exchange governance strategies, develop legal recognition frameworks and represent their interests in national conservation policy.

Indonesia's growing ICCA movement illustrates this process, while efforts in Sierra Leone seek to strengthen a national network around existing community conserved territories.

Regional assemblies in Mesoamerica similarly provide forums where Indigenous and community organizations can coordinate their positions regarding international biodiversity targets.

The international ICCA Consortium and ICCA Registry connect many of these local and national initiatives into a broader global movement.

Challenges and Safeguards

Growing recognition of community conservation also creates potential risks.

Governments may attempt to count Indigenous territories toward biodiversity targets without adequately recognizing community ownership or governance authority.

Conservation organizations may provide resources while unintentionally replacing local decision-making structures with externally designed management systems.

Registration processes can make territories more visible but may also expose communities to administrative requirements or political institutions that do not recognize customary systems.

Effective community conservation therefore requires safeguards including free participation, secure tenure, recognition of customary governance, appropriate financing and respect for community decisions about whether and how their territories should receive formal conservation recognition.

Conclusion

Community conserved areas demonstrate that biodiversity conservation does not depend exclusively on parks administered by governments or conservation organizations. Across forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, mountains and oceans, Indigenous peoples and local communities govern landscapes through customary institutions, traditional knowledge, collective rules and locally developed systems of stewardship.

Evidence increasingly indicates that Indigenous lands can produce strong conservation outcomes, particularly where communities possess secure tenure, meaningful governance authority and adequate resources.

ICCAs and other territories of life are consequently becoming increasingly important to international biodiversity strategies, including efforts to meet the Global Biodiversity Framework's 30x30 objectives.

Their significance extends beyond the amount of land or water they conserve. Community conserved areas represent a different model of conservation—one that treats people who have longstanding relationships with ecosystems as governing institutions rather than obstacles to wilderness protection or merely stakeholders in externally managed projects.

The future effectiveness of community conservation will therefore depend heavily on whether governments and conservation organizations move beyond symbolic recognition toward secure territorial rights, genuine governance authority and sustained financial support for the communities already protecting many of the world's biologically and culturally important landscapes.

• • TOC**

ICCA Registries, Networks and Movement Building

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | July 22, 2026

The report reviews community-led conservation across forests, islands, rangelands, wetlands and marine territories and documents advances in rights, recognition and Indigenous governance.

| UNEP-WCMC / ICCA Registry | ICCA Registry | July 2026

New registry additions include Awá territory in Ecuador, Kandozi territory in Peru and Maiyoo Keyoh in Canada, demonstrating widely differing Indigenous conservation institutions.

| Perkumpulan Gerakan Konservasi Rakyat Nusantara | ICCA Consortium | July 1, 2026

Indonesia's national ICCA movement is evolving into stronger community networks designed to obtain recognition for Indigenous and traditional conservation governance while maintaining local control over territories of life.

[Unleashing the Potential: 29 Million Hectares of Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Conserved Territories and Areas | Working Group ICCAs Indonesia | WGII | June 4, 2026]

Indonesia's ICCA network reports enormous potential for expanding recognition of community conservation. Spatial analysis identified approximately 29.5 million hectares of Indigenous and community-managed landscapes that may meet ICCA criteria.

[Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Conserved Territories and Areas – May 2026 Edition | Working Group ICCAs Indonesia | WGII | May 21, 2026]

Indonesia's national ICCA registry reached more than one million hectares across 527 registered areas managed by 192 Indigenous peoples and local communities. The update also identifies almost 30 million hectares of additional community-managed territory with potential ICCA characteristics.

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | April 21, 2026

Five community-governed territories covering nearly 32,000 hectares were documented, illustrating diverse Malagasy systems linking conservation, customary governance and livelihoods.

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | March 31, 2026

Indigenous and community organizations discussed recognition of Indigenous and traditional territories as a distinct pathway toward implementation of Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3.

Legal Recognition, Governance and Policy

[Panduan Registrasi AKKM/ICCA — Edisi Kedua | Kasmita Widodo et al. | Working Group ICCAs Indonesia | May 16, 2026]

This second-edition Indonesian guide explains how communities can document and register Indigenous Peoples' and Local Community Conserved Territories and Areas. It covers customary governance, legal frameworks, documentation, peer review and submission to the international ICCA Registry.

| ICCA Consortium contributors | ICCA Consortium | May 5, 2026

Indigenous organizations are using legal recognition, organizational formalization and internal governance rules to strengthen autonomy and territorial defense.

[The Relationship Between Indigenous Peoples' Lands and Conservation: A Systematic Literature Review | William Nikolakis et al. | People and Nature | April 20, 2026]

A systematic review of 111 studies found that most reported positive relationships between Indigenous lands and conservation outcomes. The authors emphasize secure tenure, Indigenous governance and adequate resources for stewardship as recurring conditions supporting successful conservation.

[Indigenous Peoples and Nature Conservation: Lessons from 25 Years of Australian Biodiversity Strategy | Lydia Schofield, Elaine Stratford and Aidan Davison | Geoforum | March 2026]

The study examines how Australian biodiversity strategies have portrayed Indigenous peoples over a quarter century. It finds growing recognition of Indigenous stewardship while warning that conservation policy can still subordinate Indigenous governance to state-defined institutions.

[Indigenous Perspectives on the Co-management of a Regional Conservation Area in the Peruvian Amazon | Various authors | Environmental Management | February 20, 2026]

Research in the Peruvian Amazon examines conservation co-management from Indigenous perspectives. It emphasizes political participation, Indigenous rights, traditional practices and governance authority rather than simply involving communities as stakeholders in government-led conservation.

[Advancing Legal and Policy Frameworks for Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs): Global Lessons for Policy and Practice | WWF | World Wildlife Fund | February 18, 2026]

This comparative report examines how governments are developing legal and policy systems for recognizing OECMs. It is especially relevant to community conserved areas because Indigenous and locally governed territories can potentially contribute to 30×30 without becoming conventional government protected areas.

Funding and Institutional Support for Community Conservation

[Papua New Guinea Secures Global Biodiversity Framework Fund Support for Community-led Conservation in the Highlands | FAO | Food and Agriculture Organization | June 18, 2026]

A major biodiversity project will support Indigenous peoples and local communities in Enga, Chimbu and Jiwaka provinces. The initiative aims to improve management of hundreds of thousands of hectares while combining conservation with sustainable livelihoods.

[FAO and UN Resident Coordinator Visit Baiyer River Wildlife Sanctuary to Recognize Community Conservation Efforts | FAO | Food and Agriculture Organization | May 12, 2026]

Communities around Papua New Guinea's Baiyer River Wildlife Sanctuary are highlighted for their contributions to biodiversity conservation and landscape stewardship. The initiative demonstrates how international funding can support rather than replace local conservation institutions.

Marine, Coastal and Fisheries Community Conservation

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | June 24, 2026

African fishing communities argue that community-based ocean governance, livelihoods and marine biodiversity are threatened by expanding offshore oil and gas development.

| ICCA Consortium contributors | ICCA Consortium | May 30, 2026

Bangladesh illustrates a major barrier to marine ICCAs: customary tenure and community-led fisheries governance remain inadequately recognized in national law.

| ICCA Consortium contributors | ICCA Consortium | May 12, 2026

The U'un Tidung community is revitalizing customary law to govern interconnected forests, wetlands, rivers and fishing grounds in Sabah.

| ICCA Consortium contributors | ICCA Consortium | April 30, 2026

This case study examines community-led conservation across the rivers, wetlands, forests and coastal resources of Kampung Dagat and the revival of Tidung adat governance.

Community Conservation and Traditional Stewardship Case Studies

[‘This Is What’s Working’: Indigenous Leaders on Environment Solutions in Their Communities | Latoya Abulu | Mongabay | August 9, 2026]

Indigenous leaders from several regions describe locally developed approaches to forest protection, reforestation, endemic species conservation and territorial governance. Their accounts emphasize land rights and traditional knowledge as practical conservation strategies rather than merely cultural considerations.

| ACDD – Action Pour le Développement Durable | ICCA Consortium | June 30, 2026

The Iyassa community in Cameroon is protecting a culturally important coastal sacred forest while confronting urban expansion and other pressures on customary territory.

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | May 5, 2026

BaAka and Sangha-Sangha youth are combining traditional knowledge and sustainable livelihood practices to strengthen stewardship of community territories.

| Red TICCA Argentina / ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | May 5, 2026

Argentine Indigenous communities are linking territorial defense with ancestral education, barter systems, economic sovereignty and protection of water and other natural resources.

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | April 27, 2026

Communities across Guinea demonstrate how spirituality, customary institutions, livelihoods and biodiversity stewardship can operate together within territories of life.

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | April 27, 2026

The Sugar Loaf ICCA illustrates Sierra Leonean community conservation while efforts to create a national ICCA network seek stronger legal and institutional recognition.

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | April 21, 2026

Bayanbulag pastoralists are using territorial demarcation, seasonal grazing practices and collective rules to govern grasslands and mountain forests.

| Serge Ekazama Koto / ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | March 31, 2026

Community biocultural mapping is helping document historic occupation and customary relationships with rainforest landscapes, providing evidence communities can use to defend their territories.

| ICCA Consortium contributors | ICCA Consortium | March 30, 2026

Adivasi communities in central India face growing pressures from mining and militarization, illustrating how extractive development can threaten community-governed landscapes.

| KRAPAVIS / ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | March 17, 2026

Indian conservationists and community representatives examined stronger recognition for Orans and Devbanis, sacred community-conserved landscapes common in Rajasthan and neighboring regions.

| ICCA Consortium | ICCA Consortium | March 17, 2026

Pastoral communities maintain extensive rangelands through customary mobility, seasonal grazing and collective governance, making their territories an important but often overlooked form of community conservation.