Basic concepts
(En español)
Working Definition of the
Concepts of Indigenous Peoples, Gender and Natural Resource Management
Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous peoples are the descendants of those peoples that inhabited a
territory prior to the formation of a state and who through the process of
colonization and/or neo-colonization have become disadvantaged and
dispossessed. The term indigenous - which is frequently used
interchangeably with terms such as "aboriginal", "native", "original",
"first nations", "tribal" or other similar concepts - may be defined as a
characteristic that relates the identity of a particular people to a
particular territory within a given country and distinguishes these people
culturally from other sectors of the society now prevailing in that
country. They normally form non-dominant sectors of society, usually
marginalized and discriminated against but are nevertheless determined to
preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral
territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued
existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns,
social institutions and legal systems.
Gender
In development work, the term Gender is a recent one different from the
term Women, not always understood by English native speakers, and not
easily translated into other languages. Neither women nor men form a
homogeneous group in any society, but socially determined ideas and
practices of what it is to be female or male as well as society’s
expectations of girls and boys vary by culture, group, place, situation
and context. These are changeable and are changing over time influenced by
global and local economic and cultural trends.
Gender refers to the social
meaning and lived experience, of being a man or a woman, and the
relationships between and among them at all levels in any society. Sex
refers in general to the biological characteristics of being born a woman
or a man. Gender is a dynamic concept and a category of analysis as
opposed to description. The concept is always in construction and
multidimensional.
Gender analysis goes beyond
statements about ‘women’ and ‘men’ and aims at understanding how
historical, institutional contexts and cultural, socio-economic and
ecological factors and dynamics affect relations, gender roles, practices,
power and characteristics between and among women and men. Gender analysis
adopted in operational work is the systematic gathering and examination of
information on gender social relations and differences in order to
identify, understand and redress inequities based on gender.
Natural Resource Management
The concepts of natural resources and natural resource management as
described below should be seen in the context of the knowledge,
innovations and practices of indigenous communities embodying traditional
lifestyles for the conservation of biological diversity and the
sustainable use of biological resources, with a view to the fair and
equitable sharing of the benefits arising, and the promotion of mechanisms
to involve those communities, including men and women, in the conservation
and management of ecosystems.
The concept of natural resources
is understood as renewable resources including soil; water; products we
harvest from the wild such as timber, nuts, medical plants, fish, and the
meat and skins of wild animals; domestic species raised by agriculture,
aquaculture and silviculture; and ecosystems such as those of rangelands,
forests and waters.
The concept of natural resource
management is understood as the conservation of renewable biological
resources and the sustainable use of these, including the promotion of
sustainable production systems, such as traditional methods of
agriculture, agroforestry, forestry, range and wildlife management, which
use, maintain or increase biodiversity.
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