Project

Listening to the perspectives and priorities of Indigenous Peoples on the ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Rights

SEI Asia is contributing to a regional consultation on the ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Rights to improve the current draft and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ contribution to regional governance on environmental rights.

Active project

2024

Project contact

Minh Tran / minh.tran@sei.org

Senior woman harvesting ripe coffee beans on coffee plants — Photo: Wera Rodsawang / Getty Images.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is developing its first-ever policy instrument on environmental rights, the ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Rights. A Working Group is developing this policy led by the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). For more information about the history of the ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Rights, see Environmental-rights.net.

The Working Group accepts civil society’s inputs before the consolidated policy draft is submitted for negotiations among ASEAN Member States through AICHR. This will be the only opportunity for civil society actors outside the Working Group to contribute to the policy. This is a critical opportunity to increase the policy development process’s inclusiveness and meaningful participation, ensuring no groups are left behind. It is imperative that stakeholders that are often overlooked in these processes, such as Indigenous men, women, youth and people with disabilities from the Lower Mekong Region, are included.

Thus, the Asia Centre of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI Asia), Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact (AIPP), Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Southeast Asia Regional Office (HBF), Samdhana Institute, and USAID–WWF Mekong for the Future are convening a regional consultation on the Declaration to gather input to improve the current draft and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ contribution to regional governance on environmental rights.

Related links

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3 May 2023 / About Climate policy and Participation

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Media coverage / SEI Asia's Minh Tran discusses the E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration, emphasizing Indigenous People's rights as a critical component of climate action.

15 March 2024 / About Climate policy and Climate services

The workshop aims to facilitate a dialogue and document inputs on the Declaration to ensure the rights of Indigenous men, women, youth and people with disabilities are communicated to the Working Group and relevant stakeholders. The specific objectives include:

Facilitate an open dialogue among Indigenous Peoples’ organisations and allies to critically assess the current draft of the Declaration, providing a safe and inclusive environment for constructive feedback and brainstorming on potential improvements.
Develop a collaborative plan for further engagement with the formulation and implementation of the Declaration, including strategies to involve relevant CSO and grassroots actors who may not be part of this workshop.

The workshop will be held from 20 to 21 April 2024 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It will be conducted in English, with interpretation services available based on participants’ needs. The workshop will use a mix of facilitation approaches, including interactive, unstructured formats such as ‘unconference’ (where participants have more power over the design and conduct of activities) and structured discussion on specific components of the Declaration.

The workshop discussions will include direct comments and inputs on the draft text of the Declaration. Given the politics and challenges of the development processes behind the Declaration, where certain critical elements of environmental rights are disputed, the workshop will facilitate forward-thinking discussions on actions to allow participants to ideate alternative, strategic inputs with a higher chance of them being included in the final Declaration text as well as to identify entry points for action that promote environmental rights of Indigenous peoples in the ASEAN countries.

In addition, the workshop will include developing action points agreed upon by participants to continue further engagement in developing and implementing the Declaration as it moves along a regional intergovernmental process and becomes an important principle guiding regional action on environmental rights.