Biocultural rights – an alternative to protect indigenous peoples and local communities’ holistic right to “biocultural heritage”? DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.21134/dd5zwk11

Abstract

The biocultural nexus of Indigenous Peoples, a concept that holistically integrates their way of life in direct connection with the land, is still not fully recognised either in human rights law or in international cultural law, since both operate in a fragmented manner. The so-called “biocultural rights” have emerged within environmental law and could offer a path more consistent with the biocultural nexus of Indigenous Peoples to protect their cultural rights, including their right to “biocultural heritage,” a form of intangible cultural heritage related to the land. What if they were the tool that has always been needed to holistically protect the intangible cultural heritage of Indigenous Peoples? This article situates itself within the perspective that environmental governance must address colonial legacies, integrate Indigenous epistemologies, and challenge Western dichotomies such as human / nature. Given that biocultural rights are integrated legal tools that embed Indigenous ontologies but lack normative appeal due to a problematic duty of stewardship, they should be used, not as a new and independent concept, but as a de iure condendo interpretative principle informing international tribunals’ jurisprudence.