A legal approach to biodiversity conservation and forest rights of indigenous peoples in the Congo Basin: towards new legal tools

The livelihood of almost all indigenous peoples of the Congo basin depends on their free access to the forest natural resources. At present, some technical and legal means exist to improve the forest rights of indigenous peoples but the main question is what indigenous peoples themselves would request to truly fit their needs while conserving biodiversity. Based on the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this paper will explore the possible legal solutions such as protected areas and their various forms of governance and discuss the most/less suitable options and their conditions. Indeed, Indigenous peoples' and community conserved territories and areas (ICCAs) have been highly debated over the past few years, along with participatory management. If those models could support both IP livelihoods and biodiversity conservation in some protected areas, their implementation could be the first step towards the creation of a new form of "protected area" created and managed by indigenous peoples. This paper will therefore discuss this option further and put it in the broader context of the Congo basin. (Resume d'auteur)