MANUAL FOR PROJECT PRACTITIONERS
Free Prior
and Informed
Consent
An indigenous peoples’ right and a
good practice for local communities
2
▲ Discussing project activities in
Mongolia.
©FAO/Munkhbolor Gungaa
COVER PHOTO: Engaging with
indigenous peoples in Bolivia.
©FAO/Andre Arriaza
3
Table of contents
PAGE 4
FOREWORD
PAGE 8
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
PAGE 10
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PAGE 11
INTRODUCTION
PAGE 12
SECTION 1
FUNDAMENTALS
1.1. Who are Indigenous Peoples? PAGE 12
1.2. What is Free, Prior and Informed Consent?
Who has the right to it? PAGE 12
1.3. Key elements in Free, Prior and Informed
Consent PAGE 15
1.4. When is Free, Prior and Informed Consent
(FPIC) required? PAGE 17
1.5. What are the benefits of the FPIC
process? PAGE 17
PAGE 19
SECTION 2
IMPLEMENTING FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED
CONSENT (FPIC)
2.1. Identify the Indigenous Peoples concerned
and their representatives PAGE 20
2.2. Document geographic and
demographic information through participatory
mapping PAGE 21
2.3. Design a participatory communication
plan and carry out iterative discussions through
which project information will be disclosed in a
transparent way PAGE 23
2.4. Reach consent, document Indigenous
Peoples’ needs that are to be included into the
project, and agree on a feedback and complaints
mechanism PAGE 25
2.5. Conduct participatory monitoring and
evaluation of the agreement PAGE 29
2.6. Documenting lessons learned PAGE 30
PAGE 31
SECTION 3
REFLECTING FPIC IN YOUR ORGANIZATION
3.1. The FPIC regulatory framework PAGE 31
3.2. FPIC integration through the human
rights-based approach PAGE 34
3.3. Ensuring consistency when applying FPIC in
an Organization PAGE 36
3.4. Resources required to ensure FPIC
implementation PAGE 38
PAGE 40
ANNEXES
FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT MANUAL
4
Foreword
The United Nations Economic and Social Council
estimates that there are around 400 million
indigenous peoples, or five percent of the total
world population, spread over 90 countries.
They have been present for thousands of years,
preserving their language, traditions, culture and
livelihoods, many times barely surviving by living
in isolated and remote areas.
They face critical challenges for their survival and
the preservation of their cultures. They typically
have higher rates of poverty, food insecurity and
malnutrition than non-indigenous populations.
While accounting for only five percent of the
world’s population, they constitute 15 percent of
its poor.
Public attention is increasingly focusing on
indigenous people’s issues for a variety of reasons.
On the one hand, their rights, territories and
livelihoods are seriously threatened by the
world’s demographic pressure, compounded by
the extractive industries’ appetite for resources.
A widespread lack of respect of their cultures
and rights has resulted in many communities
being decimated, dispossessed of their lands and
forcibly relocated.
On the other hand, scientists increasingly
recognize what indigenous peoples have been
voicing for decades: while holding much of the
world’s diversity in terms of culture, language
and spirituality, indigenous peoples are also the
stewards of natural resources and guardians of
biodiversity. This has brought increased interest
to indigenous peoples in the aftermath of the
climate change negotiations during COP 21 in
Paris 2015, in that indigenous peoples hold some
of today’s answers to tomorrow’s challenges.
In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples, recognizing their rights
and making specific mention of Free, Prior and
Informed Consent (FPIC) as a pre-requisite for
any activity that affects their ancestral lands,
territories and natural resources.
Despite its approval in 2007, progress towards
the implementation of FPIC has been slow and
uneven by countries, private sector corporations,
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES THE STEWARDS OF
NATURAL RESOURCES AND GUARDIANS
OF BIODIVERSITY AND THEIR RIGHT TO
DEVELOPMENT AS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS
BASED PRINCIPLE
FOREWORD
5
non-governmental organizations, international
financial institutions, and the United Nations agencies.
In the last two or three years, development experts
have recognized that FPIC is not only important
for indigenous peoples but it is also good practice
to undertake with local communities, as involving
them in the decision making of any proposed
development activity increases their sense of
ownership and engagement and, moreover, helps
guarantee their right to development as a basic
human rights principle.
In an FPIC process, the “how”, “when” and
“with and by whom”, are as important as “what”
is being proposed. For an FPIC process to be
effective and result in consent or lack of it,
the way in which the process is conducted is
paramount. The time allocated for the discussions
among the indigenous peoples, the cultural
appropriateness of the way the information is
conveyed, and the involvement of the whole
community, including key groups like women,
the elderly and the youth in the process, are all
essential. A thorough and well carried FPIC
process helps guarantee everyone’s right to self-
determination, allowing them to participate in
decisions that affect their lives.
FAO, as well as other partner organizations,
have been working for many years with
indigenous peoples, incorporating their views into
programmes on food security, nutrition, forestry,
fisheries, and climate change. It was in 2015 when
FAO decided to take a step forward in respecting
indigenous peoples’ rights through a more
programmatic approach.
To that end, FAO partnered with Action
Against Hunger (ACF); Action Aid (AA); the
Spanish Agency for International Development
Cooperation (AECID); the International
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Society (IFRC); Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); and World
Vision (WV).
As a result of this collaboration, FAO and partner
organizations jointly developed a common
approach to incorporate FPIC into the work of
each respective organization. The first outcome
of this alliance is this FPIC Manual, which
will enable field practitioners to incorporate
FPIC into project and programmes’ design and
implementation, ensuring that indigenous peoples’
rights are duly respected.
We take this opportunity to thank our partner
organizations for having supported this approach
that enables us to have a common voice when
implementing Free, Prior and Informed Consent
in the field.
Lastly, we would like to dedicate this Manual
to those indigenous leaders, women and men,
who have devoted their lives to ensuring that
indigenous people’s rights are recognized
and respected. Their vision, persistence and
resilience have truly inspired us and we pay
tribute to their sacrifices.
Daniel Gustafson
FAO Deputy Director-General (Operations)
FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT MANUAL
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In recent years, we have witnessed growing
volume of outcries by indigenous peoples
denouncing the lack of compliance with the
ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP),
especially with obtaining their Free, Prior and
Informed Consent (FPIC) before enacting projects
on their land. This is in defence of their ancestral
territories and speaking out about abuses by
extractive industries encroaching more and
more onto indigenous territories that are rich in
untapped natural resources.
The pursuit of profit has led rapacious
companies to, seek energy sources and resources
impinging on indigenous lands. The focus on
profits has seen companies convince municipal
and national authorities to accelerate extractive
and economic projects, without the consent of
indigenous peoples who have lived there for
hundreds of years. This generates conflicts that
has led to a series of violations of indigenous
peoples’ human rights.
The negative impact on the life and natural
resources of indigenous peoples is evident.
Equally, it is clear that once resources are
exhausted, there has been no thought to the
state of the land in the aftermath of any of these
interventions. Desert areas, huge holes in land,
water pollution (fresh and sea water), changing
the course of rivers, the reduced ability of
agricultural systems to produce food, disease,
hunger, unemployment, child labour, violation of
labour laws for women and men; privatization
of community regions, migration to cities and
urban disorder, are but a few examples.
Man-made land degradation caused by extraction
projects, impacts the whole society at national
and global level. Projects such as construction of
hydroelectric dams, oil and bio fuel plantations,
massive irrigation systems, and construction of
roads, bridges and airports, among others have
taken their toll.
The United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues has received complaints from
hundreds of indigenous communities in many
countries who have witnessed atrocious acts: the
torture and death of their leaders; the destruction
of their sacred places; the dismantling of their
own authority systems; the criminalization of
their struggles to see their rights respected;
rootlessness and manipulation in the purchase of
land and property rights.
The United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues gives a global voice for these
indigenous peoples who see their most basic
human rights trampled on by commercial
interests. Thanks to the work of the Forum,
many of the abuses committed on indigenous
peoples by companies and governments have
been brought to light.
At the same time, it is obvious that indigenous
peoples have not benefited from these
businesses or state initiatives, initiatives that
are always couched as projects for development.
Indeed, it has been difficult to find a project
A NEW COURSE IN INTERCULTURAL
EFFORTS AND DEMOCRACY:
THE DIALOGUE FOR THE FREE, PRIOR AND
INFORMED CONSENT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
FOREWORD
7
that has brought a paradigm shift and
resulted in real and genuine development to
the indigenous territories. Not surprisingly,
this has generated greater distrust among the
global indigenous leaders on the intentions
of politicians and businessmen on projects
in their territories, and thus complicates the
relationship between indigenous peoples, states
and private companies.
Equally, it is obvious that humanity needs
resources for progress. Technological
development, wellbeing and development
environments cannot advance if they do not have
sufficient or available resources. From what
we have seen, despite having access to these
resources, this development does not reach those
communities who have been caring for these
resources in a sustainable way for hundreds of
years. This is what needs to be changed and this
Manual contributes substantively to the men and
women of good will who support the human rights
of indigenous peoples, providing a clear path to
achieve them.
Modern entrepreneurship and new politics need
to develop a culture of democratic dialogue, of full
information, transparency in managing affairs
and solidarity in all the initiatives proposed to
all the inhabitants of their countries. This is
particularly significant with indigenous peoples
given the conditions mentioned above.
In fact, the pursuit of free, prior and informed
consent from indigenous peoples is the means of
how democracy can evolve to better decision-
making stages rooted in the respect for human
rights. In this sense, indigenous peoples can
contribute again to the betterment of human
relationships. It is also a serious global call to
rethink the ethics of the creation of wealth.
With this current path of entrepreneurship
and resource management, the world is headed
towards self-destruction.
I appreciate the contribution that the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) is making to sensitize its own processes of
project implementation and those of its partners.
This manual accompanies the FAO Policy on
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (2010), and the
continuous dialogue permanently installed with
indigenous peoples in every region of the world,
along with the Voluntary Guidelines on various
topics. It is also a significant milestone in meeting
the objectives of the Sustainable Development
Goals 2030 and the System-Wide Action Plan for
a common approach to achieving the Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. All these
instruments are essential in our human struggle
for survival at a time when climate change is a
matter of global concern.
Alvaro Pop
President - United Nations Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues
Guatelmala, 2016
FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT MANUAL
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Acronyms and
abbreviations
ACHPR
AA
ACF
AECID
CBD
ESMG
FAO
FPIC
GIAHS
GIZ
ICCPR
ICERD
ICESCR
IFRC
ILO
NGOs
UN
UNDRIP
UNPFII
WVI
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Action Aid
Action Against Hunger
Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo
Convention on Biological Diversity
Environmental and social management guidelines
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Free, Prior and Informed Consent
Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
International Labour Organization
Non-Governmental Organizations
United Nations
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
World Vision International
9
This manual on Free Prior and Informed Consent has been jointly prepared by The Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO); Action Against Hunger (ACF); Action Aid (AA); Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GiZ); International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); Agencia Española de
Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID); and World Vision International (WVI).
This manual is the result of more than a year of work and consultations with several experts. The production of the manual
was coordinated by Yon Fernández de Larrinoa, Team Leader FAO Indigenous Peoples Team with support and inputs
from Andre Arriaza, Munkhbolor (Bolor) Gungaa, Francisco Jesús Reche Angulo and Emma McGhie, FAO experts in the
Indigenous Peoples Team. Carol Kalafatic, senior consultant on Indigenous Peoples’ issues, provided most of the technical
content. Several experts from partner organizations provided valuable comments and edits to the manuscript, in particular:
Catherine Gatundu (AA); Bratindi Jena (AA); Paola Valdettaro (ACF); Raphael Laguesse-Paquay (ACF); Amador Gómez
(ACF); Kiflemariam Amdemariam (IFRC); Friedrerike Kramer (GiZ); Stella Marraccini (GiZ); Britta Krueger (GIZ); and
Andre Nswana (WVI).
In addition, the Manual was enriched with contributions from the FAO task force on Free Prior and Informed
Consent (FPIC); the FAO Interdepartamental Working Group on Indigenous Peoples; the FAO Regional Focal
Points on Indigenous Peoples; the Guatemala UN Country Team; and The Mountain Partnership and Aigine Cultural
Research Center.
We would like to thank the following people, who in one way or another have collaborated to make this manual a reality:
Alberta Guerra (AA); Ruchi Tripathi (AA); Antoine Bouhey (AA); Natxo Bellés (AECID); Eva Buendia (AECID); Anna
Belen Revelles (AECID); Nathalie Bovin (IFRC); Marion Aberle (GiZ); Bojan Auhagen (GIZ); Lena Fey (GIZ); Markus
Bernd Liss (GIZ); Andreas Drews (GIZ); Stella Marraccini (GIZ); Stefan Ehrentraut (GIZ); Olivier Longue (ACF); Walter
Middleton (WVI); Douglas Brown (WVI); and Laurent Thomas; Marcela Villarreal; Francesco Pierri; Rolf Hackbart;
William Settle; Mark Davis; Nadia Correale; Zofia Mroczek; Richard Moon; Mariangela Bagnardi; Clare Sycamore;
Daniela Morra; Francesca Romano; Valeria Gonzalez Riggio; Paola Palestini; Chiara Pili; Sameer Karki; Florence Poulain;
Jessica Sanders; Daniela Kalikoski; Martina Buonincontri; Bruna Bambini; Indira Joshi; Daniel Beltrán; Jeffrey Campbell;
Caroline Devit; Amanda Bradley; David Morales; Andrew Nadeau; Beatrice Ghirardini; Fabiana Biasini; Mario Acunzo;
and James Garber, all from FAO.
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of
any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning
the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of
its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have
been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar
nature that are not mentioned.
The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or
policies of FAO.
FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise
indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use
in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright
holder is given and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way.
All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.
fao.org/contact-us/licence-request or addressed to copyright@fao.org.
FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through
publications-sales@fao.org.
Acknowledgements
FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT MANUAL
10
INTRODUCTION
NIGER.
Cattle census and accelerated
poverty reduction project.
©FAO/Ado Youssouf
TANZANIA.
Pastoral farmers of the Maasai
tribe attending a meeting
with extension workers and
technicians from FAO.
©FAO/Giuseppe Bizzarri
11
This Free, Prior and Informed Consent
(FPIC) Manual is designed as a tool for project
practitioners (herein referred as project managers)
for a broad range of projects and programmes
(hereinafter to be referred to as projects) of
any development organization, by providing
information about the right to FPIC and how it can
be implemented in six steps.
The development of this manual has been the
result of a consultative process that began in
July 2015 between FAO and a number of its
partner organizations such as Action Against
Hunger, Action Aid, Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GiZ),
International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC), Agencia Española
de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo
(AECID) and World Vision.
FPIC is a principle protected by international
human rights standards that state, ‘all peoples have
the right to self-determination’ and – linked to
the right to self-determination – ‘all peoples have
the right to freely pursue their economic, social
and cultural development’. Backing FPIC are
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Convention
on Biological Diver
