More than 70 people participated in the assembly from October 6-8 2021, with a combination of public and Member-only sessions
First published on 11/11/2021, and last updated on 03/28/2022
With contributions from Diana San Jose, Amy Maling, Femy Pinto (on behalf of NTFP-EP, ICCA Consortium Member and regional coordination team for Southeast Asia)
From October 6-8, 2021, the Southeast Asian membership of the ICCA Consortium convened their third Regional Assembly. Organized by the ICCA Consortium’s Southeast Asia Regional Council and regional coordination team (NTFP-EP, it was the second time the regional assembly was held virtually.
More than 70 unique participants joined the assembly this year, including Members, Honorary members and guests from six countries in Southeast Asia, as well as guests based in other countries and regions of the world.
The programme was spread out over three consecutive days, with the following three public webinars along the ICCA Consortium’s thematic streams of work on documenting, sustaining and defending territories of life:
- October 6: “Documenting territories of life: Roles, way and power of participatory documentation”. This webinar was moderated by Dewi Sutejo, regional thematic lead for Documenting Territories of Life. The event featured presentations from Adrian Lasimbang of Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS) and TONIBUNG (Friends for Village Development) in Malaysia, Saw Oh Moo Soe of KESAN in Myanmar, Imam Hanafi of Jaringan Kerja Pemetaan Partisipatif (JKPP, the Indonesian Community Mapping Network) and Timothy Salomon of BUKLURAN Philippine ICCA Consortium.
- October 7: “Sustaining territories of life: nature- and people-based solutions from Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ perspectives”. This was a sharing session on sustainable practices on management, use and conservation of Territories of Life with presentations from 5 countries and territories of life – Philippines (BUKLURAN Philippine ICCA Consortium – Egongot), Indonesia (WGII), Malaysia (LEAP), Vietnam (PanNature and OECM Network) and Myanmar (ICCA News). The event was facilitated by Femy Pinto, regional thematic lead for Sustaining Territories of Life, and the discussion and open forum was moderated by Paul Sein Twa, Myanmar country representative.
- October 8: “Defending Territories of Life”. The webinar focused on the story of the Indigenous Tumandok of Panay island, Philippines, presented by John Ian Alenciaga,who shared about their struggle on the series of attacks related to the proposed mega-dam in their ancestral domain. It was followed by a presentation and reaction from panelist Commissioner Jerald Joseph from Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM). The webinar was moderated by Regional Chairperson, Peter Kallang of SAVE Rivers.
The regional assembly also included meetings for ICCA Consortium Members and Honorary members, and members of national assemblies and networks in Southeast Asian countries. Key outcomes from these meetings included:
- Presentation of Chairperson’s report;
- Presentation from Global Coordinator Holly Jonas on the highlights of the ICCA Consortium’s 17th General Assembly in June 2021;
- Updates on the forthcoming publication on ICCAs-Territories of Life in Southeast Asia, including the launch of the contest and call for photo and illustrations for the the publication;
- Planning session – reflections on interventions needed and ideas for collaboration;
- Country sharing – updates from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam on achievements of the year, challenges, lessons learned, and plans for 2022; and
- Identification of learning exchange/topics needed through an online survey.
An exciting new feature of this year’s assembly was the availability of interpretation for select Asian languages, particularly Burmese (Myanmar), Khmer, Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog (Filipino), during some of the scheduled meetings and webinars.
Finally, a closing and social event was held during the last day of the assembly. Impromptu performances were shared, along with stories and music, from the different Members of the region. Representatives from Myanmar’s Rawang Youth Association and Promotion of Indigenous and Nature Together (POINT), the newest Members to join the Consortium in the region, also gave messages and were welcomed warmly by the membership.
Regional Council Chairperson Peter Kallang gave an inspirational closing message along with the Regional Coordinator and team. Many Members expressed the hope that the next regional assembly will be possible face-to-face.
Watch this short video showing the highlights of the assembly:
The assembly report, documentation and recordings are being prepared and shall be shared online soon.
