ABSTRACT
Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) have been acknowledged since 2004 by the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. ICCAs represent a paradigm shift from conventional state-centric approaches to the conservation of protected areas by recognizing the crucial role of Indigenous peoples and local communities and their customary practices in the conservation of biological and cultural diversity.
Since the International ICCA Registry was established, four Galizan ICCAs have been included. Although in legal terms these four ICCAs fit in the same figure of Common Land Communities (“Comunidades de Montes Vizinhais”), and have a common historical origin, their nature is extremely variable, ranging from peri-urban forests with strong recreational components to small mountain communities that maintain ancestral cultural and economic practices. In spite of these differences, a growing sense of indigeneity has emerged among Galizan Common Land Communities, particularly in the context of increased depredation by extractivist projects.
This chapter, through two case studies of Galizan ICCAs, seeks to understand the roots and implications of “Galizan indigeneity” in terms of cultural identity, relationships with the land and socio-political engagement within the context of a decomposing traditional rural society that has been conventionally ascribed to European ‘peasanthood’.
