ABSTRACT
The special relationship between indigenous peoples and the environment is well-known. Many treaties protecting wildlife exempt indigenous peoples and local communities from the observance of the protection measures provided for within those treaties. This may be justified not only on the need to protect their cultural rights but also on the assumption that they would never impair the environment in which they live. The exemptions may be counterbalanced by restrictions concerning, for example, the beneficiaries, geographical areas, harvesting methods and local consumption. More and more frequently treaties and soft law refer to the need to use natural resources in a sustainable manner as a further limit to exemptions. At the same time, at the international level, the role that indigenous peoples and their traditional knowledge should play in the management and conservation of natural resources is stressed. This chapter explores whether the limitations to exceptions may be read as an application of the principle of sustainability and whether this principle might apply even when wildlife treaties do not mention it. Some brief considerations are devoted to the possibility of granting exceptions for traditional and cultural uses of natural resources outside the context of indigenous peoples or local activities.
