traditionally had access to for their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators. c. Ancestral Lands – refer to land occupied, possessed and utilized by individuals, families and clans who are members of the ICCs/IPs since time immemorial, by themselves or through their predecessors- in- interest, under claims of individual or traditional group ownership, continuously up to present except when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth, or as a consequence of government projects and other voluntary dealings entered into by government and private individuals/corporations including, but not limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or paddies, private forests, swidden farms and tree lots. d. Buffer zones – refer to identified areas outside the boundary of and immediately adjacent to designated protected areas that need special development control in order to avoid or minimize harm to the protected area. e. Free and Prior Informed Consent – As used in the IPRA, shall mean the consensus of all members of the ICCs/IPs to be determined in accordance with their respective customary laws and practices, free from any external manipulation, interference and coercion, and obtained after fully disclosing the intent and scope of an activity, in a language and process understandable to the community. f. Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices - refer to systems, institutions, mechanisms, and technologies comprising a unique body of knowledge evolved through time that embody patterns of relationships between and among peoples and between peoples, their lands and resource environment, including such spheres of relationships which may include social, political, cultural, economic, religious spheres, and which are the direct outcome of the indigenous peoples, responses to certain needs consisting of adaptive mechanisms which have allowed indigenous peoples to survive and thrive within their given socio-cultural and biophysical conditions. g. Initial Components – refer to all areas or islands in the Philippines proclaimed, designated, or set aside, pursuant to a law, presidential decree, presidential proclamation or executive order as national park, game refuge, bird and wildlife sanctuary, wilderness area, strict nature reserve, watershed, mangrove reserve, fish sanctuary, natural and historical landmark, protected and managed landscape/seascape as well as identified virgin forests before the effectivity of the NIPAS Act. h. Protected Area – refers to identified portions of the land and water set aside by reason of their unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against destructive human exploitation. Section 5. Identification of overlapped areas The DENR Regional Office, through the Protected Area Wildlife Coastal Zone Management Sector or its equivalent, with the NCIP Regional Office, within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Joint Circular, shall identify existence of ancestral domains/lands or claims in all protected areas and/or their buffer zones within its administrative jurisdiction and shall identify possible overlap in consultation with the concerned local government unit (LGU). For those areas without technical descriptions, the DENR Field Office and concerned IP shall use the validated list of ancestral domain areas prepared by NCIP and indicative maps submitted by concerned IPs/ICCs as initial bases in determining the extent of overlap. 2