ENIPAS laws, which mandate the full and effective assistance of government agencies to
ICCs/IPs in their responsibility to maintain, develop, protect and conserve such areas.
To give life to the Constitutional Mandate and International Covenants, and to
integrate and further strengthen the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), National
Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) and Expanded National Integrated Protected
Areas (ENIPAS), and the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act (WRCP), it
is essential that the Indigenous Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) Bill be passed.
The ICCA Bill establishes a national ICCA registry, creates a procedure for
documentation, registration, and recognition of ICCAs and their inclusion and integration
with local government plans. The ICCA Bill identifies prohibited acts, corresponding
penalties, and provides for the appropriation funds needed to manage ICCAs. The ICCA
Bili recognizes and promotes ICCs/IPs self-determination, governance, and sustainable
traditional resource rights (STRR), and their contribution to the conservation and
protection of their preserving their ICCAs-territories of life within their ancestral domains.
For the foregoing reasons, the immediate approval is therefore earnestly sought.
RISA HONTIVEROS
S e n a to r
V
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