The first of the seven sections of the report provides a list of abbreviations used throughout the report. The report defines Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and community in the context of the report and highlights that while the right to FPIC should be extended to communities that are not Indigenous Peoples’ communities, for the purposes of this report, it applies to Indigenous Peoples only.

The report outlines the need for FPIC in voluntary standards and highlights the challenges of FPIC implementation and verification by assurance providers. The report also highlights the importance of community involvement in the development of indicators and monitoring to ensure successful implementation of FPIC.

Methodology

The research for this report included a literature review of international standards, desktop research of legislation and regulations in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and a series of workshops in these countries with Indigenous Peoples’ communities. The report also highlights the involvement of a working group to guide the research.

Literature review

The literature review concludes that there are few resources that define what a successful implementation of FPIC is from the perspective of affected communities. The review explores the approaches to FPIC in the international standards, guidance, recommendations, and regulatory environments of the research countries. The review suggests that the capacity-building activities for successful implementation of FPIC should be carried out over time and externally to specific project requirements.

National regulatory context

The report explains the regulatory environment in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, related to FPIC. It identifies the differences and commonalities between the three countries and describes how the regulations are implemented in practice.

Field workshops

The report outlines the findings from the three field workshops conducted in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The workshops aimed to understand the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples’ communities on FPIC. The report provides recommendations for businesses, states, and voluntary standards to improve the successful implementation of FPIC.

FPIC monitoring and verification tool

The report provides a framework for a monitoring and verification tool to ensure responsible implementation of FPIC. The framework integrates best practice management requirements, indicators, procedures, and protocols that take into account the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples’ communities.

The framework is structured around three main elements:

• Process: This outlines the stages involved in the FPIC process, from establishing the scope of the project to monitoring its ongoing compliance.
• Conditions: These are the conditions that need to be met by both the community and the project developer for the FPIC process to be successful.
• Principles: These are the core principles of FPIC (Free, Prior, Informed, Consent) that must be adhered to throughout the process.

Each of these elements is further broken down into expectations, actions, and evidence. The expectations are derived from international voluntary and human rights standards. The actions are the steps that the project developer needs to take to meet the expectations. The evidence is what assurance providers or auditors can use to verify that the actions have been taken.

The framework is designed to be implemented in a circular way, with multiple entry points, rather than a linear process. This reflects the iterative nature of FPIC processes and allows for flexibility in implementation.

Next steps

The report outlines the next steps for implementing the monitoring and verification tool and improving the successful implementation of FPIC. The report suggests that community involvement is critical to the success of FPIC implementation and monitoring. The report also recommends that businesses, states, and voluntary standards follow best practices to ensure that FPIC processes are implemented responsibly.