Recognition on whose terms? Indigenous justice struggles in the EU-Honduran FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement

Abstract

Building on decolonial environmental justice (EJ) and indigenous resurgence theories, this article explores how indigenous organisations in Honduras have used the EU-Honduras Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) to pursue state recognition of procedural, self-determination and self-governance rights. Specifically, the article discusses indigenous engagements with the FLEGT VPA multi-stakeholder dialogues, the development of the VPA text and legality matrix and the FAO-EU-FLEGT donor funds as catalysers for the development of a – highly contentious – Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) bill, the development of FAO-EU-FLEGT-funded FPIC protocols, and the push for land titling and the formal recognition of indigenous governance institutions and practices. Applying decolonial environmental justice (DEJ) and indigenous resurgence insights, the article asks “on whose terms” recognition was obtained. It concludes that, while the VPA increased access to policymakers for longstanding indigenous agendas, it also reinscribed the colonial political hierarchy by ignoring, diluting and reinterpreting indigenous proposals in favour of state sovereignty over indigenous lands and people. The research was based on a combination of literature review, interviews and written communications with indigenous representatives and document analysis.