Our Free, Prior & Informed Consent Approach

Our understanding of and approach to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), including particularly First Nations and Indigenous peoples, is shaped by several complementary global and jurisdiction-specific frameworks:

• UNDRIP Principles:The United Nations 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, sets out a range of principles, including that:
  • Consultation and cooperation in good faith with Traditional Owners should take place in order to seek free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources. There is a need to respect and promote the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples, especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources.
  • Early, ongoing and respectful engagement with traditional owners should occur as it helps to ensure fair treatment of Traditional Owners, create trust, provide project assurance, mitigate project risk, provide confidence and improve long-term financial outcomes for all parties involved.
• ACI Code of Conduct Guidance: The Australian Carbon Industry Code of Conduct sets out its expectations on how Code signatories should engage with Indigenous stakeholders, in Chapter Five: Engaging with Native Title Stakeholders (p39) of its Complying with the Code document. This practical guidance includes details on the sorts of information that should be provided to consent-givers, the need for independent advice, and modes of communication.
• ICIN FPIC Guidance: The Australian Indigenous Carbon Industry Network (ICIN) includes in its 2020 Guidance on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC); specific details on the rights of Indigenous peoples within a carbon project in Australia, outlines how best practice FPIC engagement should be undertaken, and sets out how to deal with organisations that show disingenuous or poor conduct.
• PNG National REDD+ Development Guidelines: The Government of Papua New Guinea released its National REDD+ Development Guidelines in July 2023, and it sets a new minimum standard for how community engagement, FPIC and benefits sharing arrangements should be implemented across the country, taking into account the historic, cultural, political, geographic, economic and environmental context of Papua New Guinea and its peoples.

We consult and cooperate in good faith with communities and landowners, and seek free and informed consent prior to the registration and approval of any project undertaken in, on, or impacting their communities, lands, territories and other resources.

We also acknowledge the First Nations and Traditional (customary) Owners of the land on which we undertake our projects, and the local communities that participate in our activities across the world. We include all of these peoples and communities in our definition of ‘communities and landowners’ and particularly acknowledge the history, culture, practices these peoples, and the inherent rights they hold when in discussion with us about carbon project activities.

WeAct understands critically that FPIC means consent given to us:

• is free from force, intimidation, manipulation, coercion, or pressure;
• is obtained prior to the project starting;
• is obtained after communities and landowners are fully informed about the costs, benefits, risks and any other implications of carbon projects, and have the opportunity to seek independent advice;
• is provided in an ongoing capacity, and can be rescinded freely at any point in the future; and
• may not be given: ‘no’ is an answer.

WeAct also acknowledges that FPIC is both a process and an outcome. The outcome is the right of communities and landowners to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a carbon project which impacts on their rights, based on comprehensive, accurate, timely, and easy-to-understand information. This is a higher standard than the mere right to be consulted. FPIC is also a decision-making process and a framework for ensuring that project developers properly engage and involve Indigenous people in carbon project decision-making.

FPIC is a key step in our broader community engagement process, and you can find more information on our approach to community engagement here.

Seeking FPIC is a multi-layered process that requires an understanding of the historical, cultural, political, geographic, economic and environmental context of communities and landholders. We work with legal experts, local leaders and community members across a period of 24-36 months, making sure appropriate time is taken for communities and landholders to work through their own decision-making processes, and seek independent legal advice. Some of this can be understood through literature, legal and legislative review, however we prioritise local presence and community engagement to obtain a nuanced understanding of the individual circumstances and needs of different peoples.

The FPIC process undertaken will differ from project to project, noting that requirements for land-based access and consent may be more detailed than those for more device-based activities. At a higher level our FPIC negotiations follow a general pathway, which is outlined below:

Before considering active FPIC processes, we need to first establish who has legal rights to the land, carbon, as well as any other legal and/or customary rights that might be impacted by the proposed project. It is also important to ensure we understand the landscape of established, proposed or disputed rights (e.g., the legal difference in Australia between those holding Native Title as opposed to those claiming Native Title). Understanding this legal landscape involves a mix off desktop research, independent legal advice and on-ground community engagement.

As a pretence to more constructive community discussions, we work with community leaders and members to clarify the best way to move forward with early-stage FPIC discussions. We work to ensure that general expectations and timelines are respectful of local decision-making and communication paradigms, are culturally sensitive, and are led by communities and their interests. We develop a high-level process for community consultation that can be used as a foundation as we build towards more formal discussions and agreements.

Following several months of initial discussions and information sharing, we work with local leadership to put in place an informal and non-binding MOU. This framework sets out expectations and timelines for more technical and community-based feasibility discussions about project scope, implementation and benefits sharing.

With clear consultation and communication processes in place with community stakeholders, we work with them to undertake a community and technical feasibility work. This on-ground work helps develop the project proposal, and provide granular detail on how the project would be technically implemented, how the community would be involved, risks to be managed, the emissions reduction potential, and scientific monitoring and data gathering. This process is undertaken with community members and helps to give them an understanding of what the project would entail, and what they would be required to do across the life of the project.

With the technical feasibility and community participation details clarified, discussions move to the development of a project governance and benefits sharing model, to ensure that the community and its rights are protected if the project were to go ahead. WeAct uses its Carbon+ model as a starting point, and works with communities to adapt it to the specific context of each community to ensure it can provide accountability and transparency to the project and its responsibilities to the community.

Once communities have a deeper understanding of proposed project risks and opportunities and enough information to make an informed decision, we begin formal negotiations with the aim of formalising project terms in a contract, which may take the form of a Land Use Agreement (for land-based activities), or another relevant legal agreement. This process will likely include multiple formal meetings, allowing time in between for both parties to seek appropriate independent legal and financial advice – and allow time for community decision-making processes to take place.

Both parties will agree on satisfactory terms, setting out the rights and responsibilities of each party in relation to the project implementation and benefits sharing. Finalising these terms will also establish the preferred governance model for management of benefits sharing.

A formal legal agreement is drafted and presented to both parties for final negotiations and seeking of independent advice as needed. Once finalised, the agreement is signed and arrangements made for next steps.

Once the formal agreement is signed, more engagement work is required to fully sensitise communities and landholders to all aspects of the agreement, and set out the process for project implementation, engagement, complaints handling and benefits sharing. The aim of this information sharing and dialogue is to further embed rights, responsibilities and process into communities’ knowledge base so there is clarity on the pathway forward.

Recognising consent is an ongoing process beyond a formal agreement at a point in time, we regularly engage with agreement signatories and communities to ensure there is ongoing support for the project and agreed terms. This includes handling and managing complaints, and working with communities and landholders to adapt benefits sharing and project implementation arrangements throughout the life of the project as required.

More information on our approach to community and landowner benefits sharing arrangements can be found here.

Our Commitment

It is on this basis that WeAct commits to always undertaking early and meaningful engagement with communities and landowners and related communities, to ensure that all stakeholders have the opportunity to make a fully informed decision about how to get involved with a carbon project taking place on their land.

If such engagements lead to formal FPIC with signed, written agreements, such agreements will enshrine the rights of communities and landowners, including:

• Fair and equitable benefits sharing (both financial and non-financial benefits);
• Clear community project governance and ownership and limited partnership with WeAct;
• Honest and transparent communication regarding project risks, benefits, timelines and responsibilities – and how such things would be managed throughout the project; and
• Recourse for review and ongoing engagement with community stakeholders, with inbuilt complaints handling mechanisms.