Akwé: Kon Guidelines

Voluntary guidelines for the conduct of cultural, environmental and social impact assessment regarding developments proposed for, or which are likely to impact on, sacred sites and/or on lands and waters traditionally occupied or used by indigenous and local communities. The guidelines are structured in six parts: proposals and focus; terminology; procedural questions; integration of the environmental, cultural and social evaluations into a single process; general considerations; means and methods.  These guidelines are the result of the work programme in article 8(j) adopted by the 5th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in the year 2000. Its name, Akwé-Kon, comes from the North American Mohawk language that means ‘all in creation’ and was chosen to highlight the holistic nature of this instrument.