Free, prior and informed consent
Communities agree to any collection before it happens, understanding what it involves, in their own language and on their own terms. It comes first, always.
What the words mean
Free, prior and informed consent, usually shortened to FPIC, comes from international human rights law. It is different from the consent a government gives at national level. FPIC is about the people whose land holds the plants, and whose knowledge often guides the science, agreeing to collection before it begins.
Each word matters:
- Free, given without pressure or inducement.
- Prior, obtained before any collection starts. Consent after the fact is not consent.
- Informed, with enough information, in a language and form people can follow, to understand what is proposed and what it means for them.
In Madagascar, where communities have deep ties to particular forests and a rich tradition of plant knowledge, that threshold is broad. When traditional knowledge is involved, FPIC is required.
How it is done
The work starts long before any field team arrives. First comes listening: identifying the communities with ties to an area, understanding who genuinely speaks for them, and learning what is sensitive, sacred forests and restricted places included.
Then conversation, in Malagasy or the local dialect, with plain, illustrated materials. The goal is real understanding, not a signature. A form signed without understanding is not consent.
Consent is then given, or withheld, through the community's own way of deciding, a village vote, a council of elders, a women's group, whatever is right for that place, and it is recorded properly. A community can say no. That is the point of asking.
A form signed without understanding is not consent. The aim is agreement that is real, freely given, and on the community's own terms.
A relationship, not a transaction
Engagement does not end when the field team leaves. Communities keep a way to reach us with questions or concerns, visits continue year to year, and benefit-sharing reaches community accounts directly, without people having to fight through paperwork to receive what they are owed. The intent is that communities do not have to rely on anyone's goodwill: the commitments are structural.
Within Madagascar's framework
This all sits inside Madagascar's own rules, not outside them. The national authorities are involved, and an independent ethics board, including Malagasy academic and research representatives, reviews the consent process before collection begins in any new area.
Ask first. Explain honestly. Take no for an answer. Keep the relationship afterwards. That is what FPIC means in practice.