This publication describes the application of bio-cultural protocols in a range of environmental legal frameworks. Part I of the book focuses on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and access and benefit sharing (ABS). Chapter 1 presents a “bio-cultural critique” of the CBD and ABS and of international environmental law in general, highlighting their perceived strengths and weaknesses from a community perspective. It is argued that while the Article 8j of the CBD presents a holistic vision of the protection of biodiversity, the Working Group on ABS has focused on facilitating commercial application of traditional knowledge and genetic resources and on affirming indigenous and local communities' intellectual property rights over their traditional knowledge and genetic resources. It is further argued that this tendency towards commoditization potentially weakens the cultural and spiritual foundations that underpin the development, sustainable use and conservation of traditional knowledge and genetic resources. Chapter 2 introduces bio-cultural protocols as a means with which communities can respond to these challenges. The process of developing bio-cultural protocols is described through the use of examples, illustrating how communities are able to use the protocols to manage their traditional knowledge and promote self-determined development plans. Chapter 3 illustrates how the concept of the bio-cultural protocol is gaining international recognition. Developments within the negotiations of the Working Group on ABS and a number of subsidiary meetings and workshops are described. Part II describes a number of other contexts within which bio-cultural protocols can be used, focusing on REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation), the CBD's programme of work on protected areas, and payment for ecosystem services. Part III looks more broadly at the meaning of bio-cultural protocols for environmental law, tracing the emergence of “bio-cultural jurisprudence”. The appendix to the book includes the bio-cultural protocol developed by Raika pastoralists in Rajasthan, India along with a short introduction to this bio-cultural protocol describing its significance for livelihoods and biodiversity.