Press Briefing by the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity - March 25

Press Release 

Delegates meeting in Geneva this week at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) negotiations must reach an agreement if the world is to tackle the threats of nature loss and climate change. Growing evidence suggests that the only way to do this is by incorporating a strong human rights element – respecting the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities – into the new global biodiversity framework.

“Indigenous peoples’ rights violations cannot continue, the legacies of the past must be addressed,” said Jennifer Tauli Corpuz of the IIFB, talking from the negotiations in Geneva. 

 

“The new global biodiversity framework that's being negotiated now must mainstream a human rights based approach and must adopt mechanisms to address past wrongs,” she said.

 

A human rights analysis of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, released this week during negotiations, argues that failure to incorporate human rights protections into the agreement is of great concern. “Without further improvement, the Global Biodiversity Framework risks falling short of its ambition to achieve transformative change,” the authors write in their policy brief. 

The effective implementation of a real human rights-based approach requires a more holistic approach than currently suggested in the draft of the framework. It requires strengthening and improvement across all aspects of the framework but especially regarding: goals, targets, a monitoring framework, enabling conditions, National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

“If we don’t have a (post-2020) framework to protect nature that truly recognises and respects the rights of Indigenous peoples, those who are actually conserving biodiversity, we are all going to be in danger,” said Co-chair of the IIFB, Ramiro Batzin, speaking in Geneva.

“Today, we are appealing to parties, international organisations and all actors to join together to conserve biodiversity,” he said. 

 

“We can only conserve biodiversity by respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples, respecting the territoriality of Indigenous peoples, and respecting our knowledge and our contributions,” said Batzin.  

 

Studies have shown that safeguarding the rights of IPLCs is the most effective – and the most economical – model of protecting nature. A recent study in Nature stated that “Indigenous support is central to forest conservation plans, underscoring the need for conservation to support their rights and recognize their contributions.”

 

“Now is the time for Indigenous peoples to show the scientific knowledge that we have. Now is the time for Indigenous peoples to tell the world that we need to take action,” Batzin said. “We need to review our way of life.”

 

The UN’s goal is that by 2050, we all be ‘living in harmony with nature’. Indigenous peoples have been doing this for millennia.

 

“We all need to have a way of life that has an intrinsic relationship and balance with mother nature, the human being, and the universe,” said Batzin. “Only then can we truly be seen to be living in harmony with nature.”

 

“Indigenous peoples don’t see nature as separate from people, and neither should the Global Biodiversity Framework,” said Joji Carino, member of International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, speaking at the Geneva Meetings.

“Governments can no longer treat biodiversity and humans as separate if we are to really advance negotiations. We are so closely interrelated,” said Carino.

 

“We urge all parties to the Convention to agree on a way forward that puts the rights of the guardians of the world’s most precious ecosystems at the centre of policy to conserve this planet,” she said.

 

Background

Last year, top biodiversity scientists who authored the IPBES Global Assessment  – revealing that one million species are at risk of extinction – told the signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity in a perspective article that they could succeed in their goals only if they “embrace and embody the role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in the transformative change so widely called upon.”

Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are key actors in the conservation of nature. It is no coincidence that the world’s last remaining forests and the majority of the biodiversity of the planet are found in territories that are managed, owned and under the control of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. 

A UN report found that “nature managed by indigenous peoples and local communities is under increasing pressure…but declining less rapidly than in other areas of the world.”

Increasingly, these ‘islands’ of great biological and cultural diversity found on indigenous and local community lands are being surrounded by declining resilience in vast tracts of the earth. This difference in biodiversity directly correlates with the value systems through which societies view nature.

A human rights-based approach to biodiversity has been found to be one of the only approaches able to achieve this. Authors of a recent paper stated that “transformative change requires the foregrounding of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ rights and agency in biodiversity policy.”

Contacts

All panellists will be available for interview.

• Alice Mathew: +60 168467260 [email protected] 
• Tom Dixon: +44 7876 397915 [email protected] 

Additional quotes

Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, IIFB & Nia Tero

“Indigenous peoples’ rights violations cannot continue, the legacies of the past must be addressed,” said Jennifer Tauli Corpuz of the IIFB.  “The new global biodiversity framework that's being negotiated now - here in this building - must mainstream a human rights based approach and must adopt mechanisms to address past wrongs.”

For example, it makes no sense when I hear about Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex in Thailand, recently inscribed in the World Heritage List, despite all of the complaints of human rights violations against the Karen people. At present, many are still in jail. 

“It makes no sense when I hear that in Tanzania, almost 200,000 indigenous pastoralists have been displaced in the name of conservation.”

“Indigenous peoples need to be full partners in meeting the goals and targets to protect life on Earth,” says Tauli Corpuz. “We cannot miss this opportunity again, and this is the only way that we can prevent biodiversity collapse.”

Lucy Mulenkei, IIFB & Indigenous Information Network

“Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities have been engaging in the negotiation process and have come up with concrete recommendations.We strongly urge parties to support these proposals, so they will be incorporated in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” said Lucy Mulenkei, co-chair of the IIFB.

Lakpa Nuri Sherpa, IIFB & Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact

“The perceived wisdom of living in harmony with nature is not something very new to indigenous peoples. This is the principle that has been so much embedded in the daily interaction of our brothers and sisters with nature.” 

“Indigenous peoples are the practitioners and living examples to prove the world how human beings can coexist with nature.”

“Therefore, it is very important for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to enhance the relation of values between people and nature. Indigenous peoples’ way of managing and governing land, territories and resources are very much holistic in nature, based on the knowledge systems. Therefore, we do not just think of the well-being and security of our community members, but then we also think of the well-being and security of the environment of the plants and animals that are living in the territories.”