Briefing: Indigenous Peoples, local communities and area-based conservation targets

A briefing for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

This briefing seeks to bring greater clarity to the intersection between the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the land and resource rights, collective governance and self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, particularly in the context of Target 3.

Read the full briefing here

Versión en español disponible aquí

The term ‘other effective area-based measures’ is part of the proposed text for the global biodiversity framework, in draft Target 3, but remains relatively unknown, despite recent attempts to define and systematise its use. The briefing will consider the use of this designation and explore the implications it has for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It concludes with some considerations for how Target 3 could be improved from the perspective of securing and enhancing the rights and self-determination of Indigenous Peoples and communities with collective tenure and governance systems.

Summary

• Indigenous peoples and local communities play crucial roles as custodians of their lands, waters, and territories that are conserved and governed according to their own values, criteria and cosmovisions
• Lands, waters, and territories that are customarily owned, occupied, or otherwise used by Indigenous Peoples or other communities with collective claims to resources, should be recognised and supported through national policies and laws that protect these specific land and resource rights
• Indigenous Peoples and local communities should have the opportunity to recognize their collective lands and territories on their own terms and through their self-determined systems and institutions and should be given the necessary support (financial, technical or other) where requested
• Governments have a responsibility to engage in consultative processes, or where relevant, free, prior and informed consent processes, with Indigenous Peoples and communities about what each form of recognition implies in terms of decision-making, management and other responsibilities and what forms of support are available to them
• ‘Other effective area-based conservation measures’ – known as OECMs – have only recently been defined and their implications for Indigenous Peoples and local communities remain to be seen. Where requested, capacity support should be provided for comprehensive consultation processes and, where relevant, free, prior, and informed consent processes, so that Indigenous Peoples and local communities can determine the potential benefits and constraints associated with identifying with the OECM definition.
• OECMs could have potential value to Indigenous Peoples and to local communities where this designation would advance or extend the recognition of rights to lands, waters, and territories or where such an identification could ensure more support for existing rights or governance systems
• OECMs could also pose potential challenges. The designation is likely to have limited utility where national jurisdictions continue to deny the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and could create risks for further discrimination where governments or private actors identify OECMs in conflict with existing Indigenous governance systems, and/or where states do not allow the identification of community/Indigenous conservation under national OECM policies