Indigenous '10(c) team' prepare to promote customary sustainable use at SBSTTA-14, April 2010

A team of indigenous representatives, known by many as 'the 10(c) team', will be attending the Fourteenth meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-14) to highlight persisting obstacles to effective protection and encouragement of their customary sustainable practices. They will advocate for a draft decision calling for better implementation of the commitments under CBD Article 10(c). Secure access to resources and genuine involvement in management of natural resources are part of the solution that the 10(c) team proposes.

The SBSTTA-14 meeting will take place between 10 and 21 May, 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. As usual, the SBSTTA will develop recommendations that will then be negotiated and adopted as decisions by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention in Nagoya, Japan (COP10) this October. One of the topics on both agendas is a review of the implementation of Article 10 of the Convention (sustainable use of biodiversity).

'The 10(c) team' is a group of indigenous and local community representatives and support organizations from various countries, who gained this unofficial title due to longstanding work on Article 10(c) of the CBD. At the upcoming SBSTTA-14, this group is particularly keen to discuss the lack of progress in protecting and encouraging customary sustainable use of biological resources (CSU) at national and local levels. They will also provide recommendations and solutions on how to more effectively implement this important article of the Convention.

Indigenous peoples' sophisticated local management systems, based on customary rules which guide responsible use of resources, are still encountering many pressures and threats. One central concern is the lack of secure land and resource rights. The 10(c) team explains that secure rights to land, territories and resources, including access, control and management of those resources, represent a fundamental requirement for forest peoples to maintain traditional knowledge and practise customary use in their daily interaction with biodiversity.

Customary use is further undermined by a variety of factors, including external threats to community lands from extractive industries and imposed protected areas, and assimilation processes through educational systems that prohibit the use of indigenous languages in schools. In many countries there is still very little recognition of, and respect for, the importance of CSU for biodiversity protection.

Accordingly, one of the suggested recommendations put forward by the 10(c) team is that the Conference of the Parties adopt a decision urging Parties to address obstacles and devise solutions to protect and encourage customary sustainable use of biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities, by ensuring these communities secure access to land and natural resources and by fully involving them in decision-making and management of biological resources for example.

In preparation for the upcoming SBSTTA-14 and subsequent meetings, including COP10 in October, the 10(c) team has prepared a paper with several examples of sustainable customary practices by different communities. In this paper the team also provides a more detailed list of the challenges and threats that these indigenous management systems face, as well as recommendations to enhance effective implementation of Article 10(c). (See the link to the paper, 'Customary sustainable use of biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities: Examples, challenges and recommendations relating to CBD Article 10(c)'.)

There are many other relevant issues for indigenous peoples and local communities on the SBSTTA-14 agenda. These include the in-depth reviews of implementation of work on marine and coastal biodiversity, mountain biodiversity, protected areas, and biodiversity and climate change.