Indigenous leaders in Colombia urge COP16 host to guarantee their territorial rights

Following collective analysis of CBD Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets, Indigenous Leaders in Colombia urge COP16 Host to guarantee the full respect for Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and territorial rights in national and international GBF implementation.

On 2-4 July 2024, member organisations, delegates and leaders of Colombia’s National Commission of Indigenous Territories (CNTI), a space for cooperation between different national Indigenous organisations, convened a knowledge exchange and training event in Bogotá on territorial rights in the context of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). CNTI leaders gathered with international allies, including the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), to develop dialogue and training processes on CBD policies on biodiversity and Indigenous rights and to discuss how to enhance Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination, and their effective participation in CBD negotiations, decisions and GBF-related public policy making.

Indigenous review of GBF Targets: Special attention was given to discussing the risks and opportunities to Indigenous peoples’ territorial rights linked to GBF Target 3, also known as the “30 by 30 target”, which aims to ensure that 30% of the earth’s surface is conserved by 2030. Other GBF Targets reviewed by CNTI leaders included GBF Target 22 to “Ensure Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice and Information Related to Biodiversity for all”, whose key proposed  indicators include measures on secure tenure rights for indigenous peoples territories and the traditional knowledge indicators, including the “…degree to which traditional knowledge and practices are respected, through the participation of indigenous peoples.”

CNTI preparations for COP16: The gathering was organised by CNTI as part of ongoing extensive preparations of Indigenous peoples in Colombia for the upcoming 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) for the Convention on Biological Diversity. This intergovernmental global summit on actions needed to safeguard the world’s biological diversity will take place in October 2004. This global environmental Conference will be held in Cali, Colombia and will bring together representatives from countries around the world, including Indigenous leaders, government officials, conservations and non-governmental organizations.

Targeting the COP16 agenda and demanding rights-based approaches and effective participation: The agenda of the COP16 summit will focus on how to implement and advance the agreements set out in the globally-agreed Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which sets international targets to reduce threats to biodiversity, promote sustainable use and equitable benefit-sharing, with the goal to halt biodiversity loss and ensure ecosystem resilience by 2050.  After reviewing the GBF and related CBD instruments and decisions affecting indigenous peoples’ rights, at the close of its preparatory meeting CNTI issued a public statement ahead of COP16 calling for meaningful participation and outlining their members’ priorities for COP16.

The Declaration calls on the Colombian government to bridge gaps in its environmental and land policies affecting Indigenous rights, and to take timely actions to ensure greater recognition and more effective protections for the territorial rights of indigenous peoples’ in Colombia in all its plans and strategies to protect biodiversity. The statement underlines the need to recognize indigenous traditional knowledge in biodiversity protection and restoration efforts. It calls on the Colombian government and all CBD States Parties to ensure Indigenous participation in CBD negotiations and GBF implementation at all levels to ensure effective, fair and just national and international measures to meet GBF targets.

Read the full statement on the website of CNTI, and below in Spanish and English.