Press Conference with the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB): Turning rights into reality: Advancing Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ Vital Role in Biodiversity Conservation

In a historic first, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) agreed to apply a human-rights based approach at every level of biodiversity conservation, but the next step is to ensure that this becomes a reality. (Full Press Release continues below…)

WHEN: Monday, 13th November, 18:15 CET

WHERE: CICG - Plenary

Speakers (all available for interview directly following the press conference)

• Jennifer Corpuz, Philippines. IIFB and Nia Tero 
• Viviana FIgueroa, Argentina, IIFB
• Chrissy Grant, Australia, IIFB 
• Ramson Karmushi, Kenya, IIFB

For interviews and more information, please contact: 

Frances Jenner, FPP: WA +447925914379 / [email protected]

Olga Tzec, IIFB:  WA +60 16846726 / [email protected],

Press Release

Turning rights into reality: Advancing the vital role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Biodiversity Conservation 

In a historic first, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) agreed to apply a human-rights based approach at every level of biodiversity conservation, but the next step is to ensure that this becomes a reality.

In this press briefing at the opening of the Working Group on Article 8(j), members of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) will discuss how the (KM-GB) 

Framework can effectively and equitably recognise, respect and implement the rights and traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

 

“The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is one of the most advanced and progressive environmental frameworks that have come out so far,” says Lakpa Nuri Sherpa, Co-Chair of IIFB. 

 

 

“[The framework] has very strong language on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and a human rights based approach. It is time that the world - at international, national and local levels - really puts Indigenous leadership at the centre.”

 

A key issue for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities is ensuring that Target 3, (or the 30x30 target) - which aims to protect 30% of the world's lands and waters by 2030 - does not result in land grabbing or the violation of their rights in the name of conservation. 

 

“The world’s eyes are on the implementation of the 30x30 target,” says Jennifer Corpuz of the IIFB. “If we get it wrong, it will be the new coming of colonisation. We need to make sure the language on Indigenous and Traditional Territories and Free, Prior and Informed Consent is honoured in Target 3.” 

 

Just days before the start of the Working Group on 8j, the Kenyan government evicted the Indigenous Ogiek Peoples from their ancestral home - the Mau forest - in violation of an African court ruling and allegedly to protect forests that the community have been safeguarding since time immemorial. This highlights one of the challenges of the KM-GBF; that it will be unable to succeed unless the policies created at the international level translate to the ground.

 

“We need to understand how to work at all the levels - local, national, global,” said Lucy Mulenkei, co-chair of the IIFB. “Without that you won’t be implementing the KM-GBF at all. They need to go hand in hand so the governments understand what we are trying to achieve.”

 

Traditional knowledge and Indigenous perspectives must be effectively incorporated into the implementation of the KM-GBF in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to advance the conservation of biodiversity. 

 

“Let us remember that Indigenous territories are home to 80% of biodiversity, and that Indigenous traditional knowledge is the basis for a whole process of living in harmony with nature,” said Ramiro Batzin, Co-Chair of the IIFB. 

 

Key policy areas addressed:

• The New Programme of Work for Article 8(j)
• For the institutional arrangements to include the creation of a permanent subsidiary body for Article 8(j) as a demonstration of the recognition and respect of Indigenous and Local traditional and cultural knowledge in the KMGBF.
• The role of Indigenous women and youth in the transmission of traditional knowledge 
• Financing mechanisms for biodiversity conservation for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
• The implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework through a human rights based and whole of society approach.
• Secure land and tenure rights for the guardians of the world’s ecosystems, especially Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
• Indigenous Traditional Territories as an alternative pathway to Protected Areas and Other Area Based Conservation Measures (OECMs)