The global framework to save nature will only be effective if the rights and contributions of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are fully recognized

Geneva, 29 March 2022

(Read on IIFB's website)

The UN’s goal is that by 2050, we will all be ‘living in harmony with nature’. Indigenous peoples have been doing this for millennia, and their rights are key to a successful framework.

As the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) negotiations conclude today, Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ representatives issued a final plea to world leaders: 

A Human Rights approach – including respect and recognition to the land, territories, traditional knowledge, and the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities – is key for the [Global Biodiversity] Framework to succeed. We are concerned with the lack of consensus in negotiations, especially around this language, and we encourage Parties to work together to reach agreement. 

 

“If we don’t have a framework to protect nature that truly recognises and respects the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities — those who are actually conserving biodiversity — humanity is going to be in danger,”

 

Co-chair of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity* (IIFB), Ramiro Batzin, speaking in Geneva.

In any proposal for conservation, land and territory rights for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) are vital for protecting the powerful links of peoples to their land and territories, ensuring the survival of biodiversity, and safeguarding the traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples on how to live in harmony with nature.

In its closing statement, the IIFB said:

 

“IIFB welcomes the work undertaken by the Geneva meetings. Despite the many challenges, there have been some improvements and progress on the GBF, particularly for Targets of high priority for IPLCs. However, we are concerned with the slow progress and lack of consensus in the negotiations.” 

 

Lucy Mulenkei, Co-Chair of IIFB said “There is irrefutable evidence that the only way this can be a strong instrument is by incorporating and ensuring a strong human rights element – respecting the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities – into the new global biodiversity framework.”  

Batzin said: “Now is the time for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities 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.”

“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.”

In their closing statement at the talks, the IIFB stated the importance of human rights in an agreement to save nature:

 

“It is necessary to recognize, and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [within the Global Biodiversity Framework].”

 

They also pointed out the key requirement for this to be backed up with funding:

“Currently, 1% of the funds available for climate and the environment goes to IPLCs, despite growing evidence that supporting IPLCs directly is one of the most cost-effective measures for conservation. Therefore, it is necessary to increase funds to support our strategies. We require flexibility and specific guarantees to access resources directly, that the allocation of funds prioritizes the recognition and respect for indigenous land, territories and the strengthening of governance.”

“IIFB firmly believes that for this framework to be successful and inclusive it will require further improvements, and the full and effective participation of [Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities] in the process leading up to COP 15 and beyond."

 

"[We] are looking at this process with the hope that the Global Biodiversity Framework will be truly transformative and will recognize the contributions and rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect Mother Nature.”

 

Human rights are critical if the global agreement to save nature is to succeed

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

Indigenous rights are now in the proposed text for the Global Biodiversity Framework, without the brackets that signal opposition, according to Jennifer Corpuz.

“The fight is not over,” she said, “but having negotiators show overwhelming support for the rights of indigenous peoples will make it difficult for opponents to remove them from the text in Nairobi and Kunming.”

“So we are optimistic that rights will remain in this operational text that will be binding to governments. But cautiously so,” said Corpuz.

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

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

“We acknowledge the support from parties on our text proposal during the negotiations, this proves that all of us have to join hands together to promote the respect and rights to IPLC while conserving biodiversity” said Lucy Mulenkei.

“By respecting the territoriality of Indigenous Peoples, respecting our knowledge and our contributions, this framework will succeed!” said Batzin.  

UN Biodiversity’s goal is that by 2050, we will all 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 the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, speaking at the Geneva Meetings.

“Government 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 help implement these recommendations to put the rights of the guardians of the world’s most precious ecosystems at the centre of policy to conserve this planet,” she said.

Contacts

All panellists will be available for interview.

• Alice Mathew: +60 168467260 ecila.mathew@gmail.com 
• Tom Dixon: +44 7876 397915 tdixon@forestpeoples.org 

Background and further information

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.”

Key policy areas of concern to IIFB during the negotiations

• The requirement of a human-rights-based approach to biodiversity conservation
• Free, Prior and Informed Consent 
• Recognition and respect for traditional knowledge 
• Secure land, territories and tenure rights for the guardians of the world’s ecosystems, especially Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
• Financing mechanisms for biodiversity conservation for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
• Intergenerational equity, and respect for gender and youth

Speakers available for interview 

• Ramiro Batzin  (Maya Kaqchikel, Guatemala)
• Lucy Mulenkei (Masaai, Kenya)
• Jennifer Corpuz (Kankanaey Igorot, Philippines) 
• Áslat Holmberg (Saami, Saami Council, Finland)

*The International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) is the indigenous caucus that consists of indigenous peoples and local communities from the seven socio-cultural regions of the world. The objective of the IIFB is to facilitate the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples  and local communities in the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Additional quotes

Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, IIFB & Nia Tero (Philippines)

“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 (Kenya)

“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 that 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 (Nepal)

“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 to 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.”

Stan Lui, IIFB (Torres Strait Islands, Australia)

“The marine and coastal sessions were a concern as negotiations and parties’ positions were not discussed at any depth. Delaying these discussions until COP or through intersessional processes will be very difficult for IPLCs. IPLC don’t have the financial resources and in most instances limited internet access for full and effective participation.”

Abigail Kitma, IIFB  and Tebbteba (Philippines)

Traditional knowledge is embedded in the ways of living of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, and it can only truly guide effective biodiversity decision making when the rights of those who hold them are taken into account.

Guadalupe Yesenia Hernandez, IIFB (Mexico)

In health, it is important to recognize the importance of IPLCs’ contributions in the One Health approach, the traditional knowledge regarding medicinal species and treatments, the respect to traditional knowledge,  and the free, prior and informed consent and benefit sharing when accessing our TK and generic resources. It is crucial to maintain respect for IPLC's customary sustainable use of wildlife in preventing spillover against future pandemics.

Read on the IIFB Website