A Collaborative Road Map for Advancing Rights and Equity in Conservation

Read the Road map for advancing rights and equity in conservation or download here

In Jan/Feb 2024, a group of diverse knowledge holders gathered for an international workshop in Nanyuki, Kenya. The aim was to provide space for inclusive discussion and to establish a roadmap to provide support for the delivery of more equitable governance and respect for rights in area-based conservation. The result was the publishing of a brand new global Roadmap for Advancing Rights and Equity detailing 11 priority areas with 32 actions, launched at a meeting under the Convention on Biological Diversity in May. These areas, the participants agreed, are considered to be those most critical in advancing these topics towards 2030 and beyond. 

The 'Rights and Equity' workshop was a direct response to the strong global commitments articulated in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in 2022, where human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities were centred in biodiversity policy in a ground-breaking way. Target 3 calls for the conservation of 30% of the world's lands, waters and seas by 2030, and insists that the expansion of these areas happens “respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local community, including over their traditional territories” and recognises that these territories can be, themselves, part of the answer for how to expand conservation.

The intended audience of the Roadmap is any actor interested in advancing the achievement of Target 3 in diverse ways, such as Indigenous peoples and local community organisations, governments and other supportive actors such as donors, NGOs and large global organisations, such as IUCN. 

The workshop was hosted by IMPACT Kenya, a Maasai organisation, who co-convened with a range of partners including IUCN (IUCN WCPA, IUCN CEESP, the Protected and Conserved Areas Team and Eastern and Southern Regional Office (ESARO)), the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB), the ICCA Consortium and the International Institute for Education and Development. The event was attended by 47 participants across 24 countries from Indigenous peoples’ networks and organisations, community conservation initiatives as well as global actors from the CBD, UNEP and other donors and human rights advocacy groups. The workshop was funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Arcadia Fund.