“Can governments in this room commit to healing relationships with our planet together with the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities?”
Image source: Global Forest Coalition
By International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB)
During the opening of the WG-2020-4, IIFB had asked the above crucial question to the Parties in the room.
Fast-forward to many hours and brackets later, and the room is still ambivalent. Parties need to come into consensus globally to put human rights, including rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, at the core of the discussion and implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
We have consistently asserted that for a truly transformative framework, we need the following elements clearly reflected in the operational sections of the framework:
● A human-rights-based approach to biodiversity conservation
● Free, Prior and Informed Consent in the establishment of protected and conservation areas, as well as in access to and sharing of traditional knowledge
● Recognition and respect for traditional knowledge
● Respect for IPLC’s rights to land, territories and resources, and securing land tenure rights for the stewards and guardians of the world’s ecosystems
● Financing mechanisms for biodiversity conservation for IPLCs
● Gender equality, intergenerational equity, protection and empowerment of environmental human rights defenders
Much is needed to strengthen the importance of human rights, and we should not backpedal on the progress that we have made so far. The case of our Maasai brothers and sisters in Loliondo, is one of many situations faced by IPLCs, reflecting how imperative it is to put human rights at the centre of the GBF and its implementation.
IIFB urges Parties to fully embed Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities as vital actors and partners in the Goals, Targets and Sections of the post-2020 GBF. If we don’t have a framework to protect nature that truly recognizes and respects the rights of IPLCs, who are actually conserving biodiversity, humanity is going to be in danger.
More information at:
https://iifb-indigenous.org | iifbindigenouspeoples@gmail.com
The opinions,commentaries, and articles printed in ECO are the sole opinion of the individual authors or organizations, unless otherwise expressed.