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Global: Plans to Monitor Worldwide Biodiversity Deal Risk Harming the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Human Rights

Languages Monday, June 11, 2018 IPS on Twitter IPS on Facebook RSS feed INTER PRESS SERVICE News Agency News and Views from the Global South Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America & the Caribbean Middle East & North Africa North America Global Home Development & Aid Aid Education Energy Health Food & Agriculture Humanitarian Emergencies Poverty & SDGs Population Economy & Trade Financial Crisis Green Economy Labour Natural Resources Trade & Investment Cooperatives Environment Advancing Deserts Biodiversity Climate Change Green Economy Water & Sanitation Human Rights Armed Conflicts Crime & Justice Democracy Indigenous Rights LGBTQ Migration & Refugees Press Freedom Religion Global Governance Civilisations Find Alliances Eye on the IFIs Global Geopolitics Globalisation Peace South-South United Nations South-South G77 Regional Alliances Southern Aid & Trade Civil Society Active Citizens World Social Forum Conferences Gender Gender Violence Women & Economy Women & Climate Change Women’s Health Gender Identity Women in Politics Africa, Aid, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Combating Desertification and Drought, Development & Aid, Environment, Featured, Food & Agriculture, Green Economy, Headlines, Poverty & SDGs, Projects, Water & Sanitation Great Green Wall Brings Hope, Greener Pastures to Africa’s Sahel By Issa Sikiti da Silva Reprint | | Print | Send by email This article is part of a series of stories and op-eds launched by IPS on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on June 17. By 2030 the ambition is to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land and sequester 250 million tons of carbon. Credit: Greatgreenwall.org By 2030 the ambition is to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land and sequester 250 million tons of carbon. Credit: Greatgreenwall.org

Current plans regarding how to measure progress towards the Global Biodiversity Framework – a conservation agreement which involves guaranteeing 30% of the world is protected by 2030 as well as meeting a series of other targets – are unlikely to sufficiently assess whether the rights of the original inhabitants of the land are being protected. Talks on the proposed monitoring framework, including which indicators are chosen, take place in the Kenyan capital Nairobi next week.

The Global Biodiversity Framework signed in 2022 recognized that the lands and territories of Indigenous Peoples and local communities should be classed as a distinct category of conservation area. The monitoring process currently does not recognize and track these areas as a separate category from state-run conservation projects, and this must be corrected in Nairobi.

Indigenous Peoples and local communities have proposed four ‘traditional knowledge’ indicators to be added to the monitoring framework. These are designed to assess how well communities’ cultures and societies are flourishing, and what states are doing to protect their land rights and involve them in decisions. They include measures to track the preservation of traditional occupations, the use of Indigenous languages, changes in land use and tenure, and assessing states’ policies towards protecting traditional knowledge and involving Indigenous Peoples in decision-making.

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