“Indigenous Peoples don’t see nature as separate from people, and neither should the Global Biodiversity Framework.” - Joji Cariño, Senior Policy Advisor at FPP and member of the IIFB
The last meeting of the Open Ended Working Group on the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) will take place from 3-5th December 2022, just prior to the UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP15). Several ILC members involved in the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, have been working closely with the working group in order for human rights language to be integrated into the relevant targets.
This briefing has been prepared by the Human Rights and Biodiversity Working Group, including ILC and several of its members, as input into the GBF negotiations:
A Rights-based Path for People and Planet
A proposal for realising Human Rights through the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD OEWG-5 & COP15)
Conservation and protection of biological diversity: targets 1, 2, 3
TARGET 1
sets global goals to ensure biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning - a tool to address land use change.
What we're asking for:
Nature with people means that any spatial planning must be participatory and respect the rights and processes of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
Target 2
sets an ambitious global goal for ecosystem restoration. Yet ecosystem and landscape restoration initiatives - largely divorced from community-led ones - can and have resulted in human rights violations
What we're asking for:
Nature with people means that we recognise community-led restoration activities and respect the rights and efforts of Indigenous peoples and local communities, including pastoralists and small-scale farmers
Target 3
calls for broad conservation of land and sea biodiversity, including the 30 by 30 target.
What we're asking for:
Nature with people means a conservation that respects the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities and ensures their free, prior and informed consent.
agroecology and indigenous and local food systems: target 10
Target 10
calls for the sustainable management of agricultural production systems.
What we're asking for:
Nature with people recognises the role acro-ecology and small-scale farmers play in sustainable food systems and restoring agro-biodiversity.
Full and effective participation and access to justice: target 21
Target 21
calls for the effective participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in decision making, as well as respect over their rights to land, territories and resources.
What we're asking for:
Although this is positive, nature with people means truly inclusive participation, including gender-responsive representation, and access to protection and justice for environmental rights defenders.
Gender equality and the rights of women: target 22
Target 22
is essential to ensure that the critical role of rural women, farmers, fishers and producers is recognised in the framework of biodiversity.
What we're asking for:
Nature with people means recognizing equal rights and access to land for women and girls and their full, informed participation in decision-making.
what's happening at COP15 and why it matters