As you may know, Indigenous peoples’
and local communities’ conserved territories and areas (ICCAs) provide
multiple ecological, cultural and biodiversity values, contributing
greatly to food and water security, other ecosystem services
and towards reaching several Aichi Targets and implementing the
Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
In
its decision IX/18 paragraph 6 (a), the Conference of the Parties (COP)
to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) invited Parties to
improve and, where necessary, diversify and strengthen protected-area
governance types, including
recognizing and taking into account, where appropriate, indigenous and
local communities (ILCs). In paragraph 6 (b) of the same decision, the
COP invited Parties to recognize the contribution of, where appropriate,
ICCAs within the national protected area
system through acknowledgement in national legislation or other
effective means. Further, in paragraph 31 (b) of decision X/31, the COP
invited Parties to recognize the role of ICCAs in biodiversity
conservation, collaborative management and diversification
of governance types. Finally, in decision X/43, the COP initiated a
component of work on customary sustainable use (CSU) of biodiversity.
ICCAs play a critical role in ensuring access and respecting rights to
CSU and facilitating inter-generational communication
of traditional environmental knowledge, innovations and practices. It
is increasingly recognised that ICCAs can be the living embodiment of
both Articles 8(j) and 10(c) of the Convention.
In an effort to support
implementation of these decisions and Articles, a one-day Colloquium on
the role of ICCAs in achieving the Aichi Targets comprising a series of
regional roundtable discussions will be co-hosted by the CBD
Secretariat,
the governments of Brazil, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Senegal and
South Africa, the ICCA Consortium, the International Indigenous Forum on
Biodiversity and Conservation International. The Colloquium will be
held on the margins of the eleventh meeting
of the COP on 13 October 2012, in rooms 1.03 and 1.04 of the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, with the following objectives:
• to understand the extent of ICCAs and their potential values and benefits;
• to discuss the
contribution of ICCAs toward reaching multiple Aichi Targets and
implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020; and
• to foster
discussion, and to share experiences, best practices and lessons learned
of governments and ILCs in the recognition of ICCAs.
