News Excerpt:

Amnesty International has cautioned against potential threats to indigenous peoples’ rights in measuring progress towards the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework:

• Protecting biodiversity is critical to protecting a range of human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. 
• In 2022, states that are parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• It is a set of ambitious targets to reverse the biodiversity crisis, ensure species can thrive, and prevent extinctions. 
• The framework presents a roadmap for creating a world that coexists peacefully with nature. 
• The GBF includes four 2050 goals and 23 2030 targets and is intended to slow down and reverse biodiversity loss.
• It included ‘Target 3’ to protect 30% of the world’s surface by 2030, the so-called 30 x 30 deal, which requires a huge expansion of designated conservation areas. 
• The agreement also committed states to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their lands, and cultural heritage, and to obtaining consent for any projects on their lands. 
• At a meeting in Nairobi starting on 13 May, parties will try to agree on a framework for monitoring progress toward the targets.

Issues and concerns raised by the Amnesty International:

• The Global Biodiversity Framework acknowledged that the lands and territories of Indigenous Peoples and local communities should be recognized as a distinct category of the conservation area. 
• However, the current monitoring framework fails to differentiate these areas from state-operated conservation projects. 
• The monitoring framework as proposed fails to adequately protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other original inhabitants.
• It also does not recognize the essential and unique role these communities play in preserving biodiversity.
• These plans to monitor worldwide biodiversity should be changed to uphold and protect human rights.

Possible Consequence of the Monitoring Framework:

• The framework raises the risk of facilitating ‘fortress conservation’ methods where original inhabitants, who are often Indigenous Peoples, are forcibly evicted from protected areas.
• Fortress conservation is a conservation model based on the belief that biodiversity protection is best achieved by creating protected areas where ecosystems can function in isolation from human disturbance.

Demands of the indigenous communities:

• Indigenous Peoples and local communities have proposed four ‘traditional knowledge’ indicators be added to the monitoring framework. 
• These indicators are designed to assess the well-being of these communities, evaluate how states are protecting their land rights, and measure their involvement in decision-making processes.
• Delegates addressed the four indicators of traditional knowledge, namely trends in:
• linguistic diversity and number of Indigenous language speakers;
• change in land use and tenure in their traditional territories;
• practice of traditional occupations; and
• the degree to which traditional knowledge and practices are respected through full integration, participation, and safeguards in national implementation of the Strategic Plan.
• The selected monitoring indicators reflect the unique character of Indigenous lands and the crucial contribution Indigenous Peoples make towards conservation.
• Studies have shown that Indigenous communities are the most successful guardians of the natural environment, with about 80% of the remaining global biodiversity found on the lands of Indigenous Peoples.