🌱 Nature with People at COP15

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Stories from our network, what is COP15 and why it matters, rights-based messages + network and partner events ... scroll down!

Just one and half hours from Quito, 3 800 meters above sea level you can find the Mojanda Lake Complex, a series of remote freshwater lagoons in the Ecuadorian Andes. A precious ecosystem that was threatened by unregulated tourism and expanding agriculture frontiers.

Local communities came together with municipal government to create the ACUS conservation area. Throughout the process, local communities didn’t just have a seat at the table; they were leading the conversation; determining what they deemed the most appropriate forms of ecosystem management, expressing their needs and interests.

Learn more about how ILC is supporting a nature with people approach in Ecuador HERE.

WATCH THE VIDEO

COP15 is the 15th edition of the UN Conference on Biodiversity. It will take place in Montreal, Canada from the 7-19th December.

This year, the Global Diversity Framework - considered the “Paris Agreement for Nature” - is on the table, where governments will agree on a number of targets aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

The question is, will COP15 bring forward solutions that include people who live on and from the land?

“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

Our planet is experiencing biodiversity loss at a staggering rate, with far-reaching consequences to life on earth as we know it.

COP15 is meant to help bring biodiversity loss under control. Yet many of the solutions - as currently presented - are leaving out a major part of the equation; the people who live on and from the land.

Conservation efforts that infringe on the human rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, including pastoralists and small-scale farmers, are certain to fail. Their way of living and the land they keep is the solution itself.

NATURE WITH PEOPLE.

We know one of the biggest threats to biodiversity is changes to land use and the exploitation of natural resources.

Research has found that when people have secure rights to their land and territories they are empowered to make climate smart decisions and incentives to invest in sustainable land management practices.

For nature with people to work, human rights language needs to be integrated into each relevant target (1, 2, 3, 10, 21, 22) and not treated as a cross-cutting issue.

OUR PROPOSAL FOR A RIGHTS-BASED PATH FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET

DECEMBER 8 | 18H

CEPA FAIR: PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY, THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF WOMEN LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS
More here

DECEMBER 9 | 18:15H

SIDE EVENT: INDICATORS TO MONITOR CONTRIBUTIONS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN THE POST-2020 GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORK
More here.

DECEMBER 8 | 18:15H

HOW A HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH CAN DELIVER A TRULY TRANSFORMATIVE AND JUST POST-2020 GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORK

More here.

DECEMBER 11

ATTAINING SUSTANABLE MANAGEMENT OF WORKING LANDS
More here.

DECEMBER 12 | 9:30H

Secretariat event:
NATURE AND CULTURE SUMMIT: CBD ROUNDTABLE ON INDICATORS
More here.

COP 27 left the feeling that there are very few concrete advances after two weeks of intense work.

The only promise? A loss and damage fund that will provide financing for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters. But what does this mean for land rights?

For communities who live on and from land, their traditional knowledge, practices and customs are inextricably linked to their land and any loss and damage of that land. Therefore, any financial arrangements should allocate funds to preserve and protect non-tangible assets within their communities.

In Sharm el-Sheikh we witnessed an energised and determined ILC network - led by peoples organisations - fighting for securing land rights as a pathway out of the climate crisis.

Look back at our live coverage
Reflections from ILC Latin America & Caribbean