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COP16: Indigenous peoples call for recognition, support in protecting nature
Activists have called on the Indonesian government to commit to UN biodiversity agreements that acknowledge indigenous communities' contributions to conserving nature while protecting their rights to customary land.
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Members of an indigenous community take part in a protest on Oct. 11, 2024 at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta, with one man holding a poster reading, “We need regulations that protect our rights from state and corporate crimes”. Protesters demanded lawmakers to push for recognition of indigenous communities and protection of their rights and land, as well as resolve agrarian conflicts. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
I
ndigenous peoples across the globe are pushing for acknowledgement and more support for their efforts to protect nature as negotiations for higher commitments from countries enter its second week at the United Nations biodiversity conference in Colombia.
The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity runs from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1 in the Colombian city of Cali, and among its aims is to draft terms regarding the contributions and rights of indigenous communities in protecting biodiversity.
Negotiations are yet to make any progress on this issue, which includes recognition for indigenous and local communities on their biodiversity efforts as mandated by the framework agreed at the COP15 two years ago in Montreal, Canada.
The deadlocked discussions have prompted calls from indigenous representatives to call for delegations and governments to acknowledge their role in protecting nature through age-old local wisdoms.
“Multiple times, we have defended our forests and seas from the threat of incoming extractive industries,” Monika Maritjie Kailey, who hails from an indigenous community of the Aru Islands, said in a statement on Saturday.
Comprising more than 800 islands surrounded by 4 millions hectares of seas, the archipelagic regency in Maluku province is considered among the last remaining bastions of biodiversity in Indonesia.
Read also: Indigenous communities should benefit from carbon trading, environment ministry says
