- Although some outcomes of this year’s U.N. biodiversity conference, or COP16, were viewed by some as historic achievements for Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples, many groups were left disappointed.
- One of the most significant wins was the acknowledgment of Afro-descendants as essential actors in the care and protection of biodiversity, the decision on Article 8(j), and the adoption of the ‘Cali Fund.’
- However, many were disappointed by the failure to reach a consensus on resource mobilization, direct funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities and the lack of progress on the monitoring framework to achieve targets and goals to restore nature.
- Mongabay spoke with several Indigenous delegates attending the conference to gauge their thoughts on the conference.
Despite gridlocked talks over finance and little advancement on key elements on the agenda, this year’s U.N. biodiversity conference, or COP16, was considered a success for some Indigenous peoples and local community (IP and LC) delegates who obtained historic inclusion of their rights within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). However, many groups were also left disappointed due to the lack of progress on resource mobilization and the monitoring framework to achieve the global biodiversity goals and targets.
“The most significant achievement of COP16 was undoubtedly the historic approval of the Article 8(j) subsidiary body,” Wara Iris Ruiz Condori, from the Aymara peoples of Bolivia and advocacy project coordinator at the Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI), told Mongabay. “This milestone marks a momentous step towards the formal recognition of the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities.”
After a roughly 12-hour meeting, COP16 was suspended in the early hours of Nov. 2 due to many representatives leaving the conference without a decision on resource mobilization. However, many Indigenous peoples and local communities left pleased with the approval of Article 8(j) and the ‘Cali Fund’. The latter is the first-ever global fund to ensure that the benefits generated through the commercial use of Digital Sequencing Information (DSI) are shared fairly with the people living where the resources were discovered, such as Indigenous peoples.
While the biodiversity framework and the decisions at the conference are not legally binding, delegates cheered the strong language in agreements around inclusion and benefits to Indigenous peoples and local communities.
The much-celebrated Article 8(j)
One of the most significant wins, said Indigenous delegates Mongabay spoke with, was the establishment of a Permanent Subsidiary Body for Article 8(j) and a new program of work. This will allow the delegates to advise and contribute directly to COPs for the first time and set out specific tasks to ensure the “meaningful contribution” of Indigenous peoples and local communities to the CBD’s objectives.
The agreement mandates that parties to the CBD “respect, preserve and maintain” the knowledge of IP and LCs related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, and to “encourage the equitable sharing of benefits” from this knowledge.