2021 Report
As negotiations intensify ahead of the UN biodiversity and climate conferences in late 2021, the time is now to recognise Indigenous peoples and local communities as central to sustaining the diversity of life on Earth. One of the biggest opportunities to catalyse transformative changes from local to global levels is to support Indigenous peoples and local communities to secure their human rights, and particularly their rights to self-determined governance systems, cultures and collective lands and territories. Although there are no panaceas, this is arguably a key missing link in efforts to address the biodiversity and climate crises and ensure a safe, healthy and sustainable planet for all.
Read the national analyses of the status of territories of life in Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Madagascar, and the Philippines, and the regional analysis for East and Southern Africa.
This global analysis is the first of its kind to analyse the estimated extent and conservation values of territories and areas conserved by Indigenous peoples and local communities (abbreviated as ICCAs—territories of life). The analysis provides technical and scientific evidence to strengthen key aspects of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and its implementation. It illustrates that fulfilling the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2050 vision of “living in harmony with nature” can only be achieved through a human rights-based approach that respects Indigenous peoples and local communities as rights-holders and holds governments, conservation organisations and private actors accountable as duty-bearers.