Posts tagged Indigenous knowledge
Using Indigenous knowledge and Western science to address climate change impacts

Phys.org

June 8, 2022
Traditional Owners in Australia are the creators of millennia worth of traditional ecological knowledge—an understanding of how to live amid changing environmental conditions. Seasonal calendars are one of the forms of this knowledge best known by non-Indigenous Australians. But as the climate changes, these calendars are being disrupted.

How? Take the example of wattle trees that flower at a specific time of year. That previously indicated the start of the fishing season for particular species. Climate change is causing these plants to flower later. In response, Traditional Owners on Yuku Baja Muliku (YBM) Country near Cooktown are having to adapt their calendars and make new links.

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Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous led, restoration, climate changeMary PriceIndigenous knowledge, indigenous-led conservation, climate change, restoration
Climate fund aims to help indigenous people protect world's forests

Reuters

January 11, 2021
A global fund launched on Tuesday aims to boost climate financing to indigenous communities to help them secure land rights and preserve forested areas from the Congo Basin to the Andes, the initiative's backers said.

Governments, philanthropists and companies are expected to contribute to the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI), which will distribute funding among groups working to conserve forests and other ecosystems on the ground.

Over the last decade, less than 1% of international climate finance has gone to indigenous and local communities to manage forests that absorb planet-heating carbon emissions and are rich in biodiversity, but the new fund hopes to change that.

"For too long indigenous peoples and local communities have received shockingly little climate funding," said Stanley Kimaren ole Riamit, founder-director of Kenyan group Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners and a CLARIFI steering committee member. The fund will act as the "missing link" between donors that want to curb climate change and conserve biodiversity, and forest groups with the skills to do that, said Solange Bandiaky-Badji, coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), an NGO which is leading CLARIFI with the Campaign for Nature group.

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Campaign for Nature, finance, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous people, indigenous rightsSara Sheehyindigenous lands, Indigenous rights, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous knowledge, Campaign for Nature, Finance
'Indigenous people have the knowledge': Conservation biologist Erika Cuéllar on restoring the planet

CNN

November 1, 2021
An arid region of open forests and grasslands spanning three countries and more than a quarter of a million square miles, this is Gran Chaco. It's the second-largest forest in South America after the Amazon, but has long been neglected, suffering from deforestation, agricultural expansion and the effects of climate change.

When Bolivian conservation biologist Erika Cuéllar first saw the vast expanse in 1997, she was overcome by an urge to restore it. "I am very attracted to arid lands. When I was young, I was angry that nobody cared about dry lands and everybody cared about tropical rainforest," she says.

Despite looking open and empty, the area is teeming with unique vegetation and wildlife, from jaguars and ocelots to piranhas and vipers. It's also home to nine million people, including several indigenous communities.

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Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous people, indigenous rights, biodiversity, biodiversity loss, conservationSara SheehyIndigenous peoples, indigenous-led conservation, Indigenous knowledge, indigenous lands, biodiversity
Funding, indigenous people key to success

New Strait Times

October 14, 2021
At a meeting of Parties to the United Nation's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in the southern Chinese city of Kunming, world governments are looking ahead to the adoption of new goals and targets for nature to be met this decade: CBD's "Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework" (GBF).

The draft framework lays out broad actions to help transform society's relationship with biodiversity and fulfil a previously agreed shared vision of "living in harmony with nature" by 2050.

This week's online summit Part One sets the stage for a decisive face-to-face meeting in April. Among the new targets is one advanced by the Campaign for Nature (CFN): protect 30 per cent of the world's land and marine areas by 2030.

These should consist of protected areas and "other effective area-based conservation measures" (OECMs), such as territories inhabited by indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs).

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Indigenous people, indigenous rights, Indigenous knowledge, COP15, Campaign for Nature, 30x30, UN CBDMary PriceIndigenous peoples, Indigenous rights, indigenous lands, indigenous-led conservation, Indigenous knowledge, UN CBD, 30x30, Campaign for Nature, COP15
Conservation works better when local communities lead it, new evidence shows

The Conversation

October 7, 2021
We are currently facing a mass extinction of plants and animals. To remedy this, world leaders have pledged a huge expansion of protected areas ahead of the UN biodiversity summits to be held in October 2021 and May 2022 in Kunming, China.

The focus on how much of the planet to conserve overshadows questions of how nature should be conserved and by whom. In the past some conservation organisations have seen indigenous and local communities as undermining environmental conservation.

Our research strongly contradicts this. Our recent publication in Ecology and Society shows the best way to protect both nature and human wellbeing is for indigenous and local communities to be in control. That conclusion stems from examining examples of conservation projects carried out since 2000 and their results. Our international team of 17 scientists studied the effects on habitats and species and local communities.

We found improvements for conservation and people are much more likely when indigenous and local communities are environmental stewards. When in charge, local communities can establish a shared vision for conserving the environments they live in and for coexisting with wildlife. 

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Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous people, indigenous rights, conservation, natureMary Priceindigenous-led conservation, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous rights, conservation, Nature
World leaders pledge USD 5 billion to protect nature

Asia News International

September 23, 2021
Nine organisations have pledged 5 billion US dollars over the next ten years to support the creation, expansion, management and monitoring of protected and conserved areas of land, inland water and sea, working with indigenous peoples, local communities, civil society and governments, the United Nations said.

Heads of State, philanthropic leaders and indigenous representatives came together on Wednesday to announce unprecedented commitments to protect and restore nature at the opening session of the Nature for Life Hub, a high-level event Transformative Action for Nature and People, coinciding with the 76th United Nations General Assembly, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

“This is not a moment where we should not have hope. At the centre of all this, people will have to be the ones who shape what happens next,” Achim Steiner UNDP Administrator said here in a statement.

“Societies have found within themselves the ability to address things that often were long overdue whether it was the issues of inequality or exclusion, but also investments in systematic transformations. We are investing in one another’s ability to, together, change the trajectory of the world,” he added.

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30x30, finance, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous people, nature, UN General AssemblyMary Price30x30, Finance, UN General Assembly, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous peoples, indigenous-led conservation, Nature
EXPLAINER: Philanthropists pledge $5 bln for growing global push to protect nature

Thomson Reuters

September 22, 2021
A group of private donors pledged a record $5 billion to help safeguard the planet's plants, animals and ecosystems at an event during the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

The nine charitable funders, which include the Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Rainforest Trust, launched the decade-long "Protecting Our Planet Challenge" to help finance larger and better-managed natural areas worldwide.

"Halting and reversing biodiversity loss and climate change requires expanded protected and conserved areas, especially in tropical forests," said James Deutsch, CEO of the Rainforest Trust, which contributed $500 million to the pot.

"Developing nations and indigenous peoples need financing to achieve this, which is why we are pledging to more than double our level of funding between now and 2030, and (are) urging other private and public funders to do the same," he added in a statement.

The Finance for Biodiversity Pledge also said on Wednesday that 75 financial institutions - worth a combined 12 trillion euros ($14 trillion) in assets - have committed to protecting and restoring biodiversity through their investments.

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30x30, finance, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous people, nature, UN General AssemblyMary Price30x30, Finance, UN General Assembly, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous knowledge, nature, indigenous-led conservation
Support of indigenous people vital in conservation efforts

New Straits Times

September 21, 2021
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is one of the foremost global organisations advocating the protection of nature.

Governments and civil society organisations convened in 1948 to create the IUCN to protect nature, encourage international cooperation, and provide scientific knowledge and tools to guide conservation.

IUCN played a fundamental role in creating the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971), the World Heritage Convention (1972), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, (1974) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992).

Today, with more than 1,300 members, including states, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and indigenous peoples' organisations, and thousands of supportive experts, IUCN continues to champion nature-based solutions, such as he United Nations' Paris climate change agreement and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

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IUCN, Indigenous people, Indigenous knowledge, indigenous rights, 30x30, biodiversity loss, natureMary PriceIUCN, Indigenous peoples, indigenous-led conservation, Indigenous knowledge, 30x30, biodiversity loss
Bezos Puts $1 Billion of $10 Billion Climate Pledge Into Conservation

The New York Times

September 20, 2021
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the world’s richest men, announced plans on Monday for $1 billion in conservation spending in places like the Congo Basin, the Andes and tropical parts of the Pacific Ocean.

The announcement was the latest step in his largest philanthropic effort, the Bezos Earth Fund, to which he pledged $10 billion last year. “By coming together with the right focus and ingenuity, we can have both the benefits of our modern lives and a thriving natural world,” Mr. Bezos said on Monday at an event in New York.

The money will be used “to create, expand, manage and monitor protected and conserved areas,” according to a news release from the fund, which also introduced a website on Monday.

The initiative is intended to support an international push to safeguard at least 30 percent of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030, known as 30x30. The plan, led by Britain, Costa Rica and France, is intended to help tackle a global biodiversity crisis that puts a million species of plants and animals at risk of extinction. While climate change is part of the problem, activities like farming and fishing have been even bigger drivers of biodiversity loss. The 30x30 plan would try to slow that by protecting intact natural areas like old-growth forests and wetlands, which not only nurture biodiversity but also store carbon and filter water.

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30x30, finance, Indigenous people, Indigenous knowledge, natureMary Price30x30, finance, nature, conservation, indigenous-led conservation, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous knowledge
New Report Reinforces Need for Indigenous Rights to be at Center of Global Biodiversity Agreement

Campaign for Nature

May 20, 2021
Today, the ICCA Consortium released its Territories of Life: 2021 Report. The report includes the most up-to-date analysis of how much of the planet is likely conserved by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, estimating that they are conserving more than 22% of the extent of the world’s Key Biodiversity Areas on land and at least 21% of the world’s lands. The report also found that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are the de facto custodians of many existing state and private protected and conserved areas, without being recognized as such, underscoring the critical need for equitable governance and the importance of ensuring that all existing and new protected and conserved areas fully respect Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights.

In addition to providing updated spatial analyses and related findings, the report details 17 case studies of territories of life from five continents, highlighting concrete examples of how Indigenous Peoples and local communities sustain our planet and describing what types of actions are needed to better support them, their rights, and their contributions to biodiversity.

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Indigenous people, Indigenous knowledge, local communities, nature, human rights, biodiversityMary PriceIndigenous peoples, Indigenous rights, indigenous lands, indigenous-led conservation, Indigenous knowledge, biodiversity, conservation, Nature, human rights
'Forest gardens’ show how Native land stewardship can outdo nature

National Geographic

April 23, 2021
For hundreds of years, Indigenous communities in what is now British Columbia cleared small patches amid dense conifer forest. They planted and tended food and medicine-bearing trees and plants—sometimes including species from hundreds of miles away—to yield a bounty of nuts, fruits, and berries. A wave of European disease devastated Indigenous communities in the late 1700s, and in the 1800s, colonizers displaced the Indigenous people and seized the land. The lush, diverse forest gardens were abandoned and forgotten.

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Indigenous people, Indigenous knowledgeSara Sheehyindigenous lands, Indigenous knowledge
Bananas, indigenous knowledge, and GMOs

SciDev.Net

March 10, 2021
Biotechnology, indigenous knowledge, climate change and banana trees. This week, Africa Science Focus sits down with United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity executive secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema to discuss biodiversity and environment on the continent.

With the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration officially launching in June, local solutions and innovations will play a leading role in driving sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa, Mrema says.

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Africa, UN CBD, Indigenous knowledgeSara SheehyAfrica, UN CBD, Indigenous knowledge
Global experts urge involvement of indigenous communities in biodiversity conservation

Xinhua Net

December 16, 2020
Multilateral institutions and governments should harness traditional knowledge, practices and innovations possessed by indigenous people in order to revitalize the biodiversity conservation agenda, experts said on Tuesday evening.

Speaking at a virtual forum for indigenous communities' leaders from Asia, Africa, Caribbean and Latin America, the experts said that forest dwellers, hunter-gatherers and nomads are endowed with expertise that can be tapped to strengthen protection of habitats.

"We need to recognize the contribution of indigenous people to the global conservation agenda," said Viviana Figueroa, a legal expert from International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity.

Figuero said that indigenous communities have for centuries demonstrated prowess in conserving biodiversity hotspots that underpin global food, energy and water security.

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COP15, Indigenous people, Indigenous knowledge, UN CBDMary PriceIndigenous peoples, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous rights, UN CBD, conservation, post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, COP15
Indigenous peoples ask to be included in the UN biodiversity treaty

EFE Verde

December 15, 2020
Leaders and representatives of indigenous peoples have asked this Wednesday that the aspirations and ambitions of their peoples be included, recognized and integrated in the process of drawing up the Biodiversity Treaty of the United Nations Convention on the Biological Diversity (CBD).

According to the leaders at the virtual press conference, the zero draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework - which will be adopted next year at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the CBD and will set the global agenda for the next 30 years with the objective of guaranteeing the protection of nature - it does not reflect or take into account the aspirations of indigenous peoples.  

"We ask the States to advance in this treaty and recognize the rights, contributions (of indigenous peoples) and our health and sovereignty systems," said the coordinator of the Program for the Management of Natural Resources with Indigenous Peoples of Central America, Ramiro Batzin.

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Indigenous people, Indigenous knowledge, UN CBD, COP15Mary PriceIndigenous peoples, Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous rights, UN CBD, COP15, post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework
OPINION: Without indigenous peoples, we can't stop nature's destruction

Thomson Reuters

October 20, 2020
As recent headlines about forest blazes, melting glaciers and sinking islands have made clear, the natural world is in peril. And with repeated warnings about the grim state of biodiversity - and, at the same time, promising predictions about the role of nature in boosting our economies and protecting our health - we need a change in the way we are protecting nature, more than ever before. 

Right now, government officials in countries around the globe, from Canada to Australia, are beginning to take note of a solution critical to a global effort to stop the breakdown of nature. That is partnering with indigenous peoples and local communities who have successfully conserved the biodiversity on their lands for millennia, using traditional knowledge passed down through generations. 

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30x30, biodiversity loss, Campaign for Nature, Indigenous people, Indigenous knowledge, natureMary Price30x30, Campaign for Nature, Indigenous rights, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous knowledge, nature, biodiversity loss, indigenous lands