Where to find IIED and partners at CBD COP15: event listing

Conference

IIED at the 15th Convention on Biological Diversity conference in Montreal, Canada (COP15).

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Montreal, Canada and online
Collection
UN biodiversity conference (COP15)
A series of pages related to IIED's activities around the 15th Convention on Biological Diversity conference (COP15)
Last updated 19 December 2022
Two women farmers use hoes to tend to their crops, with a hut in the background.

Farmers in Tanzania. IIED and partners are working within the CBD to transform our relationship with nature (Photo: Riaz Jahanpour/USAID Digital Development, via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

In Montreal, Canada from 5-17 December 2022, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) met to finalise and endorse an ambitious Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework at part two of the delayed 15th Conference of Parties (COP15).

IIED researchers and partners led and presented at events throughout CBD COP15. Our key focus area was ensuring that locally led action by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) was central to delivering the global biodiversity framework and transforming our relationship with nature.

Locally led action must be enabled through equitable governance and an increase and better access to finance. And IIED called on governments, the private sector and all sectors to step up in their commitment to locally led action to help deliver better outcomes for people, nature and climate through the new framework and over the coming decade and beyond.

The global biodiversity framework had been under negotiation for more than two years, and this is the second phase of the negotiations to chart a new 10-year pathway to reverse the loss of nature.

Our key events at COP15 are listed below:

Week 1

Monday, 5 December

30x30 target: making equitable governance meaningful, inclusive of rights

Dialogue

Venue: Room 203B
Hosted by: Governance, Equity and Rights Specialist Group of the IUCN World Commission for Protected Areas, IIED

Equitable management of protected areas was a key element of Aichi target 11, although from a global perspective there was no measurable progress in ten years. This was partly because there was no viable indicator to measure progress on equitable management.

This session aimed to strengthen the interpretation of “equitable governance” in the 30x30 target, in particular with regard to respect for rights, as well as improve the monitoring of progress on the equitable governance element of the 30x30 target and mechanisms to hold Parties and other key actors accountable.

Related reading: Site-level assessment of governance and equity (SAGE) | SAGE Support Package (online) | Global Biodiversity Framework: equitable governance is key

Tuesday, 6 December

30x30 target: making equitable governance meaningful, inclusive of rights

Dialogue (this same event is also happening on Monday, 5 December (see below))

Venue: Room 203B
Hosted by: Governance, Equity and Rights Specialist Group of the IUCN World Commission for Protected Areas, IIED

Equitable management of protected areas was a key element of Aichi target 11, although from a global perspective there was no measurable progress in ten years. This was partly because there was no viable indicator to measure progress on equitable management.

This session aimed to strengthen the interpretation of “equitable governance” in the 30x30 target, in particular with regard to respect for rights, as well as improve the monitoring of progress on the equitable governance element of the 30x30 target and mechanisms to hold Parties and other key actors accountable.

Related reading: Site-level assessment of governance and equity (SAGE) | SAGE Support Package (online) | Global biodiversity framework: equitable governance is key


Thursday, 8 December

How a human rights-based approach can deliver a truly transformative and just Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)

Side event

Venue: Side-event 1, 512E
Hosted by: SwedBio, Forest Peoples Programme, World Wildlife Foundation, ICCA Consortium, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, FARN, W4B, UN Environment Programme, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Global Youth Biodiversity Network, COOPESOLIDAR, Birdlife, GIZ, SGI, IIED, Tebtebba, Convention on Biological Diversity

Building on previous dialogues and publications, this event drew attention to how a human rights-based approach can significantly contribute to achieving the targets and goals of the post-2020 GBF in effective and just ways and lead to a world in which people live in harmony with nature.

The event illustrated how a human rights-based approach can be put into practice to achieve the convention's three objectives. The discussion highlighted concrete examples of a human rights-based approach to area-based conservation, sustainable use and benefit sharing and how promising human rights practices from local to national levels can support implementation, monitoring and reporting on the framework.

Related reading: Human rights-based approaches to conserving biodiversity: equitable, effective and imperative (PDF) | Human rights in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework | Applying a human rights-based approach | Implementing a human rights-based approach

Friday, 9 December

Small farmers, farmer seeds systems and sustainability: linking Indigenous communities with science and multiple stakeholders via local NGOs platform for collaboration, innovation and adaptation

Venue: Asia and the Pacific Meeting Room, 511C-F
Hosted by: IIED, Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDES), Farmers Seed Network

Small farmers produce a third of the world’s food and act as stewards for a diversity of plants, animals and forest. These farmers and their communities have worked in farmer seed systems to adapt to social and climate change for generations. These systems sustain traditional culture, knowledge and genetic diversity as an important basis for food security, climate resilience and sustainability. However, small farmers and producers need more support to grow their genetic resources and knowledge.

This side event shared our collaboration and local community-based action results in biodiversity and agroecology focusing on farmer seed system enhancement. The event shared our bio-culture and seed system approaches and demonstrate mechanisms and experiences, piloting cases in China and other countries and contributing to the discussion around the GBF.

Related reading: The unsung heroes for nature and climate | Traditional mountain landscapes: crucial for meeting biodiversity and climate targetsLessons from a fruitful journey: seven years of EbA research and action | Financing EbA through a community-based network | A spur to action – getting money to the local level for nature and climate: Make Change Happen podcast episode 19 | Biocultural heritage territories: key to halting biodiversity loss

Saturday, 10 December

How to measure the recognition and implementation of human rights in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)?

Side event

Venue: Nature-positive pavilion
Hosted by: Forest Peoples Programme, BirdLife

Speakers: Maurizio Ferrari, Forest Peoples Programme; Noelle Kumpel, BirdLife International; Phil Franks, IIED

Indicators will be central to monitoring the implementation of the GBF and crucial to measuring progress towards established objectives. It is widely accepted that the GBF must be implemented following a human rights-based approach, but for this to be adequately operationalised we must have a means of tracking this in GBF-related policies, planning and implementation, in relation to relevant goals and targets and including headline indicators.

This side event presented key headline indicators (including those in relation to the vital role that indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) play and that will track both the recognition and the implementation of the right to a healthy environment), brief participants on the state of data availability and methodologies, and discuss next steps for their operationalisation by Indigenous People and local communities, Parties and collaborators.


Financing the integration of a human rights-based approach into the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)

Side event

Venue: Nature-positive pavilion
Hosted by: Conservation International, IIED

Speakers: Ebony Holland, IIED; Kristen Walker, Painemilla; Ramiro Batzin, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity; John Cerda, Dedicated Grant Mechanism for Indigneous peoples and Local Communities; Maria DiGiano, Moore Foundation

A human rights-based approach is critical to an effective and successful post-2020 GBF, but it will require integration of human rights across environment agreements and all interrelated issues from policy and governance to practice. It will require us to reimagine how we do, finance and measure conservation for people and the planet.

This session, part of a day-long event on reimagining conservation and human rights, timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day, took participants on a journey through the key topics, issues, needs and practice that need to converge to integrate a human rights-based approach across policy, governance, and practice in the post 2020 GBF.


Sunday, 11 December

Nature and culture summit day 1

Parallel event

Venue: Palais des congrès de Montréal
Hosted by: Ministry for Ecology and Environment of China, UNESCO, IUCN, SCBD, IIBF

At COP15, the global community will renew its commitment with the next phase of the Joint Programme of Work on the Links between Biological and Cultural Diversity. The summit will be an opportunity to engage in the new elements of the programme, by providing insight on the role of biocultural diversity in conservation, sustainable use, traditional knowledge, indigenous languages, and others.

Over two days, the summit aims to generate new pathways for intercultural, intergenerational and international cooperation to integrate nature and culture in the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, towards the shared vision of living in harmony with nature.

Day 1 saw a high-level panel reflecting on the connections of nature and culture, and two roundtables focusing on options how the new phase of the joint programme can enhance policies and practices in conservation of nature and culture, and on the centrality of conserving linguistic and knowledge diversity as fundamental to nature conservation.

Monday, 12 December

Nature and culture summit day 2

Parallel event

Venue: Palais des congrès de Montréal
Hosted by: Ministry for Ecology and Environment of China, UNESCO, IUCN, SCBD, IIBF

At COP15, the global community will renew its commitment with the next phase of the Joint Programme of Work on the Links between Biological and Cultural Diversity. The summit was an opportunity to engage in the new elements of the programme, by providing insight on the role of biocultural diversity in conservation, sustainable use, traditional knowledge, indigenous languages, and others.

Over two days, the summit aims to generate new pathways for intercultural, intergenerational and international cooperation to integrate nature and culture in the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, towards the shared vision of living in harmony with nature.

Day 2 showcases experiences on different knowledge systems, and a discussion on inspirational action to raise awareness across all sectors on the interlinkages between nature and culture.

Wednesday, 14 December

Money where it matters – prioritising locally-led action in the GBF and nature finance

Side event

Venue: SIDS meeting room, 513C
Hosted by: IIED, ICCA Consortium, Luc Hoffman Institute, OECD

Locally-led action – where finance and decision-making power is shifted to the local level to support solutions and implementation by Indigenous Peoples and local communities – is essential for implementing the GBF and to conserving, managing and restoring land and marine-based nature into the future.

Drawing on new research and leveraging the growing momentum towards getting finance and decision-making to the local level, including through the principles for locally led adaptation which now have more than 80 endorsing governments and organisations, this event brought together representatives from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, governments, funders, researchers and non-government organisations to explore existing initiatives supporting locally-led action, what more is needed, and how to ensure locally-led action is at the heart of the GBF.

Related reading: Principles for locally led adaptation Principles for locally led adaptation infographic | Mobilising money where it matters Locally-led action for poverty, climate and nature – experiences from around the world


Thursday, 15 December

The role of sustainable management of wild species by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in meeting the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Side event

Venue: Side-event 2, 512F
Hosted by: Convention on Biological Diversity, Centre for International Forestry Research, Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, CMS, Food and Agriculture Organization, CIC, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, IIED, ITC, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce, UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre

This side event showcased work by the members of the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management and its partners that illustrates the dependence of Indigenous Peoples and local communitieson wild species; the various forms of benefit they derive from these resources; how sustainable use of wild species contributes to enhancing the benefits to Indigenous Peoples and local communitiesand conserving the ecosystems and species involved; and how the traditional knowledge and practices of these communities support and enhance these efforts.

Examples and case studies were drawn from work conducted in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, covering sustainable use of wild resources ranging from wild meat to medicinal plants and other forest products. Lessons learned and best practices were identified, and discussions focused on actions by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, governments, CPW members and other stakeholders that can help support effective implementation of the relevant targets in the post-2020 GBF and how progress can be measured.


Friday, 16 December

Innovative finance: biodiversity credits for social and economic benefits

Venue: African Group Meeting Room, 511BE
Hosted by: United Nations Development Programme, IIED

Biodiversity is degrading at alarming rates, and those living in biodiversity hotspots often face the highest burden of both biodiversity degradation and inequitable or mismanaged conservation efforts, including human wildlife conflict. Biodiversity credits, or ‘biocredits’, are emerging as a coherent unit of measurement that can be used to incentivise conservation and preservation efforts and outcomes, while channelling finance to indigenous people and local communities.

With increasing interest from both private and public buyers and sellers, there is a need for collaboration among emerging practitioners to ensure a transparent and equitable market is established. This event brought together practitioners, investors and conservation organisations to discuss the design and implementation of the emerging biocredits market, what it needs to be advanced and how it can be leveraged for biodiversity and for people.

Related reading: Making the market work for nature | Biocredits for nature conservation and poverty reduction | Implementing biocredits: making the market work for nature and people


Contact

Ebony Holland (ebony.holland@iied.org), nature-climate policy lead in IIED's Natural Resources and Climate Change research groups