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NAirobi, Kenya – After the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15 confirmed that final talks will take place in Montreal, Canada in December, negotiators must use this week's interim meetings in Nairobi to focus on the most important political issue to focus on: the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and their key role in protecting biodiversity.
Greenpeace East Asia Senior Policy Advisor Li Shuo said:
“Governments have finally made a decision on where and when the COP will take place. This should now draw everyone's attention to the quality of the deal. This means ambitious targets to ensure an adequate level of protection both on land and at sea, with robust safeguards for respect for the rights and roles of indigenous peoples and local communities, and a strong implementation package.”
Irene Wabiwa, Director of Greenpeace International's Congo Basin Forest Project said:
"We are coming to Nairobi with the common goal of protecting biodiversity noticeably and effectively. However, we insist that this must also be ethical. The CBD COP15 must recognize the rights of tribal peoples and local communities by creating a “third tier” for tribal lands as protected areas and placing them at the heart of decision-making and funding.”
Greenpeace Africa Food For Life campaigner Claire Nasike said:
"Indigenous farming communities are the custodians of native seeds, which are of crucial importance for the conservation of agrobiodiversity. In Kenya, seed laws seek to criminalize farmers for sharing and selling their own native seeds. The CBD COP15 must empower the local voices and rights of these communities and protect them from exploitation, dispossession and corporate control of seed crops. All of this leads to a loss of biodiversity.”
An Lambrechts, Senior Biodiversity Campaign Strategist at Greenpeace International, said:
“The parties should make clear decisions in Nairobi about the new Global Biodiversity Framework they want to see. In addition to the urgent need to focus on the rights of indigenous peoples in the relevant sections, this means taking a good and honest look at the actual quality of protected areas in terms of effective protection of biodiversity and habitat. There is a fundamental choice to be made between maintaining the shortcomings of existing conservation models and truly accepting that quality is just as important as quantity.”
Policy briefing for a protection goal: Greenpeace CBD COP15 Policy Brief: Beyond 30×30
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Photos: Greenpeace
