CALI, Colombia (AP) — Delegates at the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity agreed Friday to create a subsidiary body that will include indigenous peoples in future conversations and decisions on conservation.
The COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, followed the historic 2022 agreement in Montreal, which includes 23 measures to save the planet’s plant and animal life, including protecting 30% of the planet and 30% of the degraded ecosystems by 2030.
A measure was also adopted on Friday to recognize the importance of the role of people of African descent in protecting nature.
Negotiators struggled to reach agreement on a number of key issues last week, but were able to reach an agreement after negotiations late on Friday. Delegations from global indigenous peoples erupted in cheers and tears over the historic decision.
The decision recognizes and protects the traditional knowledge systems of indigenous peoples and local communities for the benefit of global and national biodiversity management, said Sushil Raj, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Rights and Communities Global Program.
“It strengthens representation, coordination and inclusive decision-making and creates a space for dialogue with parties to the COP,” Raj told The Associated Press. “It promotes support for indigenous and traditional territorial biodiversity management and promotes international human rights standards referenced in the Global Biodiversity Framework.”
“This decision recognizes the value of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and local communities, and settles a 26-year-old historical debt in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),” said Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Minister of Environment and COP16 President, posted on social media platform X shortly after the announcement.
