Cancun, Mexico; 7 December 2016 - At the 13th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD COP 13), SGP organized a side event on "Strengthening global partnerships to recognize the role of indigenous peoples and local communities’ territories and areas (ICCAs) in achieving the CBD Aichi targets 11, 14 and 18" to present the progress achieved by the partners involved in the Global Support Initiative to Indigenous Peoples and Community-Conserved Areas (ICCA-GSI).
This side event, moderated by Dr. Terence Hay-Edie, Programme Advisor for Biodiversity at UNDP/GEF SGP, began with a short video describing ICCA-GSI. The event discussed the central role of ICCAs in achieving several Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in enhancing protected area governance around the world. The panel members included: Ms. Elsa Nichols from the German Ministry of Environment (BMUB); Ms. Yoko Watanabe, GEF Secretariat; Mr. Trevor Sandwith, IUCN; Ms. Naomi Kingston, UNEP WCMC; and Ms. Grazia Borrini, ICCA Consortium. The speakers emphasized the importance of ICCAs, the efforts to support indigenous and local communities, the characteristics of ICCAs and their contribution to biodiversity, cultural diversity and sustainable development.
The ICCA-GSI was formed to broaden the range and quality of diverse governance types in recognizing ICCAs and support countries to achieve the Aichi 2020 targets. Implemented in 26 countries, ICCA-GSI's objective is to improve the support to and national recognition of ICCAs in order to generate sustained investment to reach the scale of impact by 2020 related to Aichi Target 11 - increasing the coverage of protected areas and its efficiency; Aichi Target 14 - safeguarding ecosystems that provide essential services; and Aichi Target 18 - respecting and protecting traditional knowledge.
To date, all 26 countries have completed capacity building and knowledge exchange workshops on ICCAs that engaged over 350 representatives from governments, NGOs and CSOs. Almost 20 countries are currently implementing the Catalytic ICCA support grants and community-based action and demonstration projects will start in 2017. By 2020, in addition to policy influence, over 200 projects demonstrating sound ICCA stewardship for the purposes of ecosystem protection, sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction will be implemented.
The ICCA-GSI is a multi-partnership initiative that is delivered by the UNDP-implemented Small Grants Programme (SGP) and funded by the Government of Germany, through its Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). Key partners include the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP WCMC), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Global Programme on Protected Areas (IUCN GPAP), the ICCA Consortium and the Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD).
For the video showed at the CBD COP 13 side event, please click here.
For more information about ICCA-GSI, please visit our homepage.