The SGP and its ICCA-GSI partners joined the international community in “Investing in biodiversity for people and planet” at the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 14), held on 17-29 November 2018 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
On 22 November 2018, a new collaborative Global Partnership on Aichi Target 11 was declared by the CBD, a suite of governments, UN agencies, programmes and partners including the SGP and Indigenous Peoples and local Communities. With only two years remaining to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (2011-2020), the Partnership provides a platform for all partners to express their intent and reiterate their commitment to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 by 2020 at the global level. Additionally, the Partnership aims to stimulate regional support networks and for donors to align their activities to facilitate the decentralised implementation of focused actions for the achievement of Target 11 over the next two years, including through all governance types of protected areas (i.e. by government, shared governance, private protected areas, and ICCAs), as well as through the newly approved guidance on other effective areas-based conservation measures (OECMs).
On the same day, a dedicated ‘Protected Areas day’ was organised by the CBD Secretariat at the COP14 Rio Pavilion. The focus of the special day was to review of progress by state parties towards the 17% global terrestrial area coverage target for protected and conserved areas (and 10% in the corresponding marine realm). The progress towards Target 11 reported to the CBD Secretariat by states parties in July 2018 can be found in the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) information paper. In addition, the aforementioned July 2018 SBSTTA meeting considered new guidance to states parties with regard to reporting OECMs or ‘conserved areas’ which may be included as part of the reporting framework for Aichi Target 11. Through ongoing work under the ICCA GSI in particular, the SGP has been actively contributing to the above discussions, including the drafting/review of technical guidance under a task force created by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). During the CBD COP14 in Egypt, the parties to the Convention agreed to the attached Conference Room Paper (CRP 08) which provides a negotiated decision on the role of OECMs/conserved areas as part of the state party reporting to Target 11. Lastly, the SGP was able to share the contribution of the ICCA GSI. At the global level, a new strategic initiative with the government and other partners (such as the GIZ) towards the ground-truthing of the OECMs/conserved areas COP14 decision at the sub-national/municipal levels was presented.
ENB coverage may be seen at http://enb.iisd.org/biodiv/cop14/riopavilion/images/nov22/370A6979.jpg
For information on the Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration on Nature and Culture event, co-hosted by SGP, click here.
For information on SGP Colombia’s lessons and challenges shared during the ‘Protected Areas day’, click here.