Search Results

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/10

Identifying Specific Elements for Integrating the Traditional, Scientific, Technical and Technological Knowledge of Indigenous and Local Communities, and Social and Cultural Criteria and Other Aspects for the Application of Scientific Criteria for Identification of Ecologically or Biologically S ...

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/21

Analysis of Possible Indicators to Measure Impacts of REDD+ on Biodiversity and on Indigenous and Local Communities

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/30

Impacts of Climate-Related Geoengineering on Biodiversity: Views and Experiences of Indigenous and Local Communities And Stakeholders

"Biodiversity, development and culture": critical reflections on the Brazilian contemporary experiences.

Brazil has one of the highest rates of biodiversity and is considered one of the mega-diverse countries. Currently, the country is experiencing a time of economic stability and growth, where development policies are a priority of the current government. Discussions on the new Forest Code, the li ...

'Historic moment' for indigenous people at climate talks, new climate leader says

Climate leader Pasang Dolma Sherpa has just been elected to head the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform in climate talks.

'Nature is not a commodity': Can the world learn from indigenous food systems, before they are lost?

Fabian Jimbijti sometimes walks three days to find food for his community. He treks across mountains to collect salt from a sacred spring deep in the jungle, wades into rivers to catch eels, and forages the forest floor for herbs and wild edibles.

'Protecting traditional knowledge and bio-cultural heritage

The event will present the overall findings of a global research project on "Protecting Community Rights over Traditional Knowledge: Implications of customary laws and practices". Case studies from Peru, China, India & Kenya will be presented in more detail, including work on community biocultur ...

'You protect what you love': Why biodiversity thrives on Indigenous-managed lands

Recent study finds that number of unique species is 40% greater on protected land in Canada

10th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)

16 - 27 May 2011, New York, United States of America

11th meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity

The last time I was together with many of you, in Nairobi just a few months ago, we spoke about the importance of the task ahead as you set the direction for the Convention on Biological Diversity after 2020.

17th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (WIPO)

6 - 10 December 2010, Geneva, Switzerland

17th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII): "Indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources”

16 - 27 April 2018, New York, United States of America

18 Organizations Protecting Biodiversity in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico

The “Four Corners” states of the American Southwest — Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico — are places rich in natural and cultural biodiversity. From deserts to mountains to lakes and rivers, the region is home to more than 400 species of birds and the greatest diversity of mammal species i ...

1st Asian Conference on Biocultural Diversity promotes strengthening links between biological and cultural diversity

29 OCTOBER 2016 – The 1st Asian Conference on Biocultural Diversity, held from 27-29 October in Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, produced a regional Declaration on Biocultural Diversity and an annex of practical actions that can be taken at different levels to strengthen the links between ...

2 Trees, Not 1: Study Confirms What Indigenous People Knew All Along

Scientists have now confirmed that a certain well-known tree in Southeast Asia is actually two species, not one. Indigenous people in Borneo, however, have known this all along.

2010 Calendar for the Latin American and Caribbean sub-regional workshops organized in collaboration with the Indigenous Women's Biodiversity Network (IWBN) in the region and with the financial support of the Government of Spain

Reference: SCBD/SEL/OJ/DM/69772 (2009-163)
To: CBD National Focal Points and Indigenous and Local Communities

Under Article 8(j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Parties undertake to respect, preserve and maintain the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and promote their wider a ...

2012 Calendar of sub-regional workshops for indigenous and local community representatives with the financial support of the Governments of Spain and Japan

Reference: SCBD/SEL/JS/dm/79273 (2012-047)
To: CBD Focal Points and ICNP Focal Points, Indigenous and local communities, and International organizations and relevant stakeholders.

20th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII): “Peace, justice and strong institutions: the role of indigenous peoples in implementing Sustainable Development Goal 16”

19 - 30 April 2021, Hybrid, New York, United States of America

21st Session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations

21 - 25 July 2003, Geneva, Switzerland

24th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (WIPO)

22 - 26 April 2013, Geneva, Switzerland

25% of world’s surface can be better protected with rights

Bonn - The math is simple: about 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are connected with land use, and the traditional territories of indigenous peoples cover a quarter of the world’s land surface.

25th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (WIPO)

15 - 24 July 2013, Geneva, Switzerland

2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

12 - 24 May 2003, New York, United States of America

3rd World Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants for Human Welfare: From Biodiversity through Science and Technology, Trade and Industry to Sustainable Use"

3 - 7 February 2003, Chiang Mai, Thailand

46th session of the IFAD Governing Council

14 - 15 February 2023, Rome, Italy

50th Annual Congress of the Society for Medicinal Plant Research (GA)

8 - 12 September 2002, Barcelona, Spain

7 Indigenous Technologies Changing Landscapes

Indigenous ways of managing landscapes have often been framed as the antithesis to progress. But most Indigenous communities hold intimate place-based knowledge, gained across generations, which is an ideal starting point for addressing contemporary challenges such as biodiversity loss, land deg ...

9th World Wilderness Congress (WILD9)

6 - 13 November 2009, Merida, Mexico

: Fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions, Montreal, Canada, 15 to 19 October 2007

Reference: SCBD/SEL/OJ/SG/58451 (2007-063)
To: UN Organizations and Specialized Agencies, IGOs, NGOs and private sector

I am pleased to inform you that, pursuant to Decision VIII/5 of the Conference of the Parties, the Fifth Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions will be held in Montreal, Canada, from 15 to 19 October 2007. The provisional agenda is attached for your ...

A Joint Programme of Work on biological and Cultural Diversity

The International Conference on Biological and Cultural Diversity – for development, held in Montreal 8-10 June 2010, with over 230 participants from Parties, International organizations, IPOs, NGOs and civil society, has recommended a joint programme of work lead by UNESCO and the SCBD to explo ...

A New Bill Could Help Protect the Sacred Seeds of Indigenous People

Clayton Brascoupé has farmed in the red-brown foothills of New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains for more than 45 years. A Mohawk-Anishnaabe originally from a New York reservation, Brascoupé married into the Pueblo of Tesuque tribe and has since planted at least 60 varieties of corns, beans, s ...

A conservation paradigm based on Indigenous values in DR Congo (commentary)

The Batwa Indigenous peoples lived in the Kahuzi-Biega forests of present-day Democratic Republic of Congo for centuries before Belgian colonial rule imposed formal change in 1937 with the establishment of the Zoological and Forest Reserve of Mount Kahuzi.

A huge land grab is threatening India’s tribal people. They need global help

About 8 million indigenous people in India are in danger of being evicted from forests that their ancestors have lived in for millennia. This grave injustice follows a shocking supreme court ruling that rides roughshod over the rights of India’s indigenous people, known as Adivasi, or tribals.

A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries

Indigenous people make up a third of the total number of environmental defenders killed across the globe, despite being a total of 4% of the world’s population, according to a report by Global Witness. The most critical situation is in Colombia, where 117 Indigenous people have been murdered bet ...

A native plant is exposing the clash between traditional knowledge and Western conventions

A fight is brewing over ownership of gumby gumby, exposing the clash between traditional knowledge and the Western intellectual property (IP) system. It is part of a broader debate in Australia and globally about how to value and protect traditional knowledge and ensure Indigenous people benefit ...

A pervasive threat to biodiversity and human security

Indigenous knowledge is important for ecological, economic and social sustainability. However, the instruments of ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ (IPRs) have overridden the authority of local communities to use traditional and indigenous knowledge in biosphere. In spite of the fact that indigenou ...

A word on the rights of the Amazon’s Quilombola peoples

Selma Dealdina is executive secretary of the National Coordination of Quilombola Rural Black Communities (CONAQ), an organization representing the estimated 5,000 Quilombolas originally settled in Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Aaranyak’s bid to preserve indigenous seed diversity to enrich biodiversity

Indigenous varieties of seeds which have been fast disappearing from the state’s croplands due to invasion of hybrid verities, are key components of the rich bio-diversity in the ethnic-mosaic called Assam.

Aboriginal group urges mining 'reset' after ancient site destroyed

Aboriginal landowners have called for a "reset" in Australia's lucrative mining sector after an inquiry pilloried Rio Tinto for blowing up a 46,000-year-old heritage site to expand an iron ore mine.

Access and Benefit-sharing: Composition of the Expert Group on traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, Hyderabad, India, 16-19 June 2009

Reference: SCBD/SEL/OJ/VN/GD/67044 (2009-041)
To: CBD National Focal Points, ABS National Focal Points, international organizations, indigenous and local communities and stakeholders

In accordance with the above, by Notification 2009-019 of 24 February 2009, the Executive Secretary invited Parties, indigenous and local communities, relevant international organizations and other stakeholders to nominate experts and observers for the meeting of the expert group on traditional ...

Across the globe, the diversity of language overlaps with that of the natural world

When scientists started to work in the dense pine forests of British Columbia to analyse the DNA of grizzly bears, they discovered three distinct, genetically different groups. The bears were spread across an area of 23,500 square kilometres – land that falls within the territories of the Nuxalk ...

Ad Hoc Open-ended Intersessional Working Group on Article 8(j) and related provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity

23 - 27 January 2006, Granada, Spain

Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Traditional Knowledge and Clearing-House Mechanism

24 - 26 February 2003, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on the New Programme of Work and Institutional Arrangements on Article 8(j) and Other Provisions of the Convention Related to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities

11 - 13 July 2023, Manaus, Brazil

Ad hoc Expert Group Meeting of Local-community Representatives

14 - 16 July 2011, Montreal, Canada

Advisory Committee for the Programme of Work on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions

11 - 14 July 2005, Montreal, Canada

Advisory Committee for the Programme of Work on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions

30 April - 3 May 2007, Montreal, Canada

Advisory Group for Article 8(j) and Related Provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity Concludes Four Day Meeting in Montreal

The second meeting of the Advisory Group for Article 8(j) was held in Montreal from 30 April to 3 May 2007. The Group included 20 participants from indigenous and local communities from all over the world. Representatives of Brazil and Germany, in their capacity as Presidents of the eight and ...

Advisory Group for Article 8(j) and Related Provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity Concludes Four Day Meeting in Montreal.

Africa Regional Training Workshop related to national arrangements on traditional knowledge for achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 18 and contributing to Aichi Biodiversity Target 16 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, 8 - 12 October 2018 - Marrakech, Morocco

Reference: SCBD/SPS/AS/JS/VF/87279 (2018-040)
To: CBD, ABS, TK Focal Points, and indigenous peoples and local community organizations

Africa is a treasure trove of medicinal plants: here are seven that are popular

Plants have directly contributed to the development of important drugs. The antimalarial treatment artemisinin, pain medication morphine, and cancer chemotherapy taxol are just three examples of drugs derived from plants.

Africa: Amid Coronavirus, Let's Not Forget About Indigenous People

Indigenous communities play a critical role in preventing the emergence of diseases and must be involved in the response to the pandemic.. For the first time in living memory, the industrialized world understands what it is to be entirely susceptible to disease, as vulnerable as indigenous peop ...

African Regional Indigenous and Local Community preparatory meeting for the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD

9 - 14 June 2012, Bujumbura, Burundi

African Regional Training Workshop on National Arrangements on Traditional Knowledge for Achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 18 and Contributing to Aichi Biodiversity Target 16 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

8 - 12 October 2018, Marrakesh, Morocco

African Regional Workshop on the Composite Report on Traditional Knowledge

21 - 22 May 2005, New York, United States of America

African Training Workshop on Community Protocols, Indicators on Traditional Knowledge and Customary Sustainable Use under the Convention on Biological Diversity

25 - 29 January 2016, Nairobi, Kenya

African regional workshops for indigenous and local community representatives in preparation for COP 11: Selection of Participants

Reference: SCBD/SEL/JS/dm/79791 (2012-071)
To: CBD Focal Points and ICNP Focal Points, Indigenous and local communities, and International organizations

Recommendation II/4

Agenda item 3.6: Knowledge innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities

Agreements reached on actions to integrate biodiversity in forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and tourism sectors and to achieve the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development

Agroforestry: An ancient ‘indigenous technology’ with wide modern appeal (commentary)

The highly climate- and biodiversity-friendly agricultural practice of agroforestry is now practiced widely around the world, but its roots are deeply indigenous.

Alternative Health Care: Indigenous Medicine Of Dimasas

North East India is geographically situated in one of the richest biological reservoirs of the world. Endowed with numerous varieties of flora and fauna, the entire region is an important segment of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot, one of the 34 global ones.

Amazon community files lawsuit against Chinese firm over gas flaring

Indigenous Waorani from Ecuador's Amazon filed a lawsuit Thursday against state-owned Chinese oil company PetroOriental, accusing it of contaminating their ancestral lands by burning off natural gas from oil wells in a process known as flaring.

Amazon frog highlights appropriation of Indigenous knowledge for commercial gain

The Amazonian giant leaf frog, or kambô (Phyllomedusa bicolor) has bulging eyes and bright green skin, and despite its name, is actually quite small. It’s perhaps best known for its skin secretion, a mucous substance with medicinal properties that several Amazonian Indigenous groups have used fo ...

Amazon-dwellers lived sustainably for 5,000 years

A study that dug into the history of the Amazon Rainforest has found that indigenous people lived there for millennia with "causing no detectable species losses or disturbances".

An Indigenous basket-weaving tradition keeps a Philippine forest alive

Philippines — On a fine day at the onset of the dry season, Sublito Tiblak wakes up very early to the sounds of birds. They’re perched on trees surrounding his home in Kamantian, an upland village tucked in the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape in the southern part of the Philippines’ Pala ...

An Indigenous community in India’s Meghalaya state offers lessons in climate resilience

The Indigenous food system of the Khasi community in Nongtraw village in Meghalaya offers lessons in climate resilience and sustainable food systems, says a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation report.

An Indonesian forest community grapples with the arrival of the outside world

DOROGOT, Indonesia — Toikot rises as the golden light of dawn begins to shine on the heavy mist that cloaks the rainforest canopy outside his home in Indonesia’s Siberut Island.

An environmental scientist points to Indigenous knowledge for sustainability solutions

There is scientific consensus that human civilization is a threat to life on Earth. Efforts are underway to alleviate that threat, but there is much doubt over whether we can turn back our cascading environmental impacts.

An oil palm front advances on an Indigenous community in Peru

“The invasions do not stop, the deforestation does not stop, and the threats do not stop,” Iván Flores Rodríguez said by phone from the Indigenous Santa Clara de Uchunya community. A leader of the Shipibo people, Flores Rodríguez outlines the history of his community in the Peruvian Amazon, when ...

Ancient Indigenous population much larger than previously thought

Innovative studies using a supercomputer have found that the Aboriginal population 60,000 years ago was much larger than previous estimates suggest. Researchers developed a simulation model and used a supercomputer that tested 125 billion potential pathways across the continent and found Aborigi ...

Ancient Water System in Peru Could Fix Water Shortages

Sometimes modern problems require ancient solutions.

Ancient knowledge is lost when a species disappears. It’s time to let Indigenous people care for their country, their way

Indigenous people across Australia place tremendous cultural and customary value on many species and ecological communities. The very presence of a plant or animal species can trigger an Indigenous person to recall and share knowledge. This is crucial to maintaining culture and managing Country.

Ancient spirituality guides a Maya town’s conservation efforts

It was Thursday, Nov. 8, but the Mayan calendar marked the day as Wukub’ Q’anil, or 7 Rabbit, a good day to ask for the rebirth of sterile lands and the fertility of all living beings. Rumualdo López, a Maya priest and spiritual guide, was prepared to hike up to the top of Siete Orejas, a mounta ...

Annual Inter-Agency Support Group (IASG) meeting on Indigenous Peoples Issues

28 - 30 September 2009, Nairobi, Kenya

Arctic Biodiversity: status and trends

A review of the current status and trends in Arctic Biodiversity. And an overview of ongoing work by the Conservation of Arctic Flora & Fauna working group (CAFF) of the Arctic Council e.g. The Arctic Biodiversity Assessment and the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme etc. CAFFs misi ...

Arctic Region Workshop on Indigenous Communities, Tourism and Biodiversity: New Information and Web-based Technologies

19 - 21 November 2007, Quebec City, Canada

Are changing agricultural practices responsible for vanishing happiness in remote Tripura hamlets?

Caught in the transition from shifting cultivation (jhum) to rubber monocropping, members of indigenous communities in a remote district in Tripura – India’s second rubber capital – are “struggling” or “just getting by”, a forthcoming study has claimed.

Article 8 (j) and related provisions: Ad hoc Expert Group Meeting of Local-community Representatives

Reference: SCBD/SEL/OJ/JS/DM/ 75215 (2011-050)
To: CBD Focal Points, International organizations, indigenous and local community organizations and relevant stakeholders

In paragraph 21 of Decision X/43, regarding the revised programme of work for Article 8(j) and related provisions of the Convention, the Conference of the Parties, noting that the involvement of local communities in accordance with Article 8(j), in the work of the Convention has been limited for ...

Article 8 (j) and related provisions: Online Discussion Forum on Article 10(c), 11 February to 11 March 2009

Reference: SCBD/SEL/OJ/JS/SG/66366 (2009-018)
To: CBD National Focal Points, Indigenous and Local Communities

In order to assist the Executive Secretary in the preparation of advice for the next meeting of the Working Group, I have the pleasure to inform you that an Online Discussion Forum on Article 10(c) will be held from 11 February to 11 March 2009 through the Traditional Knowledge Information Porta ...

As Animals and Plants Go Extinct, Languages Die Off Too

In the parts of the world where biodiversity is most at risk, words and phrases also face extinction.

As Nepal’s tigers thrive, Indigenous knowledge may be key in preventing attacks

On June 6, a 41-year-old woman was attacked by a tiger while she was collecting firewood in a forest in Nepal’s Bardiya district, a key habitat for endangered Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris).

As the incoming Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity and as this is my first statement to this esteemed body, I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land we are gathered upon, the Haudenosaunee Confederation, and to greet both the continuing Forum members and new members.

Asia Regional Training Workshop related to national arrangements on traditional knowledge for achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 18 and contributing to Aichi Biodiversity Target 16 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, 20 - 24 August 2018 - Kandy, Sri Lanka

Reference: SCBD/SPS/AS/JS/VF/87280 (2018-034)
To: To: CBD, ABS, TK Focal Points, and indigenous peoples and local community organizations

Asia Workshop on Indicators Relevant for Indigenous Peoples, CBD and MDG's

8 - 10 November 2006, Calapan, Mindoro, Philippines

Asian Capacity-building Workshop for Indigenous and Local Communities (in partnership with the Tebtebba Foundation and the AIPP Foundation)

25 - 27 April 2005, Baguio City, Philippines

Asian Indigenous Peoples’ Intellectual Property Rights On Biodiversity Endangered – OpEd

Indigenous and tribal peoples of Asia, are facing complex threats to their survival as distinct peoples.

Asian Regional Meeting on the Composite Report on Traditional Knowledge (in partnership with the Tebtebba Foundation and the AIPP Foundation)

28 - 30 April 2005, Baguio City, Philippines

Asian Regional Training Workshop on National Arrangements on Traditional Knowledge for Achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 18 and Contributing to Aichi Biodiversity Target 16 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

27 - 31 July 2018, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Asian indigenous peoples’ IPR on biodiversity endangered

Indigenous and tribal peoples of Asia are facing complex threats to their survival as distinct peoples. Not only are they confronted with dispossession of their lands, resources and physical persecution, they are also faced with the appropriation of their collective knowledge on plants, trees, a ...

Assessment identifies cultural sites in biodiversity project

The Natural Resource Management (NRM) team and I have recently been working with landholders and local Aboriginal community members to conduct Aboriginal Cultural Values Impact Assessments as part of the Biodiversity on Farm project.

At-Risk Indigenous Languages Spotlighted on New Google Earth Platform

The new initiative features recordings of native languages from around the globe

August 9 marks International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2021

CAIRO – 9 August 2021: More than 476 million Indigenous individuals live in 90 countries, representing 6.2 percent of the world's population. Indigenous peoples are endowed with a great diversity of unique cultures, traditions, languages and knowledge systems. They enjoy an exceptional relations ...

Australia mulls ‘offensive marks’ to protect indigenous knowledge

IP Australia has concluded a consultation process over the protection of indigenous knowledge, which could lead to the country introducing a ban on ‘offensive’ trademarks.

Australia' s coastal waters are rich in Indigenous cultural heritage, but it remains hidden and under threat

When people arrived in Australia more than 65,000 years ago, they landed on shores that are now deep under water. The first footprints on this continent took place on these now-submerged landscapes .

Australian environmental report finally recognizes Indigenous knowledge

In Australia, more than 100 animal species have gone extinct or been placed on endangered lists, ecosystems are plagued by invasive species, temperatures and sea levels rise, marine heatwaves have caused coral bleaching, while devastating floods and wildfires have ravaged the country.

Australian state gives world's oldest rainforest to Indigenous group

Queensland, Australia's third most populous state, said on Wednesday it has given ownership of the world's oldest tropical rainforest to a local Indigenous group.

Bananas, indigenous knowledge, and GMOs

Biotechnology, indigenous knowledge, climate change and banana trees. This week, Africa Science Focus sits down with United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity executive secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema to discuss biodiversity and environment on the continent.

Best-preserved part of Brazil’s Amazon, home to isolated tribes, faces ‘decimation’

The central Purus River Basin is one of the best-preserved regions of the Brazilian Amazon. But deforestation here, in the state of Amazonas, could clear an area larger than England by 2050, according to a new report by several civil society organizations.

Between land and sea: Agrobiodiversity holds key to health for Melanesian tribes

The community’s traditionally self-sufficient and biodiverse diet features 132 species, notably the fe’i banana, a Melanesian specialty that contains 100 times the vitamin A of a typical banana.

Big business commercialises Paraguay’s traditional stevia plant

Indigenous communities claim share of profitable global trade as exports to China fall foul of diplomacy