Seventeenth meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Yerevan, Armenia, 19–30 October 2026
Agenda Item 1.
This statement is submitted to UN CBD COP17 on behalf of Cultural Survival, an Indigenous-led organization.
We request that the Parties pay attention to and support the following set of issues regarding Indigenous Peoples.
The protection of biodiversity cannot be viewed in isolation from the protection of human rights, the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, their cultures, governance systems, traditional knowledge, and their spiritual connection to their ancestral lands and territories.
The cosmovisions, lifeways, and cultures of Indigenous Peoples emerge from our relationships to Mother Earth and include a deep sense of responsibility to care for the ecosystems we all depend on. This is why cultural and linguistic diversity are closely correlated with biodiversity and the caretaking of ecosystems that support clean air and water, soil health, and sequestration of carbon. However, our ability to steward ecosystems depends on maintaining our ancestral and self-determined lifeways, ceremonies, and economies, and relies on uninterrupted access to our lands, waters, and territories. Clearly, upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination and governance of our territories is critical to a future of mutual flourishing for the diversity of life on Mother Earth.
Cultural Survival’s message is that implementation of the KMGBF must move from participation to partnership, and from consultation to recognition. Indigenous Peoples are rights-holders, not stakeholders. Their rights to their lands, territories and resources, to self-determination, and to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) are affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and the KMGBF itself.
The recognition and support of Indigenous Territories and traditional conservation systems must become an integral part of the implementation of Target 3. Achieving this Target must not result in the dispossession of Indigenous Peoples, forced resettlement, restrictions on traditional land use, nor the creation of protected areas without their full participation. Rather, Target 3 must be achieved in connection with Targets 21 and 22 of the KMGBF.
Progress toward achieving the 2030 Goals should be based on the interrelationship among all of its Goals and Targets and on a comprehensive analysis that includes the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ land and water rights, effective governance, free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), participation, the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, access to justice, Indigenous-led conservation efforts, and the safety of environmental defenders.
Conservation measures must not lead to displacement, dispossession, restrictions on customary livelihoods, nor violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. In this regard, we request Parties to recognize and support Indigenous Peoples’ territories, Indigenous conserved areas, and Indigenous-led conservation as essential contributions to Target 3. For conservation of biodiversity to be truly effective, the Parties must accelerate the recognition and protection of Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights to their lands, territories, waters, and natural relatives (sometimes referred to as resources), including customary tenure systems. Conservation targets must be implemented in ways that strengthen, rather than undermine, territorial governance and tenure security.
The Parties must ensure the full, equal, effective, and inclusive participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making processes on biodiversity issues at all levels. Participation must include representation in governing, decision-making, and monitoring bodies, and not be limited to mere consultation or the exchange of information. Indigenous Peoples must retain authority over their knowledge, including determining when, how, and by whom it may be accessed or used, with reciprocity and appropriate benefit-sharing.
We note that Parties must establish effective mechanisms for access to justice, legal remedies, and accountability for violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous environmental and human rights defenders must be protected from threats, violence, intimidation, criminalization, and repression. Attacks on defenders must be investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable.
Indigenous Peoples around the world make enormous contributions to achieving the Goals of the Conservation of Biodiversity and KMGBF. Therefore, we strongly urge the Parties to increase the funding provided to Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous-led organizations for the purposes of conservation, restoration, monitoring, sustainable use of natural resources, and knowledge transfer. Funding mechanisms must be accessible, predictable, long-term, transparent, and developed in collaboration with indigenous peoples, taking into account their self-determined priorities and governance systems.
Funding should be directed toward supporting priorities identified by Indigenous peoples, such as territorial governance, nature conservation and restoration, the transmission of Indigenous knowledge, community-level monitoring, and the protection of human rights defenders. Financial investments in biodiversity, including those related to climate and nature conservation, must be subject to safeguards ensuring respect for human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples, as well as mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability.
With respect to the Parties to the Conference.
