Press Conference: Safeguarding the World's Most Biodiverse Areas: Industrial Threats and Solutions at the 30x30 Halfway Point, UN Convention on Biodiversity - COP 17

All right. Welcome. Please take your seats. I want to welcome you to this press, to press and delegates in the room and on the UN TV live stream. This press conference is focused on safeguarding the world's most biodiverse areas from industrial threats, and we'll also explore solutions at the 30 by 30 halfway point. My name is Tyson Miller, and I'm the executive director of Earth Insight. And I am honored to be joined by these wonderful colleagues and amazing conservation and indigenous leaders who I'll introduce before they speak. But first, I want to give a little bit of context. We're at the halfway point to 2030, and we've heard Astrid Schumacher, the executive secretary of the CBD, speak about the need for three A's, three important A's, alignment, acceleration, and accountability. And we will be diving into the issue of accountability in depth today. Our new report, High Integrity 30x30 Implementation, was produced by Earth Insight, the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, Campaign for Nature, and the KBA Secretariat. We are big believers in the KMGBF, its power, and Target 3 to achieve meaningful outcomes. But we're also clear-eyed about the need for ensuring that large-scale industrial activities do not harm the very places that are meant to be protected. Findings from across the Amazon, Central America, the Congo Basin, Southeast Asia are alarming and underscore why more action and accountability is needed. So a few data points from this report. oil and gas blocks in these regions collectively overlap about 61 and a half million hectares of protected and conserved areas, about 2.5 times the size of the UK. And mining concessions overlap another 42.7 million hectares. These are also conservative figures of the overarching threats because they're excluding logging, industrial ag, infrastructure, and illegal activities. One Well, actually, I'll say that for a sec. And when it comes to the ocean and coastlines, 19% of unprotected key biodiversity areas overlapped by oil and gas blocks. These and other findings underscore that without safeguards, protected areas risk becoming paper parks, protected in theory, but open to extraction in practice. You can see it's pretty small, but you can see what this looks like in Cambodia and Not to single out one particular country, but about over 70% of protected and conserved areas are overlapped by oil and gas blocks in Cambodia, and 21% by mining concessions. And that's represented in red. Those are the overlap areas. So it's just an immense amount of land. And we're seeing this-- these screens are quite small. So otherwise, we would have shown a much larger range of case studies and regions. But this is not a tropical problem. The US has opened barriers, national monument to mining and is threatening new drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The UK has allowed fossil fuel companies to drill in protected areas. And the list goes on. The threats are tremendous opportunities for leadership, for party leadership. So we can alter these trajectories. And we've seen that time and time again, countries upholding exclusion bans and the like. And the report documents what works, countries leading the way with legal exclusion zones, indigenous communities advancing rights-based governance with amazing outcomes, and varying examples of aligning economic policy with conservation. So that's it for the context. And now I'd like to invite Dr. Madhu Rao, chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, to share her perspectives.

Thank you, Tyson, and a very good morning to all of you. I will give a very brief overview of the policy context for the current issue that we are here for. And I'll start with the issue of ecological integrity. Ecological integrity is a unifying principle for biological conservation, climate action, and human well-being. And the concept of ecological integrity is central to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which led to the three UN conventions. The texts of the CBD and the UNFCCC both refer to integrity. Now, intact ecosystems safeguard biodiversity, support climate adaptation and mitigation, and provide ecosystem services critical to human well-being. And ecological integrity now sits at the center of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In fact, Goal A opens with the integrity, connectivity and resilience of all ecosystems being maintained, enhanced or restored. And within Goal A, we have Target 3. Target 3 is an ambitious target, and CBD Parties have committed to protecting and conserving a third of the Earth's surface by 2030. And it calls for effective, equitable, and durable protection of the most important areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services, not just a percentage. And the ambition in target three was derived from the widespread recognition and acknowledgment that biodiversity loss has significant implications for human well-being. Protected and conserved areas are a fundamental policy measure to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services, and they also form the basis of relevant SDGs. They provide key services for human communities, such as water, clean air, disaster risk reduction, planetary health, and climate mitigation and adaptation. PCAs, protected and conserved areas, must be secured through appropriate policy and regulation safeguarding from industrial extractive activities that are proven threats to biodiversity. IUCN recommendation 102 from the 2016 World Conservation Congress in Marseille calls for protected and conserved areas and areas important for biodiversity to be safeguarded from industrial activity and infrastructure development. Now, the current global review also indicates that while progress is being made on expanding protected and conserved areas, we are collectively not on track to achieving target 3 by 2030. Specifically, we're missing out on the qualitative elements such as effectiveness. We all have to move to work forward toward protecting key areas that are important for biodiversity and ensuring that we meet the quality elements of target three. The path forward is quite clear. We have to focus on solutions that ensure that we can somehow reconcile the challenges of economic development with the ambitious biodiversity commitments made by countries. We want to avoid harm in those areas that are critical to biodiversity. We want to move towards policy coherence, and we want to ensure that we have biodiversity inclusive spatial planning. But most important, we want to ensure that we adopt rights-based approaches with the rights, knowledge, and leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the center of all efforts. We are seeing a number of successful models from Canada to Ghana to Colombia, but we are, as my colleague has said, at the halfway point to 2030. And most importantly, we have an extraordinarily significant event next year through the World Protected and Conserved Area Congress, which will be a milestone for all of us to work toward because that is going to decide the agenda for protected and conserved areas for the following decades. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Maru, for these important reflections and your work in the world. So next up, we will hear from Juan Carlos, or Juanca Hintiak Arcos, executive secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities.

Thank you very much, Taylor, and colleagues, brothers and sisters here, the media. Just the first message I would like to present here, Indigenous people, territorials, are among the best protectors, forests on the air. and they face immense industrial threats. Secure our rights and defend the rights through our own mechanisms, or the forest will stay standing. The threats for Indigenous people territories are immense. Oil, gas, mining, logging, agribusiness, and pushing into territories, destroy your families, destroy your communities, destroy your organizations. So we need to defend that because for the generations who are coming. Concessions are handed over our lands without or prior for consent. In for consent, sometimes it's just name it. Protected areas boundaries offer face security. Sometimes this is open for instructions next doors, pollutants and rivers contaminated. open roads and trade, people living also for isolated people who are not protected, living free in the middle of the forest. The energy transition is now, urgency, all territories for minerals, all the minerals that we have in our territories, we are under danger. A just transition cannot sacrifice people, indigenous people, local communities, Afro-descendants group. we keep these forests standing. And when our territories are lost, we lose these services for the world. We need to be stronger, defended for the biodiversity, nature, and also to be donors of life. When we have rights, when we have secure territories, that is always that we are all demands and priority. All rights are not very in the middle of the center of the negotiations. One examples, I just want to mention for many examples that we are proposals, we are donors, we have contributors here. One example I want to mention in Peru reserves for people in voluntary associations, see about 16 times less forest loss than the land around them. That is so many examples that we can see in measures that we can contribute, and the data knows about that. As a global alliance, indigenous territorial brothers and sisters, we visualize this. We bring up voice in Brazzaville to the government, to the world, how the civilization, indigenous territory, we can contribute all proposals with all solutions. We need to reconnect that and make clear the government's health as in this road. Reconnection of rights, secure land tenures, territorial governance, that is our priority, is connected with target three, in this convention. Brazzaville declaration is our road and we are prepared to reserve all the reserve areas. Warranty or consent, community-led, free prior informed consent before any instructions, conservation designation in our lands. Talk to us, work with us. Funds, finances, resources, media resources have to go directly through our own mechanisms, indigenous communities, local communities, and our own structures. Keep extraction out of our territory. No new oil concessions. No new oil mining concessions. In Indonesia, indigenous territories are suffering in other different parts of the world without our consent. Colombia decision to close to its Amazon's a new instruction makes a new example that we need to refer and we need to follow up that that is some simple examples how we have to be here contributed with Mark and the memories of indigenous leaders and memories what we are doing we are donors or like protected this we need you have collaboration all together thank you very much

Thank you, Wonka, for these powerful words and your important work in the world. Staying on this vital theme, we will next hear from Viviana Arista Figueroa, Global Technical Coordinator for the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity.

And thank you. Good morning, everyone. It's a great pleasure for the IIFB to be here with all of you. As you know, the target three in 2022, when was adopted in Montreal, included the recognition of indigenous and traditional territories in target three. It included that we are conserving biodiversity in our land and territories as a different pathways. And different from protected area, different for OECMs, but also target 3 included the importance of the recognition and respect of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities over their territories. For this, that is really important because in our heart, we conserve biodiversity because it's part of our identity, it's part of our life, it's part of our history, it's part of our culture. We not only conserve biodiversity because that are animals and plants we conserve because this is part of our identity and part of our culture. For us, it's really important that this way and how we protect Mother Earth is recognized and respected. We don't want to be under protected area. We can decide to go, but as we see, there is too many cases when there is exploitation of natural resources in protected area. but as we protect biodiversity in our land and territories, we don't need to go under protected areas or OECMs. And this is why we were working all from 2022 that the advance in this recognition and unfortunately few countries around the world has included in the national strategies and action plans this recognition at national level, which for us is very important because already we have some recognition of rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. rights on our lands, our territories and waters. But what the national legislation is still not doing is recognizing that we are contributing and conserving biodiversity on land and territories. And we need to have also the direct access to funding to continue doing so. For this, what we think that the target 3 has to be right-based approach implementation, has to be We have the need that there is a recognition of our governance systems, our traditional knowledge, or transmission of traditional knowledge, the customary sustainable use of animals and plants in our land and territories. For this, it's very important that we participate fully and effectively in decision-making processes at all level, starting in our governments when they decide to establish a protected areas, It cannot be, as my brother said, without the free, prior and informed consent, without the respect of our rights. In some places currently, brother and sister are saying, they woke up and they are under OECMs, or they woke up and they are under protected areas. It should not continue because... Target 3 has the spirit and has in the text and has the obligation to recognize what we have been doing for millennia and what should be not continue doing, which is the violation on human rights. For this, for us here at this COP, we are discussing and we want the adoption of the voluntary guidelines which recognize the contribution of Indigenous peoples and local communities in the contribution in the land and territories to special planning, restoration, and conservation. And we want the recognition of indigenous and traditional territories as a distinct systems that conserve biodiversity, that doesn't need to be under protected area, doesn't need to be under OECMs. It's not What, like, we have three pathways: protected areas, OECMs, and ITTs. So, what we want is that our brother and sister from around the world have... the recognition of the right to continue conserving biodiversity in Lenan and territories. We're told we're forced to be under these two options. We are not against them. What we want is the recognition what we are already doing, as I brother say, the indigenous people in voluntary isolation in Peru, they are conserving biodiversity even much better than protected area. We want to continue doing so. For this, we want also that the program of World on Protected Area recognize that there is needed to respect our rights in protected areas and OECMs. We don't want that any protected areas or OECMs has established if there is not this recognition and respect to the decision of them to be part or not. Of course, if they want to be part and they decide to be part, there is needed to have that this recognition also to the governance system, to the traditional knowledge, To get financial support to continue maintaining the governance structure, doing monitoring in the area, mapping, recovering biodiversity, species, or protecting a sacred size that we have in our area. So for this. I think we think that this is very important. All this study that show that indigenous peoples, we had what are we doing, but also that this is the best way to protect Mother Earth. It's best way to protect from other natural resource exploitations. And for this, we of course, we want that this recognition is broader. And of course, we are hoping that this COP, we advance with this recognition. Thank you.

Thank you, Viviana, for sharing this critical perspective and for your powerful work in the world. And last but not least, we will hear from Dr. Andrew or Andy Plumtree, head of the KBA, the Key Biodiversity Area Secretariat.

Morning, everyone, and thanks for coming. KBAs, what do they stand for? It stands for Key Biodiversity Areas, which come from an IUCN standard. And what they identify are sites that have global importance for the conservation of biodiversity. What this report finds is that 19% in these tropical forest areas, 19% of key biodiversity areas are covered by mining concessions. That's one in every five. And that's a real threat to these sites. Why are key biodiversity areas globally important? They're identified because they contain the largest populations of a species across their range, or the largest parts of an ecosystem across the extent of that ecosystem, or they're sites of outstanding ecological integrity, and many indigenous lands are likely to be key biodiversity areas, or they're sites of irreplaceable species, so a species that's only found at that site and nowhere else in the world. Key biodiversity areas are now being used in many of the multilateral environment agreements, so the Sustainable Development Goals 14 and 15 use the protected area and OECM coverage of KBAs as an indicator. That's also a recommended disaggregation of the headline indicator for target 3 of the CBD. They're indicators for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and also the Convention on Migratory Species. and key biodiversity areas are also being used by the private sector. So most large banks now screen development projects by whether if there's a KBA within the concession that's being proposed or within or in the vicinity of a concession, they'll screen those sites and if the company is going to operate there, they'll have to do a whole lot of mitigating actions to minimize the impact on the key biodiversity area and have no negative impact on the the biodiversity elements that qualify that site as a key biodiversity area. Key biodiversity areas identified in country by national coordination groups, so your scientific experts, local communities, indigenous peoples, but also government and conservation NGOs all come together and work to identify key biodiversity areas in the country. We now have 50 countries that have formed their key biodiversity area and national coordination groups, and what we're encouraging is that by 2030, everyone has formed their national coordination groups and updated their key biodiversity areas, because this finding of 20% of or 19% is only on the identified key biodiversity areas. Where countries have made comprehensive assessment of the KBA network, they've doubled the number of sites. So we are likely, there are likely KBAs out there that we haven't identified yet that are also covered by mining concessions. So that's a huge risk. So we're calling on all countries to form these KBA national coordination groups and update their KBA networks by 2030. Thank you.

Thank you, Andy, and thank you all for your powerful remarks and work in the world. On the way to opening it up for the question and answer, I wanted to share that many of our partners on the stage and more than 80 organizations have come together to issue a joint letter urging governments at COP17 to keep extractive industries protected and conserved areas to see the press release or more about this. There's a QR code here and you can, you're welcome to sign, uh, if you have interest. Um, so, um, we'll open it up now. We have a bit of time for questions from the floor with a priority for press. Um, please state your name and organization. And I'll also say that the, the speakers should be most of them available after, uh, outside for interviews if there's, uh, that interest.

Hi, this is Fermin from Argentina from the Earth Journalism Network and Dialogue Earth. I got a question for Juan Carlos or and Viviana. In Latin America, we are seeing a movement towards extreme right governments that are pushing for extractive industries close and near protected areas. Do you see this as a growing threat to your territories? Thank you.

Thank you for your question. I mean, To go straight and not elaborate more, we can talk more about this, is always recommend, talk to us, work with us, and that secure our governance, institutionality. When you have a strong organization with resources, with a strategy, we can do this together in unity. I mean, we know about this problem for many, many years, but solidarity and work in unity, and this is true to the organizations with solidarity globally, not just in one region. But because concessions are coming, geopolitics are moving, and who is going to help us? And all of us, we know how it's going to be this for the future. But we are there. We're standing there. So we don't need necessarily to be opening, but the solidarity strategy working with you, the other side, that we can elaborate more about that. We know all about this. That's what this kind of study reflects. If some people doesn't understand when we speak, but data, maybe they will understand.

Viviana, would you like to speak?

Yeah.

No, thank you for the question. I think this important one is that most of the region in Latin America, there is a recognition of rights of indigenous people in the constitution that must all governments should respect and implement. But also the civil society and the government knows that we are suffering a crisis of climate change. at the best is to support brother and indigenous peoples and and and local communities who are conserving biodiversity which is not only the benefit for us is for the whole Humanity so for this even that the we know that there there is a pressures because we have natural resource in our land and territories there is also the urgency to protect biodiversity. And for this is what we think that we should not like, like, like how to say that we will have more problems if we don't have the support to continue concerning biodiversity. No. Thank you.

Thank you. Hi. Thank you. I'm a journalist from India. I this is a question to Madhura. Probably she would know better. We, despite having very old indigenous population traditions, we have not recognized indigenous territories, even though we have recognized indigenous people through the Forest Rights Act. Similarly, we are now pushing climate-- this is a second question. We are now pushing climate change as a reason for taking up some of the hydroelectric projects in highly biodiversity-rich areas. Will there be a kind of recommendation on how these kind of things interact with the final goals of the COP?

Sorry, did you say it's India or Indonesia? India. India, yes. Yeah, thank you. I think we have a fundamental conflict in most developing countries between economic development and biodiversity conservation. and that is quite normal and it's to be expected. I think the key is really to pursue some solutions which are technically strong. There are new approaches such as using the mitigation hierarchy to recognize there are some areas that are completely protected from extraction, but there could be some areas where, you know, you can have some industrial activity. The issue of spatial planning, biodiversity inclusive spatial planning. So there are approaches and this is the way forward in ensuring that you're not having hydropower in areas that are important for biodiversity.

So with that and because we're stacked with other press conferences coming I think we'll have to wrap for today but thank you all for coming, thank you to our panelists and we do have some summaries and reports in hard copy but check there's a lot up on our site at earthinsight.org and thank you all.