Submission on Indigenous and Local Knowledge to IPBES

On 15 April, Natural Justice made a submission to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on an information document entitled 'Consideration of initial elements: recognizing indigenous and local knowledge and building synergies with science'. The submission suggested community protocols as an effective tool in building synergies between traditional knowledge and science and as a framework that ensures that the approaches adopted in different sources of information used for understanding traditional knowledge is in compliance with Indigenous peoples' and communities' customary and ethical protocols. The submission focused on the following broad themes:

• To allow for the effective inclusion of community protocols in the process of building synergies with science, which includes study, documentation, and approaches and methodologies relevant to indigenous and local knowledge, specifically through the IPBES work programme;
• To ensure that the principles and protocols considered of relevance to indigenous and local knowledge adopts a holistic approach with the incorporation of relevant principles and protocols emerging from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), UN Convention to Combat Desertification  (1992), and the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), in addition to those already listed from the Convention on Biological Diversity; and
• To suggest changes that facilitate adequate representation of Indigenous peoples and local communities and their interests in this process.

The IPBES submission and other submissions made by Natural Justice and partners are available here.