Panel on COP 18 and Indigenous Peoples' Rights

Analysis of the Current State of COP18 Negotiations and Indigenous Peoples' Demands on the Green Climate Fund from Tebtebba on Vimeo.

Via the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), a recent panel offered representatives from Indigenous rights organisations a platform to share their analysis of the climate change negotiations on 4 December 2012 in Doha, Qatar, during the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 18th conference of parties (COP 18). The panel was organised by Tebtebba and the Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership on Climate Change and Forests and panelists included Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Tebtebba), Dennis Mairena (Centro para la Autonomia y Desarollo de los Pueblos Indigenas - Nicaragua), and Stanley Kimaren (Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners - Kenya). 

The panelists analysed texts from the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice and noted the extremely slow pace in negotiations in the Long Term Cooperative Action and Kyoto Protocol working groups. They also discussed the importance in protecting gains made by Indigenous peoples in the next climate change agreement, including the recognition of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recognition of the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the requirements for full and effective participation in climate change programmes. On the Green Climate Fund, the panelists called for full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples, with separate representation from civil society.

Also relevant to climate change negotiations, Simone Lovera (Global Forest Coalition) recently drafted an article, posted on REDD-Monitor, on how the form of Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems being developed to track the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme may be a ‘trojan horse’ for carbon markets that have yet to demonstrate results. 

Video from the panel can be accessed here. Simone Lovera’s article can be found here.

Natural Justice at 5th IUCN WCC

Harry Jonas and Holly Shrumm of Natural Justice are in Jeju, South Korea, to participate in the Fifth World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Congress will take place from 6-15 September and will be preceded by meetings of the volunteer Commissions. Natural Justice will present at and participate in a range of events related to Indigenous peoples' and local communities' conserved territories and areas (ICCAs), sacred natural sites, biocultural diversity, rights-based approaches to conservation, governance and management of protected areas, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and access and benefit sharing, among others. The official Congress programme is available here. Updates will be provided on this blog throughout the Congress. Find ways to engage with the Congress from anywhere here.