Practical Guide Helps Negotiators Put Equity at Heart of New Global Biodiversity Framework

This guide is a product of IIED.

“Conservation efforts, while critical to reducing biodiversity loss, often fail to treat people fairly. This undermines the sustainability of these efforts and can further marginalise already vulnerable people. A new guide offers negotiators practical steps for embedding equity in the new global biodiversity framework.

…Conservation efforts, such as restricting access to protected areas, can come at the expense of Indigenous Peoples and local communities through a loss of land, livelihoods and identity. These groups offer substantial knowledge, skills and experience to support conservation goals that are often overlooked.

Yet the current draft GBF falls short on emphasising the importance of equity for effective conservation efforts; a concern that will be raised again by parties during formal negotiations this month and next, and at the major mid-year negotiations in August. 

Unless calls are met for the GBF to recognise the importance of equity in conservation, there remain doubts over whether it can truly deliver outcomes for both people and nature in the long term. Equity featured in the Aichi Targets and must be central to the GBF also…”

Read on and download the guide.