At COP15, Indigenous territories can save life on Earth — if there is political will

Dec 18

Negotiators from around the world have spent their days and nights holed up in the confines of Montreal’s Palais de congrès mulling over legal text with a fine tooth comb that could make or break the future of our planet.

By Gregório Mirabal & Alicia Guzmán León

A sixth mass species extinction is underway and nine major ecosystems are at the brink of collapse: enter COP15.

For the past week, negotiators from around the world have spent their days and nights holed up in the confines of Montreal’s Palais de congrès mulling over legal text with a fine tooth comb that could make or break the future of our planet. And while the magnitude of this crisis might seem daunting, immediate solutions are at our disposal by recognizing Indigenous territories in Target 3, an outlined goal in the proposed text for the Global Biodiversity Framework to be signed at the close of COP15.

Indigenous territories are overwhelmingly proven to result in equal or better conservation outcomes than protected areas. However, while protected areas are financed from national budgets, Indigenous territories are not financed by states or climate funds. Including Indigenous territories in Target 3 is currently supported unilaterally by the Global South under the leadership of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity. But it's still unclear what agreement looks like from Canada, Norway, the European Union, and New Zealand.

Peter Allan

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