The CBD Alliance, a network of civil society organizations who have a common interest in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), has called the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP12), being held 6 – 17 October 2014 at Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, to recognize the critical contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to marine and coastal biodiversity through a range of mechanisms, including Indigenous and Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs) and other actions.
Marine and coastal biological diversity is one of the long-enduring priority programmes within the work of CBD. This year COP12 will be discussing a range of issues on marine and coastal biological diversity that have significant implications for the human rights and lives and livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities around the world.
The CBD Alliance calls attention, in particular, to the contribution of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to the dentification of ecologically and biologically significant areas (EBSAs).
In a Briefing Note, the CBD Alliance urges Parties at COP12 to:
Ensure that before any further description of EBSAs are undertaken the traditional, scientific, technical and technological knowledge of indigenous and local communities, is integrated at the national level, with their full and effective participation.
Ensure that all efforts for describing EBSAs take into account social, cultural and economic aspects of IPLCs traditionally dependent on the resources.
Ensure completion and incorporation of elements from the training manuals on integrating the traditional, scientific, technical and technological knowledge of indigenous and local communities.
Ensure the full and effective participation of IPLCs in the future regional workshops and all other
processes for identification of EBSAs.
Focus on describing culturally, economically and ecologically significant marine areas (CEESMAs) for conservation, sustainable use and management of marine and coastal resources, within national jurisdiction, that recognises ICCAs and builds upon traditional knowledge as well as scientific knowledge.
The full text of the Briefing Note is available at http://www.cbdalliance.org/en/images/COP12/Briefing_notesCOP12/Marine_and_Coastal__issues_briefing_note.pdf