ICCA Southeast Asia Consortium Delivers Statement at "Sub-regional Dialogue on National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)"

Thursday, August 17, 2023, the ICCA Southeast Asia Consortium delivered a statement at the "Sub-regional Dialogue on National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)" held in Manila, Philippines, from August 14 – 17, 2023. This sub-regional dialogue aims to facilitate the sharing of experiences and mutual learning related to the updating of NBSAP, including setting national targets, in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

This event brought together representatives from ASEAN member countries and Timor Leste. This dialogue is the first in a series of sub-regional dialogues to support Member States in launching the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM GBF) facilitated by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) with development partners, UNDP, GIZ, and others. On this occasion, participants identified challenges and opportunities in enhancing implementation, including issues related to capacity building, resource mobilization, and integration of the Protocol into NBSAP. The collection of regional lessons, challenges, and opportunities can later serve as input for further piloting and for the review of countries adopting the CBD.

The ICCAs SEA Consortium was also an invited party. On this occasion, the ICCA SEA Consortium delivered its collective statement regarding the urgency of recognizing Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) and integrating Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs), cultural heritage, governance, and local knowledge systems into NBSAP. The dialogue also presented Policy Recommendations jointly developed by the CBD Alliance, ICCA Consortium, NTFP-EP, GYBN, WGII, PACOS Trust, Women Caucus, Women4Biodiversity for a more inclusive and transformative NBSAP. The Working Group ICCAs Indonesia (WGII), as a member of the ICCAs SEA Consortium, contributed key recommendations to this document, "the issue of indigenous and local community rights, as well as rights-based conservation approaches addressed in the KM GBF targets need attention and should be appropriately placed into NBSAP." said Cindy Julianty, Program Manager WGII.

Through this regional dialogue, the ICCAs SEA Consortium emphasized that ICCA can be at the core of realizing the KM – GBF, particularly the realization of 7 out of 23 targets that include important aspects of indigenous peoples and local communities related to sustainable use, protection of traditional knowledge, participation, fair benefit-sharing, and FPIC (Free, Prior, Informed Consent). ICCA is evidence of the diversity and richness of the life territories of Indigenous and Local Communities (MAKL) that are protected and sustainable. Moreover, it is a conservation space determined by self-determination by MAKL. Therefore, the integration of ICCAs into NBSAP is a concern of the ICCAs Consortium and WGII to achieve CBD targets. Because NBSAP is a concrete manifestation of CBD targets that will be further translated by each country to develop national targets, strategies, and action plans for biodiversity protection.