Ashish Kothari

Kalpavriksh and ICCA Consortium

ICCAs & Aichi Targets:Contribution of Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Territories and Areas to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

Indigenous peoples’ and local community conserved

territories and areas (ICCAs):

Natural and modified ecosystems with significant biodiversity,

ecological functions and cultural values…voluntarily conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities through customary laws

or other effective means

sacred natural sites …

Sacred lake, Indian Himalaya © Pankaj Sekhsaria

Chizire sacred forest, Zimbabwe

Sacred bolon in Kawawana, Senegal © Christian Chatelain

The global diversity of ICCAs includes ...

Sacred hill tops, Tibet, China

© Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend

Traditional heronry, KokareBellure, India © Ashish Kothari

Demoiselle cranes, Kheechan village, India © Asad Rahmani

Wildlife habitats

(nesting, roosting, feeding)

Indigenous ranger at Mapoonrescuing sea turtle, Australia© Craig Wheeler

Community-protected Markhor atTorgarh, Pakistan © Tahir Rasheed

Slender loris, Nagavali villages, India © Ashish Kothari

Indigenous territories and biocultural landscapes/seascapes …

Mandingalbay Yidinji Indigenous Protected Area, Australia © Cairns Post

Skeena River in Gixtsanterritory,

Canada© Francois

Depey

TCO Isoso, Bolivia© Carmen E. Miranda L.

territories and migration routes of nomadic herders and mobile Indigenous peoples …

Shahsavan peoples’ territory, Iran

(Courtesy CENESTA)

sustainably used wetlands,coastal and marine areas …

Lubuk Larangan river, Mandailing, Sumatra

Coron Island, Tagbanwa Ancestral Domain, Philippines © Ashish Kothari

KawawanaICCA,Senegal

Waya Island, Fiji (Locally

Managed Marine

Area)© Stacy Jupiter

sustainably used terrestrial

ecosystems …

(biomass, medicinal plants, timber and non-timber forest products)

Himalayan forest, Jardhargaon, India© Ashish Kothari

Community forests and lake,Rupataal, Nepal© Ashish Kothari

Parc Jurassien Vaudois,Switzerland

Qanats, Central Asia

Hundreds of thousands of ICCAs (most undocumented and unrecognised)

No overall figure of extent, but could be as large as official protected areas (10-15% of earth)

ICCAs are the world’s best bet to meet several Aichi Targets

ICCAs involve processs in which Indigenous peoples and local communities integrate biodiversity, culture, adaptive knowledge systems, livelihoods, and governance…

STRATEGIC GOAL AAddress the underlying causes of biodiversity loss

by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society

Target 1: Awareness, valuesTarget 2: Integration with poverty, livelihood, development programmesTarget 3: Incentives Target 4: Sustainable production and consumption

ICCAs reduce or eliminate direct internal and external pressureson biodiversity…

STRATEGIC GOAL BReduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use

Target 5: Reduce loss of habitatsTargets 6,7: Sustainable fisheries, agriculture, aquaculture, forestryTarget 8, 9: Tackle pollution and invasive species

Target 10: Coral reefs and vulnerable ecosystems

ICCAs contribute tremendously to conservation of biodiversity and wildlife, even when the primary objectives are different…

STRATEGIC GOAL CTo improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding

ecosystems, species and genetic diversity

Target 11: Protected areas & other effective conservation measures Target 12: Preventing extinctions Target 13: Genetic diversity (domesticated, wild relatives)

Communities have a vested interest in maintaining, reviving and enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem functions…

STRATEGIC GOAL DEnhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services

Target 14: Ecosystem services Target 15: Climate resilience Target 16: Access and benefit-sharing

Localised institutions for natural resource stewardship, governance and management rely on sophisticated knowledge systems…

STRATEGIC GOAL EEnhance implementation through participatory planning,

knowledge management and capacity building

Target 17: NBSAPSTargets 18,19: Knowledge, science and technology (including traditional)Target 20: Resources

ICCAs already contribute much to the achievement of the Aichi Targets,

and could contribute even more with appropriate recognition

and support

Threats and challenges

• Lack recognition in law and policy

• Threats by extractive industry, monocultures, militarisation, commodification, climate change

• Top-down, exclusionary conservation policies

• Cultural and demographic change

• Social, economic, political inequities

territorial / tenurial rights

customary governance

knowledge, practices

documentation, assessments

resisting threats

Social, economic, livelihood

Good News: Progress in Legal Recognition

Multiple references to ICCAs in CBD Decisions and IUCN Resolutions

RRI (2012): Forests under community ownership/management, up from 10 to 15% in last decade

Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Australia: Indigenous territories designated

Philippines: Ancestral Domain titles to many Indigenous territories

India: Community Forest Rights (including use/management)

Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania: community forests and/or conservancies, with full management and use control

Fiji: recognition of Locally Managed Marine Areas (100% of country’s marine protected area system)

Key R

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for more information: www.iccaconsortium.org

chikikothari@gmail.com

Thanks to Gino Cocchiaro