COP16: STATES MUST REINFORCE HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTIONS IN GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORK

“The Global Biodiversity Framework includes many human rights safeguards, but it will only prove effective if states agree on a robust mechanism to monitor and enforce it. Delegates at COP16 must finalize a monitoring framework that comprehensively tracks all of those human rights safeguards and the appropriate channelling of funds, holds states accountable for failing to respect them, and is informed by submissions from Indigenous Peoples, peasant and Afro-descendant organizations, and civil society

Ahead of the COP16 Biodiversity summit, which runs from 21 October to 1 November in Cali, Colombia, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said: 

“At the last meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal in 2022, states agreed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a set of ambitious targets to strengthen the protection and promotion of biodiversity globally by 2030. That was an important first step towards tackling the biodiversity crisis that has brought about the total or near extinction of countless species and threatens the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

“The Global Biodiversity Framework includes many human rights safeguards, but it will only prove effective if states agree on a robust mechanism to monitor and enforce it. Delegates at COP16 must finalize a monitoring framework that comprehensively tracks all of those human rights safeguards and the appropriate channelling of funds, holds states accountable for failing to respect them, and is informed by submissions from Indigenous Peoples, peasant and Afro-descendant organizations, and civil society.

“The Global Biodiversity Framework, including its monitoring mechanism, is particularly crucial for Indigenous Peoples and land-dependent communities who are bearing the brunt of the loss of biodiversity but are also victimized by the responses to this loss. In particular, and as documented by Amnesty International, they are at risk of being thrown off their land in the name of creating protected conservation areas – a shameful practice known as fortress conservation.

The Global Biodiversity Framework includes many human rights safeguards, but it will only prove effective if states agree on a robust mechanism to monitor and enforce it.

Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard

“It is therefore crucial that the monitoring framework to be agreed in Cali contain indicators to measure the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and their traditional and scientific knowledge and practices, as well as the rights of Afro-descendants, peasants and other local land-dependent communities. The monitoring mechanism must track the channelling of biodiversity financing directly to those actors, and formally recognize their conservation work on their lands, which is often more effective than state-sanctioned protected areas.

“Similarly, environmental defenders and land protectors often risk their lives to protect our planet and its biodiversity. Delegates must keep this harsh reality at the front of their minds as they meet in Colombia, long the world’s deadliest country for environmental activists. The monitoring framework must thus include metrics to capture initiatives and legal protections for land defenders, and their impact and outcome, including on impunity.”