Ahead of COP 16, indigenous people push for recognition of rights

Bengaluru: Indigenous leaders will press for the recognition of the rights of their communities in the protected areas by raising the issue at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference scheduled to begin on October 21 to be held in Colombia.

Article 8(j) of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), where India is a party, states that countries should respect, preserve and maintain the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities, subject to national legislation.

In a webinar organised by the Earth Journalism Network and Internews, Pirawan Wongnithisathaporn of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact said Article 8(j) can become an effective tool when the other rights of indigenous people, including their right to live in their ancestral sites located in protected areas and access the biological resources are protected by the states.

"In our culture, we collect what we need and leave the rest for the others and for regeneration. We don't live against the rule of each season with the awareness that nothing here belongs to us. However, we do not have access to information and don't get to know what the govt decisions are. Laws and policies are made on behalf of us," she said.

Speaking about the Article 8(j), she said the policy was good but was yet to be implemented fully on the ground. "We need a permanent subsidiary body to implement the article. The CBD needs to adopt new programmes and push for rights of the communities, including the occupational rights tied to traditional knowledge," she said.

The role of indigenous communities and their rights will be in focus at the 16th Conference of Parties to the CBD (COP 16). While the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework includes targets to protect 30% of the planet's land and oceans by 2030, a demand for recognising the indigenous territories, their rights and contribution to achieve that goal.

India's submissions before the CBD have highlighted initiatives like preparation of biodiversity registers, digital library for traditional knowledge, reforms to patent rules to ensure protection of traditional knowledge over biological resources, access benefits sharing (ABS) regulations of 2014 among other measures. In the recent meetings, India has spoken about the role of languages of indigenous people in the intergenerational transfer of traditional knowledge.

However, legal provisions like ABS regulations have not been implemented fully as state biodiversity boards grapple with lack of manpower to implement the same. Sources in the Karnataka BiodIversity Board said their demand notice to companies using bio resources has only led to court cases. Officials filed cases against 30 entities of which 20 have been stayed by the courts.

In May this year, the Himachal Pradesh High Court ruled that Indian companies are exempt from seeking prior approval and ABS regulations. "The road ahead will be difficult if we fail to convince the courts about the need for ABS," an official said.

Pirawan said about 61 people from 10 countries will represent the key demands of the indigenous communities at the COP 16.