UNEP/CBD/WGPA2/2: REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME OF WORK ON PROTECTED AREAS FOR THE PERIOD 2004-2007

UNEP/CBD/WGPA2/2
Indigenous Peoples Committee on Conservation
Statement on UNEP/CBD/WG-PA/2/2
Agenda item 3.1.1 and 3.1.2
11 February, 2008

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Secretariat for preparing document UNEP/CBD/WGPA2/2.

We are very disappointed by the lack of progress in the implementation of Element 2 of the Programme of Work on governance, equity, participation and benefit-sharing. Despite all the hard work to contribute to the development of the Programme of Work and our efforts at the national level to implement its activities directly relevant to the indigenous peoples and local communities, we have met many obstacles and in many cases Parties have preferred to continue with the establishment of protected areas without taking into account our rights and without ensuring our full and effective participation. We acknowledge that the official document in front us, in the executive summary (on page 1), notes that there has been limited progress in the implementation of the two targets under Element 2 of the PoW. There is therefore a recognition even by Parties that there has been very little done to address governance, equity, participation and benefit-sharing. To us, this element is absolutely critical to the implementation of the PoW and the future of biodiversity sustainable use and conservation. It is unacceptable that so little attention has been paid to this vital part of the Programme of Work.

We also note the constraints and obstacles identified in the document. We agree that these represent significant constraints to the implementation of the PoW, but we would like to add that, in our experience, the main constrains is the failure of governments to
- recognize our customary practices and legal system related to the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity

- Recognize our rights to our territories, lands and resources and the rights of Free Prior Informed Consent

- Review and reform national protected areas policies and laws that contravene the goals and targets of program element 2.

- Train protected areas managers and personnel to participatory approaches and to recognize and respect our rights

This failure has generally lead to a narrow focus on achieving quantitative protected areas targets without paying sufficient attention to social, cultural and justice aspects of protected areas. The rush to expand protected areas networks without putting issues of equity and participation as its core of can lead to an unjust and skewed implementation of the PoW.

Given these obstacles, there is a need to urgently focus on ways and means to overcome them. While we support the proposed ways and means in the document, in particular strong political commitment and the establishment of institutional mechanisms, we recommend the following ways and means:

- ensure a much stronger focus on the implementation of programme element 2, and fully consider its goals and targets in the implementation of the other 3 elements of the Programme of Work.

- carrying out reviews and reforms of national laws and policies on protected areas to make them consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the PoW on PA and other relevant international obligations.

- appreciation, recognition and respect for customary practices, laws and institutions related to biodiversity related to the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity

- establish training programmes for protected areas managers and personnel on participatory approaches and on recognition and respect of our rights.


We would like to make several changes and additions to the Recommendations in Doc2/2:

2(b) Establish multi-stakeholder coordination committees consisting of representatives from indigenous and local communities, various government agencies and departments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), members of the IUCN-WCPA, which will guide the national focal point in order to accelerate implementation of the programme of work with a view to inter alia:

We propose to change to para 3 (iii) to the following:

(iii) Developing a communication strategy to enhance public awareness about the program of work and traditional natural resource management practices of indigenous and local communities.

We would like to propose the addition of a new paragraph, which will now be:
(iii).bis Recognizing and respecting rights of the indigenous and local communities and ensuring their full and effective participation.

In paragraph 2(c), we would like to suggest addition of some wordings:

Improve and diversify protected-area governance based on Element 2 of the Program of Work by recognizing, where appropriate, community-based organizations as co-managers, incorporating community-conserved areas into the national system of protected areas; and recognizing and integrating local community knowledge into protected area decision- making;

Also paragraph under 2(f), we would like to suggest the additions which will read as follows:

(f) Develop national data networks and structures (indigenous peoples’ organizations, practitioners, academics, NGOs) in order to streamline reporting on national progress in implementing the programme of work, including providing information to the World Database on Protected Areas;

We also have two minor ammends additions under recommendation 3 to ensure participation of indigenous and local communities in ongoing work. These are in:

(a) to insert” indigenous and local communities” after non-governmental organizations.

(b) Encourages Parties, other Governments, indigenous and other organizations to continue assisting the Executive Secretary in organizing subregional workshops on key themes of the programme of work;

Given the acknowledgement on the lack of implementation of Element 2, we would also like to make the following recommendation:

3(e) requests the next meeting of the WGPA to include in its agenda, a focus review of the implementation of Element 2 of the Programme Programme of Work.