Promote local ownership and governance of nature to reach climate and biodiversity targets

Local ownership and governance of biodiversity are crucial to achieve global and national biodiversity and climate targets. Therefore, the position and rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) need to be valued, recognized and strengthened in the 2030 Global Biodiversity Framework and the climate convention (COP26) in Glasgow.

Header photo: Aerial view of forest © Michael Olsen for Unsplash

October 2021 is a crucial month for climate and biodiversity. ‘With two key UN conferences kicking off, we must address biodiversity loss in a just and inclusive manner,’ says Sander van Andel senior expert nature conservation at IUCN NL.  

Strong collaboration

Conserving key ecosystems like forests, as well as culture and livelihoods is a huge challenge for which solutions can only be found through strong collaboration between local, national and international networks of local communities, civil society, government and businesses.

Reaching global biodiversity and climate targets

IPLCS are estimated to hold more than half of the world’s land and biodiversity in customary, community-based tenure systems. Evidence shows lower deforestation rates and related CO₂ emissions and less biodiversity decline in forests owned and governed by IPLCs.

However, often little civic space and financial resources are available for communities and civil society groups. Van Andel: ‘But those groups are key to creating concrete, effective and locally suitable solutions to reach global biodiversity and climate targets.’

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Connecting local to global

IUCN NL strengthens processes to connect different levels of nature conservation by supporting communities and civil society groups in, among others, Indonesia, Uganda and Bolivia. In a three-part series, we show and explain our approach and results in these countries. The key here is to connect local, national and international actors to achieve biodiversity and climate objectives.