The world today, is facing a complex environmental crisis and accelerating climate change, characterized by rapid loss of biodiversity and increasing extreme climatic events, all caused by human activities and for which, the solutions require the knowledge, views and contributions of IPLCs who have lived sustainably on their traditional lands and territories for millennia.

Today IPLCs’ contributions to conservation of biodiversity is based on evidence as it is presented in the IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019), which recognized that «Indigenous Peoples traditionally own, manage, use or occupy at least a quarter of the planet’s lands«, and that currently “Indigenous Peoples’ territories are becoming islands in a sea of devastation» and at the same time «nature managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities is under increasing pressure» from deforestation, loss of wetlands, mining, expansion of commercial agricultural, silvicultural and fisheries practices, and overall «the loss of biodiversity». It recommends that «recognizing the knowledge, innovations, practices, institutions and values of indigenous peoples and local communities, and ensuring their inclusion and participation in environmental governance, often improves their quality of life and the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of nature, which is relevant to society at large.»

The Convention on Biological Diversity adopted, by decision 15/4 (2022), the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) which acknowledges the important roles and contributions of IPLCs as custodians of biodiversity and as partners in its conservation, restoration and sustainable use. It also recognizes IPLCs as key actors in reversing biodiversity loss, which will also contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. This recognition of IPLCs is reflected throughout the KMGBF document, specifically in Sections C, Goal C and Targets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19(f), 21, and 22, which Parties have committed to implement at the national and sub-national levels, though national policies, the principal implementation tool being the updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

In line with the global recognition of IPLCs’ contributions, the CDB Parties have committed in the KMGBF to implement its targets at the national level through, but not limited to:

• Full recognition of the rights of IPLCs, knowledge and the contributions of IPLCs to biodiversity conservation in national policies including their updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)
• Increase benefit-sharing to Indigenous Peoples for the utilization of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources (Goal C, Target 13)
• Respect rights of IPLCs in spatial planning (Target 1)
• Restoration – that 30 per cent of the total area of degraded terrestrial, inland water and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration by 2030 (Target 2)
• Recognize the contribution of indigenous and traditional territories to conservation of biodiversity (Target 3)
• Establish mechanisms for the full and effective participation of IPLCs in local, national, regional, and global decision-making on biodiversity, including equitable participation of indigenous women (Target 22 and 23)
• Traditional knowledge that contributes to effective management of biodiversity, to be use only with the free, prior and informed consent of IPLCs (Target 21)
• Protect and promote customary sustainable use of biodiversity by IPLCs. (Target 5 and 9)
• Increase the level of financial resources from all sources, in an effective, timely and easily accessible manner enhancing the roles of IPLCs (Target 19)

Furthermore, in regards to the implementation of the KMGBF related to IPCLs, the 12th Meeting of the Working Group on Article 8 (j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity – which took place in November 2023 -, considered, among other matters, the new Program of Work on Article 8(j) and related provisions of the CBD and its institutional arrangements. As a result, the draft recommendations were adopted, with brackets, showing diverse views. These recommendations will be examined by the Sixteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) and having them in brackets will complicate the negotiations to achieve consensus and thus the adoption of the new Program of Work on Article 8 (j) and related provisions and their institutional arrangements.

The Paris Agreement (2015) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change  (UNFCC) recognizes the need to strengthen the knowledge, technologies, practices and efforts of IPLCs to address and respond to climate change. It states in its Preamble: “Acknowledging that climate change is a common concern of humankind, Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities,…” and in its Article 7 states: and that such work “should be based on and guided by the best available science and, as appropriate, traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples and local knowledge systems, with a view to integrating adaptation into relevant socioeconomic and environmental policies and actions, where appropriate”.

Therefore, during COP23, held in Bonn, Germany in 2017, the Platform of Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples was established with the objective to strengthen the knowledge, technologies, practices and efforts of local communities and indigenous peoples to address and respond to climate change, as well as to facilitate the exchange of experiences and the dissemination of best practices and lessons learned on mitigation and adaptation and to strengthen participation in the negotiation processes. All these commitments are being implemented by the National Determined Contributions (NDCs) at the national level.

The COP 29 of the UNFCC will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November 2024. IPLCs have a key role in climate actions, ecosystem/nature-based approaches of climate action within UNFCCC/Paris Agreement.

In this context, the World summit on traditional knowledge related to biodiversity will be an essential space to generate dialogue amongst government representatives and IPLCs from around the world, to contribute to consensus and make the COP16 successful and historic for the Indigenous Peoples and local communities of Colombia and the world with the adoption of the Program of Work on Article 8(j) and related provisions and its institutional arrangements. It will also increase the visibility and strengthen concrete support for the important roles and contributions of IPLCs to biodiversity conservation and in addressing climate change crisis in preparation for CBD-COP 16 and UNFCC-COP 29.