"The forest is everything to us".
Biodiversity loss is a major issue for people and planet. We are currently on track to lose over 1,000,000 animal and plant species within the next decades. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP) provides a space for a variety of stakeholders to come together and promote progress towards halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity. At the previous CBD COP in 2022, the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was agreed, providing an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. The recent CBD COP - COP16 in Cali, Colombia - was a chance to review progress and agree the way forward on key areas such as financing and monitoring progress.
I was able to go to Cali and attend a variety of excellent sessions related to Social Development Direct's (SDDirect) work in gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI). Here are some of my key takeaways from those sessions, and some reflections on the main outcomes of COP16.
1. Social inclusion promotes positive outcomes
Women, particularly Indigenous women and Afro-descendant women, often play a leading role in biodiversity and nature conservation in their communities. For example, in rural communities, women often hold responsibility for household food security and water security, are key in influencing their children and future generations, and lead on handing down ancestral knowledge, such as knowledge related to native seeds and plants. However, women’s important contributions to biodiversity are often restricted by social and legal barriers to land ownership, and are hidden by a lack of gender-disaggregated data.
Gender equality, disability and social inclusion is key for reversing biodiversity loss, as recognised by Target 23 in the Global Biodiversity Framework. Indigenous Peoples have been found to be more effective at protecting biodiversity. Rates of deforestation in areas inhabited by Indigenous people are up to a quarter lower than the global average and therefore also have a higher rate of preserved biodiversity than non-Indigenous lands. This is not surprising, since nature often plays a significant cultural and spiritual role in Indigenous Peoples’ communities. During SDDirect’s recent data collection with the Self-Employed Women’s Association in India, Adivasi women told us that the nearby forest is more than just a livelihood source for them, “the forest is everything to us” and holds important cultural value.
A major historic achievement at COP16 was the establishment of the subsidiary body for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. This will grant them participation in decision-making, a formal voice and greater prominence within the UN biodiversity convention. Afro-descendant peoples and other indigenous groups were also recognised as fundamental actors in the protection of biodiversity. These achievements aim to support Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and Afro-descendants to shape biodiversity efforts and ensure the equitable sharing of benefits arising from their traditional practices.
2. Violence is a barrier to effective environmental action
Environmental human rights defenders, often Indigenous Peoples and people from rural communities, face high levels of violence for protecting their territories and halting biodiversity loss. A new report by the Alliance for Land, Indigenous and Environment Defenders (ALLIED) found that in 2022 there were 177 killings and 916 non-lethal attacks of Indigenous, land and environmental defenders. The industrial agriculture and mining sectors are most often linked to attacks, with Colombia and Guatemala found to be the most violent countries for these defenders, based on the available data. Intersecting forms of discrimination, including on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, income, location, and disability status, mean that some defenders are disproportionately affected. Gender-based violence (GBV), such as online harassment and abuse, threats of violence or death, and non-partner sexual violence, is being used by powerful organisations to suppress the voices of environmental defenders, dismantle their status within their communities, and discourage them and others for continuing this work. It is also used by intimate partners, families and communities as retaliation against environmental defenders for challenging existing gender norms through their activism and leadership. A recent report from SDDirect’s Ending Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) Helpdesk details how GBV affects activists’ efforts to address climate change and environmental degradation, and how efforts to end GBV can be integrated into support to climate and environmental activists.
When designing and implementing climate and environmental programmes, it is not only important to ensure that they do not increase the risks of GBV, but also that the programme itself does not cause harms, such as discrimination, exploitation, violence and sexual abuse perpetrated by personnel.
3. Biodiversity finance needs to be GEDSI-responsive and reach local communities
An important goal for COP16 was to drastically increase the finance available for biodiversity. The Global Biodiversity Fund has a target of £200 billion annually, but commitments made at COP16 were just £165m, falling far short. It is not just the quantity of finance available which is important, but also making sure that the finance flows to the right places. Finance needs to reach Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Afro-Descendants, including women, who, as above, are doing much of the work, and need to be valued and compensated. The newly launched “Cali Fund”, which will be made up of voluntary contributions from companies in sectors such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals which use genetic material from living organisms will give at least half of the funding directly to Indigenous Peoples, another key win.
Biodiversity credits as a new source of finance received a lot of attention at COP16, both positive and negative. The IAPB Framework for high integrity biodiversity credit markets was launched. Meanwhile, I attended sessions led by organisations such as the Indigenous Environmental Network who are deeply opposed to these types of credits.
The overall message at COP16 was that a market for biodiversity credits must not repeat the mistakes which have been made in the Voluntary Carbon Market, including those related to well-documented harms to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. There were also important conversations around ensuring that there are locally-tailored options for measuring biodiversity in order to generate the credits. Biodiversity is even more complex to measure than carbon emissions, since, as the word suggests, there is huge diversity on what needs to be measured.
Our work in the Voluntary Carbon Market has found that whilst some carbon projects are delivering impressive results towards gender equality, overall, the market has historically been unaware of the importance of GEDSI in delivering effective carbon projects and channelling climate finance to women. Under the Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme, we recently developed guidance for carbon project developers to assist them in integrating gender and safeguarding into the design, implementation and monitoring of carbon credit projects. Much of this work will be relevant to the emerging biodiversity credits sector too.
4. Further progress is needed
Overall, there was mixed success at COP16 on GEDSI-related issues. There is much more work to be done to ensure that a diverse set of women’s voices are heard within COP negotiations, and that they are fully represented. This is also currently being demonstrated at COP29. It is essential to recognise, acknowledge and advance the rights, knowledge and capabilities of Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Afro-Descendants – especially women – as essential partners for reversing biodiversity loss. They need to be protected from violence, and adequately financed, in order to support the intertwined goals of gender equality, reversing biodiversity loss, combating climate change and achieving sustainable development.