Addressee: CBD, UNDP, UNEP, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, WIPO, World Bank, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Paragraph #85Session #3 (2004)

Full Text

The Forum recommends that the Convention on Biological Diversity and other relevant United Nations bodies such as UNEP, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), UNDP, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the World Bank, WIPO, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, support indigenous peoples’ organizations in order to develop capacity on research, work and proposals on human indicators applicable to the implementation of the environmental conventions and the plans and programmes of work of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Responses

UNFCCC - The Secretariat of the UNFCCC considered the recommendation and reported that it is outside the direct remit of the Convention Secretariat. Parties are sympathetic to the relevance of the Convention and its Protocol to indigenous peoples organisations and encourage their participation by ensuring that opportunities are available to them under the Convention process, including access to workshops and assistance with catalysing informal contacts. The Convention secretariat does not have the mandate to develop the capacity of observer organizations on research, work and proposals to develop human indicators. Ongoing work on capacity-building for developing countries is focused at improving capacity-building in and for Parties to the Convention and not directed specifically at indigenous peoples organizations.

Through the Global Environment Facility small grants programme on Community management of protected areas for conservation (COMPACT), community-based initatives working with local and indigenous groups have significantly increased the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation and built their capacity for greater impact. In each of the selected globally significant protected areas, COMPACT addresses sustainable development by responding directly to funding proposals submitted by local non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and indigenous groups. In February 2004, the small grants programme of GEF signed a memorandum of understanding with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre to encourage mutual learning, resource mobilization, and the incorporation of the lessons of the COMPACT approach, focusing in particular on the involvement of local and indigenous communities in the co-management of globally significant protected areas.

Final Report of UNPFII Session 3 (2004)

Area of Work

Environment