A rights-based, people-centered approach for landscape-scale projects can foster unique interactions between communities, economies, and environments that build enduring conservation outcomes. This was the message delivered at a side event held during the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 15) in Montreal, Canada, during which speakers shared case studies and lessons learned on putting culture at the forefront of conservation activities.

The 12 December event explored how support and funding that put culture first can create enduring, resilient ecosystems and how biodiversity conservation can be achieved when Indigenous People are treated as equal partners. 

Uziela Achayap, Alto Mayo Awajun Communities Landscape/Bosque de las Nuwas, Peru, described an initiative to foster productive economic and conservation activities and to protect the 500 hectares of remaining forest in her community. Edward Cahauza, Indigenous Regional Federation of the Alto Mayo Awajun Communities, Peru, stressed that conservation requires not only strengthening governance, but also ensuring safeguards for human rights to develop sustainable supply chains that are culturally appropriate and economically viable. In the case of Palau, Lolita Gibbons Decherong, Resilient Reefs Initiative, highlighted efforts to formulate a fisheries management plan, led by traditional chiefs, community leaders, and scientists, which is beginning to restore the coral reefs and improve livelihoods.

Speakers also highlighted: 

• a partnership in Manitoba, Canada, between the Misipawistik Cree Nation and the government to effectively manage fisheries;
• opportunities for protecting private lands in Chile’s most populated regions, including a programme where landowners can assign land for conservation in perpetuity and conservation models are respectful and compatible with traditional land uses; and
• LandScale – a tool composed of an assessment framework, an online platform, and a validation mechanism, whose assessments are being used to, among others, better understand risk.

The event was organized by the Pollination Foundation.

Another 12 December event, convened by NatureFinance and WWF, discussed concrete solutions for increasing the alignment of public and private financial flows with nature, including the Nature-Finance Alignment Toolkit to enable financial actors and governments to identify, measure, and disclose their degree of alignment with nature. Participants also learned about how the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework could be implemented by companies and financial institutions to disclose nature-related risks and opportunities.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) covered selected side events at the UN Biodiversity Conference, which convened from 7-19 December 2022.