The African CSO Biodiversity Alliance’s
(ACBA) delegation to its first CBD COP, appreciates the inclusion of diverse
voices from developing countries including NGOs, CSOs IPLCs, Women, Youth and
faith-based organizations in the discussions about our collective future. The
unprecedented acknowledgement and space given to IPLCs at this COP augers well
for the multilateral processes. We are
grateful to the African Group of Negotiators on Biodiversity for providing a
unified voice for Africa and in most cases, championing issues that are key for
African CSOs.
ACBA further acknowledges that
this framework represents advancement from the previous 2011-2020 Aichi Targets.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) addresses key biodiversity
conservation issues important to the global South and IPLCs. Additionally, it promises a fundamental shift
in the conservation paradigm by positioning people at the center of
conservation models.
ACBA welcomes the recognition of
the rights of IPLCs, Women, Youth, and a human rights-based approach to
conservation, including the role that sustainable use plays in conservation
efforts. However, as the world kickstarts the next phase of implementation, governments
and multilateral financing mechanism must collectively create an enabling
environment and mechanisms that ensure the funds reach to those that are
entrusted to protect these natural resources, the IPLCs.
ACBA notes with concern that the innovative
funding mechanism proposed within the framework depends on governments using
public funding to leverage private funding. ACBA affirms that article 20 of the Convention needs to be
applied to ensure developed country
parties are held accountable to their legally binding obligations to provide
new and additional financial resources for biodiversity conservation to
developing country parties. ACBA further encourages consideration of practical
solutions to the unsustainable debts in Africa that eventually divert the
limited funding away from climate and biodiversity action.
ACBA also notes with concern that
the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework places the burden of
addressing unsustainable consumption patterns on citizens rather than corporations
that are engaged in harmful production activities to meet demand in the global
North. ACBA strongly supports the Global Biodiversity Framework’s position that
governments establish strong legal, administrative and policy procedures to
hold corporations to account for their negative impacts on biodiversity.