Two top guests join this episode to discuss the importance of Indigenous rights to the future of biodiversity conservation and efforts to build a more sustainable future for life on Earth.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and is the current executive director of the Tebtebba Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education, based in Manila.

Tauli-Corpuz who is a member of the Kankana-ey-Igorot people of the Philippines describes the Global Indigenous Agenda released at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, why it calls for Indigenous rights to be central to conservation efforts, and what she hopes to see achieved at the UN Biodiversity Conference taking place in Kunming, China next year.

We also speak with Zack Romo, program director for the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) who was in Marseilles for the Congress and helped pass the motion to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025. The rights-based approach that Amazon protection plan calls for, and what the next steps are to making the plan a reality, are discussed.

Here’s further reading and listening:

• ”‘The tipping point is here, it is now,’ top Amazon scientists warn”

• ”As COP15 approaches, ’30 by 30’ becomes a conservation battleground”

• ”‘Join us for the Amazon,’ Indigenous leaders tell IUCN in push for protection”

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Episode artwork: Participants at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in 2021, image via IISD.   Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].