{"id":53918,"date":"2022-05-22T01:43:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-21T23:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=53918"},"modified":"2025-07-02T09:37:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:37:42","slug":"10-facts-biodiversity-nature-protection-indigenous-peoples-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/53918\/10-facts-biodiversity-nature-protection-indigenous-peoples-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"10 facts about biodiversity, nature protection, and Indigenous Peoples\u2019 rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>From unimaginable habitat loss to heartbreaking species extinctions, it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise to any of us that our biodiversity &#8211; the variety of life in the world &#8211; continues to suffer from human greed, exploitation, encroachment, and neglect \u2013 putting short-term profit above all else. All life on this planet interacts and interconnects. All life relies on the biodiversity that surrounds it&nbsp; to thrive and survive.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/08\/6c98f25f-gp1svodw-1024x683.jpg\" title=\"Fire Monitoring in the Amazon in July, 2021. \u00a9 Christian Braga \/ Greenpeace\" alt=\"Fire Monitoring in the Amazon in July, 2021. \u00a9 Christian Braga \/ Greenpeace\" class=\"wp-image-49062\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/08\/6c98f25f-gp1svodw-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/08\/6c98f25f-gp1svodw-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/08\/6c98f25f-gp1svodw-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/08\/6c98f25f-gp1svodw-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2021\/08\/6c98f25f-gp1svodw.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Deforested and burnt area already being used for cattle ranching in Porto Velho, Rond\u00f4nia state, Brazil.<div class=\"credit icon-left\"> \u00a9 Christian Braga \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p>A critical juncture in our global crisis biodiversity loss, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/53228\/why-convention-on-biological-diversity-cop15-important\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15<\/a> is planned to be held later this year in Kunming, China. This meeting will be absolutely critical to determine how we as a global community impact biodiversity over the next ten years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>To succeed, the CBD COP15 negotiations must ensure greater protections for Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their civil rights, particularly land rights. Greenpeace also supports the call for a 30&#215;30 (\u201cthirty-by-thirty\u201d) policy to protect at least 30% of the world\u2019s land and 30% of the oceans by 2030, if it is in cooperation with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Their knowledge, practices and stewardship make them the most qualified guardians of nature.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/05\/2045d619-gp1sxat8-1024x683.jpg\" title=\"Free Land Camp 2022 - March for Democracy in Brasilia. \u00a9 Tuane Fernandes \/ Greenpeace\" alt=\"Free Land Camp 2022 - March for Democracy in Brasilia. \u00a9 Tuane Fernandes \/ Greenpeace\" class=\"wp-image-53919\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/05\/2045d619-gp1sxat8-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/05\/2045d619-gp1sxat8-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/05\/2045d619-gp1sxat8-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/05\/2045d619-gp1sxat8-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-international-stateless\/2022\/05\/2045d619-gp1sxat8.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>On April 9, The Free Land Camp participated in the protest in favor of democracy. In a peaceful way and using their songs and dances, indigenous peoples remembered the importance of guaranteeing the rights of all.<div class=\"credit icon-left\"> \u00a9 Tuane Fernandes \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p>For this year\u2019s World Biodiversity Day (22 May), here are 10 quick facts to keep you up-to-date on what\u2019s happening with biodiversity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>As of 2021, just <a href=\"http:\/\/www.intactforests.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">9% of the world\u2019s forests remain intact<\/a>.<\/li><li>The Amazon has already lost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.aba2949\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">17 percent<\/a> of its forest cover and an additional 17 percent of its rainforests have been degraded<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IPBES\/status\/1137254431467212800\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Only 3% of the world\u2019s oceans are free from human pressures<\/a><\/li><li>The Deni, a community of Indigenous Peoples who live in what is known as modern day Brazil, took control of their local fishing areas in 2011. In eleven years, their sustainable management <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2022\/02\/18\/amazon-indigenous-community-restores-giant-freshwater-fish-and-thrives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">increased the local fish stock by 425%<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Under Indigenous stewardship, West Papua in modern day Indonesia has retained most of its natural forest cover and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-020-2549-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">boasts a higher level of plant diversity than any other island on Earth<\/a>.<\/li><li>Commercial fisheries kill tens of millions of sharks every single year &#8211; disrupting whole ecosystems and threatening the livelihoods of coastal communities who depend on healthy oceans and sustainable fisheries.<\/li><li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/allianceforscience.cornell.edu\/blog\/2022\/04\/african-union-seeks-billions-in-funding-to-conserve-biodiversity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">African Union<\/a> (a coalition of 55 CBD member states), supported by many other developing countries and China, launched a proposal for a global biodiversity fund to finance protections in developing economies, with at least US$100 billion annually, rising to US$700 billion annually by 2030 and beyond. The Kunming Fund, established by China with an initial pledge of $230 million USD, made modest efforts to finance biodiversity protection. Traditional donor countries in Europe and North America have disappointingly been tight-lipped so far.&nbsp;<\/li><li>False solutions are a big risk to biodiversity protection, including offsets, double-counting climate funds with biodiversity funds, and any conservation efforts that fail to cooperate with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Any biodiversity protection targets, such as the 30&#215;30 target, must hold to Indigenous Peoples\u2019 and local communities\u2019 rights and central roles.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Protecting the oceans presents a unique challenge. Greenpeace\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/planet4-international-stateless\/2019\/03\/479c73c5-30x30_blueprint_report_exec_summary_web.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">30&#215;30 Blueprint for Ocean Protection<\/a>\u201d mapped the ocean (which covers almost half the globe) into 25,000 squares, each 100&#215;100 km, and then analyzed the distribution of 458 different conservation features, including wildlife, habitats and key oceanographic features. This enables researchers to generate hundreds of scenarios for what a planet-wide network of ocean sanctuaries, free from harmful human activity, could look like.<\/li><li>The CBD has 195 parties: the Vatican is not a signatory, while the US has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biologicaldiversity.org\/publications\/papers\/SDLP_10Spring_Snape.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signed but not ratified<\/a> the Convention. The US does, however, usually send a delegation to the negotiations.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<p><em>August Rick is International Communications Officer at Greenpeace East Asia.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From unimaginable habitat loss to heartbreaking species extinctions, it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise to any of us that our biodiversity continues to suffer from human greed, exploitation, encroachment, and neglect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":49062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70,73],"tags":[84,85],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-53918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","category-social-and-economic-systems","tag-forests","tag-oceans","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53918"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76657,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53918\/revisions\/76657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53918"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=53918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}