Indigenous peoples and local communities – benefits and livelihoods  

Indigenous peoples and local communities worldwide demonstrate unique capacity to jointly address the linked challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, land degradation and livelihood improvement in a socially equitable manner. Approaches are diverse and encompass a range of fields of work, including indigenous and community-conserved areas, agriculture, agroforestry, apiculture, fisheries, livestock, medicinal plants, non-timber forest products, wildlife management, ecotourism, enterprise development and market innovations, land tenure securitization, eco-agriculture, sustainable land use management, seed banks and more.

There is a growing need to scale-up and scale-out local best practices in biodiversity conservation, climate change and sustainable land management to link local experience and knowledge with national and international policy-making, thus contributing to sustainable development. Doing so represents one of the most effective means to localize the MDGs and realize quicker gains in poverty reduction, educational attainment, the availability of health care, and the sustainability of local livelihoods—in essence to achieve all of the MDGs.

Cancun December 2010

Nagoya October 2010