Side event: Involving society in a sustainable future: Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and Stakeholder Engagement
On Friday, 1 March, at 13:30h EAT, this side event fostered the exchange of best practices in the participation and engagement of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) and stakeholders in the implementation of biodiversity goals and in building these kinds of mobilizations, and to create a space for dialogues, collaboration and networking among interested actors. The experiences under the Convention on Biological Diversity and in the context of the Global Biodiversity Framework (Biodiversity plan) served as examples to foster and trigger discussions and to explore experiences, strengths, and challenges under other processes.
Manoela Pessoa de Miranda, Programme Management Officer at the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention, explained how the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework has been a great boost for the Convention's work with IPLCs. "Although the Minamata Convention is a young MEA, being only six years old, the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-5) adopted a decision on Indigenous Peoples and local communities. We are now seeking dedicated funding to bring these stakeholders on stage and make them effectively participate in the decision-making process," she said.
The Biodiversity Plan promotes and creates opportunities for cooperation among MEAs and organizations, recognizing that enhanced collaboration and synergies at all levels would contribute to and promote its implementation in a more effective manner. In this regard, indigenous peoples and local communities, subnational and local governments, business and the financial sector, academia, youth, women and other civil society groups have a critical role to play in the implementation of the Biodiversity Plan.
In his closing remarks, David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, showed appreciation to all groups represented in the room: "The Biodiversity Plan is a strong framework, and it is strong because all the groups that demanded to be there. Please keep up the good work. We need everyone working together. We are also looking to learn from each other, like the Minamata Convention, with their engagement with indigenous peoples and local communities. We will certainly continue to be committed to ensuring that there are spaces for your engagement in this process towards living in harmony with each other".