This dialogue explores the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) through Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), focusing on the recognition of Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) and Indigenous Territories of Life (ITTs). It examines the legal, political, and institutional challenges that continue to shape the recognition of Indigenous Peoples' and Local Communities' rights to land, governance, and self-determination. The dialogue will also address the tensions between conservation and sovereignty, land tenure security, enforcement authority, and the coexistence of customary and statutory legal systems. 

Presentation

This dialogue brings together Indigenous leaders, representatives of local communities, scholars, practitioners, and policy experts to examine the governance of ancestral territories and spiritual landscapes across the Andes, Amazonia, the Chaco, Afro-descendant territories.

At a time when the implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) increasingly depends on the contributions of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), the symposium critically examines the opportunities and limitations of policy instruments such as Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs), Indigenous Territories of Life (ITTs), and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs). Particular attention is given to the role of customary governance systems in achieving Target 3 while safeguarding Indigenous self-determination, collective land tenure, cultural continuity, and the integrity of Indigenous institutions.

A central theme of the symposium is the distinction between recognition and sovereignty. Although many states formally acknowledge Indigenous stewardship of forests and culturally significant landscapes, legal recognition frequently remains limited to usufruct, co-management, or conservation responsibilities, rather than extending to full territorial authority and jurisdiction. Indigenous leaders have consistently argued that communities seek recognition not simply as custodians of biodiversity but as legitimate rights-holders, owners, and governors of their ancestral territories. The symposium therefore examines the legal and political tensions surrounding territorial ownership, institutional autonomy, customary law, and the criteria through which Indigenous identities and governance systems are recognised within contemporary conservation frameworks.

Building on previous dialogues held in Southeast Asia and Africa on colonial legacies, commodity frontiers, and the governance of sacred natural sites, this concluding symposium extends the comparative discussion to Latin America and the Pacific. Participants will explore relational ontologies and territorial philosophies, including Andean Apus, Amazonian understandings of forest personhood, Indigenous systems of territorial governance, and Pacific land–sea continuities such as Vanua and Ahupuaʻa, to examine how these worldviews challenge conventional approaches to biodiversity conservation and environmental governance.

By bringing together Indigenous knowledge holders, researchers, and practitioners, the seminar seeks to advance rights-based and heritage-sensitive approaches to conservation that strengthen Indigenous governance, secure collective land rights, and support adaptive environmental stewardship grounded in both ancestral knowledge and contemporary ecological challenges

Please note: the seminar will be conducted primarily in Spanish. To facilitate participation, we recommend downloading a simultaneous translation application that can translate from Spanish into your preferred language. 

For example: 

• https://retalk.app/
• https://transgull.com/online-meeting-translation

This research was supported by the EUTOPIA Science and InnovationFellowship Programme and funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 programmeunder the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 945380.

Panel

Ancestral Lands, Spiritual Landscapes, and Indigenous-Led Conservation Chaco, Amazonia and Andes

• Tsanim Wajai, GTA Wampis (en remplacement de GTA Kandozi)
  Jaime Corisepa, Nación Harakbut

Programme

11:00–11:05 (Brasília BRT) | 16:00–16:05 (Paris CEST) | 09:00–09:05 (Lima PET)

• Gabriela Gonzales (Landscape Alliance) Welcome and Opening Remarks: Framing Indigenous territorial governance, ICCAs, ITTs, and biodiversity conservation. 

11:05–11:10 (Brasília BRT) | 16:05–16:10 (Paris CEST) | 09:05–09:10 (Lima PET)

• Rocío Vasquez (Landscape Alliance) Multi-stakeholder Conservation Dialogues in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

11:10–11:20 (Brasília BRT) | 16:10–16:20 (Paris CEST) | 09:10–09:20 (Lima PET)

• Alessandra Manzini (PLACES Lab, CY Cergy Paris Université – SPIRAL Project) SPIRAL Project in the Andes and Amazonia: Framing the research questions and conceptual themes of the symposium.

11:20–11:40 (Brasília BRT) | 16:20–16:40 (Paris CEST) | 09:20–09:40 (Lima PET)

• Representative of the GTA Kandozi, Indigenous Territorial Governance and Conservation in the Kandozi Territory.

11:40–12:00 (Brasília BRT) | 16:40–17:00 (Paris CEST) | 09:40–10:00 (Lima PET)

• Representative of the Harakbut Nation (Madre de Dios Region) Territorial Governance, Forest Stewardship, and Indigenous Conservation in Madre de Dios.

12:00–12:20 (Brasília BRT) | 17:00–17:20 (Paris CEST) | 10:00–10:20 (Lima PET)

• Luca Citarella Menardi Regenerating the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: Indigenous-led Conservation and Territorial Governance in Colombia.

12:20–12:35 (Brasília BRT) | 17:20–17:35 (Paris CEST) | 10:20–10:35 (Lima PET)

• Walter Sey Izquierdo (Arhuaco Representative) Reclaiming Ancestral Lands: Introducing the Arhuaco Struggle through the case of the Seykun land restitution.

12:35–12:50 (Brasília BRT) | 17:35–17:50 (Paris CEST) | 10:35–10:50 (Lima PET)

• Moderated Discussion & Questions
• Dialogue with Indigenous representatives and Luca Citarella Menardi.

12:50–13:05 (Brasília BRT) | 17:50–18:05 (Paris CEST) | 10:50–11:05 (Lima PET)

• Alejandro Argumedo (SWIFT Foundation & Asociación ANDES) Biocultural Diversity Conservation and the Governance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the Andes.

13:05–13:20 (Brasília BRT) | 18:05–18:20 (Paris CEST) | 11:05–11:20 (Lima PET)

• Lygia Fernandes Zamali (Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra) Anthropoblind—It Is Not Development: The Self-Determination of Peoples as an Instrument of the Sacred.

13:20–13:35 (Brasília BRT) | 18:20–18:35 (Paris CEST) | 11:20–11:35 (Lima PET)

• Lorenzo Langbehn (Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo Social) Communal Uses of the Forest, Livelihoods, and Conservation in the Argentine Chaco.

13:35–14:00 (Brasília BRT) | 18:35–19:00 (Paris CEST) | 11:35–12:00 (Lima PET)

• Final Discussion and Closing Remarks
• Rights-based conservation, Indigenous territorial governance, ICCAs, OECMs, and implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Practical information

Las intervenciones del simposio serán en español e inglés

Registration

Programme updates and further information