Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)

Context

Recently, a symposium on the rights of indigenous people was organised by the University of Arizona which focused on how the Global Biodiversity Framework and India’s Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act of 2023 will impact tribes.

About 

• This framework was adopted throughout the 15th assembly of the Conference of the Parties, or COP15, to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022.
• It aims to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals and construct on preceding strategic plans.
• It sets a bold path toward international harmony with nature by 2050.
• In adopting the GBF, all events committed to placing national objectives to enforce it.

Goals and objectives

• The GBF includes 23 goals(set for 2030) and four worldwide dreams(set for 2050) to hold biodiversity for present day and future generations.
• The goals address reducing threats to biodiversity, meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing, and tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming.

Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal GBF

• Target 3 of the GBF is to make sure that as a minimum 30% of the arena’s land, waters, and oceans are conserved by 2030.
• At present, protected areas (PAs) cover about 16%.
• This target is likewise known as the “30 by 30” goal.

Controversy

• As per analysts, this target appears innocent but often benefits corporations over indigenous groups, especially in Southeast Asia.
• In Indonesia’s Ujungkulon National Park, indigenous people lack basic rights like housing, health, and education.
• Similarly, in Cambodia’s Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, an indigenous chief, Heng Saphen, was unfairly convicted for farming on her very own land.
• Involving the private sector in forest conservation is a bad idea.
• Analysts talked about how India has taken a step on this course with the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act of 2023.
• The act includes zoos, safaris, ecotourism centers, etc., as forest activities.
• According to specialists, protected regions were first made for enjoyment and searching by colonial elites.

What would GBF suggest for India?

• About 84% of India’s countrywide parks (89 out of a total of 106) had been established in areas inhabited by the indigenous peoples and meeting the GBF targets will threaten their life.
• E.g., the initiative to upgrade the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan to a tiger reserve will have an effect on 162 tribal villages located outside and inside the sanctuary.
• Similarly, the growth of the Nauradehi Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh is about to affect 62 villages of mostly tribal people.
• In Assam, the June 2022, notification for the Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary will have an effect on the Khasis, Dimasas, and other indigenous groups.
• The gazette notification states that the sanctuary is free from encroachment as according to the record, there are not any rights and concessions of any man or woman in the region.
• However, the Khasis possess documents showing they have been living in the area since 1914.

Source: The Hindu

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