A Fulani family watering seedlings in Mali. Credit: Giacomo Pirozzi

Local Biodiversity Outlooks 2

MON // 31.8.2020

The second edition of Local Biodiversity Outlooks is a landmark collaborative piece of research and analysis which acts as a companion publication to Global Biodiversity Outlook.

Local Biodiversity Outlooks 2 (LBO-2) provides a snapshot of the many on-the-ground initiatives being led by indigenous peoples and local communities that contribute to the successful implementation of global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is intended to complement the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-5). This LBO-2 is released during crucial negotiations towards a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and the findings presented here are of fundamental importance to the outcome of those negotiations.

The LBO-2 complements GBO-5 by presenting the perspectives and experiences of indigenous peoples and local communities and their contributions to the successful implementation of the goals and targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The report also outlines indigenous peoples and local communities’ aspirations and ambitions for the new global biodiversity framework.

“LBO-2 embodies an optimism that the destruction of Nature and the dramatic loss of biodiversity and cultural diversity can be successfully reversed, by embracing the values, and building on the collective and local actions of the World’s indigenous peoples and local communities.” -- Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

The LBO-2 publication assesses progress against all 20 of the Aichi Targets which characterised global ambitions between 2011 and 2020. It finds that the contributions of indigenous peoples and local communities have been too often neglected and marginalized, and that failure to recognise and support these contributions is directly tied to our global failure to meet the majority of them. Target 18 on Traditional Knowledge is illustrative of this wider trend.

The authors of this publication argue that future global biodiversity goals must recognise the vital contributions made by indigenous peoples and local communities in protecting the biological and cultural diversity we all depend on. Over 50 indigenous and community authors have contributed, providing their perspectives and experiences in the assessment of progress in global biodiversity goals, and their perspectives and aspirations for a future where we all live in harmony with nature.