New guide puts Indigenous Peoples, local communities and rights at the heart of ecosystem restoration

A major new report outlines how experts can better place Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the heart of decision-making in ecosystem restoration efforts.

Launched today during the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17), taking place in Yerevan, Armenia, it responds to the crucial target to undertake restoration on 30 per cent of degraded lands.

The guide is designed to provide practical support for restoration practitioners, such as government agencies and conservation NGOs, and includes over 40 interviews - the majority with Indigenous Peoples - and more than 30 case studies from across the world.

It is led by Synchronicity Earth, together with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), the consultancy Mansourian.org and the Universities of Lausanne, East Anglia (UEA), Penn State and Pernambuco.

The publication complements existing guidance which tends to focus more on ecological dimensions of restoration.

It provides five foundations that should form the backbone of any restoration initiative, and 13 mechanisms that are designed to assist restoration practitioners so that they can ensure that their projects respect the needs, rights, desires, knowledge and wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Co-author Prof Adrian Martin, from UEA’s School of Global Development, said: “This week, conservationists and political representatives from around the world are meeting in Armenia to review and plan progress on targets to protect and restore biodiversity.

“It has become increasingly clear that such targets should not and cannot be achieved without respecting rights and prioritising the crucial role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

“We hope that this report helps to make this happen, providing practical know-how for a shift towards local leadership in restoration.”

Ecosystem restoration is an important tool to reverse harms inflicted on our planet affecting its life-sustaining capacity, but the authors say external project supporters should aim to collaborate and align with the priorities of those present in the territory rather than imposing their approaches and applying minimum standards.

“Existing ecosystem restoration practice remains woefully inadequate when it comes to bringing in Indigenous Peoples and local communities, listening to their needs and priorities, building on their practices and supporting their priorities,” said lead author Dr Stephanie Mansourian of Mansourian.org.

“This ultimately has an impact not only on their rights and wellbeing, but also on the outcomes of the restoration intervention. Our guide aims to reverse this by providing support to restoration practitioners to better respect the needs and rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.”

Hanieh Moghani, Indigenous representative on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Advisory Board, added: “Everyone is talking about conservation and restoration, but for Indigenous Peoples, conservation is not a project or a time-bound intervention; it is a way of life, carried across generations and deeply embedded in our knowledge, cultures and biocultural inheritance.

“This report matters because restoration must begin by recognizing what Indigenous Peoples have already conserved, and by respecting their rights, governance, knowledge and leadership wherever restoration is truly needed.”

“This guide addresses a critical gap in rights-based guidance for practitioners and we are looking forward to the contents providing important input into future restoration processes,” said Helen Tugendhat, Co-Executive Director of Synchronicity Earth and Vice-Chair for Governance, Equity and Rights for the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas.

“For that to happen, we need to ensure that it is discussed and shared among those who are most likely to pick it up and use it in their work. We are looking forward to this moving from a newly drafted guide to a powerful tool in use.”

The guide - ‘Ecosystem Restoration with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: A Practical Guide’ - has been a significant collaborative effort, bringing together eight lead co-authors (Stephanie Mansourian, Neil Dawson, Shruti Ajit, Ida Djenontin, Adrian Martin, Felipe Melo, Gonzalo Oviedo and Helen Tugendhat), the perspectives of the interviewees, and around 30 contributing authors.