The Indigenous Advisory Group (IAG) of the Banks and Biodiversity Initiative supports the joint call for financial institutions to uphold the zero-deforestation criteria of the Amazon Soy Moratorium (ASM). While the Moratorium agreement itself may have been rolled back on the basis of Brazilian political interests, financial institutions should recognize the value and importance of upholding its principles as a matter of risk management and adherence to global norms.

A new report from Friends of the Earth US explains how banks and financiers must align with the GBF and develop a biodiversity plan to stop and reverse biodiversity loss, while also protecting Indigenous Peoples and affected communities. The report, “Financing for Biodiverse Futures? Key Considerations for Financial Institutions to Stop and Reverse Biodiversity Loss,” discusses how banks and financiers can develop an effective biodiversity plan.

75 Indigenous peoples and organizations and allied civil society organizations representing over 34 countries and working globally call upon financiers to uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples globally

Indigenous Peoples play a critical role in protecting the world’s remaining biodiversity hotspots. Research shows that lands and territories managed by Indigenous Peoples yield the same or better biodiversity outcomes than protected areas. Nature and biodiversity decrease at a slower rate on Indigenous lands, and yet, these areas are facing increasing threats and pressures from harmful development.

The new report, “Red Lines for a Green Future: Exploring Exclusionary Approaches to Protecting Biodiversity and People”, recommends aligning with the Banks and Biodiversity Initiative’s proposed No Go areas as a basis for creating exclusionary policies as a means to safeguard critical ecosystems from harmful development in China and abroad.

Humans cannot live without biodiversity or a stable climate, which are mutually reinforcing. Both are needed to ensure food, drinking water, medicines, clean air and temperature regulation.
Climate chaos is already impacting biodiversity, among others through wildfires, floods and droughts, but also by enabling the spread of pests, diseases and invasive species. But biodiversity protection and restoration is also essential to limit climate change.
Download the full briefing paper by Pippa Gallop and Andrey Ralev.

In my native language, Tz’utujil, as in many other Indigenous languages, there is no direct translation for “ecosystem” or “biodiversity.” Instead, we use the compound noun, “Ruuwaach Uleew,” to refer to Mother Earth, to everything that exists, living and nonliving. Indigenous Peoples worldwide have been engaging in ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation since time immemorial. Although we may call it by different names and understand it through different lenses, we do this through our Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Traditional Ecological Knowledge is experiential knowledge developed over millennia based on the intimate relationship with the web of life. It can be found in hunting and agricultural practices, land management, wildlife management, sustainable water use, agriculture-related engineering, architecture, medicinal uses of native plants, traditional fire management, management of invasive species, and so much more.

On the first anniversary of the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), 101 civil society organizations call upon all banks to produce and publish a transition plan that is aligned with the goals and targets of the GBF and  the Paris Agreement, by October 2024.