 But welcome and good afternoon to all, good morning for those connecting from the west and good evening for those connecting from the east. Welcome to this plenary side event on forest and land monitoring for climate action for and by indigenous peoples and local communities. My name is John Fernandez de la Renoir. I lead the FAO indigenous peoples unit and I have the pleasure and honor to facilitate this session today. In any indigenous peoples event, we start normally with an spiritual ceremony. In this case, I would like to acknowledge and to send a remembrance of the Todas from Bicca Patimund in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu that wanted to be with us, but they couldn't make it. So we send our regards to them. Now why are forest and land monitoring for climate action so important for indigenous peoples and local communities? Let me provide a few examples from the point of view of indigenous peoples. In 2021, FAO published a technical report on forest governance by indigenous peoples in Latin American and the Caribbean highlighting opportunities for climate actions. The report brought to the light their urgency to protect forest territories of indigenous peoples, giving their great contribution to climate mitigation and adaptation. For indigenous peoples, their territories, lands and natural resources are sacred. Research carried out by FAO and the Alliance of Biovesit International and SEAT in 2021 saw how indigenous peoples can source up to 80% of their food from their territories. In a nutshell, for indigenous peoples, if there is no access to land and territories, there is no food security. This was already enshrined in the right to food guidelines approved by FAO members in 2004. And this is actually three years ahead of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples indoors in the General Assembly. In 2017, the high-level panel of experts of the Committee on World Food Security published a report on sustainable forestry for food security and nutrition. As per this report, 200 million indigenous persons in the world depend primarily on natural forests for their livelihoods, such as hunting, gathering, and sifting cultivation. This represents more than 40% of the 476 million indigenous peoples that make up the world population of indigenous peoples. The indigenous hunter-gatherers are those among indigenous peoples that often are most vulnerable. They go marginalized, and very often they are discriminated. Their rights are particularly ignored and violated, and their livelihoods depend very much so on the forest that they inhabit. At the same time, we need to advance together on the global need to recognize and protect indigenous peoples' rights to their forests, territories, and lands. The Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure, adopted in 2012 by the FAO members, reaffirmed the critical link, again, between tenure and food security already highlighted in the right to food guidelines. So indigenous peoples are the guardians of the largest cert of the remaining world's biodiversity, and this is the biodiversity that we haven't exterminated with other forms of territorial management in the planet. Indigenous peoples through their food and knowledge systems are capable of adapting to their food generation and production to the ecosystems where they live. Their food systems are root in their forests, tundra, Iceland, and other ecosystems. So these indigenous peoples' food and knowledge systems protect biodiversity and manage territories and ecosystems in a sustainable way, and they have done so for thousands of years. Yet their indigenous peoples' rights continues to be violated worldwide. Indigenous peoples are still being displaced today. Just came back from the UN Permanent Forum where we met an elder that he was telling us that in his lifetime he has been displaced five times from his home, five times he has been displaced, and he only had one message for countries, UN agencies, NGOs. He said, I wish that my children will not be displaced a single time in their lifetime, and I know that I'm going to die and I will never have a home because I just can't be in this place from one area to the next. We need to rethink and do things differently. We want to achieve the SDGs. During the COP26 at Glasgow, indigenous peoples and local communities promise to receive 1.7 billion to support the advancement of their forest tenure rights, as well as the greater recognition or the roles as guardians of forest and nature. Target three of the coming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework negotiated at the COP15 on the Convention on Biological Diversity this last December asked for the recognition and respect of the rise of indigenous peoples and local communities in the context of the upcoming conservation of at least 30% of the planet's lands and oceans. Indigenous peoples' territories should be part of this 30% and should be recognized. Today we have an opportunity with eminent panelists to advance in these discussions and ensure that in the context of forest, the different tools, the different projects, the different programs put an end to the violation of indigenous peoples' rights and the displacement that very often well-intended policies are causing. Let me pass the floor straight away to Jenny Lopez from the UK, and Jenny Lopez is a land governance advisor in the Food, Land and Agriculture team at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Jennifer is going to be talking virtually with us. The floor is yours, Jenny. Thank you for being with us. Thank you very much. Just checking you can hear me. I really appreciate the offer to speak with you today and thank you for the brilliant introduction. You've actually said so much already of what I was hoping to say, so thank you for capturing and framing that so well. I'm a land governance advisor at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and we've been leading a lot of the initial work for the Forest Tenure Pledge which was launched at COP26 and working very much in collaboration with other donors and stakeholders, civil society organizations and indigenous people and local community groups themselves which really made that moment happen. So as has already been captured today, just some brief recap of why this is so critical. We have today at least 1.6 billion people who are living near the forests who depend on those forest resources for their livelihoods, for their food, for their income, also very much their homes. But an estimated 36% of the world's remaining intact forests are within indigenous peoples lands. However, less than 10% of that is legally recognized. Of the 50% of land that sits within at least, that it is owned, managed by IPLCs and I'm saying IPLC as an abbreviation today for indigenous peoples and local communities, less than 10% of that is legally recognized. We know that IP and LCs are the most effective and resilient stewards of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We have a lot of evidence, a lot of studies that really demonstrate that these communities, these forest communities are the most effective guardians of forest and nature. However, they don't have those legal ownership, they don't have those rights, but most importantly and perhaps critically from the perspective of the pledge, they're not getting the support from donors, from governments, from broader society to be able to maintain that their livelihoods, their maintain their role of forest institutes and nature. So it's a very good study by Rainforest Foundation Norway, which demonstrates that of all the overseas development aid of ODA funding, less than 1%, only a fraction is going to supporting forest tenure and land management programs and projects and even of that 1%, even less of that is actually reaching indigenous peoples and local community organizations themselves. So we're seeing a really, really small fraction of global funding and support is really understood and being channeled in the right way to reach communities. So at COP26, the UK in collaboration with other donors launched this pledge. It was a really historic moment for $1.7 billion to go towards and to be channeled towards projects on forest tenure. It was also a historic moment because it was the first time we had leaders, representatives from indigenous people and community organizations on stage alongside government. And the same happened again last year. So we at COP, so we hope that will be a precedent now to really recognize the importance of bringing together leadership from indigenous communities and governments on the stage and working together in this way achieving the visibility and the momentum that is needed. It's also just to mention that the pledge is linked to the Global Forest Finance Pledge and the Glasgow Leaders Declaration. So it is also being recognized that if connecting the different pledges that are in place and recognizing the importance of forest tenure alongside the other commitments and much bigger commitments made from governments, not just donors, but broader governments on the importance of this, if we're going to tackle climate change, biodiversity, other ecosystem services issues, we need to join those dots. So the pledge itself, this really recognized the importance of indigenous people and local communities. It's a commitment not just to mobilize financial support, that 1.7, but also recognize that more effective donor support, more effective funding channels are needed, but also more effective partnerships with indigenous people and local communities, with civil society organizations and between donors, between donors themselves. So what we have promised to do as donors is to have more effective coordination is to look at the way we're funding projects and programs. We're not saying it's only direct support that's needed. We need funding at different levels from local to regional to more systemic work on policies, on tenure forms, but we need to be making sure that's happening more effectively. One year on from that pledge, we published a report last year at COP 27. I'd encourage you all to read it. We're making some progress. We now have 7% of funding reaching IPLC, so that's some improvement on the initial 1%, but it is of course still not enough. There's still so much work to do. There are still many challenges, and I think we all know there's many challenges with direct funding themselves, so there's many administrative burdens, there's many problems with how those, let's say, the capacity of indigenous people and local community organizations to absorb funding. There's a lot of issues that we need to tackle in how we can find more effective routes, and we need more types of programs and projects that are exploring that, that are looking at how we can channel funds more effectively through different types of intermediary organizations through different ways of working, and this really is that commitment from donors is to start to find new ways of funding, new ways of working in partnership with organizations, and this is where we come to a new program that we're really excited to support as the UK, and that is called Aim for Forest. So it's a new project we're taking forward. It's £24.5 million, and it's part of our UK international climate finance investment. It will be delivered by FAO. It's going to be running to 2028, and it will be working with 20 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The point of this program is to support capacity building efforts for indigenous people and local communities, so that's including to monist forest areas towards enabling participation in emerging carbon standards. The aim is to further strengthen the role of IPLCs as forest stewards and better support their integration and how we can unlock new ways of getting funding to those communities. What's really important and for us exciting about the way that Aim for Forest has been designed, and I know you're going to hear more about this next today, so I'll leave all the detail, but the what's exciting for us is it's not just about a program which is for IPLCs, but the purpose of it is very much to be designed in partnership with indigenous peoples and local communities. It's to genuinely ensure that it's meeting their needs, it's meeting their demands, it's really trying to evaluate how you can ensure that it's being more effective in the way that funding is spent. And as the UK, I think that's what we really want to do is understand how we can learn from projects like this, how we can share projects like this with other donors to see how we can scale this up. This is just the start of many other new ways of working we hope, and we're really excited to learn more, to share more, and to keep that dialogue open with yourselves, stakeholders that are here today, and other donors to really see how we can scale that up over the years ahead. Thank you very much, I'll pass on now back to my colleagues who are on the panel and they're with you today. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank you, thank you so much Jenny, and please stay with us. It is very important, very powerful opening about the importance of increasing the funding that goes to indigenous peoples directly. I remember in COP we met, we discussed about that 7% of the actual disbursement that is going to for indigenous peoples and indigenous peoples were concerned, were disheartened, and concerned about the number of intermediary organizations that were in a way getting the funding and not indigenous peoples. So point taking of the need to scale that, and please stay with us in the questions and answers so that we can have a brainstorming. And perhaps the coalition on indigenous peoples also offers an opportunity to help scale up those very important initiatives that you're leading. But thank you so much for those opening words. I'm going to pass straight away to word Anseu. Dr. Word Anseu is a development economist, a policy analyst, and a research fellow at the CIRAD. He's right now seconded to the International Land Coalition as the lead technical specialist responsible for the Global Land Observatory and as the chair of the landmark award. Thank you so much for being with us. The floor is yours. Thanks John, and good afternoon everybody. Good morning those in the West. I think what I heard from and what I saw from the other presentations that this panel and this project that we will present, that we are presenting now to you Aim for Forest and the Particular, it's work package three on indigenous peoples and local communities is a bit the black duck in the conference and in the sector. First of all, because we put on purpose indigenous peoples and local communities to the fore. We're not seeing only the trees and not only seeing the forest, but what is happening in these forests and who is taking the decisions in these forests and who has the rights in these forests. And secondly, because on top of forest, we also put lands to the fore. So this work package three of the Aim for Forest will not only monitor forest, but also lands because we think they are absolutely intertwined and not doing them together would be a mistake. And let me justify that with some data and I recognize I will repeat some of the data Jenny and Jan have nicely presented, but I think it is important to re-emphasize that and to show you the legitimacy of this project and of the need of combining sectors beyond forest. So why indigenous peoples and local communities? Well, we've said it already, 70% of the world's forests are on government-administrated land. But what has not been said yet is that most of these lands, most of these forests are claimed by indigenous peoples and local communities and only 15% of them are recognized and documented. So there's a huge gap there. So IPLCs are the factor, the owners and the decision makers of these lands and of most of the forests on the planet. So why do we took money and only in some of these forests to governments? Indigenous peoples and local communities should be part and parcel of these discussions from the beginning, from shaping them, planning them and executing them. As Jenny said, awareness has been created around the indigenous peoples and local communities, but we are far from the reality to include them. 7% only trickles down to where the support is needed. Now why land, why forest and land? Well, 50% of the world's land is owned and occupied by indigenous peoples and local communities. Most of them are those where the forests lie. Only 10% are recognized and documented. The same gap occurs here. So actually when we speak about forests, when we speak about these trees, we do not know who owns these trees and who takes the decision on these trees. So there's an absolute need here to map them. Not only these forests, as we've been hearing about in this conference, but also the rights and the rights bearers of these forests. And this can only start by mapping the territories, the lands, and the rights to these lands where these forests are located. And that's precisely what aims for forests and in particular its World Package 3 on indigenous peoples and local communities is aiming to. It is combining forests and land in a capacity transfer program, capacity building program. So to do so, we've established a partnership between FAO, the International Land Coalition, and particularly in a project called Landmark, in which the ILC is part of, and which is mapping the lands, resources, and the rights of indigenous peoples and correlating them to the forest monitoring that you all aim for forests and you all here are engaged in. So Landmark is a partnership of technical people, civil society organizations, and indigenous peoples and local communities. With IPLCs representing 50% of the steering committee guiding the work and making sure that we do respond to the needs of indigenous peoples and local communities and the realities that affect them on the ground. So how will we do this? Just a bit of detail on World Package 3 of aims for forests. We will have four core activities and this is still to be worked out now that it's been launched. It was launched yesterday, but these will be the four broad lines of work we will engage in. First of all is mapping capacities and mapping needs together in partnership with indigenous peoples and local communities so that we really grab and understand what the needs out there are so that we can shape the learning packages, the capacity building packages in this program adapted to the needs and adapted to the indigenous peoples and local communities contacts with them. Secondly, it's about empowering indigenous peoples and local communities by deploying these learning packages and these learning materials and these tools of which we've heard a lot here. But adapting them to the realities of indigenous peoples, adapting them so that indigenous peoples and local communities can use them on their own autonomously and through that build their own databases, strengthen their own decision making process, etc. To do so we'll have various pathways tapping into what others have been doing already like ILC, peer-to-peer learning routes, broad-based capacity building clinics and webinars, etc. that exist out there but really focus on this topic of land mapping, forest monitoring and reaching directly through these channels indigenous peoples and local communities. We will do so at various levels hopefully reaching as many indigenous peoples and local communities as possible. The webinars for example we've all learned since COVID how to deal with it allow us to reach let's hope all levels of indigenous peoples and local communities in a broad way but we'll also dig deeper in the about 20 countries aim for forest is and will be working and focusing on dig deeper and do more localized hands-on fields on the field trainings as well. Thirdly use all the data that is being produced by aims for forests and the tools and platforms linked to it and the tools and platforms and data structures here at the GFOI to do research putting to the four indigenous peoples and local communities especially to make the case for indigenous peoples and local communities. They are being put to the four and some stats some data is coming out but there's still a lot to be done to ground these activities to have good practices coming out so that we can better learn and better accompany those those activities on the ground strengthening indigenous peoples and local communities. And then fourthly and that's the most important part I think it is support for the establishment of indigenous peoples and local community led communities of practice where the indigenous peoples and local communities will manage themselves the tools the platforms in a way they want they see relevant managed by themselves in an autonomous way so that they can use that for their decision-making processes for their management on the ground this we will deploy first at the regional level by establishing three or four not sure yet regional platforms community of practices together with them but with the tools and the infrastructure all open source that they can then be used by the indigenous peoples and local communities themselves at decentralized level whether that's national or local so that they can use it for their own processes of data building and decision-making there where it's needed thank you very much we are available here if there's more information needed aims for foresters here the team of the work package three is here as well we please to answer your questions thank you so much doctor word and I want to highlight those last words that you mentioned the importance that between linking data building with decision-making and to advance together on the communities of practice I'm going to pass the floor to Guy Makuluka Mukumo technical officer at PI the DP representative of program and he's one of the lead organizations of Repaleac the rest of the Autochtones community local for the gestion durable this ecosystem for rest of the free than the Congo vaccine guy I would like to ask you about what are the challenges in your community there is interpretation in French available so please the floor is yours please ok thank you very much before everything started I would like to thank the organizers first and after that I have a concern I would like to know if in the room there are other Autochtones veni de différentes continas il peut se lever on plus c voir continue il n'y en a pas voilà c'est là où je vais commencer le défi donc c'est ça le débit des défis qu'est nous constatons ou attaquer le peuples autochtones mon programme nous j'ai travaillé sur le programme intégré des développements du peuple pygmé au kivu shiri kalabambut pide pence c'est ok sur le plan de présentation je pense que peut passer au dessin directement sur le slide suivant voilà l'accès auteur ancestral la sécurité de la tenir foncière sont des angers fondamentaux pour le peuple autoctone pygmé ce dernier entretienne des liens étroite avec les forêts et les teurs et ils a de pas pour leurs biens et leurs identités et leurs survie on passe parmi les contextes actuelles il y a aspiration économique émergente accessi l'exploitation des ressources naturelles le droit continuaire des peuples autochtones pygmé sur leurs terres et traditionnels ne sont pas assurés des possessions à cause des activités de conservation de la force terry et de d'autres initiatives relatives aux ressources naturelles la communauté autoctone pygmé plus venerable et plus pauvre suite à la suite de la contexte actuelle il y a la réforme foncière par les gouvernements congolais qui sont en cours et c'est là d'entrée d'être initié par les organisations qui accompagnent le peuple autoctone pygmé mais aussi il y a tant de défis qu'il découle s'il se sigela valant les défis qu'on peut citer que qui est actuellement sur les conditions de vie de peuples autoctones pygmé dans la république démocratique du congol il y a le conflit foncié des natures diverses il y a la présence de sociétés minières dans des forêts ancestrales des communautés locales les peuples autoctones il y a aussi octrois des titres minières sous couvert par les autorités gouvernementales il y a la superposition des titres dans des forêts des autoctones manque de formation de matériel approprié pour les cartographies locaux il y a un déficit de capacité technique et opérationnel de la administration foncière il y a aussi l'absence de matériel de nouvelles générations pour observer les niveaux d'exploitation des terres provinciales au niveau provincial et local il y a aussi manque de moyens d'organisation voilà parmi les stratégies qu'on a développées nous en tant que programme intégré de développement du peuple pygmé au kivu il y a renforcement des capacités des acteurs clés il y a aussi planification participative de l'occupation des sols et des pratiques dans les zones les rirales dans une perspective disciplinaire il y a aussi des partenariats agrifiés sur les conventions et stratégies sectorielles pertinentes il y a aussi la communication et sensibilisation et le doyer international et national ça c'est pour les défis maintenant les ententes pour cette activité d'être ici aujourd'hui nous avons attendre plusieurs programmes et le renforcement des capacités si les outils de monitoring forestière et ressources naturelles et cartographie il y a aussi appui à la documentation il y a aussi appui au discours de la mise en œuvre à la forestérie communautaire comme principal outil pour faire des écosystèmes forestiers un véritable levier développement il y a aussi formation pour naviguer les cadres globaux autour des climats il y a aussi besoin accès à l'information tiré parti d'initiative existance de richesse d'information et des données qui sont reconnues au niveau global il y a aussi les résultats faire le membre de grandes organisations qui traite ici le dossier foncière on passe voilà un peu sur le le mot que je viens de présenter en aimant notre raison et souhait c'est faire une restauration des paysages forestières c'est la mission de tous pour un monde meilleur s'il y a cas de d'autres choses en tant que des défis on pourrait partager après même dans les clois j'ai dit et je vous remercie merci gai pour cette pour cette parole et je vais souligner un détruit point et surtout sous les visions que vous savez bien à identifier nous parce qu'il y a il y a plusieurs qu'il peut être à couvrir dans les dans les projets qu'ils sont sur le table maintenant la superposition des titres la manque de cartographie locaux l'absence de matériel de nouvelle génération mais surtout comme et vous savez souligner l'avenir non entrain de visuant sur les capacités la planification le plaidoyer mais aussi la puits le visuant d'appui à la forestérie et communautaire aussi à la sexe à la formation merci beaucoup i'm very happy that you ask who are indigenous peoples in the room i think if you have asked how many people will survive if they are put in the middle of a forest the result would have been very similar and most of us will not have survived because we don't have the the knowledge about the forest around the world i want to pass the floor to halit halit i'm very happy to be with you again in a panel halit is the director of dana and we will see a local community cooperative in jordan and he's a representative of the world alliance of pastoralist communities and mobile indigenous peoples halit tell us a little bit what are the challenges that you have in jordan and in the nearest with relation to forest indigenous peoples over to you thank you so much and i'm glad to thank the organizers thank the landmark thank the audience here to attend this session i'm coming from jordan from a small village or little village in jordan i can think because i've been to many conferences as part of the my work with our membership with the world alliance mobile indigenous peoples with the international coalition and habitat international coalition and many other networks i think my village is an example of how the local communities and indigenous peoples are affected with the decisions that they are not done or taking their interest by the government and sometimes by the international organization conservationist industry and many other actors in my village we are pastoralist and uh partially farmers because of the change in in in life and because of the of the influence of the i can say unsustainable development in in that part of the of the country the change of how people look at the tree or the forest or the natural resources from kind of looking at the at the resources at the tree as a sacred element uh reaching at the end to putting fire in that same tree because of the decision taken by the government by the conservation organization there's there so my community used to appreciate and each tree each plant in the area and this goes for hundreds of years if not thousands of years but at the end 20 or 30 years ago the governor decided to authorize an NGO or a real NGO to start a reserve on our customary land without our consent so that the people feel feel that we are losing our our resources we are losing our land and at the end people started to put fire in the trees so that to show that they are against the the the the conservation management i can say that this built on the lack of really the the insecure land tenure ship and the lack of understanding of the importance of the common properties in compared to the the private so after colonization the the the the common land or the tribal land or customary land are not recognized it's either private or state land so this is why people that for example the the the government could authorize an NGO to use our customary land because legally we don't own it but customary it was our land so the the lack of recognition of the customary rules customary management or governance of land and tenure is is is a big issue in in in in our case we we started with organizing a small cooperative that's the name dana katsuya local community cooperative dana is this a small village and cadizia is the new dana where we had to to leave dana to the new dana which is cadizia because of the of the conservation because the afforestation and because of industry the three the three actors were playing in the same spot in our case so for example afforestation and it is really now a big problem when we're talking about the climate change and we want to tackle this issue we go to afforestation planting trees but where this is a question in our case they have started this since the 50s the thing that that because in jordan did or in this spot in in our part of jordan it is uh not really thick forest uh it is uh scattered the trees but um the government at that time decided that okay this should be a forest so they have planted the trees among the the original uh the original this makes it difficult for people to stay there because when you have um all the trees you can still graze you can still use the area but if you have a new plant in the trees then there is a possibility for a a goat or a sheep to attack or to eat the the tree and you are in the dungeon and you have to pay like three four uh goats for uh for eating one one three no so this is accelerated the the removal or of the people from their uh from their land and um forest um the lack of of understanding of the relation between um the local community and indigenous peoples with with the with the natural resources with the trees with the plant with with everything around them is an issue um the uh the um the lack of recognition of their rule of protecting uh uh the nature their ecosystem services these are the causes of our problems we need to to understand to understand what we are doing to nature and what if we were not there um one of the the example is that if someone comes from university studying there a young guy studying for four years at bio biology or whatever and he comes back to do to the village and um and he started to talk about conservation four years of studying is uh he thought he thinks that it is better than the thousand years of customary of traditional knowledge on how to conserve nature and how to deal to go to to manage sustainable land so uh so this is uh also tells about the the lack of recognition of the traditional knowledge respect of the traditional knowledge knowledge so we need to we need to to understand all these issues to make sure that we as local community and indigenous peoples can act uh as we used to positively to uh to protect to protect nature uh to to conserve the the the forest and uh because it is not kind of um an employment opportunity for us being a a local community or a indigenous people is uh protecting nature is part of our life is not a job we are doing the tree is our house the tree is our pharmacy the tree is uh our shade the tree is everything this is what my mother uh told me and now because of the change i can tell you even my my people they can go to do a barbecue and they can uh cut the whole tree to do a barbecue now but because they have lost the the sense of ownership to the to the uh to the forest thank you so much thank you halid and i want to i want to pick on the on some of the words that you that you shared with us now that lost on sense of ownership and how the trees the forest is the pharmacy the livelihood and the tension between the formal education and uh how often formal education looks down a traditional knowledge uh in the day today let us now move on thank you so much halid let us move on now to mari kerman ruiz mari kerman ruiz is uh is a phd is a doctor on tropical forest ecology and a master degree in restoration ecology for over 20 years she has worked about the importance of forest in the face of climate change and she's been very actively working in the red plus team in latin america she's been working in the surveillance of the forestation in in panaman in the region very happy to be with you mari kerman i don't know if you can hear us you will be speaking virtually the floor is yours over to you thanks thanks a lot um john for your kind words uh i don't know why it like my camera is not working but well it doesn't matter and uh and also thank the the the gfi and info forest team for giving me the opportunity to present the work i have been if you have been doing in community based forest monitoring for red plus in latin america next please i would like to start with the approach if you have undertaken to work with indigenous people and local communities for monitoring forest for red as they are majors towards off the forest we have used a bottom up approach where we first start by defining priorities of what to measure and monitor with traditional authorities and local communities then we make collaborative agreements with the national local traditional authorities where we define the protocols for the measurements and the tools to be used for monitoring forest and and if it is of interest of the indigenous people or local communities to include the community based forest monitoring the national forest monitoring system then we also provide support for this institutionalization one of the things we also do is foster peer knowledge exchanges at the national international level to reinforce knowledge among indigenous people and local communities all this process have led to the empowerment of indigenous people and local communities in in the tenure our governance of their forest uh next please uh and this is important uh we we this approach is is is given with the support also of a tool that f.a.o have developed as for example using the free prior and informed consent that is is being done by the group john leap in f.a.o and and also the voluntary guidelines of under responsible governance of tenure for an inclusive and participatory manner of the process next please the this bottom up approach have been applied through all the region of Latin America where where capacity have been built uh on of using tools a methodology a methodology that goes from mapping of forest and analyzing changes of forest cover a two terrestrial measurements for the forest resources in indigenous people territories and local communities next please uh and i would like to just like give a special focus of a case study of panama a where where we use this bottom up approach to build capacity in the in community base forest monitoring with indigenous people that started with a technical assistant of the un red program in panama so i just wanted also to you to to focus on there there's a timeline that is this is um this process takes a time and we started the finding the priorities with the congress and councils of traditional authorities of the people in panama then started doing trainings of for the uh recollecting data of national for the national forest a inventory so we we did them them the protocols on that later we started trainings on um with a gis and remote sensing where they can they can map their their territories and then after there was other more trainings on on making better assessment or their land for example using drones we're having to look at early warning system for example and using geo servers to to to manage their database and information that they collect and these all through all this time we start then doing peer to peer exchanges at the national level within different indigenous territories and at the international level between indigenous people and different in different countries so this next please uh these all have been done with a learn by doing process when they indigenous people apply their knowledge to their territory so they're using their tools they apply to the to their territory and next please these all this this um um intervention have led to the integration of the governance process that includes internal regulation on the use of the resources of the forest resources in their communities they also have led to make guidelines to make complaints for the government when events of deforestation of forest degradation happen in their territory that then will help the sustainable use of forest management and the governance with equipment that have been provided to do the forest committee forest monitoring and and this has led at the end to apply tools that not only help to monitor forest but also help the in their in tidying their land and for the for the country to achieve the red plus goals uh it's important next please it's important to say that this process cannot be have done alone uh that is require um partnership collaboration with indigenous people local government the government and organization that have helped achieve these results next please um so for for for my my final remarks i would like to address the importance of indigenous people and local communities exchanges where interaction with peers reinforce knowledge provide support for local actions and strengthen community in practice approaches where the efforts in the lack region have contributed for an active network of communities threatened and that are interested in red plus also the strategic alliance that have been built through the un red country team structure will serve as a conduit for the implementation of indigenous people and local communities and government mrb process for the implementation of the aim for forest activities and my final message go to to them so to the key role of indigenous people and local communities have in helping deforestation and for degradation and help the preservation of ecosystem processes and local livelihoods next and thank you for your attention and i now pass the floor back to john thank you so much mary carmen is so nice too and we need more positive experiences of how to our survey and stop deforestation i would like to highlight some of the important points and i want to stop by saying that the peer to peer that you have been uh supporting your program is fundamental i still the call the indigenous peoples in paraguay still thank you and your team for the excellent training you gave them on how to do surveillance using drones and using cell phones and i think something very important in your program is how you combined the knowledge of youth with new technologies and the knowledge of elders with the spatial mapping that they have in their minds and how this blends very well like you rightly say within the governance systems of indigenous peoples that then work closely with the local governments to help deforestation thank you so much for sharing that beautiful experience that has worked out so well in in panama and in other countries i'm going to pass now the floor to diana mastrachi that diana mastrachi from geo indigenous alliance is the co-founder and the international strategic liaison on the geo indigenous alliance the group on earth or servatories which is an intergovernmental partnerships that improves the availability access and use of earth or service for a sustainable planet diana is a pleasure to be again with you in a panel the floor is yours over to you thank you so much uh would you mind sharing my slides one minute we are setting up your slides yeah there you are so thank you so much for inviting me i am the international liaison of the geo indigenous alliance that is the only indigenous lab intergovernmental organization working to advocate for the access and use of earth observation data that includes images from satellites to incite to weather information to climate data by and for indigenous people our mission is to ensure that indigenous peoples voices and knowledge are heard and incorporated in the development of earth observation technologies and to co-design solution with them for indigenous people that take into consideration communities cultural protocols and cutting edge earth observation data uh next slide please so the geo indigenous alliance was launched in 2019 during the geoministerial in camber australia by indigenous leaders from around the world our work um next slide please thank you our work is focused on four main themes uh woman and youth empowerment climate action food security disastrous resilience and indigenous data sovereignty these themes were selected by the indigenous leadership of the alliance based on consultations with indigenous elders and knowledge holders from around the world they were also the focus of the gene the geo indigenous summit that was held in 2020 which brought together over 1000 indigenous peoples elders data providers you an official um to discuss the challenges and opportunities of earth observation data and tools uh for and by indigenous uh communities next slide please our strategic pathways highlight the importance of engaging with indigenous people in all aspect of earth observation data production dissemination and use for climate action it also emphasizes the need to build indigenous people and local communities capacity to access and use earth observation data for their own needs so our first strategic pathway is to use earth observation data to enhance intergenerational knowledge transfer from the elders to the youth through our work we are bridging the gap between traditional knowledge and modern science creating a platform for the exchange of ideas and ensuring that the knowledge that the elders and esteemed knowledge holders have is preserved and passed on our second pathway is to develop an enriched enriched strategic path partnerships with the geocommunity we're building alliances with organizations and individuals who share our vision of a world where indigenous people are full partners in the access and use of earth observation data and tools our third pathway is to prepare the next uh gene indigenous workforce for the future we are developing training materials and indigenous engagement and convening an advisory group of indigenous representatives as well as providing guidelines on how to engage with indigenous communities our fourth uh pathway is to conserve and steward indigenous cultural knowledge we're committed to protecting indigenous cultural heritage and ensuring that indigenous tradition and values are respected and our fifth and final pathway is to provide guidelines on how to engage with indigenous communities we want to ensure that indigenous people and local communities are fully involved in the decision-making process and this is our current strategy we are currently developing training materials and indigenous engagement convening an advisory group of indigenous representatives and developing the gene indigenous alliance principles of engagement as well as developing an indigenous impact assessment uh these initiatives are designed to promote respectful and meaningful engagement with indigenous people and local communities in the development and use of earth observation tools which has been one of our main challenges uh next slide please the gene indigenous alliance has uh also uses a unique method to co-design software with and for indigenous people that we call the indigenous hackathon methodology which takes into account the needs and priorities of indigenous people and has been instrumental in developing our pilot projects um a successful example is the namunyak app which was a challenge submitted by uh title select apple from the samburu tribe who's also one of the co-founders of the alliance he's from the samburu tribe in kenya and the um the the app is named after the samburu world for a blessing namunyak and it aims to empower the community to map their own land using local symbols instead of geographic coordinates providing a local record of climate change and aiding adaptation to extreme weather ends as their communities have been facing severe droughts and which has really been affecting their nomadic livelihoods this app is improving the communication between neighboring tribes allowing people to report their location to the government and facilitating better communication among community members and park rangers um additionally it will help manage and resources sustainably reducing conflict over resources such such as water and pasture uh next slide please uh the shaka project in the amazon rainforest uh led by mario varga shaka is another inspiring example uh mario vargas is from the shuar um nation in the quadorian amazon and this indigenous land reforestation project is using satellite data to calculate the carbon stored in newly-referenced lands while also working to restore traditional food systems that have been disrupted by climate change and deforestation uh through the nanti app which was the challenge submitted by mario vargas um anyone anywhere would be able to participate in reforestation efforts and support the shuar people in their efforts to restore their lands the impact of this app cannot be understated as the amazon rainforest plays a critical role in global climate regulation and it's home to countless indigenous communities uh next slide please we also recognize that capacity building is a long-term process that requires sustained engagement and investment our strategic pathways includes a commitment to building a global network of indigenous people who can support each other in accessing and using earth observation data we believe that this network can serve as a platform for sharing knowledge experiences and best practices and for advocating for the integration of indigenous knowledge in the in earth observation data policies this is an example of one of our upcoming activities the indigenous roundtable in partnership with norway's international climate and forest initiative and nick fee satellite data program this event would bring together global leaders and stakeholders to explore indigenous land innovation in earth observation and identify solutions through data and capacity building it will be held in both spanish and english and we encourage you to to join us you can find the registration on our twitter account at gnv and also some of our partners for nick fee are there on site at FAO so please if you have a chance talk to them directly we also have an ongoing survey on the access and use of satellite data by indigenous people for forest conservation that you will find in the registration platform i'm going to kindly yeah next slide please yeah and so these are some of our recent publications that you can find on our website next slide and to conclude we're committed to empowering indigenous people and local communities and accessing earth observation data and please get in touch with me if you would like to know more and these are our that's my email and twitter handles thank you so much thank you so much diana we have taken notes of the namu yak app as well as the events on the seventh and the eighth on how to combine geospatial data with technologies to advance indigenous people's rights we i want to give time for the questions and answers we are slightly behind the schedule but i think it's important to have your questions and answers we are going to be taking questions from the floor as well as from the people that are connected online but before then let me pass the floor to two very important guests that we have with us the first one is nahid uh nagid that nagid zadeh from senesta the center for sustainable development and environment nahid is a senior expert and research associate and has worked in senesta since 1994 she has been doing a number of very important activities on indigenous development and self-organization of indigenous peoples and she's recently working on the dry net network uh she's currently working on land governance assessments in customary territory of indigenous mobile past release nahid can you hear us and i want to thank you i know it's a very special day uh for you today and i want to thank you for finding time for us the floor is yours uh for the next five minutes over to you nahid thank you yon do you hear me do you hear me go ahead yes we do okay thank you uh thanks to all organizers of the event for giving this valuable opportunity uh i'm from senesta a civil society organization from iran as you know senesta works with diverse groups of dry land communities mobile past release forest oilers marine and coastal communities and small-scale farmers and senesta dedicated to promoting sustainable community and cultural based development within indigenous indigenous peoples and local committees of iran in general at global level we think despite the unique role of indigenous peoples and local communities in considering nature and sustaining local and national economics and fostering food sovereignty indigenous peoples and local communities remain relatively marginalized and suffer under a variety of oppressive policies and reforms these top-down policies how weaken the customary institutions and means of self-sustenance of indigenous peoples and local communities for instance asia is home to almost 70 percent of total indigenous peoples of the world and to the highest percentage of people living in rural areas and in unvulnerable circumstances but only three countries out of 80 out of 48 countries legally recognized indigenous peoples in this region therefore we as senesta has been working on really empowering communities indigenous peoples and supporting them through a self-sustenance process for over 30 years the aim is their capacity to take their destiny into their hands uh uh while self-governance and or shared governance the situation today uh i would like to emphasize the importance of recognizing the territories of life in all types of ecosystems including forests because they are very important territories of life known as icc that icc is that concerned by indigenous peoples and local communities and as we know has been recognized by uh cbd and iucn since 2008 and they are as diverse as the peoples and communities who shape and sustain them through their unique cultures governance systems and practices they are also estimated to cover at least 50 percent of the world's land under customary systems and hold the large portion of the world's endangered animals and plant species territories of life also store more than one eighth of all the carbon in the world's tropical forests and have lower rates of deforestation than state protected areas however territories areas uh territories of life often face overlapping political and economic interests seeking to either protect nature or exploring nature within their lands and territories and indigenous peoples and local communities face growing threats from harmful industries and violence for defending themselves against such industries as we know according to the intergovernmental panel uh on climate change human induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread expression in nature and affecting the lives of billion of people around the world therefore one of the key solutions to address the biodiversity at climate crisis is to support indigenous peoples and local communities to secure their rights to self-determined governance systems within their territories of life they are custodians of their territories and areas and we call the use of participatory and inclusive approaches methods and tools for forest and land monitoring policies and programs to respect the knowledge values and perspectives of those communities also be called for stronger advocacy and modification of the relevant policies and programs for the inclusion and recognition of the ICCs or territories of lives at national and international policies and frameworks related to forest and other land monitoring mechanisms such as red glass indices and MSFs and necessity to establish various mechanisms to recognize their rights and rules in conservation and provide them with adequate recognition and support uh that's on thank you for your uh time and attention Nahid thank you so much let's give a round and I want to I want to pick on a couple of ideas that the need to recognize uh indigenous peoples to protect forests and as you rightly say all their ecosystems and the fact that the large majority of indigenous peoples live in Asia and very often are not recognized how we're going to protect the forests where they live if indigenous peoples are not recognized how we're going to secure the rights how we're going to ensure that the industries and extractive activities do not impact them negatively thank you so much for your words thank you for being with us today particularly today I'm going to straight away pass the floor to Gam Zindray Gam is the secretary general of the Asia indigenous peoples pact this is the largest network organization of indigenous peoples in Asia Gam Zindray Zanaga and he's a devoted human rights activist for more than 30 years and right now he's the secretary general of AIPP he has very good knowledge on issues on biodiversity indigenous knowledge and self-determination over to you Gam thank you for being with us yeah thank you very much John for giving me this opportunity to address some of the issues from Asia but I must say that the previous panels have covered most of the important issues including some of the important data that needs to be known by the global community but so let me just flag a few important points which I think are important one is I think in the first place this initiative is important and must be acknowledged in the context of the global agenda on sustainable development biodiversity and climate change where all these agenda have proclaimed to adopt or apply the human rights based approach and also respect indigenous peoples rights and that of local communities I think these are very significant for us as the bearers of these fundamental fundamental rights and freedom and not just as rights but also because we as indigenous peoples and local communities we have this special spiritual connection to our lands and territories and this presents a worldview and also a culture that is potentially part of the solution to some of the crises that we are facing with reference to sustainable development biodiversity and climate change and as we have always pointed out of course this human rights based approach is a milestone for us in the in the history of the UN at the moment because these rights to our territory territories and lands are also part of the solution so this spirituality aspect and this rights aspect to our lands and territories are inseparable rather the spiritual connection and the cultural practices that uphold sustainability biodiversity and part of the solution to climate change is part of the reasoning why these rights are important for not just for indigenous peoples and local communities but for the global society as well. Now the important few points that I wanted to point out is that we'd reference the human rights based approach what does it mean? As some of the panels also have presented it invariably means that indigenous leadership must be very clearly emphasized as we apply this kind of innovative approaches to monitoring our forests and land and this also means therefore that indigenous or and customer institutions must be recognized because these customer institutions are the one that regulates and also governs the lands and territories and management of resources in our context. Now this also means therefore that indigenous and communities initiative must be prioritized in all these initiatives and the resources that are promised must prioritize these communities initiatives. So therefore there are good developments and this is what I'm acknowledging but at the same time the irony and challenge is something that we must also keep in mind that is that okay all these pledges are being made in terms of financial resources which is important and good but at the same time the militarization and displacement and the attacks on the human right defenders and indigenous human rights defenders in particular. These are the fundamental challenges because these two things cannot go together on one hand this kind of eviction and violation of rights at a very intense level and on the other side the expectation to be delivering and on contributing as a solution to these problems of sustainability, biodiversity and climate change. So therefore if we have to see this change that means that human rights based approach must be seen as recognizing our rights. It also means deepening of commitment and action for sustainability, biodiversity conservation and climate change and I think the third and most important part is also that we must democratize our institutions and the way we do things and bring up and emphasize people's governance. So finally my final point is that what this means at the domestic level is that we must shift away from framing of laws and policies and programs from a distance what has been the practice at the moment right from for people that where the law experts and policymakers hardly know of the lands and territories and the resources and of the culture and the people itself. These are the kind of ways that we have approached and this will not bring about any kind of success so which that what this means is that therefore indigenous peoples we must close the gap by bringing indigenous peoples and local communities at the heart of governance, decision-making, programming and and implementation at the domestic level so that these global commitments and pledges that has been made can be realized in its in its truest sense. So yeah I will stop there. Thank you Jan. Thank you so much Jan. Let us give you a round. I think you have touched upon many important points first of all the importance of this initiative within the sustainable development agenda but at the same time the connection between spirituality for indigenous peoples to land or the forest and how this is part of the solution at the global level not only for indigenous peoples. I think you highlight the contradiction that on the one hand we want to protect forest and we want to reinforce indigenous peoples rights over those forests as a way to combat climate change but at the same time indigenous peoples are being displaced are being are being militarized and sometimes they are being killed and I want to highlight the fact that during the covid pandemic it was extremely shocking to see that the number of killings and violence against indigenous peoples went up instead of going down so that gives us a bad indication on things that we need to sort out that probably are the contradictions that we all hold within ourselves. We have we are slightly behind we have five minutes but I would like to ask the interpreters if they can support us with five additional minutes I would like to take some questions and answers from the floor. We have a question that has come online that we are going to be asking to the aim for forest rally to work but please raise your hand if you would like to ask any question introduce yourself and ask the question to one of our panelists please. The floor is open please. Hi thanks so much for the panelists it was a really nice discussion my name is Aniela and I am a researcher at Wageningen University so there was some discussion about basically how sometimes indigenous knowledge or indigenous science is really opposed with traditional ecological science and basically remote sensing as well so I wanted to see maybe get your opinions on as an R&D as a research community what advice would you give us to better communicate like I see that there is need for more humility from the research side but I wanted to hear your thoughts on that thanks. Aniela from Wageningen who would you like to address that question should we pass it to Guy for example? Yes I was thinking yes of Guy but also of Khalid. Guy and Khalid can I ask you one minute each if you would like to respond? Okay thank you very much Aniela for the question I think the question is fundamental and on this question for the time the Indigenous peoples are in great danger and how to value traditional cultural heritage so that they are also considered as one of the best solutions and that is for this reason that what you see the greatest number of people consider the knowledge of Indigenous peoples as a empirical way and in parallel it was not in a way that was neglected since they considered it as a means and a solution for conservation and for their survival so for the moment what we do is we read how to materialize how to value the culture that it is the door to all and that it carries a duplicity on the improvement of the knowledge of life and that is what I can explain in relation to the knowledge of Indigenous peoples how to value the modernization of their traditions Thank you so much Aniela I think one of the the point I thought that would be another round for us to talk about one of the most important point that we are looking for is to have a connection with universities with research institutions because we need to have our we think that you researchers are the interpreter of the traditional knowledge to the other to the other parties we think that a mural is important we need we need you we need to have good understand because it's easier for you to to to visit the the local communities and Indigenous peoples to to talk to them to understand what is their their role what is their the knowledge that they have and to transfer that into a language that is suitable for other for the policymakers who trust you more than than us who understand you more than us so it is important to to transfer the message through the researchers this is I am again I wanted to ask for connecting the universities either locally or internationally with with Indigenous people and local communities giving opportunities for Indigenous peoples and local communities youth to to participate or to engage in in in majors that is related to their livelihoods not to majors that bringing them away over to kick them away from their livelihoods given opportunities for the for the for the youth to for universities encouraging local universities or national universities to to to work with with with the with the Indigenous peoples and local communities because it is important that we bridge the bridge the gap of of of understanding and this is also related to the issue of if we want to reach the to the Indigenous peoples and local communities we need to find the proper ways and means and language to reach them and now and and and of course you cannot use only internet you cannot use only mobile phones on all these measures you can find you need to find the proper proper ways and of course languages I think most of the Indigenous people they are not using English French and Spanish so we need not only these languages even if you speak Arabic with with with the communities you need to have a proper level of Arabic that suits the community or English that suit or the Spanish and in this case so the means and ways and the the proper language for the to communicate with the communities to understand them and to understand their situation it is not a scientific community that you are approaching it is a community that doesn't say things directly so you need to find a way to how to get the the knowledge from them sorry for taking both items thank you so much I know that word and Mari Carmen also want to chip in on this one but I want to take this opportunity word to ask you a question that arrives through the WhatsApp through the chat which is countries engage in community-based approaches in forest and land how can they benefit from aim for forest I wonder if you can take this one and as well as the one from Daniel in Wageningen one minute please we want to give the chance also to our colleague be very short just on this question it's not only about communication and making them users of your data it's making them part of your project in the aims for forest and in landmark particularly it's not one Indigenous people that is represented it's 50% of the people engaged in the program in landmark are Indigenous peoples and local communities they guide us in what landmark should do and I will the responsible for aims for forest is here and I'm looking at him I will make sure that certain of these Indigenous peoples and local communities will have a representation in aims for forest as well so that they can guide they can present their contacts and their questions and and just contribute there's a lot of local knowledge that is valuable for for these projects as well on the second question yes as I said in my presentation the first step of aims for forest work package three is to do an in-depth mapping of what's going on what the capacities are and what's the needs are we will do this already through the regional platforms and the regional community of practice that we want to establish so it will be led by Indigenous peoples and local communities and I think I hope that the project you're talking about in the in the chat here will be part of this inventory and then can contribute to to to the to the whole debate on how should we structure and on what capacities that have been ongoing already should be based aims for four and this work package three so absolutely I note the activities in Mexico here that are detailed and we will certainly include you in the process of mapping them and hopefully further down the road when we implement aims for for forest thank you so much word thanks John yes I was going to compliment that I we have the experience that we have had in in Latin America I mean the the indigenous technicians the the the youth they are like keen to to use the different methodology different technical tools and also if they because is big because truck this from the beginning based on their priorities they see how these tools really help for them to attain things that are are or their interest for example having like land tenure rights or protecting their forests so so they so I just wanted to say that it's not they're just complementary activities it's just the way that you construct it together that that is the most important thing thank you thank you I don't know if there is any last quick comment or question from the audience otherwise let me try to wrap up also being conscious of the of the interpreters time and their their generosity so I think it's been a extremely interesting session where we have seen how relevance is what we have at the stake the fact that there is 70 percent of the world forest land that is managed by indigenous peoples and only 15 percent of it is documented or 50 percent of the land that is occupied by indigenous peoples and only 10 percent documented and this occupies 70 percent of the world's forest so in a way we cannot protect forest if we don't put indigenous peoples at the center of the discussions like many of the speakers have mentioned but at the same time they need to link data building with decision-making and to go beyond the current uh the current arrogance that formal education uh is having vis-a-vis oral knowledge and traditional knowledge how do we integrate orality spoken by millions of people across the world into forms of evidence that can influence effective decision-making and how can we do that with respect to indigenous peoples when we know that only seven percent of the funds already disbursed uh from the Glasgow plates have actually reached indigenous peoples where is the rest of the 93 percent remaining funding that has been disbursed an opportunity named for forest an opportunity with the initiatives that are being shared here today but probably integration and coordination is the key word it seems like we are all working in parallel tracks we cannot have uh forest protected if we don't have healthy indigenous peoples food systems and we cannot have healthy indigenous peoples food systems without secure tenure rights and without healthy forest how do we ensure that the connection between indigenous peoples food and knowledge systems and by diversity conservation is guaranteed and how do we ensure that we move beyond data and tools geospatial tools drones cell phones tablets applications how do we ensure that all of that is coordinated in a way that stops the violence against indigenous peoples and the criminalization that indigenous peoples have for defending their lands territories and natural resources how do we ensure that we put free prior and informed consent at the center of the decision-making and how do we ensure that the existing tools whether it is the voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land whether it is the right to food guidelines are respected and implemented at the different levels i think the the aim for forest offers an opportunity working in africa asiam iber america the pacific with more than 20 countries how do we ensure that this moves from a project to a way of doing policy making that see pages other countries and other realities and how do we ensure that working with local communities does not put in the bark burner the rights of indigenous peoples across the world recently in the u.m. permanent forum for the second time the u.m. permanent forum and indigenous leaders have asked the un system to stop using the acronym indigenous peoples and local communities in one single sentence because this is seen as a way of moving backwards the rights of indigenous peoples after years of struggle to have them enshrined in the u.m. declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples how can we ensure that in the very important work that you're doing with forest we respect this call by indigenous leaders to not jeopardize the rights and to ensure that like how it was saying indigenous peoples lands and forests are not given in concessions by the governments for all the uses it's been an extremely interesting discussion with so much take home messages i would like to thank all the speakers i would like to thank the organizers and i think it's a very promising opportunity for all of us to work together and establish a clear connection between indigenous peoples food systems forests tenure issues and governance issues thank you so very much for being here and let us give a big round to all the speakers and thank you to the interpreters thank you thank you everybody that was that was really remarkable i think this is just the start of a discussion so please if we move to the atrium we can keep this this discussion alive thank you very much