A year ago, KM Reyes was hiding in his house on the island of Palawan, in the Philippines, to protect himself from the “super typhoon” Odette which was sweeping the country. The powerful blast ripped the roof off his home. His family and friends also suffered extensive damage. “It was a miracle not to lose our lives,” says the young woman, who these days walks the carpet of the Palais des congrès de Montréal as part of the 15e UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP15).
A miracle ? Not quite, she says. “I am very lucky that my island, Palawan, still has 50% of its forest cover today. The forest and the mangroves were able to absorb the shock of the typhoon. We were able to see how important these environments are for protecting our living environments,” recalls in an interview with the To have to this environmental activist.
Like the nearly 20,000 delegates who came to Montreal, Ms.me Reyes wants to influence the content of a possible post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Firstly, it insists on integrating the ambition to protect 30% of land and sea territory by 2030 (target no.oh 3). It is moreover to share her personal experience in this regard that she is taking part in COP15.
Co-founder of the Center for Sustainability Philippines, Mme Reyes helped create a protected area of over 40,000 hectares, Cleopatra’s Needle Critical Habitat Forest, on the island of Palawan. About 60 species endemic to Palawan and about 30 globally endangered animal and plant species live there, including the pangolin. This territory is also that of the indigenous Batak people, of whom only 200 members remain.
Throughout its process, the small organization, which has only six young people, has obtained the free and informed consent of local residents, engaged in political lobbying and carried out scientific studies. With only $150,000 in his pocket, he managed to turn this public land into a protected area. The invocation of the “Aichi targets”, adopted in 2010 at COP10, served as powerful leverage for the group with the Philippine government.
“I traveled from my remote island to Montreal to show, with my story, that having global biodiversity protection goals helps organizations like ours carry out their projects on the ground,” explains Ms.me Kings.
We were able to see how important these environments are to protect our living environments
Its priorities also concern target noh 19 of the draft global framework. This concerns the funding, by developed countries, of efforts made by developing countries to safeguard their biodiversity. She believes that this money should go directly “to indigenous peoples, local communities and young people”, who can themselves protect nature. In Cleopatra’s Needle Critical Habitat, native park rangers maintain and monitor the territory.
Preach by fishing
Aslak Holmberg comes from the northern reaches of Europe. This young man, a member of the Sami people, grew up in a family of reindeer herders. In the summer, his people fish for salmon. “These traditional practices are still an important vector of our culture, our language and our knowledge of the environment today”, explains the To have to the one who lives in the valley of the Teno river, on the border of Finland and Norway.
However, for the past two summers, Helsinki and Oslo have decreed that salmon fishing will be illegal in this river and its tributaries. A massive decline in the fish is in question. “Salmon populations have indeed fallen sharply over the past four years,” agrees Mr. Holmberg, who is chairman of the Sami Council.
It is on our territories that the majority of the remaining biodiversity is protected
In the opinion of this fisherman, certain salmon subpopulations of the Teno River could nevertheless be the subject of sustainable fishing, as practiced by the Sami for generations. According to him, it is the overfishing of the species on which salmon feed in the ocean that is causing the decline of the latter, or else the migration of its prey to the north due to global warming.
Mr. Holmberg’s demands at COP15 therefore focus on the overexploitation of fisheries, which he wants to see ended, and on the traditional ways of life of indigenous peoples, which he wants to see respected.
“Our traditions are enduring: we have been practicing them for centuries or even millennia,” he says. We cannot restrict these practices in the name of conservation, because we need examples of lifestyles that are sustainable. »
As a member of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Biodiversity, Mr. Holmberg lobbies national and supranational delegations, such as that of the European Union, to bring his demands to the negotiating table. The rest of the world has no choice but to be sensitive to indigenous concerns: “it is on our territories that the majority of the biodiversity that remains is protected”, he argues.