Joint Statement submitted to CBD Secretariat COP14, 2018 Agenda Item 24: Spatial planning, protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures Joint Statement submitted to CBD Secretariat on behalf of International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), CoopeSoliDar R.L., the ICCA Consortium, Global Forest Coalition, Friends of the Earth International, Pro Natura (Friends of the Earth Switzerland), Natural Justice, and Ecoropa. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a statement on behalf of the ICCA Consortium, Global Forest Coalition, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, Friends of the Earth International, Pro Natura (Friends of the Earth Switzerland), Natural Justice, CoopeSoliDar R.L., and Ecoropa. First, we support for the statement by IIFB and also welcome yesterday’s adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Rural Workers by the UNGA’s Third Committee. The quantitative elements of Target 11 are well known and oft cited. However, the recently published IPCC report showed once again that it is not enough to just meet the spatial coverage of 17% of terrestrial areas and inland waters and 10% of marine and coastal areas.We need not just 17, 30 or 50% set aside, but our entire planet to be equitably and sustainable governed, conserved, used and restored with native species, with full recognition and respect of the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities who depend directly on nature.We are also very concerned that some Parties are only reporting on the quantitative elements of Aichi Target 11 and not doing enough to implement, understand and report on the qualitative elements, especially social and cultural considerations. We welcome the draft decision on protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures as it stands, and particularly Annex II on voluntary guidance on governance and equity. These are essential elements for the achievement of Target 11 and the Strategic Plan more broadly, and we acknowledge Parties for taking this important step forward. We support Annex III on OECMs and wish to underscore a few key points about implementation of this decision. If the advice and guidance on OECMs is not implemented in full, it could enable many of the same issues that we have faced with top-down and exclusionary state and private protected areas, including forced acquisition and displacement of indigenous peoples and local communities from customary territories and collective lands. This can be avoided by fully implementing this draft decision, with particular emphasis on territories and areas under the collective control of Indigenous peoples and local communities. We also wish to underscore that territories and areas that are governed, managed and conserved by Indigenous peoples and local communities(in short, ICCAs or territories of life)and other conservation initiatives by Indigenous peoples and local communities contribute hugely to the Strategic Plan and to many other international commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals. For Aichi Target 11 specifically, they contribute de facto to its elements of coverage, connectivity, representativeness, and equity. Parties may draw a range of benefits from territories of life, including ecological functions, food and water security, sustainable livelihoods for rural communities, image, funding, and sustainable development at large. It is only appropriate and fair to respond with reciprocal action to ensure the custodian communities can continue to govern, manage and conserve their territories and areas in line with their worldviews, cultures and practices. Parties that count territories of life and other conservation initiatives by Indigenous peoples and local communities towards Target 11, whether as protected or conserved areas or OECMs, should only do so on the basis of self-identification and with the free, prior and informed consent of their custodians. Parties should also support the stated will of the custodians to secure these territories of life, for example, by strengthening their self-determined governance authorities, securing collective tenure, respecting the rights and roles of women, and ensuring they are protected from undesired threats such as extractive industries. We particularly support these elements, among others, of Annex III on OECMs, and urge Parties and other stakeholders, including UN agencies, donors and NGOs, to fully implement this advice and guidance in close collaboration with Indigenous peoples, local communities and women’s groups.