COP17 Celebrates Indigenous Leaders Amid Demand for Greater Inclusion in Biodiversity Decisions

Indigenous leaders from Brazil, DRC, Indonesia, Gambia, Peru and Thailand who were announced as the Indigenous People’s Ambassadors for Primary Forests at COP17. Credit: Stella Paul/IPSby Stella Paul (yerevan, armenia)Thursday, October 29, 2026Inter Press Service YEREVAN, Armenia, October 29 (IPS) - At the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP17, the presence of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) is impossible to miss. Indigenous representatives speak at side events, participate in contact groups, advise negotiators and engage across multiple forums shaping the future of global biodiversity policy. Yet amid this growing visibility, one message resonates throughout the conference halls: implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) will fall short unless Indigenous peoples are meaningfully involved at every stage, from decision-making and policy design to implementation and monitoring. Many Indigenous leaders attending COP17 say that reality remains far from that goal. While governments increasingly acknowledge the role of IPLCs in protecting nature, participation is often limited to consultation rather than genuine partnership, th...