Indigenous Peoples High-Level Special Event: From Sacred Lands to Shepherding the Future - Action Dome, UNCCD COP17

With the same transparency and urgency, we ask for this item.
I thank you very much.
Hello.
Now, I would like to hear.
Now I'd like to hear the representative from India.
Mr.
Seva, you have the floor, please.
Good morning, my dear delegates, honorable guests.
I'm just grateful for all of you and especially our government of Mongolia, which you guys proposed today.
To FAO during August 2019 proposed so far, IUIRP International Earp Rangeland and pasts.
So we achieved that UNGCA passed a resolution on 15th March 2022.
So this is a great pleasure, and we have to give a salute to the government of Mongolia.
Let us salute class.
Yeah.
So actually, since the 2018 and UNGCDA has passed this UN drop.
What it says the rights of the pass and also other people working in rural areas give their rights tenure rights, access natural resources rights and all these rights, you know, we have to give.
So now it is time for, you know, that UNCCD that Cp 16, they come out that initiative that you to establish caucus path, these local communities, along with the Caucus path, these indigenous peoples and also youth, gender.
It is a very, very good momentum now it has been created during this Cop 17 and we see how we'll join together and we will just get together and achieve and know that fast is getting all the rights.
So first of all, you know, this range and flagship initiatives that has been started very recently, and it covered three specific three pillars.
What are the pillars.
One is, you know, you know, we have the knowledge.
Then again, this investment, then institutions.
But how we have to take into a sustainable system, the knowledge, you know, not really creating knowledge, and what our knowledge, our traditional knowledge, our indigenous knowledge are some grassroots innovations.
We have all to take into account and see that that it is being sustainable.
So when knowledge is taken, we have to see that the prior informed consent.
And also, we have to when the land is taken away, you just discuss the free prior informed consent.
So this, we have to take into account.
What the CPD says this article, AJ and also the working group, they are telling the collective that approach with indigenous knowledge and the community approaches to see that no our land is protected, our rights are protected.
That way, we'll proceed further.
Then again, we want to the this CP 16, and also the decision five, it promotes decision 29, this inclusive community based and participator approaches for meaningful engagement of pasties and other rang communities.
So it is time for not only these indigenous people, that local communities, and also this way, to help overcome because some of the conflicts between farmer and pasture is conflict.
For example, if all get together, we see natural farming is happening and that chemical pesticide and we as they spray into crops, you know, it goes into the water pots, it, the pastural is the drinking water that access.
So that way we can conflict that we can overcome It's now this inter and intra community conflicts.
This is that the correct instruments being that now it's constituted and we have to see we got to establish.
Then again, lastly, that in this Gobi gatherings of past government officials, they come out of the red line initiatives.
P is red line initiatives, they are giving inviolable right inviolable rights, one of the rights There's no protection of pasture, water resources, or the cultural heritage of nomadic pastoralism.
So we do not compromise so that in the lands green grabbing extractive industries.
In Mongolia, what we've seen more than 70% of the land is degraded because of mining, pollution, and there's no loss of traditional customer institutions.
In that way, we have to see that whatever knowledge is available, we have to take into account and we have to incorporate, and this is the right time that Cp 17 give good hope.
Cop 17 is a good hope for us to see that that cacass for these local communities is created along with the sisters of these indigenous peoples, youth and women, and ultimately we restore our mother Earth.
And see that we restore our mother people joining together and it is our land and our knowledge and our people, and we have to achieve it.
Thank you.
Michel Servo, Oss Palabar, thank you for sharing with us your perspectives.
Now, let's welcome Estrella from Asian Farmers Association.
Good afternoon.
Good morning, everyone.
I will add three more messages that are part of the local community, this Uma attack goal and close by reminding everyone of our main goal.
Okay.
First, we urge parties to explicitly mention in the future strategic framework post 2030 that our local communities are implementation actors and our land stewards.
We are adding in our own local communities governance structure, a dedicated Europe and Eurasia FIP to ensure their significant participation.
Also, in the discussion of the CST, the Creek and science policy interface, we ask parties that traditional and local knowledge be read into knowledge sharing technology transfer and innovation under the CSDs work program.
And that in the science Policy Interface 27 to 2028 work program, we include they include a direct consultation channel with the local communities focus.
And for the third, may I ask how many of you have attended UNFCCC COP UNFCCC, very few.
And how many of you have attended UNCBD COPs? Also, very few.
But, you know, also some of the Alpha members have attended both three COPs the past two years and receive synergies across these Rio conventions.
The certification, land degradation, and drought are consequences of climate change, and at the same time, a contributor to worsening the impacts of climate change because climate change drives higher, and prolonged global temperatures, drying our soil, killing off plant life, producing water shortages, which reduces our abilities to plant, to have yields income threatening food security, degraded and very dry lands, do not have trees and plants that can reduce soil erosion and remove topsoil vital to food production, which also reduces our climate resiliency.
Small scale women, men, young, family farmers, fishers, pastoralists, for resource gatherers know that solutions have to be integrated, diversified and should bring multiple wins in biodiversity, ecosystem restoration, and climate adaptation and mitigation.
Thus, many of our 13 million members in 16 countries in Asia are promoting agroecology in farms, fisheries, forests, pasturelands, and mountains.
Local communities are recognized under UNCBD and UNFCCC, and we urge parties to recognize local communities as well here at UNCCD.
Third, in the discussions on CSD, Creek, and science policy interface, as I mentioned before, is to be read into knowledge sharing, technology transfer, and innovation.
Now we have heard seven calls that colleague Cecil and a colleague from Sevaja has said.
But do you know the most strategic call? It is call number one, which Cecil said.
We ask the parties here in CBD, Scope 17 to grant the caucus for local communities an institutional status as a constitutive engagement body equal to the caucuses for indigenous peoples, the gender Caucus and youth caucus while respecting the distinct rights and status of each constituency, not merely recognizing it as a facilitative mechanism.
The other calls will follow with recognition of the local communities caucus.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
Then I will kindly ask the section of the panelists participating in section to take a good photo.
And then as we are celebrating also and we are celebrating this event.
So we request to all the panelists and we invite every of our panelists for a photo are running to the final days in the Cp 17, but with the aim to restore the hole and also to restore the participation.
And we also want to restore the processes of guaranteeing these rights, guaranteeing that we have the space of the tables.
This is key for the participation of the local, which is guarantee guarantee to rights, guarantee to land guarantee to this life and we can be able to work together.
Y So you while you.
Okay.
Please have your seat, not the first row.
A second from the second.
Yes, from the second from the second row, not the first row.
Second row, please, yes.
Please sit all in the second row because the first row is for the finalists and also the ministers.
We have a second time.
Yeah.
I mean, if we are going to move you are noticing the panel, we need the panel, who can be sitting there? Thank you.
Judge Yes.
Thank you.
Can you move here? I need where is the administer? Yeah.
So Baba, you can sit next to U Thank you.
We are going to start.
May you just have your seat? May you have your seat? We are going to start, please.
Well, thank you to all the musicians, dancers, and to the random members of the public who took part in that very powerful musical welcome.
Excellencies, indigenous leaders and knowledge holders, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to Land and People Day here at Cop 17.
On a day devoted to land and people, we must start by recognizing something fundamental.
L and is not just territory.
Land is home, and is livelihood, and is memory and identity.
And for indigenous peoples around the world, it's also the repository of knowledge accumulated and passed down.
Through many generations.
Indigenous peoples are custodians of some of the world's most important ecosystems, and yet their knowledge, your knowledge, your rights, and your leadership have too often remained at the margins of the decisions affecting those lands.
So today is not simply a conversation about indigenous peoples, Today, and title captures it very well, is a conversation where we're going to honor the sacred lands and shepherd the future.
So over the next hour and a half, we will hear from political leaders, indigenous representatives, international organizations, and practitioners.
We will explore how Living knowledge can strengthen land restoration and then resilience.
And then we will move to the practical, but very important question of implementation.
How do we build the right partnerships? How do we enable access to finance, direct access to finance? And how do we ensure that indigenous peoples and pastoralists are not simply consulted on solutions, but are empowered to lead them? To start our round of opening remarks, very naturally, we begin with our host country and the Cop 17 presidency.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Her Excellency Batatsed Patmur representing the Mongolia Cop 17 presidency.
Excellency, over to you.
Her Excellency is on the way.
So we're going to move on to the rest of our program.
Okay.
And I will invite all the speakers delivering opening remarks to come and join us here on the stage.
Under a round of applause, please, ladies and gentlemen.
San Welco, if you could please come and join us here.
So good morning and welcome to all of you.
Thank you for joining us here on yet another busy day at Cp 17, but a very important day indeed where we celebrate land and people.
As I mentioned, we'd like to start with our host country, so I'm going to turn to His Excellency for opening remarks, please.
Thank you very much.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I extend the gratitude of this morning to you.
Mongolia is hosting this historic event and I would like to thank all the organizers and I would like to thank N all participants and guests and the delegates on behalf of the government of Mongolia.
So your participation in this event is critically important.
And so we have witnessed this.
We have realized, we have shared our voices, and we have negotiated, we have discussed and exchanged ideas.
And we have been highlighting over the past few years that it's time for us to turn the commitments into actions.
And I would like to share my gratitude to the progress of our consultations.
Today's theme is very important.
The voices of indigenous communities and land.
So it relies on the principles of policy that should be human based, human orientation.
And in order to ensure risk free nature and land and a risk free environment, we need to ensure the balance and equally ensure the security of both the land and also the humans and people living in the land.
So therefore, so we would like to invite I would like to thank all the representatives and representatives of indigenous communities and local communities, and we would like to invite you to share your voices, opinions, and shares.
I would like to thank you again for sharing your opinions and your experiences.
The mother as mother has just stated, the De Forest combat against desertification and the sacred from Sacred lands to Shepard in future.
So this is an important discussion, and it's a privilege to be hosting this very important important discussion in the mountains of the sacred mountain of B.
So this land has thousands of years of history.
And so this is a privilege to note that.
So The traditional rather than talking about history, we want to talk about the I would like to highlight the importance of the role of the local communities and indigenous people in worshiping the nature and protecting stewarding the land for their livelihoods and way of life.
This traditional knowledge, this philosophy, this stewardship, And the way of life should be is highly recognized, particularly in Mongolia and that is built on nomadic pastoralism.
And we are not herders as the stewards and and the land and nomadic pastoralism embeds not only way of life and economic livelihood, but also deep history and tradition and heritage.
So the centuries of knowledge, the nomadic herders, the culture and traditions.
And you may have witnessed also we may have got to know more information about nomadic pastoralism as a complex stories, and there has been multiple discussions and open exchange of ideas.
And it's I'm happy to be And so from the archive, you can see you can know more about the traditions and territories and landscapes and how the Mongolians nomadic ism has been and which the environmental protection and conservation philosophies have been We have been lived to have been experienced and the traditional ways and traditional governance styles and old ways and traditions of Mongolia.
And we have very rich history starting like so And we are talking about water conservation and preserving the biodiversity and protecting the wildlife and the different ways of the different traditions and customs to cherish and to cherish and respect the nature.
And there is a huge archive of knowledge and experience to learn from nomadic herders.
And which and Mongolia has been a We have Mongolia has based on this platform, Mongolia has joined multiple conventions on protecting the protecting the lands and restoring the hope.
And we have we are intending to committed, but we continue to commit to remain the active participant and active stakeholder in the international conventions to conserve the land.
And to Because we have rich history of listening and reflecting the traditional knowledge is in policy development and implementation of the practices.
So the rotational posturing and preparation for the winter and protecting from the and the storms and the for example, The rotational pasturalism has a very good practice of restoring pasture by rotational migration and very unique way of picking and selecting the bands so for seasonal camping and seasonal migration.
Many thanks, Your Excellency.
Thank you.
And thank you for reminding us that restoring land is restoring hope indeed.
Next, I'd like to turn to doctor Osama Fakihha of the Cp 16 presidency, because Rd is where all this momentum we are still enjoying here today started.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on what journey has been achieved since.
Thank you very much and thank you for organizing this extremely important panel discussion on indigenous people.
Yes, CP 16 currently has a strong partnership with the indigenous people community, and I believe we together succeeded into intensifying the focus more on the importance of the indigenous people Rome.
Although the indigenous people only represented 6% of the global population, around 480 million people.
But they are actually the custodian of 20 20% of the land mass.
And out of the 22% there's 80% of the biodiversity are there.
Actually, studies show that the ecosystem and forests that are under the custody of indigenous people are much healthier than the other ecosystems and the degradation rate is lower.
However, Indigenous people also, they have a huge cultural dimension.
Out of 7,000 languages spoken in the world.
The vast majority are spoken by the indigenous people.
There is about 5,000 different distinct indigenous people group.
They have a very important social role, environmental role, and heritage role because a lot of the traditional knowledge that we have inherited across the centuries and ages and Millennia are actually preserved and practiced by the indigenous people.
Myself in Saudi Arabia, we live in one of the driest countries in the world.
For millennia, my ancestor lived there and developed traditional knowledge.
How can they live by very scarce sources and how they interact with nature.
But on the other hand, indigenous people are highly vulnerable.
You know, the indigenous people are three times 300% more vulnerable to extreme poverty compared to the average population.
Also, they are strongly related to the ecosystem.
So whenever a collapse happen to the ecosystem that have shattering and severe impact on the indigenous people community.
So we need to focus on them.
In CP 16, there was a strong momentum.
We had resolution five on calling for a caucus for the indigenous people.
There was the Sacred Land Declaration that was issued in CP 16.
There was resolution 28 and resolution 29, all really talking about the important role of indigenous people in land restoration and drought resilience in biodiversity conservation in heritage and human heritage preservation.
So we need to continue the focus indigenous people.
Indigenous people role is not only with the land, despite all that.
They have a huge role with the land conservation, with biodiversity conservation, and with the climate resilience as well.
They are at an intersection point between the three convention.
I cannot to highlight the importance of the indigenous people and the interlinkages they have between the conventions or their deep rooted role in terms of the work that we do.
Of course, in real global draft resilience partnership, we will count on local communities, we will count on civil society, we will count on indigenous people to be part of the solution when we come to really those national countries that we benefit from the partnership.
Also, the Rad action agenda.
In the Rad action agenda, our focus is the role of non state actors, the civil society, the local communities, the private sector, the indigenous people.
I am proud to say we started in Riyadh by 35 initiatives, and now we have 205 initiatives and the Rt action agenda.
Few days ago, we launched Riot action and in the community platform where we have this computer based platform where indigenous people, civil society, local communities can upload their activities, they can share their challenges, they can share their successes, and also we are inviting international organizations, financial institutions to be part so that we can strengthen the linkages between those actors who are acting in the domain of land restoration and drought resilience.
Again, thank you for this important gathering and we look forward for CAP 17 to continue our journey and get even stronger momentum for indigenous people moving toward CAP 18 and beyond.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, doctor Fakima and let's keep the momentum going, indeed.
Inga Anderson, I'm turning to Nu Next.
You are Executive Director of UNEP.
The relationship between people and land is inseparable, indeed, from the wider challenges of biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and climate change.
So can you give us your broad perspective on this? Well, I think, first of all, I want to very much endorse what doctor Osama was saying.
And then I want to honor the people in this room and the people that you represent because it is your voices, your activism, your demands, and you are not letting go that is forcing the UN system to hit you.
Thank you.
Because that matters.
Then I want to honor the previous presidency and the current one because, in fact, in Riyadh and now in Mongolia, we're lifting this agenda, and we are making sure that it is heard.
This matters too.
It is a sad reality that often, as you just heard from doctor Osama, that indigenous voices are not heard or they are consulted, and then we move on.
But the reality, as doctor Osama mentioned, is that the lands, the solutions, the practices, the legacies, the stories, and the opportunities often are found when we go back to something that is of the land and indigenous people are of the land.
That's the reality that I think makes The move that we are now seeing within the three REO conventions so important.
Now, the Convention for Biological Diversity is already at its very inception, recognizing indigenous people.
Again, not out of the generosity of those who sat in capitals, but because of the activism in this room and beyond.
And so I really celebrate the breakthroughs that we've seen in the Convention for Biological Diversity under Article AJ and now the constituent what's it called consultation process that is a subsidiary process that is in place for the climate Convention.
But let's get very real the marginalization of indigenous people, the de legitimization of indigenous people's voices in governance, in policy decisions is real.
And the victimization, although no one is a victim, but is a solution provider through human rights infractions, through including murder of indigenous people activists and human rights trespassing, is real and is something that we are seeing, and yet those people are the very defenders of the lands.
And this is where we have to think about those rights holders that indigenous people are because it is in that way by including and ensuring that the voices are part and parcel of the solution pathway that we make progress.
I think that when we are seeing indigenous people stepping in through the forum in New York, the Indigenous People's Forum, and through other processes, demanding a voice That is important.
Don't let go of that microphone.
It might be tried to be taken away from you, but please don't.
It matters because it is only when we ensure that those voices are heard that we can make the sustainable solutions.
It is hard because in the UN, we are dealing with states and states are the reflection of the majority and not necessarily of the total community.
But we in UNP are proud that we have a strong indigenous presence in our governance and I thank you for this.
And I also want to thank you for the engagement in the Rio conventions and beyond.
It is only with the full participation of indigenous people that we can arrive at a sustainable future.
Thank you.
Many thanks, Inga Anderson, thank you so very much.
Gretel Aguilar, your organization, the organization you work for IUCN has long worked at the intersection of conservation communities and Indigenous people's rights.
It is, after all, called the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Indigenous Peoples Ws are the custodian of that nature very often.
So we'd like to hear your thoughts on this theme today.
Thank you.
Thank you very much and let me acknowledge the ministers here present.
But my special greetings to indigenous peoples from all over the world that are here present and to the pastoralist communities that are here in this room.
There is no more important event than this one.
And this is because you are here and your voices matter.
Actually, I look forward to hear more from all of you, the ones who are here.
We have really I have very little to share with you because I have a lot to learn from you, which is a different way of the conversation.
We are here talking about restoring land.
But if you think hard, we are here to reestablish the relation between people and land.
And I know that you indigenous peoples, pastoralist, land is not just a resource for you.
I know because you have told me this that land is home, that land is identity, that land is livelihood, that land is culture, that land is a responsibility.
And when we think about establishing that relation between land and people, then your knowledge come at the center of this discussion.
This is not just about recognizing indigenous people here at this scope.
It's about recognizing your rights.
It's about recognizing your traditional knowledge.
It's about the appropriate spaces to share your knowledge and new challenges too.
So 40% of the land is degraded.
But let's go to the numbers too.
25% of the lands are in the hands of indigenous peoples, and it is estimated that 80% of the biodiversity is in Johannes.
So if we think hard, I mean, when we say 80% of the biodiversity is in the hands of indigenous peoples, and listen, I'm not accounting for everything, all the communities and everything that happens on the ground.
So then you become and you are the main actors in this conversation.
I want to also refer to Mongolia in Central Asia, where 60% of the land in Central Asia Mongolia is used as grazing rangelands, supporting millions of people and sustaining culture and sustaining homes for many people.
If I have to mention three things, three priorities that I see here is first, recognize the rights of indigenous peoples, which is essential.
We cannot ask communities to protect land while the rights to the land remain insecure.
So that's the first thing that I will say, secure tenure, secure customer governance, and indigenous people's rights are fundamental to conservation.
Second, recognize knowledge.
Meaning, IUCN, we are an organization that produce scientific knowledge.
But if we don't cross that scientific knowledge with traditional knowledge, we will be not advancing.
And we recognize that.
That's why IUCN six years ago, decided to have within its membership a special category of membership for indigenous peoples.
And the numbers of indigenous peoples organizations in IUCN is growing by the second.
Because we have to combine scientific knowledge with traditional knowledge and respect traditional knowledge.
And third, I will say that we need to change how finances reach communities.
I have been hearing you clearly that you want direct access to finance.
And we cannot forget that.
And this is part of the conversation is not to transfer money to organizations, even international organizations.
It's how international organizations like IUCN can help you to get those flows of money into your hands for you to deliver the work that you do best.
And we are committed to that.
That's why in IUCN, we have the P on fund and the ones who are part of this P on phone, you know that the money goes to you.
Without much interventions and that you are responsible for the money, but also we have seen incredible results on the ground.
Why? Because you know what you're doing.
You have been doing this for centuries.
So these three things, the rights, the protection of traditional knowledge, and the direct finance, access to finance are essential.
Thank you.
Thank you so very much, Gretel.
Thank you so much.
And now, critically, of course, we move to the powerful voice of indigenous peoples within the convention itself.
Hindu.
Omar Ibrahim, you are chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Desertification.
Thank you very much.
On Bali am on Pin am, good morning.
I cannot allow myself to start my speak with without having the prayer because this is what the Indigenous peoples does before.
Allow me to call Adau and my sister from Pacific for 1 minute blessing prayer before I say 1 minute and we move.
Please come here and do your 1 minute, two of you for the blessing.
Ok Barktia Valot Teo, Amingariine, Boto, andiamo button.
Boo Ming Bottom to murder, Boto, I mean a murder, but Aim, Awoni mean, Ani, you know what, but G mean, Lamm, Bogo.
Bago Gogo Gooagoagoi by Govaggoagingli, Bago Goaggoingti Bag.
L I Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Uti, thank you very much, everyone.
So as indigenous peoples, we always have to get the blessing from the God from our ancestors.
Excellency Minister of Justice, thank you so much for joining us as the CP 17 presidency.
Excellency, Minister of Agriculture and Cp 16 presidency, thank you so much.
I know your agenda is very tight and you join us.
We cannot open this day without having you as we start in your home and we get born the indigenous people's caucies and local communities caucies in your home.
De Sista Unga, thank you so much for representing you and being there and Getrid for being with us for this opening.
I would like to recognize the president, the former president of Mongolia, who is a planetary guardian with us here, who also joined.
He will be with us for the closing.
And I would like to recognize my dear brother, who is a land ambassador, Bab Amal, who is here with us, and he will be also giving us the blessing and performance.
I'm always saying because people say in Africa, we have a lot of performance, but this one is very exceptional one.
We all know him, and many people know him around the world.
For you who do not know him, you have one connection.
If you like Black Panther movie, if you watch it, this is the guy who did all the music, and you will see him at the end.
So, brothers and sisters from the seven socio cultural regions, today is our day.
It is the high level Indigenous People's Day.
I'm not going to say anything that to make justice for you.
All what I wanted to say here, thank you for being here for celebrating us.
Our message today is not for us here in Olambatar.
It is for our people back home who do not know the name of the cop, who do not know the negotiations, but who are fighting to protect our land, our territories every single day, every single minute.
They are fighting just to ensure the future generation have a safe home.
So for them, we are standing in this meeting, and for them, we are fighting here, and we get the support from the Cp presidency who are with us, from the UN, from the philanthropy, from everyone.
My one call for you don't let our voices to be out of this cup.
We want to be remaining because we are a solution.
We are not a problem.
Our day going to be only 1 hour.
After this opening ceremony, we will have two short panel, one on from sacred land to shepherding the Future.
The second one on finance, and we will be having a closing par with the former President of Mongolia and Executive Secretary.
We have the declaration.
That is going to be very important.
Our messages will be handled with the seven representative of the Indigenous people's caucus here.
Then we will be celebrating again with the music, again with Baba, and with Adamo.
So I want you to enjoy this time, and I thank all of you for this moment.
Many thanks I do and many thanks to all our speakers here for their opening remarks.
Can we have another round of applause, please? For our speakers and leaders here today.
Thank you.
Let's take a picture before we move on.
A quick picture.
Many thanks to you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I would like to By today's panel, just a word.
Thank you, Mr.
Director.
You mentioned out three important things.
Today, we all are here acknowledging that the rights of the indigenous people and respecting their knowledge, and also having sufficient financial access to those people are the most important.
So as we are hosting the OP 17 today as Mongolia, I am very happy and our people and all the participants are so much happy to hear your declaration.
Number one.
Number two, for Mongolia, especially the indigenous peoples and traditional herders and the local communities are not only the beneficiaries of the environmental policy.
You work declares that they are the knowledge holders they're our brands and partners and the custodials.
So thank you for your participation and wish you all the best.
We appreciate your time coming to participate in this important event.
Thank you.
Your Excellency, I'm actually going to ask you invite you to stay with us a little bit longer because we have a performance for you for whoever is able to stay with us.
Thank you very much.
So we do? Yeah.
Okay.
So then you can just So we have spoken about knowledge and connection to land and how they are carried through language, culture, and storytelling.
So next, I am delighted to welcome Had Ko who will share a poem with us all.
Namaste and San Banu Mongolia.
I bring my love and joy from India to you.
So this poem is incomplete without all of you.
That's why you might see a little card having a words rely, it's part of this poem.
This poem is because you people, and that's why I have shared a little piece of it with you.
Let's begin.
Let's play the intergenerational modern cour, the Horsehead fiddle, to awaken the Kim.
Of our land and our people from the zenith of Ching Khans, Henti Khangi Si Undur Sakha Nurnds.
To honor the roots of our existence, they're going to make Tal Chan the De Kabani, Tarika, Jana Kamosi.
The indigenous sun and moon have risen on the earthly horizon, flooding the somber halls with a cosmic burst of light.
The wisdom, a constellation of north stars for humanity, a pearl necklace for UN CCD.
My brothers and sisters, keep moving, keep moving, Chawti Chawti Charen Mmaduwineti, Charenwad Tua Pasha Tbam, Yonaandre Charen.
Mobility is a gift that keeps giving.
Those who follow the heartbeat of nature pursue her like rain follows a desert, pursue her like sun follows a frozen river, stumbling upon the elixir of life and the fruits rive Chowti Charowti as the Fulani is in Sahel, Charveti Chowti as the mulchit in Utga.
Charowti Chowti UN CCD from recognition to implementation.
Cherowti Charowti hand in hand with indigenous peoples for a land, a people, a knowledge, a future.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, M.
That was wonderful.
And to always conclude our opening session, I'd like to invite you, Jennifer, or Bruce Sowley to deliver your thoughts as a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Excellency, Minister of Justice, Grethel, Director General of ACN, brothers and sisters, Gigukaain, Mason, Kaag Ewani.
I greet you in the language of the Cantana Igoro Indigenous peoples of the Philippines, Maya, the people that I belong to.
I am here before you as an expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples issues.
The United Nations Forum is the highest placed body within the United Nations hierarchy, specific for indigenous peoples.
It is the culmination of almost 30 years of struggle of our leaders and our ancestors.
The UN Permanent Forum is in the business of making recommendations based on what we hear from indigenous peoples.
And this year's report in its paragraph 88, has a recommendation to the UN Convention to combat the certification, UN CCD.
It says, It welcomes the establishment at cop 16 of the Caucus of Indigenous peoples, which is distinct from the caucus of local communities, and calls for Cp 17 to adopt the terms of reference, which was widely consulted among indigenous peoples in all seven socio cultural regions, including in the sidelines of the permanent forum session this year.
We have challenges.
I know I am hearing that the parties have in fact bracketed all of the decisions at this call.
I am hopeful that we have a way forward.
As indigenous peoples, we are in the business of hope.
We are in the business of struggle.
We are no strangers to struggle.
So I am still hopeful, as I am sure that all my brothers and sisters, indigenous peoples here are, that we will be able to move forward.
Now, of course, because the permanent forum is the central node of coordination of all the efforts of UN agencies, funds, and bodies, we will be hearing next year again from the UN Convention to combat the certification, UNCCD.
And we are hopeful that we can hear about how the UN CCD has supported the Indigenous People's Caucus because it's already established this, we assert And this, we say to you, we are here to continue working with the convention because without us, we sacrifice the effectiveness and the legitimacy of the work of the convention.
So we look forward as the permanent forum to hearing about these advances because we cannot move backward.
We move ever forward, and we will struggle with you, our brothers and sisters, as indigenous peoples, because we are used to the struggle, and we are used also to celebrating victories.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Jennifer.
Thank you so much for sharing this inspiring message of hope.
There is a language that is widely understood, in fact, understood by everyone around the world.
It's music.
So we're delighted to welcome you, Bab Mal, as the UN CCD Goodwill Ambassador.
And you are not just an extraordinary voice and musician.
You are also an advocate for communities, for culture, and for the land.
So we're delighted to welcome you and to hear from you.
Thank you very much.
You know, I'm so happy to be here today because I want to say that these are the people of the world, Indones people, they are the land, and they are the future of the world.
But allow me first to say to my sister Hindu, again, yesterday when I come out of the session, I was caught back by some people from our communities from Africa.
And they said to me, Since you are the voice of the people, because my band is called the Dandeliono, which means the voice of the people.
And since you are the voice of the people, please tell to our sister, Hindu, that we really thank her for all the job that she's doing for indigenous people all around the world and especially in Africa.
One more applause for Hindu, please.
You know, they say that and I know it.
You could have been doing this work all the time, dedicating yourself to people, to the planet, to what the indigenous people can bring like a solution for our problems now and for the future.
Do it by yourself.
But they said you tell them to join themselves together and to come to join you here at this cop, this great Cop, one of the best one that I have been so far and to be able to rise up again their voice and to say, all the important thing that we want to hear about solutions.
And they are the solutions Like I say, I'm a musician.
My band is called the Voice of the people.
But when I come to pose my back and to put my voice on a movie like Black Panther, it's because when I was shown the movie itself, the script itself, I knew it was talking about Africa, but Africa in the future, Africa with all its possibility.
But all its possibilities You can see it in the movie.
They are very modern, they are very futuristic, but at the same time, they come from far away, they come from our history, our traditions.
When you see the women and the men, the faces, the hairdressing, the jewelry, the costume, all of that is Africa and comes from the indigenous people.
And this is why I say, yes, I have to put my voice in this because I believe in that we are the solution of all the problems in the world.
Thank you, Hindu, to be Hindu for us and for the world.
Thank you.
Thank you, Hiner, indeed, of course, and thank you, Varnal.
Of course, I can share already now that we'll have the pleasure to hear you in music later on this day today, the Land and People Day.
Many thanks to our speakers here on stage once again for sharing your enthusiasm, your energy, and your hope with us today.
Let's have another round of applause, please, ladies and gentlemen.
And we are going to move on to our next panel and our next discussion, which is titled Sacred Lands, Living Knowledge, Indigenous Peoples Leadership for Land Restoration and resilience.
And this conversation will be moderated by you and Samant.
So welcome over to you.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
Thank you very much for that wonderful session.
So Excellencies, brothers and sisters from across the world to be presented here today.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Awesome.
So my name is Samana.
I'm a patalist woman from the southern rangelands of Kenya, and I'm truly honored today to be moderating this session.
I know I have one pressure to deal with the pressure of time because I know the time is quite limited.
So Our focus in this panel is going to feature on the declaration that we submitted on the 7th of December 2024 during the 16th session of the Conference of Parties of UN CCD, which actually opened a bigger window for Indigenous peoples globally when the Indigenous people's Caucus was established.
So by now it's quite clear that land restoration is not only about restoring ecosystems.
It is about recognizing and strengthening the people, their knowledge systems and institutions.
That have continued to sustain this landscape.
It is about restoring hope.
And so I'm going to invite my panelists for this session.
I'm requesting the panelists to step forward, beginning with miss Vital Barbanz who is Rapank representative from Africa.
Secondly, we have Lucia, sorry, Alberta, the President, National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, The third one is Natalia, Vlad Miova, who is an Indigenous people's leader.
And then we have Abu Amani, Assistant Director General for Sciences in Unesco.
Most welcome.
And then finally, we have Nahid, Naglizad the Indigenous People's Unit at FAU.
Thank you very much.
To start us off this discussion, I want to begin with my panelist, the first panelist here right close to me, Mr.
Vital Barbanz from Africa.
So Vital, on the 7th of December 2024, during Land and People's Day, just like today, Indigenous peoples presented a declaration titled The Sacred Land.
The declaration called for recognition and protection of indigenous peoples land and territories rights, obtaining systems and governance.
From your experience as a leader, I think you are one of the leaders that have been around for some time.
I myself have learned so much from you.
Why are these strategies or why are these rights, and governance system so fundamental for successful land restoration.
Mongo accepted.
Thank you very much for this opportunity, and I represent local indigenous people.
So I'd like to send a message.
And in this framework, I'd like to ask all of you to approve so that we can observe a minute of silence.
I ask everybody to rise to keep minutes silence for the indigenous people.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for this challenge.
I say this because I come from Central Africa region and especially from the Great Lakes region and beside the Democratic Republic of Congo where we have wars that has destroyed a lot of human lives, especially with the indigenous people becoming their victims.
Now, I think that the recognition of territorial rights of the indigenous people is the recognition of their identity, their culture, and then also religion and their development that is socioeconomic.
And it is also the recognition of our rights to citizenship because we are the citizens of the land where we are born.
For us as citizens that have to participate in COP 216 and COP 17.
We have this interconnection of codes because we recognize the fact that indigenous people and lands are inseparable.
And so in the African context, it was always said that land belonged to the state.
But this is an aberration because we, the indigenous people are the land and the land is us because we have always lived in harmony with land and have always protected the biodiversity, and then also against decertification and also fought against climate change.
And talking about territorial rights.
Without talking about the rights of the indigenous people, without recognizing their contributions in the protection of the environment would be a non recognition of the rights to citizenship.
I would like to say that the protection of the environment is a protection of the planet and then also protection of the future generations.
Here we are in the question of constraints.
I thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Vital.
Now, may I kindly go to Abu Amani from UMisco.
Have Ab.
UNSCO works at the intersection of policies, knowledge and science.
And we all know that indigenous people's knowledge is their own asset.
This is their pillar of resilience.
So from your perspective, how can we build a stronger bridge between indigenous people's knowledge systems and scientific or conventional science while ensuring that people indigenous people retain ownership to land to this knowledge and benefit from it.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for the opportunity and also for inviting USC to this very, very important panel, dealing with the indigenous knowledge people.
As you know, within US So, we have been dealing with indigenous people for many years, and the issue of knowledge of local indigenous people is at the heart of our work.
Well, of course, the scientific organization But in addition to the core science, the theoretical science, we recognize the critical importance of knowledge gathered within the indigenous people.
So this is why from UNESCO's perspective, indigenous people are, for us key partners in our work.
And in that regard, we stand for inclusion.
Nobody should be left behind.
And within UNESCO, We are making things happening.
At the UN school, we have a dedicated policy on engaging with indigenous people.
So this is an opportunity for us to mainstream throughout our work the issue related to indigenous people.
And I can highlight when it comes to the knowledge part, the fact that within the US system, We are only UN agency having a unit dedicated to the knowledge of indigenous people because of that recognition of its importance.
And also, within our different program, as I said, we have been mainstreaming the indigenous people knowledge.
I can give you an example, for example, on the issue of water, the Intergovernmental Program Strategy nine.
If you look at this document, you can see clearly the relevance of indigenous people knowledge and local knowledge.
We have also a What Heritage convention.
What also indigenous people are at the heart of the discussion.
And also, more recently, the action plan of the Minor Base Reserves Plan, which was approved in China, clearly recognized indigenous people as key actors for the preservation, conservation and management of ecosystem and biodiversity.
So for us Ain School is something we have been working with for many years, for many decades.
As you know, we have a program dedicated to that links.
And I want also to touch upon the cultural dimension because as you know, we had the convention of 2003 on the intangible heritage, pastoralism, trans and aesthetic knowledge systems are recognized as living heritage, which are pad for the guardian protection of land, water, biodiversity, and ecosystems.
So in that regards, we believe that bringing together the knowledge coming from indigenous people is paramount for sustainable solutions.
I want to end with the point related to the current international year of Ireland and pastoralist, which, as you know, is headed by Mongolia.
So I want to recognize that leadership, and we stand ready to continue working with all of you to make the knowledge of indigenous people as they had Of sustainable development agenda, but most importantly, in building resilience of communities.
We're talking about land here, but we cannot have a land which is well managed without water.
We cannot have a land which is well managed without ecosystem.
All those three, the nexus Water land ecosystems are critical nexus for which we know that in people have gathered ancestral knowledge, so we cannot have sustainable solutions in addressing those nexus without leveraging the knowledge coming from innocent people.
So UNESCO is really proud to have that unit dedicated to the production of the knowledge of indigenous people and local communities because we believe that we cannot have the action of science without your knowledge.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Amani.
And now I move very closely related to the question on indigenous people's knowledge.
Natalia, this is the resource that we have.
Okay.
So the Executive Secretary is here, and I would like to give her the chance to be here with us.
And so Okay.
So 1 minute each.
So Natalia, you see, we have so much under pressure.
Tell me how can he talked about the knowledge.
We know this is our asset, we know we have been resilient because of this knowledge.
But if we do not transmit this knowledge to the next generation, then we'll not be talking about the same thing in the next ten or so cops.
How can we ensure that this generation doesn't just stay with us, but we transmit it to the next generation that is going to push our agenda forward? Excellence distinguishing.
It's an honor for me to take the floor now today on behalf of the indigenous people of Russia for indigenous people, the land is not only a resource or a place where we live.
Our hope and our culture, our identity constitute the basis of our future.
Through the Article Siberia and Extreme East, the Mendelian people have developed along generations knowledge and practices that allow the preservation of their territories.
We know the movement of animals, and also water targets and vegetations, as well as changes that affect our ecosystems.
This knowledge for interrupting.
You have 1 minute.
Thank you.
A sacred land for the future generation.
Our message is simple.
Let us respect the rights of the indigenous people.
Let us respect their knowledge.
Let us invest directly in their solutions.
I thank you.
Thank you very much.
Over to you, Lucia.
I Brazil has set an example, a good example that indigenous peoples, when given the chance, can lead to restoration, and also their indigenous traditional governance system are the key pillars to this.
So what recommendation do you have for the government now that this has worked, and indeed it has, especially in Brazil.
Ajin a copy is a sex celebre.
Today, Cop 17 celebrates this day of people.
It's impossible to speak about the cop without speaking about the land for us, the land is representative of spirituality.
I'm speaking in terms of Brazil, but also as a woman, indigenous from Amazon.
On this day of indigenous people, we need to guide the decisions of Cop 17.
Which we cannot combat in an effective way this degradation without the involvement of the indigenous people and also working on their knowledge and the nature in Brazil.
Indigenous territories are about 14% of international territory, but it's not sufficient just to think about that in conversation we need to understand and respect the decision Indigenous people in Brazil, the current government, as indigenous people, we are in different roles of governing as ministry, indigenous people of carbon and other investments.
So our position is that we need to have our rights guaranteed with this species of being able to influence and also leadership.
It is important to have a caucus that is established for the indigenous people to guarantee that there is a qualified participation and creating good conditions for their participation.
The Indigenous people need to have access to financial resources through mechanisms to be able to protect and restore these territories.
That is how the indigenous people need to be vaized valued.
They need to be acknowledged in the species that COP 17 can be historic in such a way that you will be able to transform the presence of every indigenous person that is here, and we can have transformation with strong and the key and concrete change the message from Brazil is key.
Nothing without the indigenous people without the participation of the people the indigenous people.
The response is, sir.
The appeal is by restoring the territory is restoring the hope will be important if it protagonizes the participation of the indigenous people.
And thank you very much.
Very much, Lucia.
Now over to ahd, you unfortunately have to work with less than a minute.
We know if one of the friendly UN agencies to indigenous peoples, especially pastoralists.
And so from FAO perspective, what concrete changes are needed in policies, investments, and financing that would ensure that indigenous people's knowledge and governance systems are not only recognized but also actually shape land restoration.
Thank you.
Excellency distinguished representative of indigenous peoples, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
FAO recognizes indigenous peoples as distinct right holders and knowledge holders, and that's where recognition leads to one simple point.
Indigenous peoples should not be invited into restoration.
After its goals, methods, and indicators have already been decided.
Indigenous peoples land is not an empty project site.
It is living territory connecting water, soil biodiversity, food and knowledge systems and restoration therefore is not about planting trees or reporting hectors.
The restoration is about restoring the lost memory of their territories and Indigenous peoples led restoration and including the FAO Global Program of Indigenous peoples biocentric restoration begins differently.
Indigenous peoples of the territory define what has been damaged, what must recover, and what a healthy territory means.
They lead design implementation, monitoring and reporting and long term care and scientific tools and technical support complement and support this process, but cannot replace it.
This is how indigenous peoples shape implementation of convention not only by contributing knowledge, but by exercising their authority.
Building on decision five of CP 16, a distinct and adequately supported indigenous people's caucus provides an important institutional space, but its value will be measured beyond the meeting room.
To recognize territorial rights, customary governance system, free prior informed consent of indigenous peoples and indigenous people's own indicators in restoration.
This is why the team of this panel, sacred lands and living Knowledge is so important.
Indigenous people's leadership in restoration and resilience is not simply a contribution of the Commission.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, but have to leave it there.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
Sorry for rushing, everyone.
But as you know, we have a lot of content to go through and there are two people in this room we definitely want to welcome here onstage to hear their remarks on our very important topics today.
Many thanks to you and for your superb moderation and to all our speakers, please, ladies and gentlemen.
Many thanks.
Next, it's my true honor to welcome His Excellency Elbgds Saka, former president of Mongolia and member of the elders, as well as Yasmin Fuad of UNCCD, please.
Welcome, President.
Sambano thank you very much.
You know, I'm one of the members of the elders, which was founded by N Mandela and now 11 of us and myself regarded the youngest elder there.
I'm son of the herdsman, one of the eight sons, and thank you for coming.
And I hope you know all of you know one word from the Zulu Hossa language Ubunto Let's say Ubuntu Ubuntu.
That means we belong to each other.
That means we are friends.
That means we rise together.
Let's indigenous people rise together.
Ubuntu.
I know that indigenous people are our parents, parents of humanity.
The most caring and most loving and most warm hearts belong to indigenous people.
Come back to Mongolia.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This is a pleasure to be here with you in the high level event for the Indigenous people.
In the middle of the negotiations that we are having a very difficult times here over the next two days.
Thanks to Mongolia for hosting us, for giving us that venue, for raising the pastoralists in the range land high.
Having that declaration and moving ahead, three messages that I'd like to deliver very shortly, very clearly, and very focused.
We still have the mandate of decision five of cop 16, and we will continue to deliver on that.
We're trying to see how best can we put that in the program, both for the indigenous people and for the local communities, and I've done the same message in the morning.
The second part is that looking further on the sacred land, and how can we do that into implementation? We will need governance, we will need land tenant rights, we will need women empowerment, and we will need much more than that.
We will need to still ground and root your culture, your identity, your knowledge, and your experience with the land because for you, land is not only food and water, and we understand that, but we want some space for us as a Secretariat to continue serving you and looking how best can we do that.
The third message is within that conference, we are aware and totally understand the importance of the non state actors.
And for us, the non state actors is a collective action.
This collective action includes local communities, indigenous people, and we are proud that we got that decision in Cp 16, and that makes our multilateral process different.
But we have also the research institute, we have the private sector, and we want to move together into that.
We don't want to leave anyone behind.
I know that the multilateral system is about decisions.
But also this COP is about implementation.
And for me, implementation would go beyond what is on paper.
It would go really into how much can we meet in COP 18 and see, even if we don't have that mandate, we have done even a small milestones, and this is what we will try to do.
We will try to mobilize resources at team fighting.
So what we want you to do is to believe in this, believe in us, and give us some space, patience, and tolerance to work together in this journey.
Thank you all very much.
Great.
Thank you.
Yasmin Yasmin, thank you very much for all that.
We know you have to rush to the negotiation, give her the declaration and let her run.
We are pointing also on you, really.
And thank you for your time.
Speak.
Your time you are just coming.
Those are the representative of the region.
T heat up.
Who else specific quickly quickly.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Yasmin.
Thank you, President.
We are going to have a next panel here.
We rush because Yasmin have to rush.
That's why we really didn't.
So now, Charlotte will take the floor and we will have the second panel on finance, and we will have the performance.
After that, with Babamal and we also have Ricky who joins us.
Thank you, Ricky for coming.
And please sit down and enjoy the rest of the final journey.
Thank you so much, Hindu, and many thanks to all the speakers who joined us so far here onstage.
We're going to swiftly move on to our panel discussion titled Shepherding the Future, Advancing Partnership, Direct Access to Finance and Indigenous Peoples and pastoralist Solutions for implementation.
So I'd like to call it a stage flow Downward from Australian, To Munoz, Terrence Hey, Edi, Rose Gonzalez, and Deborah Sanchez for discussion, which will be moderated by Mini Daguan and we're running out of time.
So I'm going to ask you all to be extremely brief and maybe make sure this panel is no longer than 10 minutes only.
So maybe answer one round of questions and wrap up.
Many thanks to everyone, and welcome, of course.
Thank you so much.
And thank you if everybody could chat settle down.
This is a very important panel discussion because it will talk about financing.
So we have all the very good plans.
We have all our self determined life plans, but if we do not get financing for it, we will not be able to move forward.
So thank you panelists for staying on and taking the time.
I would like to call on Rosy, who will present a summary of indigenous people's demands, and then I will ask the panelists to react.
Please st them equally.
Que Tai, good afternoon.
I'm Rosie Gonzalez.
It's an honor to join you today.
I speak on behalf of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas.
We're 25 National Indigenous women's organizations from North, Central and South of the continent and I represent Plum, the National Indigenous Women's Rights Alliance in the United States in North America.
The question before us or that was posed before me was, how do we enable indigenous peoples to lead restoration? Our answer is clear.
And finance indigenous peoples, including indigenous women directly.
Indigenous peoples are already protecting and restoring our lands, waters, biodiversity, and food systems.
We don't we do not lack solutions.
We lack equitable access to resources and decision making power necessary to implement those solutions at scale.
Too much finance is intended to benefit indigenous peoples, yet it moves through governments, international institutions, large organizations, and multiple intermediaries before actually reaching our indigenous nations and our indigenous led organizations.
If it reaches us at all, and that must change.
Direct access means more than another funding window.
It means recognizing indigenous peoples as right holders and decision makers with our own governance institutions, priorities, and knowledge systems.
It means indigenous peoples helping determine what gets financed, how resources are allocated, how success is measured, and who is accountable.
It means ensuring that indigenous women and youth have direct access to resources and decision making power.
I had two examples.
Is there time? Enclosure I want to make brief recommendations.
And of course, I will stop here.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rosa.
I think you were very clear on what we mean by direct access to finance.
This has been a rally cry of indigenous people that we want direct access to finance, and that was very clear.
I would like to ask the panelist to read and to 1.5 meeting.
I'm really very sorry that we are running out of time.
So from the Australian Ministry of Climate Change, Energy and Environment.
No.
Thank you.
It's an honor for Australia to be on this panel today, the Minister for Environment and Water, honorable report express apologies, so you cannot be here today.
I would like to firstly acknowledge all the indigenous peoples here today, their knowledge, unique expertise, leadership, and lead experience in protecting and restoring our land.
In Australia, we open all our meetings by acknowledging First Nations people and the continuing connection to land, waters, and communities and pay our respect to elders, P and president to echo their words, if you care the country, it will care for you.
Australia strongly supports the meaningful participation of indigenous peoples through the work and decision making processes of the UN CPP, including through the establishment of the separate Indigenous People's Caucus established at cop 16.
And the question before us is how do you enable indigenous people to lead restoration? I'll quickly talk about two examples in Australia, our indigenous protected areas and also our Indigenous Rangers program.
So these are indigenous owned or managed land and sea country for environmental protection and biodiversity conservation through an agreement with the Australian government to establish an indigenous protected area.
And just a few months ago, we declared the Citizen desert indigenous protected area covering more than 4.7 million hectares.
And this has led to us now meeting milestone of 25% of land protected, moving towards the C Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework charter of protecting 30 set of land.
Secondly, the Indigenous Rangers Program supports F nations people to combine traditional knowledge to protect land, sea, and culture.
We've already employed almost 2000 indigenous rangers, and we've recently announced 100 new anger projects, which will employ another 1,000 new rangers, including 770 ben.
And just to sort of wrap up, We also support synergies through the pre reg Collection, recognizing indigenous peoples need to work on harnessing synergies to protect climate, environment, and land and biodiversity outcomes.
And we're strongly supporting these causes and forum throughout UNCPD, CBD, and also UNC.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Of course, I think the next event is part.
So the next speakers If you could point up on the issue of how we may the restoration efforts.
Consolidated, thank you to the organizers.
Definitely, the indigenous people of should not be only framed as communities affected by land degradation and drought.
They are, as we know, right holders, knowledge holders and implementation partners that no matter beneficiaries of land restoration, there, it's an architect.
And we were talking about restoring restoring the etymology of the word means bringing it back to life, even remaining standing.
If we apply that to a building, for example, if you think about normally when approaching the idea of restoring a building, the first thing you do is you try to find what's who was the architect, who was the engineer, and who had been leading there, right? So the logic of creating now financing mechanism for a for the indigenous communities, and you told me this very well, we need to start by letting them define their priorities, evaluating memorial, vibing the history, and creating bottle up approaches through probably blended finance that would allow them to also secure their own governance and their rights and their knowledge into any tool that comes into life.
Thank you.
Thank you, Gonzalo.
Of course, they don't need to introduce the next speaker.
Everybody knows parents.
So parents need So two years ago when we met in R for the high level L panel, the message from the small grant program was, yes, we can.
We have 34 years of experience delivering you with men and persons with disabilities.
So we look forward to sharing those experiences with all of the partners.
The second point I want to make is there's a slight there's something missing in today's title of Land and people.
Animals.
So one of the things I learned this week was that and people who and animals are a triangle and you can't have one without the other.
Here in Mongolia, during the two weeks, some of the pastoralists who buy animals, they followed the animals.
And it's only 8,000 years ago that people 5,000 year culture where the land, people, and the animals are all part of the same thing, the dreaming of the kangaroo, people are part of the land.
The last point I would like to say is that based on the Ulmbata Declaration, as UNDP, we have launched a new partnership with the Adaptation Fund, working with pastoralists in Africa to go beyond individual grands, but to look at landscape connectivity, look at transhumans, look at migration routes.
This is, I think the challenge before us not just for direct access, but also on governance and landscape connectivity.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Over to you, very quickly.
Yes.
This is, I think the void is very clear.
We need a in the table, we've been saying from yesterday, and one of the real things that we can do for implementation is facilitate the path, facilitate accreditation, facilitate the pathway for indigenous funding mechanisms as open infrastructures of financing.
To get access to the finance that are within any of the conventions.
And I am here talking from the clarified side from the Community and rights and Conservation Financing Initiative is a global funding mechanism led by indigenous peoples afro descant peoples and local community.
But there is many, many brothers and sisters building, constructing, learning how to develop their own funding mechanism at the regional level.
All the way from Indonesia with Aman, IPS in Asia, Rpalia in Congo, Mesoamerican Territorial Fund in Mesoamerica.
Korea has a funding mechanism.
Many infrastructure are already happening, are already learning, we are already delivering and not a small, small funding.
We have, in our case already the river $20 million to indigenous peoples and local community in 29 countries.
So scale is visible, and we can do it by ourselves.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I think it is unfortunate that we have to pay choice, but from examples of Australia and others, there are ongoing initiatives that let indigenous people live through their governance, through the traditional knowledge system.
So if you want to know more, please approach the panelists.
They are very willing to share their experiences.
So let's are closing up while we are taking the photograph for everybody.
Thank you so much for staying on and thank you so much.
Thanks, Mini, for your moderation.
Many thanks to all our speakers for making very valuable and very insightful points, indeed, relating to sacred lands, shepherding the future.
So we began this morning's session with singing.
It's only fitting that we should end with music.
To close our session, I am delighted to welcome two musicians who have used their extraordinary voices, not just as artists, but also as advocates for communities, for culture, and for the land.
So please join me in welcoming UNCCD Goodwill Ambassador Baba, joined by Adam Ma Do.
Thank you.
Okay.
Mimi Balata.
All right.
Feeling.
Your liking you So the world and the world they Okay.
Come on.
We can.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think that deserves an even bigger round of applause, please, by a wonderful musician.
And many thanks to all of you for joining us this afternoon.
Our next session will start very shortly.
Thank you.