From Commitment to Inclusive Action: How conservation NGOs are changing to support and empower indigenous and community-led conservation, and the whole-of-society implementation of the KM-GBF

Since Durban (2003), exclusionary, top-down conservation paradigm, the so-called ‘fortress conservation,’ has been challenged and has brought conservation NGOs to rethink their practices and approaches and undergo systemic changes. The level and degree of changes, along with gaps and barriers in the process, have occasionally been updated and shared by NGOs at events and through reports (e.g., WPC 2014; CIHR reports xxx) to continue to learn and improve. The KM-GBF adopted in 2022 puts Human Rights Based Approaches and whole of society at the heart of its implementation, however the recent Global Review shows that participation, rights and equity are not yet being fully realized, accounted for and consistently reflected in implementation of the GBF. The proposed event is a collective space for learning from, and exchanging with, Indigenous Peoples and local communities leaders and human rights champions on how NGOs are progressing towards equitable and rights-based conservation, and what other actions and initiatives are needed for NGOs to further accelerate transformative change.