Materials related to the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, including statements, submissions, interventions, reports, and other relevant resources.

 

Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples in Protected Areas: Why grievance and redress mechanisms should be part of the COP-17 decisions

Elisa Marchi | Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas Initiative, Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, University of Arizona | October 2026

As Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity expand protected areas toward the 30 per cent target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Indigenous Peoples must be able to raise grievances and obtain remedy when conservation affects their lands, territories and resources.

This advocacy brief, prepared for the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-17, Yerevan, 19–30 October 2026), shows that access to justice under Target 22 includes access to effective grievance and redress mechanisms. It sets out what international law requires, including restitution for lands taken without free, prior and informed consent, and the standards a mechanism must meet to deliver remedy. It also maps every reference to grievance, redress and access to justice in the COP-17 draft decisions, and proposes text that Parties can use in the negotiations on protected areas, the financial mechanism and the human rights-based approach.

The brief is intended for State delegations, Indigenous Peoples' organizations and other actors taking part in the negotiations.