The Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas Initiative at CBD COP-17
Yerevan, Armenia, 19–30 October 2026
The Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas Initiative of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program is taking part in the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-17) in Yerevan, Armenia.
What is COP-17?
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the main decision-making body of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the international treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of nature. Its member States meet regularly to agree on how to implement the Convention. COP-17 is the first global review of progress under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022. One of the Framework's central commitments is to conserve 30 per cent of the world's land and sea by 2030. At COP-17, Parties will also negotiate decisions on protected areas, biodiversity finance, the role of Indigenous Peoples and the human rights-based approach.
Why it matters for Indigenous Peoples
As protected areas expand, many will overlap with Indigenous lands and territories. Where conservation has led to evictions, loss of access to lands and resources or violence, Indigenous Peoples must be able to raise grievances and obtain remedy. The Framework commits States to ensure access to justice (Target 22), but the COP-17 draft decisions do not yet say clearly how.
Our work at COP-17
Our team will follow the negotiations and work with State delegations, Indigenous Peoples' organizations and partners to strengthen the language on access to justice, grievance and redress mechanisms, and accountability in protected areas.
Read our advocacy brief
Access to Justice for Indigenous Peoples in Protected Areas explains why access to justice under Target 22 must include effective grievance and redress mechanisms, and what international law requires, including restitution for lands taken without free, prior and informed consent. It maps the relevant provisions in the COP-17 draft decisions and proposes concrete text for negotiators.
Related materials
Background resources on Indigenous Peoples' rights, protected areas and grievance mechanisms are available here:
For more information, contact Elisa Marchi, elisamarchi@arizona.edu.
Artwork: Daniela Alzate