From the perspective of forest and biodiversity conservation, as of 2022, the Amazonian Indigenous Territories (TIA) accounted for 34% of the region’s total forest cover, while Protected Natural Areas (ANP) accounted for 28%. When considering both management frameworks together, and taking into account the 6% overlap, the TIAs and PNAs provide special protection for 56% of the region’s forest ecosystems. The remaining 44% of the forests lie outside these units. (RAISG, 2024).

This is the direct contribution from the territories of the Amazonian Indigenous Peoples (TIA) toward Target 3 of the new Biodiversity Framework.

Indeed, the Amazon Basin is the world’s largest tropical forest, covering 7.8 million km². It is an ecosystem that harbors the planet’s greatest biodiversity, including both flora and fauna—many of which are endemic—and is also a region of strategic importance for global cooling. The forests of Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia alone prevent between 42.8 and 59.7 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions each year—equivalent to taking 9 to 12.6 million vehicles off the road for a year. Furthermore, it is home to 511 Indigenous Peoples, whose history of occupation dates back more than 10,000 years, and it is also home to more than 66 free peoples living in voluntary isolation or in initial contact, known as PIACI. (COICA, 2024).

However, these same ITTs are facing rapid deforestation and forest degradation; in the 2023–2024 period alone, the Amazon suffered its worst drought in the last 122 years, affecting water, food, and energy security—and by 2030, extreme droughts are predicted that will trigger mass migrations. Therefore, the challenges in the Amazon are much broader and more complex when it comes to preventing the irreversible loss of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystem, which would jeopardize the ITTs’ enormous contribution to the 30/30 ambition, as well as mitigation efforts to address the climate crisis, and these challenges involve addressing this reality through the collective efforts of various actors, including national governments, Indigenous Peoples, and international cooperation.

The proposed side event aims to address these critical issues: on the one hand, the enormous contribution of Indigenous Peoples’ Initiatives (IPIs) to the conservation of the planet’s greatest terrestrial biodiversity as a substantial contribution toward achieving Target 3; the urgent need for the recognition and protection of Indigenous Territorial Areas (ITAs); and the contribution of traditional knowledge to the conservation of this biodiversity. A central element of this side event will be the discussion of the Guidelines on ITTs for the fulfillment of Target 3 and Tasks 1.1 and 1.2 of the new Work Program on Article 8j and other provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity, for which, through case studies on ITTs and workshops with Indigenous Peoples, we will explore how ITTs should be conceptualized, registered, and monitored for a global platform such as the one established for Natural Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs).