People are meeting in Yerevan, Armenia, for COP17, a United Nations meeting about protecting nature. Indigenous peoples and local communities want more say in decisions. Their leaders are discussing how a new permanent group will work.
Countries agreed to create this group at COP16 in Colombia in 2024. This followed 30 years of work and talks. The group aims to help Indigenous peoples and local communities take part in decisions about protecting nature. Now, people must agree on its rules, leaders and money for its work.
Lucy Mulenkei is an Indigenous leader from Kenya. She helps lead the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity and worked to create the new group. Some countries still disagree about parts of the plan. However, she hopes the meeting will end well.
Mulenkei says Indigenous peoples protect nature and need a stronger voice in plans for 2030. She also wants scientists to work with communities and learn from their knowledge. She says researchers must agree with communities on how to use this knowledge and share the good things that come from it. The Nagoya Protocol, an international agreement, supports this sharing.
