Recap: Meeting on Green Governance and the Green Economy

From 15-16 August, Natural Justice and the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC) co-hosted a meeting of Indigenous African leaders on the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Green Economy Initiative. The first day of the meeting focused on discussing and understanding the content and implications of the UNEP Green Economy Initiative with respect to governance over their territories and stewardship over their resources.

During the second day, participants prepared the first draft of a statement of African Indigenous principles to further engage the Green Economy Initiative based on the bio-cultural or stewardship rights of African Indigenous peoples over their territories and resources within international and domestic law and policy. Participants also elaborated an action plan for sharing these principles and views with the African Group of Negotiators in the so-called Rio Conventions (UNCBD, UNFCCC, and UNCCD), with influential policy bodies such as African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), UNEP, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and with the Global Indigenous Peoples' Caucus and IPACC’s members and allies. The meeting was supported by UNEP and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA).