Activities

Indigenous peoples and the Convention on Biological Diversity and the GEF
Being one of the three Implementing Agencies of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the Division of the Global Environmental Facility (DGEF) within UNEP is responsible for the implementation of several GEF-funded projects.

One of the focus areas of DGEF is to assist countries to implement Article 8j of the Convention on Biological Diversity aimed at respecting, preserving and maintaining knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities. Currently, DGEF is completing and preparing several projects in this area.

Read more about the specific UNEP/GEF project Indigenous Peoples Network for Change (IPNC), a global initiative aimed at advancing the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity by strengthening the capacity and knowledge of indigenous peoples to participate in processes surrounding the Convention on Biological Diversity and other relevant international instruments.

Disaster Management and Traditional Knowledge
The Disaster Management Branch in the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation implements capacity building projects for the application and use of indigenous knowledge for nature conservation and natural disaster management.

Read more about a recent interview-based study, conducted in partnership with the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), and focused on the indigenous peoples of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) and Kamchatka regions of the Russian Federation, aiming at learning from indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge about disaster management. <