Indigenous Peoples’ Voices on Biodiversity: Mr. Kittisak Rattanakrajangsri – Thailand

Happy International Day for Biodiversity to our incredible leaders of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Women, Indigenous Youth, and Indigenous Persons with Disabilities!
Amidst the daily challenges our Indigenous Communities face, we have been preserving and passing down our language, values, and traditions from generation to generation. Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) recognizes, respects, celebrates and promotes this remarkable action by our communities.

Our knowledge, culture, traditions, and the security of our collective rights to our lands, territories, and waters hold the key to achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) vision of living in harmony with nature.

To mark the historic adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, this year’s theme is “From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity.” Indigenous Peoples’ rights and knowledge are visibly reflected in the final text of this new global biodiversity framework.

However, the burning question now is whether the CBD parties will include our rights and the recognition of our territories in their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), as well as relevant policies. Moreover, an even bigger question remains: Will the CBD parties genuinely collaborate with Indigenous Peoples to implement, monitor, and report on these strategies and action plans?

Just like in previous years, AIPP will celebrate the International Day for Biodiversity from May 22 to May 31 by sharing video messages from Indigenous Peoples across 14 Asian countries. To kick off the 2023 celebration, we proudly present a powerful video message from Mr. Kittisak Rattanakrajangsri, the Chair of AIPP.

In his video, Mr. Kittisak welcomes the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Frameworks and urges Asian governments to recognize the land rights of Indigenous Peoples in the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). “Indigenous Peoples should be part of the implementation,” emphasizes Mr. Kittisak.

Indigenous Peoples are ready for genuine partnerships to put the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Agreement into action. Let’s join hands together and put the rights of Indigenous Peoples into action to build back biodiversity.

AIPP will continue sharing video messages from our leaders across Asia through the Facebook page and Twitter account of Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples of Asia (IKPA). We kindly request you to share our posts in your relevant online spaces, enabling the exchange and learning from the experiences of our communities.

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