IPBES Webinar: Indigenous Peoples and the Nexus assessment
Organised by IPBES, UNESCO, and the Network of the Centers of Distinction on Indigenous and Local Knowledge. Available in English, French and Spanish.
15 May 2025, 15:00-16:00 Paris / 20:00-22:00 Manila / 07:00-09:00 Bogota
In December 2024, the IPBES Plenary approved the new IPBES Nexus assessment: it addresses the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health. It also explores response options that address several of these areas and their challenges simultaneously.
Like every IPBES assessment, the Nexus assessment followed a rigorous approach to include Indigenous and local knowledge.
As a result, the assessment explores the ways in which Indigenous Peoples and local communities conceptualise the nexus and interlinkages within nature. It further includes the important role of their knowledge and actions in understanding, managing and governing these interlinkages.
In this webinar, assessment authors and Indigenous Peoples and local communities will reflect on the findings of the assessment, ways forward and next steps.
>> Download the posters (0.5 MB)
You might also be interested in the IPBES webinar on Indigenous Peoples and the Transformative change assessment: on 15 April 2025, 13:00-15:00 CET.
IPBES work with Indigenous Peoples and local communities
IPBES follows a structured and rigorous approach to working with Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK). It includes dialogue workshops and contributions from authors across a range of disciplines and knowledge systems.
With this approach, IPBES has set new standards for working with Indigenous People and local communities (IPLCs). It is now inspiring and informing work across a range of institutions.
>> Explore IPBES work with ILK
>> Read more about the participation of IPLCs
>> Register with IIFBES, an IPBES Stakeholder Network dedicated to IPLCs
Who are Indigenous Peoples and local communities within IPBES?
IPBES typically considers Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLC) ethnic groups who are descended from and identify with the original inhabitants of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently.
The IPBES Sustainable use assessment explained further that local communities refers to non-indigenous communities with historical linkages to places and livelihoods characterized by long- term relationships with the natural environment, often over generations.
The IPBES Africa assessment further detailed that Indigenous People are the holders of unique languages, knowledge systems and beliefs and possess invaluable knowledge of practices for the sustainable management of natural resources based on their traditional values, visions, needs and priorities. They are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environments. Indigenous people have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live.
IPBES does not intend to create or develop new definitions of what constitutes indigenous peoples and local communities.
For further reading, you may also want to see the IPBES Glossary for indigenous and local knowledge (ILK), indigenous and local knowledge systems, as well as indigenous and local knowledge holders.
>> Learn more about definitions of IPLC used in IPBES assessment reports
About the organisers
Centers of Distinction on Indigenous and Local Knowledge
COD-ILK came together in 2016 as a global network for the purpose of renewing and promoting traditional knowledge, wisdom and practices as central solutions to contemporary social and ecological crises. They have sought to strengthen the vital place of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) in IPBES since its fourth Plenary session.
COD-ILK is composed of indigenous leaders, experts, professionals and advocates of indigenous and local knowledge as vital for nature and nature’s linkages with people. Its 16 member organisations are based across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.
>> Download the brochure (2.2 MB)
IPBES technical support unit on Indigenous and local knowledge
UNESCO-LINKS hosts the technical support unit on Indigenous and local knowledge of IPBES. It supports the IPBES taskforce on Indigenous and local knowledge, builds capacity among authors of IPBES biodiversity assessments and supports them, and facilitates participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in IPBES activities.
Photo by Phuong: Man holding a bundle rice seedlings in a Vietnamese rice field. Across Asia, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have bred and cultivated traditional rice varieties over millennia. Due to ongoing changes in the environment and in agricultural practices, much of this crop diversity is at risk.