The Congress also reflected the debates and conclusions of the Latin America and Caribbean region in terms of IUCN global events, incorporating The Promise of Sydney from the 2014 World Parks Congress. The region is now positioned to take its positions forward to the IUCN World Conservation Congress, 2020, in Marseille, France. 

Led by Dr. Terence Hay-Edie (SGP Biodiversity Advisor), the SGP was represented by 9 SGP National Coordinators (NCs) and 18 indigenous and community leaders, implementing SGP projects from: Argentina, Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Suriname and 2 SGP IP National Fellows (Argentina and Guatemala).

Some highlights include:

• On October 15, at the Community Conservation of Natural Resources in the IUCN Pavilion, SGP grantees from Belize, Colombia, Guatemala and Paraguay served as panel members, presenting their experiences on community engagement and land management that capture all dimensions that occur in the territory: culture, people, institutions, land, customs, and knowledge.

• On October 16, Ms. Beatriz Schmidt (SGP NC, Panama) was a panel member on the session Overlaps between Protected Areas and Indigenous and Community-Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCA) - TERRITORIES OF LIFE. This was aimed at contributing to the publication of the IUCN Protected Areas Commission Series of Good Practice Guidelines. Focusing on the importance of shared governance in overlaps between Protected Areas and ICCAs, Ms. Schmidt shared the challenges and opportunities in two SGP project sites in Panama: Darien National Park, a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, widely populated by indigenous peoples, and the Filo del Tallo-Canglón Hydrological Reserve.

• On October 17, the SGP organized a side event for its Support to Conserved Areas in LAC towards CBD Aichi Target 11 - where the SGP Argentina team, Mr. Francisco López Sastre (SGP NC) and Mr. Javier Karaí Villalba (SGP Indigenous Peoples Fellow) presented the transparent process and engagement of IPs in the project life cycle process – and their central role in nature conservation.

• The SGP and ICCA GSI provided logistical and financial support to the Indigenous Maloca which hosted events organised by indigenous peoples’ networks from the LAC region including IUCN member FENAMAD, AIDESEP, COICA and numerous others.

SGP strongly collaborated with its partners for the Global Support Initiative to Indigenous and Community-Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCA-GSI) by presenting pragmatic examples in their side events.

At the Natural Justice-organized side event, Legal Framework, Public Policies and Indigenous and Community Strategies, 4 case studies from the ICCA-GSI projects implemented by SGP were presented.

SGP also participated in the ICCA Consortium’s General Assembly on 13-14 October and actively participated in their side events at the Congress including:

• Other effective conservation measures based on areas: Application of Guidelines for Identification and Reporting in Latin America and the Caribbean. Challenges and opportunities.

• Cultural and Ancestral Values.

• Contributions of ICCAs to Aichi Targets and Sustainable Development Objectives.

• Indigenous People in Isolation: Protection of Law and Conservation in the Amazon and Gran Chaco.

• ICCA Network - Territories of Life (Colombia).

• Original article provided by Anna-Lisa Jose and Terence Hay-Edie of the UNDP-SGP, https://sgp.undp.org/resources-155/our-stories/600-sgp-at-the-iii-latin-american-and-caribbean-congress-of-protected-areas.html.