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ICCAs make significant contributions to conservation, and they are an important part of the global conservation network.

ICCAs therefore have the potential to affect progress towards internationally adopted conservation goals, such as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which were agreed within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In particular, Aichi Target 11 calls for a global conservation network covering 17% of the land and 10% of the sea by 2020. Crucially, this network must also be effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected. ICCAs have the potential to contribute to every aspect of this target, including by bridging gaps between formal protected areas and conserving the species, habitats, and ecological processes that fall outside them.

In addition to biodiversity, ICCAs also conserve traditional ecological knowledge, languages and cultures that are intricately linked to biodiversity conservation. These functions are particularly relevant to Aichi Target 18, which calls for traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous peoples and local communities to be respected and integrated into conservation strategies.

ICCAs have been conserving biodiversity for centuries, but recognition of their efforts by the international community lags far behind that of more formally governed protected areas. ICCAs can help the world to meet and build upon its biodiversity targets and aspirations, but in order to do so they require the appropriate recognition and support of their national governments and the wider world.

Self-recognition and knowledge-sharing between communities is an important step towards this broader recognition. The ICCA Registry provides indigenous peoples and communities with a platform that supports this.

Protected Planet is used to measure progress towards Aichi Target 11.

The ICCA Registry and Protected Planet are mentioned in several decisions of the CBD Conference of the Parties (CBD COP).

CBD COP decisions relating to the ICCA Registry

COP 10 Decision X/31, Invites Parties to:

(c) Consider voluntary in-depth reporting using standardized indexes and taxonomies including the proposed global registry of indigenous and community conserved areas, where applicable [emphasis added].

COP 11 Decision XI/24, Invites Parties to:

(e) Strengthen recognition of and support for community-based approaches to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in situ, including indigenous and local community conserved areas, other areas within IUCN governance types and initiatives led by indigenous and local communities that fulfil the objectives of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and support the voluntary use of the Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas Registry managed by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre [emphasis added].

COP 11 Decision XI/24

Requests the Executive Secretary, in partnership with relevant organizations, subject to the availability of funding, to continue supporting implementation of national action plans for the programme of work and progress towards achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and other related targets at the national, subregional and regional levels. These activities include…making available tools and technical guidance on those areas where progress is lacking, such as mainstreaming protected areas and defining area-based conservation measures; fostering relevant capacity-building for indigenous and local communities; and supporting the further development of local registries of indigenous and community conserved areas and the Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas Registry maintained by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre [emphasis added].