Kabir Bavikatte represented Natural Justice at the Land Day 3 at the Rio Conventions Ecosystem Pavilion in Nagoya. The event was organized by GTZ along with the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The objective of Land Day was to communicate issues relating to the UNCCD and to link the relevance of sustainable land management in drylands to the aims of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Participants of the land day included the negotiators and participants of the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the CBD. The event discussed how conserving biodiversity in drylands is of particular relevance to poverty reduction and food security and emphasized that if land degradation and species loss in drylands areas are to be arrested, indigenous and local communities must become more involved in decision-making processes.
The event was moderated by Gudrun Henne (GTZ) and included presentations by Harald Lossack (GTZ) and Dan Leskin (FAO). Kabir presented on how bio-cultural community protocols are a vivid example of securing community rights to their ecosystems. Dr. Abdul Raziq Kakar (SAVES Pakistan) presented on the Baloch Pashtoon biocultural protocol. The event was well-attended by members of the LIFE network, who engaged in a rich discussion about the priorities of livestock keepers, their role in species conservation in drylands, and the use of bio-cultural community protocols in securing livestock keepers’ rights.
