October 21, 2024 (Cali, Colombia) — Alarming new research underscores the need for immediate action to protect the world's most vital ecosystems, which are facing unprecedented threats from extractive industries.
As the global race to safeguard essential natural areas approaches a critical threshold, new findings reveal an alarming overlap between oil, gas, and mining concessions and important areas for conservation including Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), high-integrity forest landscapes, protected areas, and Indigenous Territories.
The report, titled ”Closing Window of Opportunity: Mapping Threats from Oil, Gas and Mining to Important Areas for Conservation in the Pantropics” paints a stark picture of the escalating risks to both ecological integrity and the livelihoods of Indigenous communities, whose stewardship of lands and waters across the pantropics spans millennia. Newly released maps vividly illustrate the extent of extractive concession overlap with important areas for conservation across the Amazon Basin, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia. As industrial activity surges throughout the pantropical belt, the window of opportunity to protect these invaluable ecosystems is rapidly closing.
- New maps show over 500 Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs - or 18% by area) and 180 million hectares of high-integrity forests overlapping with fossil fuel and mining concessions in Amazon and Congo basin regions and Southeast Asia
- Oil, gas, and mining concessions are directly threatening the livelihoods of Indigenous peoples and local communities across the pantropics - over 30 million hectares of Indigenous Territories in the Amazon are overlapping with oil and gas concessions and 9 million hectares with mining concessions.
- In these three regions, 25.4 million hectares of protected areas are overlapped by oil and gas blocks.
- Several case studies in the report also show extractive expansion threats to Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation.
"Preserving nature is essential for our shared future. The land and many Indigenous and local leaders who steward it are sending a clear message…" said Tyson Miller, Executive Director, Earth Insight. "We are at a crossroads: we can either act now to safeguard the natural systems that sustain life or keep on the business as usual train speeding towards a cliff."
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The pantropics not only harbor immense biodiversity but also serve as vital carbon sinks, regulating the global climate. Industrial activity in these regions threatens to push fragile ecosystems past tipping points, with potentially irreversible consequences for both nature and human populations.
The report calls for urgent and coordinated global action to bridge the gap between conservation commitments and the realities of industrial-scale exploitation of natural resources. Key recommendations include:
- Expand the global network of protected and conserved areas and restrict industrial expansion in these areas: Immediate efforts are required to designate new protected areas, prioritizing regions of high biodiversity, cultural, and ecological significance and to protect these areas from industrial activity
- Respect Indigenous sovereignty and provide sufficient resources for Indigenous-led conservation
Provide Indigenous peoples with the necessary financial, technical, and political resources to exercise governance over their territories while fully recognizing and respecting their sovereignty. - Increase Funding for Nature Conservation
Mobilize and increase funding for conservation at both national and international levels
Additional Quotes Available for Media Use
Jennifer Corpuz, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity
“There is an urgent need to address the nature and climate crises and expanding respect for and recognition of Indigenous people’s rights and territories is essential to this global goal. Indigenous peoples must have a seat at the table and access to financial solutions and direct and increased access to biodiversity and climate finance when it comes to priorities related to nature and climate change.”
Brian O’Donnell, Director, Campaign for Nature
“It is alarming to see the huge threats that some of the most important places on the planet are facing. Expansion of industrial activity is poised to damage and degrade rainforests, wetlands, grasslands and savannahs that harbor critically important species. Indigenous and local communities face destruction of their territories. The window is indeed closing to ensure that ecosystem integrity and the rights and territories of Indigenous peoples and local communities are upheld and expanded. Ensuring that financial commitments for protecting and restoring nature are met by 2025 and that new solutions are supported and urgently resourced is essential.”
Madhu Rao, Chair, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas
“Protected and Conserved areas are essential strategies to address both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. As important carbon sinks, they will be increasingly vital to help us cope with climate change impacts. It is therefore critically important to secure biodiversity in these areas against industrial-scale exploitation, including mining and fossil fuel extraction, while recognizing Indigenous stewardship of such areas.”
Karl Burkart, Co-founder and Deputy Director, One Earth
“The Global Safety Net identifies lands and waters vital for biodiversity and climate regulation. Knowing that oil and gas overlap in the Global Safety Net reaches 82% in the Amazon, 64% in Congo and 35% in Southeast Asia should set off alarms. Targeted investments can create an effective global strategy for both biodiversity protection and climate stability.”
Cyril Kormos, Executive Director, Wild Heritage
“Two years ago, the world came together in Montreal to approve a new and forward looking Global Biodiversity Framework, including a clear mandate to ramp up nature protection globally, while prioritizing ecosystem integrity. This new research indicates that governments are not taking their commitments seriously. We urgently need a recommitment to the letter and spirit of the Global Biodiversity Framework.”
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About Earth Insight
Earth Insight builds critical transparency tools and momentum for restricting fossil fuel, mining, and other industrial expansion threats to key ecosystems and Indigenous and local communities. Our research, communications, and engagement work is central to supporting policy interventions that key political and financial actors can make to protect critical ecosystems as a vital step towards addressing both the biodiversity and climate crises.
About Campaign for Nature
Campaign for Nature is a global campaign to safeguard at least 30% of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030 while simultaneously advancing Indigenous rights and significantly ramping up global finance for conservation.
About International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity
The International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) is a collective of Indigenous organizations, leaders, and activists that works to ensure Indigenous Peoples' voices and rights are represented in global biodiversity policy discussions. The IIFB plays a key role in negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), advocating for the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in biodiversity conservation, the protection of Indigenous lands and territories, and the recognition of traditional knowledge systems.
About IUCN WCPA
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected and conserved areas expertise. The Commission has over 2500 members spanning 140 countries who provide strategic advice to policymakers and work to strengthen capacity and investment for protected areas establishment and management.
About One Earth
One Earth empowers people worldwide with the knowledge, inspiration, and opportunities to heal the planet by advancing science-based solutions that address the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, focusing on renewable energy, nature conservation, and regenerative agriculture.
About Wild Heritage
Wild Heritage is an organization dedicated to the protection of primary forests, the restoration of degraded ecosystems, and the safeguarding of biocultural diversity worldwide. They work to preserve intact natural landscapes that are critical for biodiversity, climate stability, and the cultural heritage of Indigenous Peoples.