WCC 2020 Res 002 - Activity Report

IUCN WCPA co-convened the indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ forum at the Asia Parks Congress. The pre-meeting was very well attended, with 247 indigenous and community participants in total from 9 countries (nearly 200 were Sabahan or Malaysian). Discussions went late night and covered a wide array of situations and experiences. On the second day, summaries were prepared to combine the experiences and stories shared into a Declaration. The participants concluded the Api Api Declaration for not only the whole of the Asia Parks Congress but also specifically addressing the World Parks Congress that will take place over the next 5 years. The Api-Api Declaration (named for the pre-colonial name for the area in which Kota Kinabalu is built) was formally read to the Asia Parks Congress, is part of the proceedings and fed into a section of the overall Kinabalu Declaration (the main IUCN Congress declaration).
 
The declaration was notable for its reflections on emerging climate and NbS markets and certification, and made clear recommendations about the on-going legacy issues of parks in the region, as well as on-going expansion without consent. Key messages from the Api Api Declaration were also fed into the Kinabalu Declaration from the whole Congress, also appended here.