As governments gather in Armenia for the CBD COP17, the world’s biodiversity is disappearing and the climate crisis is advancing, yet the Convention is at risk of rolling back.
The #StopTheRollbacks campaign, led by RRI and backed by Indigenous, Afro-descendant, local community and civil society organizations from around the world, calls on Parties and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to uphold the rights already recognized, stop the rollbacks and increase ambition on biodiversity action.
Hard-won Recognition
For centuries, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and Afro-descendant Peoples have stewarded the world’s ecosystems.
For decades, they have fought biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation.
For years, they have slowly been recognized as the best solution holders in that fight.
Now, that recognition is under threat.
The CBD is Rolling Back
Ahead of COP17, proposals on the table could weaken what the Convention has already achieved.
Territories treated as “complementary” to protected areas, consent made optional, “should” changed to “may,” references to human rights deleted, and financing diluted.
These can look like technical drafting changes, but they carry profound legal and territorial consequences.
What We’re Demanding
In a global open letter to ministers, heads of mission and negotiators,
the #StopTheRollbacks campaign is calling on the Parties to the CBD
to adopt rights-based, non-regressive texts across three pillars:
2026 can't be when we give up the fight. Armenia can't be where we yield.
Sign the Open Letter
