View of Mount Apo from Mount Talomo, Davao City, in the Philippines. (4 August 2019), by UNDP Philippines/Orange Omengan
It is estimated that some 85 per cent of these areas are home to indigenous communities, who live in direct contact with nature and who have the traditional knowledge and skills to protect the environment.
But a combination of unsustainable tourism, poorly planned infrastructure development and the erosion of indigenous leadership in conservation, has meant that many habitats are under threat and biodiversity could be lost.
For this year’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, marked annually on 9 August read more here about how UNDP is helping to bring indigenous people back into the conversation about conservation.
