We’re thrilled to share that our nonprofit organization, which recently received IUCN membership status, will be represented at the upcoming 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17), in Yerevan, Armenia by our Community Engagement Director, Katie Jones (enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation also known as Amskapi Piikani), and our Genomics Director, Dr. Solenne Correard.

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With this CBD COP’s theme being “taking action for nature,” we’re looking forward to sharing learnings from our Conservation Challenges and decentralized online platform at a series of events. If you’re interested in how Indigenous rights and knowledge systems, decentralized science and genomic data can come together for high impact, community-led species conservation please see where we’ll be speaking below!

Thankfully, you don’t have to travel to Yerevan to watch our presentation in the IUCN Pavilion on October 20th as it will be livestreamed on the IUCN’s YouTube channel, and shared later to Wise Ancestors’ website.

We’re looking forward to connecting with like minded organizations and individuals who understand the urgency of addressing the species extinction crisis with a holistic, community-centered approach that prioritizes engagement with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and implements Indigenous Data Sovereignty. If you’d like to set up a meeting with Katie or Solenne during the conference, please reach out and our team will do our best to coordinate.

We launched our platform and first Conservation Challenges two years ago ahead of CBD COP16, the last UN Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia. Since then, we are proving that community-centered biodiversity conservation that combines genomic and Indigenous science is not only possible but happening right now all around the world. Our Conservation Challenge partners are generating new genomic data sets and high-quality reference genomes for culturally important, critically endangered, and species yet described by Western science. These projects strengthen community-led conservation, as a portion of the funds raised for each Conservation Challenge goes towards an initiative determined by our community partners. Our platform is an opportunity for anyone to support or engage in this work by donating or applying to be a collaborator.

Indigenous land management is increasingly being recognized for its effectiveness in conserving biodiversity. This is, of course, not a surprise as Indigenous Peoples are the original scientists and stewards of Earth, holding deep relationships and complex knowledge systems of the living world. That is why our programming is centered on building relationships with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities so every one of our projects is in collaboration with members of these communities. Our model below (see end of blog post) exemplifies how we produce our Conservation Challenges. Wise Ancestors’ hope for CBD COP17 Armenia is to build our ecosystem of partners and supporters, helping us continue this vital work at the intersection of biodiversity conservation, Indigenous rights, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and breakthrough genomic science. Follow our journey at CBD COP17 on our social media: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, BlueSky, and TikTok.

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Wise Ancestors is participating in the following four events held in the Blue Zone: 

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Event Name: From Genomes to Conservation: Concrete Examples of DSI for the Global Biodiversity Framework

When: Monday, October 19th from 11:00 - 1:30

Where: Academia & Research Hub

More information here

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Event Name: Making DSI work for people and biodiversity: data tools and community-led governance

When: Tuesday October 20th from 14:00-15:00 (6:00 EST) / Livestream available IUCN’s YouTube

Where: IUCN Pavillion in the Blue Zone, Forum B

Organisers: IUCN, Wise Ancestors, and Stockholm Resilience Centre

More information here

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Event Name: DSI and Benefit Sharing: Experiences and Lessons Learned from Research Partnerships

When: Sunday, October 25th from 15:00 - 16:30

Where: Science Policy Forum

Session co-Leads:  DSI Scientific Network; International Union of Biological Science

More information here

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Event Name: Bridging Siloes: From Fragmented Perspectives to Connected DSI Approaches for Effective and Inclusive Policies

When: Tuesday, October 27th from 11:30-13:00

Where: Spitak - Side-event Room 2, Blue Zone

Hosts: Interdisciplinary Digital Sequence Information (iDSI) research group

More information here

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