Balancing Nature and Communities: Social Safeguards in Biodiversity Conservation

About this event

This panel will explore how conservation and restoration practitioners work with forest and coastal communities. Discussions will cover implementing free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) processes, developing inclusive livelihoods, addressing human-wildlife conflict, and ensuring that communities’ role in managing and protecting the environment is reflected in policy and public finance. Drawing on field evidence and experience, it will show how social safeguards and inclusive economic models can be implemented with communities. It positions women, people with disabilities, and customary rights holders as partners in design and decision-making from the outset. Effective conservation and climate action depend on their consent and on recognition of their knowledge and work.