Guardians of the Biome: Indigenous worldviews as a pillar of global biodiversity and the protection of traditional knowledge

Abstract

The global crisis of biodiversity loss has placed Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) at the center of the conservation agenda. This article presents a bibliographic review analyzing the intrinsic and symbiotic relationship between biodiversity and Ancestral Knowledge (AK), demonstrating that the latter is crucial for the socio-ecological resilience of ecosystems. Research underscores that 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity is found in territories managed by IPLCs, providing evidence of the effectiveness of their sustainable management practices. The international protection framework, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), is examined, focusing on the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) as an essential mechanism to protect AK against biopiracy and commercial exploitation. It is concluded that the full recognition of Indigenous territorial rights and cultural sovereignty is not merely a matter of social justice but a global conservation imperative.