Understanding the Significance of Article 8(J) in the Convention on Biological Diversity: Why Indigenous Peoples Advocate for a Permanent Subsidiary Body

Reporting from #COP16: Today is Forest and Water Day

By Bryan Bixcul (Maya-Tz’utujil), SIRGE Coalition Global Coordinator

My mother, a Maya-K’iche’ woman from Santa Clara La Laguna, in the highlands of Guatemala, has a special relationship with water. From childhood, she dreamt of water, played with water, and lived around water—her life revolved around it. Her knowledge about water is so specific, deep, and spiritual. She knows when it is safe to swim in our sacred lake and has immense respect for it, having witnessed how it can both nurture life and take it away. From a young age, I remember my mother sharing her love for water and describing her most satisfying feeling as simply ‘touching water.’

How can Western science effectively understand this special relationship when it can't be measured or quantified and goes beyond western scientific frameworks? My mother’s relationship with water can only be understood through a culturally appropriate framework—one that embraces the spiritual imperative binding us to everything that surrounds us. This spiritual connection naturally leads to stewardship. Indigenous Peoples’ role as stewards of Nature isn’t incidental but is a direct extension of their relationship with the natural world.

The goal of Article 8(j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity is to respect, preserve, and promote Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and practices essential to biodiversity. It seeks to involve Indigenous communities in decision-making and ensure they share fairly in any benefits arising from the use of their Traditional Knowledge. Indigenous Traditional Knowledge systems are living practices, encompassing spiritual, ecological, and cultural dimensions that offer holistic approaches to biodiversity protection and sustainable management.

As negotiations unfold at COP 16, countries are debating the future structure for implementing Article 8(j), with three main options on the table: continuing the current working group, establishing a dedicated subsidiary body, or integrating work on Article 8(j) throughout all CBD processes. Since its establishment in 1998, the Article 8(j) Working Group has played a crucial role as the first UN body focused on Indigenous traditional knowledge and biodiversity. The working group has been active for over 25 years, which underscores its importance in the CBD process. 

Indigenous Peoples are advocating for a permanent subsidiary body, seeing it as vital to secure consistent and meaningful participation within the CBD, to enhance their political leverage on biodiversity issues, and to allow pathways for securing adequate funding for Indigenous Peoples’ biodiversity stewardship. Some of the arguments from countries against the establishment of a new subsidiary body include budgetary implications and duplicated work, favoring instead the integration option. However, the Secretariat conducted a budget analysis on the creation of a subsidiary body and concluded that the cost of this option is zero or minimal.

In the image: The Unbalanced Biodiversity Jenga Tower, designed by artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong. This monument represents Nature’s interconnected ecosystems, highlighting the risks as ecosystems are degraded and removed from the foundational structure of Nature.

Similarly, the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Nature should be recognized as a core component of biodiversity conservation efforts. This is why its recognition and institutionalization through the establishment of a subsidiary body are essential.