No basis for claim that 80% of biodiversity is found in Indigenous territories. A much-cited statistic about how much of the world’s biodiversity is under Indigenous stewardship is unsupported — and could harm the cause it is meant to support.

I’ve linked to the primary source, the journal article, in the post above.

From the linked article:

For the past 20 years or so, a claim has been made in all sorts of outlets, from reports and scientific publications to news articles, that 80% of the world’s biodiversity is found in the territories of Indigenous Peoples. Those using this figure invariably aim to highlight the essential roles that Indigenous Peoples have in conserving biodiversity, and seem to have quoted it in the belief that it is based on solid science.

Numerous studies demonstrate that Indigenous Peoples and their territories are indeed key to safeguarding biodiversity for future generations1,2. But the claim that 80% of the world’s biodiversity is found in Indigenous Peoples’ territories is wrong.

The global conservation community must abandon the 80% claim and instead comprehensively acknowledge the crucial roles of Indigenous Peoples in stewarding their lands and seas — and must do so on the basis of already available evidence.

Seems the real relevance:

>For example, a 2018 analysis13 led by one of us (S.T.G.) indicated that, at the time, Indigenous Peoples managed or held tenure rights over more than one-quarter of Earth’s terrestrial surface — land that intersected with at least 37% of the remaining natural lands worldwide (see ‘Fact, not fiction’).

>Subsequent studies have shown that Indigenous Peoples’ lands include more than one-third of the world’s intact forest landscapes (forest ecosystems that show little sign of habitat conversion or fragmentation)1,2,14,15. And around 60% of all terrestrial mammals for which reliable habitat data exist (comprising more than 2,500 species) have more than 10% of their ranges in Indigenous Peoples’ lands16.

I’ve always been under the impression that indigenous is a term that means the original people of a country or land. I mean you can’t really be indigenous to anywhere if you were never there first.

I’ve seen people say that They’re indigenous to their country, but I’m not sure how accurate that is.