Metadata Factsheet

3. Goals and Targets addressed

3a. Goal

N/A

3b. Target

Headline indicator for Target 9. Ensure that the management and use of wild species are sustainable, thereby providing social, economic and environmental benefits for people, especially those in vulnerable situations and those most dependent on biodiversity, including through sustainable biodiversity-based activities, products and services that enhance biodiversity, and protecting and encouraging customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

5. Definitions, concepts and classifications

5a. Definition

7. Traditional occupations are generally understood as the activities that indigenous and tribal peoples have traditionally undertaken to provide for their subsistence needs and livelihoods. The practice of these occupations relies on intimate knowledge of ancestral lands, the environment, and natural resources passed on from generation to generation. These occupations and the skills and knowledge underlying them are not static. They have evolved over time and will continue to do so. The concept of traditional occupations to be measured in statistics should not therefore be limited to the economic and cultural activities that indigenous peoples have traditionally undertaken in the past, but should also embrace other occupations in which indigenous peoples are using their traditional knowledge today and will do so in the future, for example in life sciences, climate research and tourism.

8. The concept of work adopted in 2013 by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians for the purposes of official statistics is very broad and includes any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use. Traditional occupations may be practised in any of the forms of work recognized in official labour statistics, including own-use production work, employment for pay or profit, unpaid trainee work, volunteer work, and other work activities.

9. For the purposes of this indicator, traditional occupations is defined as:

(a) Traditional occupations are occupations in which indigenous knowledge, cultural practices, innovations and technologies may influence the way the work is performed, if the work is performed by a person who identifies as belonging to an indigenous or tribal group. Indigenous knowledge refers to the constantly evolving information, skills, practices, science and technology passed from generation to generation within an indigenous or tribal group. The work performed in traditional occupations embraces production of goods and services for own use and other forms of unpaid work including volunteer work and unpaid trainee work, as well as employment for pay or profit.

10. For the operational measurement of traditional occupations, it is necessary to reflect this definition in terms of a set of occupations defined in a classification of occupations used for the compilation of official labour statistics.

11. The International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) provides a system for classifying and aggregating occupational information obtained by means of statistical censuses and surveys, as well as from administrative records (see annex 1). Many national classifications are based on ISCO-08 or on its predecessor, ISCO-88. Some countries have national occupation classifications that are not based on ISCO, but in most cases it is possible to map data from detailed levels of the national classification to a relatively detailed level of ISCO08. In countries that have not developed their own national classifications, a version of ISCO may be used directly. ISCO-08 is a four-level, hierarchically structured classification that allows all jobs in the world to be classified into 436 unit groups. These groups form the most detailed level of the classification structure and are aggregated into 130 minor groups, 43 sub-major groups and 10 major groups, on the basis of their similarity in terms of the skill level and skill specialization required for the jobs. This allows the production of relatively detailed internationally comparable data as well as summary information for only ten groups at the highest level of aggregation. A subset of these unit groups (see annex) are used to identify jobs which could be considered as traditional occupations. However national occupation classification schemes may frequently identify specific occupations that fit within the definition of traditional occupations that are not separately identified in ISCO. It would be preferable in such cases, therefore, to identify the groups in the national classification that fit the definition of traditional occupations, using the agreed list of ISCO groups as guidance.

12. There is no internally agreed definition of “indigenous peoples”. However, individuals belonging to such a group would generally have an ancestral connection to the group and self-identify as a member of that group. The most appropriate approach to the design of questions to identify such people will vary between countries and regions depending on cultural perceptions about concepts of ethnicity and indigeneity, and the number and nature of the ethnic groups that need to be identified.

13. Many countries already have their own definitions or criteria, and information is generally collected through national census or surveys. Such national data collection exercises can be used to calculate the indicator.

5b. Method of computation

14. The indicator will need to be measured across scales. Using the binary question below could be the first step to compute the indicator. Countries could also be asked whether they offer programs focused on indigenous peoples and local communities engaged in traditional occupations. It is still to be determined if the question about programs will include the topics of some/co-management/full management of lands by IPs and LCs, use of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in land management, access to traditional foods, education policies promoting the learning of IPs and IK, and tourism. Similar questions asked for the land tenure and language indicators could also demonstrate the support of the right of traditional occupations. Case studies and community- based monitoring and information systems would allow countries to demonstrate if countries are upholding their customary sustainable use laws and policies and programs are achieving their goals. However, the exact computation is still to be determined.

15. Global:

Data collection found there was very little standardized data about indigenous peoples and local communities and traditional occupations

16. National

Between the discussions with the staff of the International Labour Office and their 2023 Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Labour Statistics it became clear due to the lack of inclusion of IPs and Local Communities (LC) in countries’ census processes it is difficult to measure this indicator on a global and national level. Instead as described above of other possible ways to compute this indicator.

17. Community

Data collection demonstrated there are available sources of community -based monitoring and information systems and case studies that could provide both quantitative and qualitative date

5c. Data collection method

18. Forest Peoples Program (FPP) collaborated with a team at the University of Michigan (UM) to research what data is available about traditional occupations, what are the themes, and how is the data presented. After multiple meetings and including a meeting with FPP staff and International Labor Office [ILO] staff the UM team decided to create a spreadsheet and focus on four resources to research. The four resources included the Indigenous Navigator (found 39 entries that matched the key word searches), Local Biodiversity Outlook (49 different case studies/community based monitoring and information systems entries), academic articles (51 articles found and used Google Scholar), and media sources (10 sources found, but limited time spent on search. The UM team used agreed-upon keywords for searches like livelihoods, co-management, traditional occupation, and subsistence. Years parameters for searches were 2011-2023. They produced a spreadsheet41, which includes 43 countries, which means the country appeared in at least one of the four search areas and sometimes more than one.

5d. Accessibility of methodology

19. The methodology is not currently published in a peer-reviewed location. The spreadsheet is open to anyone with a link and there are further links in the spreadsheet to the four different types of research areas. However, some of the academic articles are not open source and behind a paywall. People can access the websites of the Indigenous Navigator and the Local Biodiversity Outlook on their own. A 2023 discussion paper Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Labour Statistics has been prepared by the International Labour Organization which provides further information, including on the limitations of this approach (Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Labour Statistics. Geneva: International Labour Office, 2023).

5e. Data sources

20. The data collected so far included data and information from the Indigenous Navigator, Local Biodiversity Outlook, media articles from both news, United Nations, and NGO sources, and peer reviewed journal articles. In the ILO report there are micro analyses of multiple countries.

21. There are multiple Indigenous-led organizations like the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Alaska that provide case studies in order to apply this indicator.

5f. Availability and release calendar

22. The indicator is currently in development. The global monitoring process for this indicator, the update frequency and release calendar are currently under development. The year when the first round of data will be ready is pending.

5g. Time series

23. The indicator is under development. To be determined. The University of Michigan team researched from the years 2011-2023

5h. Data providers

International Labor Organization (ILO)

Indigenous Navigator supported by IWGIA, Tebtebba, AIPP, Forest Peoples Programme and the Danish Institute for Human Rights, with the support of the European Union

Local Biodiversity Outlook International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, Indigenous Women’s Biodiversity Network, Forest Peoples Programe

Media– Mongabay, WWF, Vox, Grist, UNESCO, and IISD

Academic Journals-Biological Conservation, Forests,The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, Health & Place, Development and Change, Marine Policy, Forest Ecology and Management, Identities, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Habitat International, BMC Public Health, International Journal for Equity in Health, and more

5i. Data compilers

24. The Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), are leading the development of the indicator, together with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the team from the University of Michigan. [To be determined] would be a potential custodian for the indicator working in collaboration with CBD Secretariat.

5j. Gaps in data coverage

25. The indicator is under development. To be determined.

26. Overall, there is a lack of national statistics for traditional occupations. Part of this comes from the lack of questions asking if someone is Indigenous national censuses (ILO 2023). Even if IPs are included in the national census the population is too small to be considered statistically significant. In their 2023 report ILO recommends microdata analysis, labor force survey, surveys targeting Indigenous Peoples, time-use surveys, population census, economic data collections, and administrative records to create a statistically significant measure.-include global

27. The data currently includes 43 countries. The Indigenous Navigator currently covers 30 countries with national partners using the Indigenous Navigator surveys with 300 communties. In the Local Biodiversity Outlook just over 20 countries’ case studies met the research criteria. There are many more countries signed on to the CBD. To further develop and operationalize this indicator it should be decided what sources are approved to use their case studies and community based monitoring and information systems.

28. The definition of traditional occupation is very broad so the data compilers narrowed down what occupational to research. Those occupations focused on agricultural, forestry and fishery labourers, education, health, and tourism. The occupation research is a brief summary and more research could be conducted and data gather. Also it excludes other possible occupations.

5k. Treatment of missing values

29. The indicator is under development. To be determined.

6. Scale

6a. Scale of use

30. The indicator data will be more qualitative for the time being before it can be scaled to a global level.

6b. National/regional indicator production

31. The indicator is under development.

6c. Sources of differences between global and national figures

32. The indicator is under development but no discrepancies are anticipated given the data collection method.

6d. Regional and global estimates & data collection for global monitoring

6d.1 Description of the methodology

33. Regional and global estimates are produced by aggregating country-level data.

6d.2 Additional methodological details

N/A

6d.3 Description of the mechanism for collecting data from countries

7. Other MEAs, processes and organisations

7a. Other MEA and processes

35. The indicator was adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity through decision X/43.

7b. Biodiversity Indicator Partnership

No

10. Data reporter

10.a Organisation

38. Indicator under development. To be determined.

10b. Contact person(s)

Indicator under development. To be determined.

Q”apaj Conde, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (qapaj.conde@un.org)