Enviro News Asia, Nairobi — New research unveiled at a symposium hosted by CIFOR-ICRAF has warned that the global “30×30” biodiversity conservation target will not be achieved unless African spiritual landscapes and the stewardship of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LCs) are formally recognised within international conservation frameworks.
The findings were presented during the Heritage-Sensitive Forest Governance in African Contexts symposium held at the CIFOR–ICRAF campus in Nairobi. The event gathered more than 100 forestry researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and Indigenous and area-based scholars, alongside the launch of new findings from the SPIRAL Project and the introduction of the forthcoming book Ecospiritual Practices in African Contexts.
The symposium highlighted that current conservation approaches underpinning the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 3 — which aims to conserve 30 percent of the world’s land and sea by 2030 — remain largely secular and resource-focused, often overlooking Africa’s social, cultural, and spiritual relationships with forests.
Peter Minang, Director for Africa at CIFOR–ICRAF, stressed the importance of aligning scientific approaches with Indigenous knowledge systems. He noted that sacred forests protected through traditional values have demonstrated long-term conservation outcomes, even in areas affected by widespread deforestation.
Opening remarks by Dr. Phosiso Sola of CIFOR–ICRAF underscored that African spiritual landscapes function as heritage systems shaped by centuries of spiritual worldviews, rather than purely ecological spaces.
In a keynote address, Prof. Kokou Kouami of the University of Lomé emphasised that ecospiritual knowledge should be formally recognised as a complementary system to ecological science. He said inclusive governance rooted in customary institutions is essential for climate resilience, sustainable livelihoods, and effective forest restoration.
The SPIRAL Project presented findings from a cross-cultural study of 72 small-scale societies worldwide, including 28 from Africa and the African diaspora. The research demonstrated a strong correlation between sacred forest traditions and community resistance to extractive activities, showing that customary laws such as taboos and sacred zones function as effective long-term biodiversity governance systems.
Participants also discussed the potential of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to recognise IP&LC stewardship of sacred forests. However, the symposium cautioned that recognition must be accompanied by equitable conservation financing to prevent the bureaucratisation of sacred landscapes.
The event concluded with a call for global biodiversity policy to move beyond extractive conservation models and embrace relational governance approaches that recognise forests as living cultural and spiritual entities sustained by Indigenous and local communities. (*)
