A/77/238 VIII. Conclusions and recommendations 66. Deforestation and worsening climate change are understandable impetuses to increase the number of protected areas. However, increasing the number protected areas cannot effectively address the causes or consequences of climate change; major changes in cultures of consumption and huge reductions in emissions are ultimately required. In the meantime, indigenous peoples should not be made to pay the costs of inaction on consumption and emissions by non-indigenous societies. There can be no shortcuts to sustainable and effective conservation; it needs to be done together with those who have protected these areas of rare biodiversity for thousands of years. Indigenous peoples must be recognized not only as stakeholders, but as rights holders in conservation efforts undertaken in their lands and territories. Their way of life and knowledge need to be preserved and protected, together with the lands that they inhabit. Respect for the rights of indigenous peoples, and not their exclusion from their territories in the name of conservation, will ultimately benefit the planet and its peoples as a whole. 67. Tangible progress in the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights has been made since the report of the previous mandate holder on this topic in 2016, giving hope for the universal acceptance of new conservation approaches that assert the rights of indigenous peoples. However, better recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights urgently needs to be translated into action. States and all other conservation actors, as well as financial institutions, must apply new conservation models, while immediately addressing historical and contemporary wrongs caused to indigenous peoples by conservation projects. 68. It is imperative that, in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, genuine commitment to a human rights-based approach to conservation be demonstrated by including express recognition thereof in the final text to be adopted at the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. 69. The Special Rapporteur recognizes the efforts of UNESCO, notably the adoption of the policy on engaging with indigenous people and revisions to the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. These are concrete steps in the right direction, but further steps must be taken to implement these policies within the World Heritage Committee and on the ground at World Heritage sites. As the previous mandate holder noted (see A/71/229), it is possible for the nomination of sites for, and their inclusion in, the World Heritage List to be carried out constructively and with the consent of the indigenous peoples affected, ensuring that such procedures would in practice provide an effective contribution to conservation and the protection of human rights. Indigenous peoples should be the ones to nominate and manage their own sites and should fully and effectively participate in processes related to World Heritage sites to ensure respect for their rights, livelihoods and self-determined development. 70. The Special Rapporteur wishes to make the following recommendations. States should: (a) Recognize indigenous peoples’ special and unique legal status; (b) Provide indigenous peoples with legal recognition of their lands, territories and resources; such recognition should be given with due respect for the legal systems, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned; 18/20 22-11289