This story was updated at 5:23 p.m. EDT.
Native American tribal leaders participating in an international biodiversity conference in Colombia this week are calling on President Joe Biden to designate three new national monuments in California to protect plants and animals, as well as to conserve sacred tribal lands.
The tribal leaders at the two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference, known as COP16, are prodding Biden to establish the Sáttítla National Monument, the Chuckwalla National Monument, and Kw’tsán National Monument.
“We are here at COP16 to ensure our voices are being heard as we call for a national monument for our homelands — Kw’tsán National Monument — and to help amplify the voices of global Indigenous communities who are in the same fight as us to preserve our culture for future generations,” said Lena Ortega, a member of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe’s Kw’tsán Cultural Committee who is at the conference in Cali, Colombia.
