Welcome to the United Nations
Addressee: Academia, Member States, UN system/UN agencies
Full Text
Scientists, policymakers and the international community as a whole should undertake regular consultations with indigenous peoples so that their studies and decisions will be informed by indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge and experiences. The Permanent Forum can play a role in ensuring that the traditional knowledge and best practices of indigenous peoples relevant to fighting climate change and its impacts will be considered in the negotiation processes leading to the Copenhagen Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and beyond, including through discussions with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Responses
The Government of Mexico reports the following: Since late 2007, CDI has been promoting the consultation on mechanisms to protect the traditional knowledge, cultural expressions and natural, biological and genetic resources of indigenous peoples, which it seeks to complete in 2009, with the aim of establishing a body of law to regulate the protection of traditional knowledge, especially traditional cultural expressions. That process has provided an understanding of how the indigenous population defines traditional knowledge, the current state of that knowledge, factors that endanger it and, in particular, the perceived effects climate change has on it and whether traditional knowledge has been developed to help alleviate them.
The Government of Spain reports on a workshop on "Development cooperation with indigenous peoples: sustainability and environment" where staff from technical cooperation offices from 15 countries participated alongside indigenous leaders.
The Government of Colombia states that Colombian legislation incorporates consultation mechanisms when norms or projects may affect indigenous peoples directly. Four consultations were held in 2007 and 2008.
The Government of Nicaragua reports that the Ministry of the Environmment and Natural Resources is developing a National Action Plan on Climate Change which includes indigenous peoples as key actors and which will address traditional livelihoods and forest conservation issues within this context.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 7 (2008)
Area of Work
