The Forum encourages the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and its Member States to take practical steps to ensure that the inappropriate and unauthorized documentation and publication of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions/folklore does not occur, and to reinforce the capacity of indigenous peoples and local communities to make informed decisions in their own interests concerning whether and how documentation should be issued, including through the development of practical toolkits and guides which should have this as their aim.
The Permanent Forum urges relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, including FAO, IFAD, ILO, UNEP, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UN-Women and the World Bank, to recognize and support this form of cultivation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States formulate evidence- based policies, long-term strategies and regulatory frameworks, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, to ensure their support and the protection and revitalization of indigenous languages, including adequate, sustained support for bilingual, mother- tongue education. The Forum also recommends that States facilitate the mainstreaming of indigenous languages. Allowing indigenous peoples to gain access to health care and other public services in their own languages will help to ensure their overall well-being.
The Permanent Forum urges increased dialogue among Governments, institutions and indigenous peoples concerning the identification, incorporation and value of indigenous knowledge in all disaster risk reduction projects and programmes at the national and regional levels. The Forum recommends that the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction take into consideration the study on engaging indigenous peoples more inclusively in the disaster risk reduction process (E/C.19/2013/14) as part of the official documentation of the third World Conference on Disaster Reduction, to be held in 2015.
The Forum recommends that Governments and the United Nations system, through its country presences, support indigenous media and promote the engagement of indigenous youth in indigenous programmes.
The Permanent Forum acknowledges the organization of the World Indigenous Games, held in Brazil in 2015 and in Canada in 2017, which illustrated and highlighted, among others, articles 31 and 43 of the Declaration. The Forum welcomes the agreement by indigenous peoples from various regions to hold the third World Indigenous Games, in 2020. It encourages Member States and United Nations entities to support the preparations for the organization of the third World Indigenous Games and other indigenous-led sport initiatives at all levels.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity facilitate the holding of an indigenous peoples’ expert workshop on traditional knowledge in a timely manner in order to feed into the fifth meeting of the Advisory Group on Article 8 (j) and Related Provisions and the fifth and sixth meetings of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing in order to support the elaboration by indigenous peoples of recommendations on an international regime on access and benefit-sharing. The meeting could be organized back-to-back with the meeting of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues in order to take advantage of the presence of some United Nations agencies, which will be able to provide technical support and information.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the recognition and inclusion of indigenous peoples’ knowledge in the work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to assess the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The Forum supports the Platform’s approach to recognize and work with indigenous knowledge throughout its work programme, for example, recognizing the contribution of indigenous knowledge in its global assessment on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems. The Forum invites the Platform to continue to inform the Forum about the progress of its work, including at its seventeenth session.
The Permanent Forum encourages States to continue cooperating with indigenous peoples to develop fair, transparent and effective mechanisms for the repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains, at the national and international levels.
UNESCO and UNICEF should continue to promote bilingual and cross-cultural education programs for indigenous peoples and schools for girls and women's literacy progrmas in Latin America, and should encourage and expand these experiences in other regions.
The Permanent Forum recommends that donors and United Nations agencies give more support to indigenous peoples in Africa, where appropriate, to promote, recognize, protect and enhance indigenous traditional knowledge.
The Permanent Forum is concerned that, in their efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, Member States are not complying with the Declaration. In one case, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requested that Norway temporarily suspend the ongoing construction of the Fosen Vind onshore wind power project, which negatively affects the reindeer herding of the South Sami people. The Government of Norway, having concluded that its administrative and legal processes were sufficient, did not implement the interim measures. The Forum urges Member States to respect and comply with decisions made by the United Nations treaty bodies.