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Addressee: United States
Paragraph Number: 31
Session: 15 (2016)
Full Text:
Mauna Kea, the sacred mountain for native Hawaiians, is currently targeted for the placement of an international observatory featuring a 30-metre telescope. Such an activity inhibits and is contrary to the rights articulated in articles 11 and 12 of the United Nations Declaration. In addition, the Permanent Forum strongly recommends that the free, prior and informed consent of native Hawaiians be recognized.
Area of Work: Human rights, Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
Addressee: World Bank, UN system/UN agencies, IP
Paragraph Number: 40
Session: 7 (2008)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum recommends that the recommendations and proposals that emerged from the consultations of indigenous peoples and the World Bank on the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and other carbon funds, such as the BioCarbon Fund, be implemented by the Bank and other relevant agencies. Indigenous peoples should be effectively involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. Displacement and exclusion of indigenous peoples from their forests, which may be triggered by projects funded by the Partnership Facility, should be avoided at all costs. Indigenous peoples or their representatives should have a voice in and a vote on the decision-making body of the Partnership Facility and of other climate change funds that will have impacts on them. In the case of those who opt not to participate in reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation or in the projects supported by the Partnership Facility, their choice should be respected. The Forum calls on all parties to ensure that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is implemented when undertaking these processes.
Area of Work: Environment
Addressee: FAO
Paragraph Number: 85
Session: 7 (2008)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources. It requests FAO to give priority to strategic priority No. 6 (support indigenous and local production systems and associated knowledge systems of importance to the maintenance and sustainable use of animal genetic resources), and to further develop relevant approaches to implement it, including rights-based approaches and payment for services that support the custodianship of local breeds by indigenous peoples.
Area of Work: Environment
Addressee: UN entities; UNESCO; UN-Water
Paragraph Number: 41
Session: 22 (2023)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum calls upon the United Nations entities that constitute UN-Water to ensure the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples in the realization of the outcomes of the United Nations 2023 Water Conference in order to ensure their engagement in water policy, governance and rights, including with respect to capacity-building, access to clean water, sanitation and water for nature. The Permanent Forum invites UNESCO to report on progress on implementation at the twenty-third session of the Permanent Forum and calls upon UN-Water, UNESCO and other concerned United Nations entities to build coherence among the four United Nations decades on water, oceans, ecosystem restoration and Indigenous Peoples’ languages.
Area of Work: Environment, Enhanced Participation at the UN
Addressee: Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
Paragraph Number: 34
Session: 4 (2005)
Full Text:
The Forum recommends that FAO and the Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development Initiative work further on the development of cultural indicators for identifying priorities and criteria and methodologies for the right to food and food security, with the participation of indigenous peoples, taking into account the protection and restoration of indigenous peoples' traditional food systems and their agrobiodiversity and associated traditional knowledge and livelihoods. The threats to sustaining such systems, such as monoculture cash crop production, mineral extraction, environmental contamination and genetically modified seeds and technology, should be addressed.
Area of Work: Environment, Culture
Addressee: UN Agencies Funds and Programmes - UN System
Paragraph Number: 74
Session: 3 (2004)
Full Text:
The Forum notes with deep appreciation the reports and responses of United Nations bodies on environment, and reaffirms its recommendations on environment made at its second session, in particular those contained in chapter I, section B, paragraphs 46-49, 54-57, and 59-61 of the report.
Area of Work: Environment
Addressee: Member States
Paragraph Number: 79
Session: 10 (2011)
Full Text:
Indigenous peoples have a profound relationship with their environment. This includes their distinct rights to water. The Permanent Forum urges States to guarantee those rights, including the right to access to safe, clean, accessible and affordable water for personal, domestic and community use. Water should be treated as a social and cultural good, and not primarily as an economic good. The manner in which the right to water is realized must be sustainable for present and future generations. Moreover, indigenous peoples’ access to water resources on their ancestral lands must be protected from encroachment and pollution. Indigenous peoples must have the resources to design, deliver and control their access to water.
Area of Work: Human rights, Environment
Paragraph Number: 53
Session: 2 (2003)
Full Text:
The Forum notes the preparation of the World Congress on Protected Areas, to be held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2003, which Forum members consider to be an important meeting calling for their attention and action. The Forum recommends that all laws, policies or work programmes on forests and protected areas guarantee, ensure and respect various aspects of indigenous peoples’ lives, such as their spiritual and cultural lives, lands and territorial rights, including sacred sites, needs and benefits, and recognize their rights of access to and control over the management of forests.
Area of Work: Environment
Addressee: IUCN
Paragraph Number: 35
Session: 16 (2017)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum urges the International Union for Conservation of Nature to establish a task force on conservation and human rights to work with indigenous peoples’ communities and organizations to clearly articulate the rights of indigenous peoples in the context of conservation initiatives and to continue to promote grievance mechanisms and avenues for redress in the context of conservation action, including the Whakatane Mechanism. The Forum invites the Union to report on progress made in the implementation of these recommendations in future sessions.
Area of Work: Environment
Addressee: Member States
Paragraph Number: 58
Session: 22 (2023)
Full Text:
Transnational and national extractive industries, at best, consistently disregard their responsibility to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and to engage in free, prior and informed consent processes. At worst, their practices and behaviours contribute to serious human rights abuses. The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States, as duty bearers, ensure that private sector entities respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights through safeguard and due diligence policies. It further recommends that Member States ensure the application of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework and the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Permanent Forum welcomes the ongoing international efforts to develop legally binding instruments that ensure accountability and due diligence by transnational companies. The reflection of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in such instruments is essential.
Area of Work: Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
Addressee: WIPO
Paragraph Number: 59
Session: 2 (2003)
Full Text:
The Forum recommends that WIPO undertake a study, in collaboration with Forum members, on the use of indigenous knowledge relating to medicinal plants and resources, the commercialization of such knowledge and how indigenous communities are benefiting from such commercialization.
Area of Work: Environment
Addressee: Artic Council
Paragraph Number: 59
Session: 8 (2009)
Full Text:
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Arctic Council formally engage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to jointly follow up the International Experts Meeting on Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development: scientific, social, cultural and educational challenges (3-6 March 2009 in Monaco).
Area of Work: Environment
