The Permanent Forum encourages collaborative research initiatives for innovative solutions to environmental challenges that engage Indigenous Peoples as equal partners, respecting and integrating Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems with so-called “Western” scientific research and fostering mutual learning and respect between Indigenous Peoples and the mainstream scientific community.
The Permanent Forum again urges Member States to ensure that Indigenous Peoples are afforded full and effective participation in all planning and policy development to address climate change. Indigenous-led climate change policies incorporate the vital knowledge of Indigenous Peoples for land management and stewardship of natural resources while protecting health, equity, justice and sustainability. Principles of free, prior and informed consent must be followed in the development of all climate change policies and actions.
The Permanent Forum recognizes the efforts of the Green Climate Fund and its Indigenous Peoples’ advisory group, and recommends that the Fund develop a road map for dedicated, predictable funding for Indigenous Peoples, including through capacity-building at the national level to ensure that the Fund’s Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme2 supports Indigenous Peoples. The Forum requests a progress report at its next session in 2025.
The Permanent Forum invites the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to share the findings of the next open multi-stakeholder dialogues on the operationalization of the local communities and indigenous peoples platform at the seventeenth session of the Forum. The Forum urges Member States to operationalize the platform in accordance with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum is concerned about the impacts of climate change in the Sahel and Great Lakes regions, which have triggered armed conflicts and displacement, and heightened the vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples. The Forum calls for regional climate action.
The Permanent Forum encourages and commends the development and implementation of environmental monitoring systems led by Indigenous Peoples that utilize the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and modern technology to oversee and manage natural resources effectively. Such approaches that are aligned with Indigenous Peoples’ autonomy objectives provide valuable data for global environmental efforts.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prepare a special report within its seventh assessment cycle, led by Indigenous academics, scientists and traditional knowledge holders, to assess the opportunities for and threats against Indigenous Peoples in the areas of adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the efforts of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change in addressing terminology related to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The Forum urges Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to uphold the principles established during the twenty-third session of the Conference of the Parties in the upcoming review of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform at the twenty - ninth session, ensuring equal status and financial support for Indigenous Peoples within the Platform at all levels. The Forum supports the establishment of a separate platform for Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum is concerned about the harms and injustices caused in certain instances by carbon markets and biodiversity credits on Indigenous Peoples’ lands and territories and biodiversity. The Forum urges the secretariats of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to demand highintegrity projects that have clear accountability for carbon emissions and biodiversity as well as measured benefits for Indigenous Peoples. The Forum invites the aforementioned entities to report on their actions at its session in 2025.
The Permanent Forum reiterates its calls to Member States and international organizations to include Indigenous Peoples actively in policymaking forums and development agendas. This inclusion should extend to negotiations and management forums under multilateral environment agreements and other relevant platforms and processes focusing on issues affecting Indigenous Peoples and where their voices and knowledge guarantee significant contributions and outcomes for global sustainable development and the health of global ecosystems.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the sixth call for proposals of the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility of IFAD, which is focused on advancing indigenous peoples’ biodiversity conservation and sustainable management for adaptation and resilience to climate change. The Permanent Forum urges IFAD to facilitate direct access to climate financing to indigenous peoples’ communities and organizations through the Facility and the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, and encourages Governments and donors to support those initiatives.
The Permanent Forum encourages parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to ensure that progress is made with regard to institutional arrangements that guarantee human rights-based approaches to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, with the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples. In addition, the Forum calls upon the Conference of Parties to request its relevant subsidiary bodies to convene an ad hoc expert group meeting, with the participation of experts of the three United Nations mechanisms on Indigenous Peoples, to address the conflation of Indigenous Peoples with other groups of society and to develop specific actions to avoid such conflation.