The Permanent Forum urges States to review their policies on biofuel industries, which, in the name of remedying the impacts of climate change, are resulting in the deforestation of large forest areas and the displacement of indigenous peoples. That increases the vulnerability of indigenous communities and in particular of those living in voluntary isolation.
The Forum recommends that the World Conservation Union Congress, to be held in November 2004 in Bangkok, endorse the recommendations on indigenous peoples and protected areas, as well as other relevant recommendations (such as on sacred sites) adopted by the Fifth World Parks Congress. It should also emphasize the need for the recognition of community conserved areas and indigenous peoples’ protected areas, the need for the full respect for indigenous peoples’ rights and the need for indigenous peoples’ free prior informed consent to be obtained before the declaration or in the management of any protected area which may affect them.
The Permanent Forum also urges States to fund and deliver training in suicide prevention and mental health awareness to all teaching and non-teaching staff in all schools attended by indigenous children. The development of localized training programmes adapted to each culture consistent with articles 11, 14, 15 and 31 should be encouraged.
The Permanent Forum invites the newly established Facilitative Working Group of the local communities and indigenous peoples platform to collaborate closely with bodies outside the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on matters relating to climate change and indigenous peoples, in accordance with its mandate (Conference of the Parties decision 2/CP.24, para. 20).
The Permanent Forum, bearing in mind the importance of the right of indigenous peoples to food sovereignty and security, invites Member States to consider the possibility of announcing an international year of camelids with the aim of drawing attention to the management of lands, territories and resources and for the breeding of camelids.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) advance data and research on the challenges that indigenous women and girls face in realizing their right to bodily autonomy and the right to be free from violence, including reproductive coercion and in birthing practices. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum invites UNFPA to prepare a study on indigenous women’s bodily autonomy, with the participation of indigenous women, and to present its findings at the twenty-third session of the Permanent Forum, to be held in 2024.
The Forum recommends that the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as the treaty monitoring body for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, review the compliance of States Parties with article 24, which recognized the basic right of all children to "the provision of adequate and nutritional foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution", with particular attention to its impact on traditional subsistence foods, and that the Committee address those issues during the day of general discussion on the indigenous child in September 2003.
The Permanent Forum calls on the organizers of the forthcoming meetings of Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa to ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples, virtually or in person, in the meetings that are to be organized later in 2021. The Forum encourages donors and civil society organizations to support indigenous peoples’ participation in these events.
The Permanent Forum notes with concern that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased sexual and reproductive health challenges worldwide and stresses that there is a need for Governments to implement the commitments they made during the summit held in Nairobi in 2019 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of on the International Conference on Population and Development.
The Permanent Forum calls on UNEP to conduct a fast track assessment of short-term drivers of climate change, specifically black carbon, with a view to initiating negotiation of an international agreement to reduce emissions of black carbon.
The Permanent Forum requests the Global Environment Facility, as well as other funding mechanisms, to prioritize support for conservation approaches that are led or co-managed by indigenous peoples.
States, United Nations agencies, funds and programs should mobilize support for indigenous peoples who are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.