The Permanent Forum encourages indigenous parliamentarians to organize a global satellite conference of indigenous representatives with the objective of analyzing as a whole the level of progress in the promotion, protection and exercise of the rights of indigenous peoples around the world within the framework of the seventh session of the Permanent Forum.
The Forum recommends strengthening the mechanisms for collaboration with United Nations agencies and Governments, and monitoring compliance with and the implementation of its recommendations made to United Nations agencies and Governments.
The Forum recommends that all United Nations environmental bodies, in particular the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNEP, GEF, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, make the necessary efforts to mobilize resources for projects by indigenous peoples, and provide financial support to strengthen the international indigenous peoples Forum on biodiversity and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The Permanent Forum thanks countries in Asia that have already incorporated indigenous languages into primary education and urges Member States and the United Nations system to provide funding to implement policies related to indigenous languages and ensure the incorporation of indigenous languages into the curricula at all education levels.
Recalling articles 3–4, 8, 18, 25–26 and 32 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum urges African States to promote, recognize and protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources through the development of mechanisms to ensure the legal recognition of land and resource rights, the resolution of land disputes, fair and equitable redress, and the creation of permanent dialogue frameworks to facilitate political participation and representation of indigenous peoples in decision-making.
The Permanent Forum urges the Human Rights Council expert mechanism on indigenous peoples to evaluate whether existing and proposed climate change policies and projects adhere to the standards set by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These bodies, together with the members of the Inter-Agency Support Group for Indigenous Issues, should collaborate with States, multilateral bodies, donors and indigenous peoples to effectively ensure that the implementation of the Declaration is central to the design and implementation of climate change policies and programmes.
The Forum recommends that the national commissions of UNESCO work closely with indigenous experts and representatives with expertise in education, science, culture and communication to increase the participation of indigenous peoples in the activities of UNESCO.
The Permanent Forum recalls the relevance of article 13 (1) of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and encourages States to step up efforts, in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, to advance the realization of the linguistic and cultural rights of Indigenous Peoples, including through the right to education in Indigenous Peoples’ languages in the context of the International Decade.
The principles of common but differentiated responsibilities, equity, social justice and sustainable development and development with identity should remain the key principles underpinning the negotiations, policies and programmes on climate change. The human rights-based approach to development and the ecosystem approach should guide the design and implementation of local, national, regional and global climate policies and projects. The crucial role of indigenous women and indigenous youth in developing mitigation and adaptation measures should also be ensured.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the initiative of the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to host the International Conference on Biological and Cultural Diversity: Diversity for Development (8-10 June 2010, Montreal, Canada) to develop a joint programme of work on biological and cultural diversity, and requests that future work include broad partnerships with the Permanent Forum, other relevant agencies, indigenous peoples’ organizations and non-governmental organizations
The global engagement of indigenous peoples at the international level has led to some positive institutional developments, including the establishment of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples can play an important role in the fight against climate change. Member States and United Nations entities should ensure that any activities related to the use of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples respect indigenous peoples’ own protocols and consent agreements for managing access to their traditional knowledge. Strengthening and ensuring the full participation of indigenous peoples at all levels is also critical for the design and implementation of climate policies, plans, programmes and projects at the local, national and global levels.
The Forum recognizes the unique contributions made by indigenous women in terms of possessing and transmitting through the generations a wealth of traditional knowledge on the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable environmental management, and calls on the secretariat of the Convention for Biological Diversity, UNEP and all relevant United Nations bodies to mainstream indigenous gender issues and knowledge in national environmental policies and programmes.