The Permanent Forum reiterates its concern about conservation efforts, including the designation of national parks, biosphere reserves and world heritage sites, which frequently lead to the displacement of indigenous peoples from their traditional lands and territories. In this regard, the Permanent Forum requests that a member of the Forum attend the thirty-fourth session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, to be held in Brasilia, Brazil, in August 2010.
The Permanent Forum notes the engagement of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in the preparations for the World Conference and recommends that the Union organize meetings of parliamentarians at the global, regional and country levels to discuss the adoption of legislative and administrative measures affecting indigenous peoples and to encourage the participation of parliamentarians, including indigenous parliamentarians, in the World Conference and its preparatory processes. Such meetings should draw upon the positive developments from the conference facilitated by the Union that was held in Chiapas, Mexico, in 2010 and that led to the adoption of the Chiapas Declaration.
The Forum recommends the establishment of an international ethical code on bio-prospecting in order to avoid bio-piracy and ensure the respect for indigenous cultural and intellectual heritage. Under the framework of the Convention, a mechanism should be established for the repatriation and devolution of genetic materials collections to indigenous peoples. The Forum recommends to the Convention secretariat that the global taxonomy initiative incorporate an ethical principles and social framework for the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, traditional knowledge and resources before its implementation.
The Permanent Forum underscores the need to strengthen collaboration with UN-Women in order to finalize a road map, including concrete actions, and specific outcomes within their next strategic plan as well as to include indigenous women’s priorities in global, regional and national programmes, consistent with articles 21, 22 and 41 of the Declaration.
In the absence of in-person sessions of the Permanent Forum for two years, the Forum expresses its appreciation of the online dialogues held with United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies and welcomes the continuation of this good practice in the coming years, beyond the effects of the pandemic. The Permanent Forum expresses its appreciation to the secretariat of the Forum for facilitating these dialogues and invites the secretariat to continue to do so.
The Permanent Forum calls on all United Nations agencies and States to support the reclamation of traditional practices and laws leading to global solutions to climate change.
The Permanent Forum thanks Algeria, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Madagascar, Mexico and Norway for their contributions to the Trust Fund of the Permanent Forum in 2010 and, given the steady annual increase of applications from indigenous peoples’ organizations, encourages other States to contribute to the Fund.
The Forum recommends that executive heads of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes that have not yet done so adopt policies on indigenous peoples and designate focal points for addressing indigenous issues relevant to each respective agency’s mandate in order to facilitate the mainstreaming of indigenous issues within the United Nations system.
The Permanent Forum invites the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and relevant States of the Congo Basin to provide at the eighth session of the Forum, in 2009, specific information on the biosphere reserves project and how they will incorporate the indigenous peoples of the Congo Basin and their respective associations into the implementation of the project.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the “Study on the impacts of the Doctrine of Discovery on indigenous peoples, including mechanisms, processes and instruments of redress” (E/C.19/2014/3), with references to the Declaration and particularly to articles 26 to 28, 32 and 40, be submitted to the President of the General Assembly and to Member States as a reference guide in the discussions relating to the high-level plenary meeting/World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum is very concerned that indigenous peoples continue to report difficulties in participating in UNDP projects and engaging with UNDP offices. The Forum recommends that UNDP improve access to information on the Programme for indigenous peoples and ensure easier access to its staff members in country offices. UNDP should promote mechanisms that ensure a constructive and institutionalized dialogue between indigenous peoples and United Nations country teams at the country level, for example, by establishing advisory boards composed of indigenous representatives who can bring their perspectives to United Nations programming processes and policies.
The Permanent Forum commends the establishment and achievements of the Regional Indigenous Peoples’ Programme of UNDP in Asia, and calls on UNDP to ensure that the funding of that programme will be increased and that similar programmes will be set up in other regions.