The Permanent Forum calls on all States that have not yet done so to implement the 2005 Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other international initiatives that address climate change and biocultural diversity in conjunction with indigenous peoples, including indigenous women, in a full and effective way. The Annex I countries should implement their commitments to the Kyoto Protocol by doing all they can to shift their economic systems towards low-carbon systems, instead of relying mainly on the purchase of emission credits to offset their emissions. The fast-industrializing developing countries should also undertake serious efforts to cut their emissions and develop low-carbon energy systems.
The Permanent Forum recommends that donors and United Nations agencies give more support to indigenous peoples in Africa, where appropriate, to promote, recognize, protect and enhance indigenous traditional knowledge.
The Permanent Forum invites the agencies of the United Nations system, including UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in cooperation with the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as other relevant stakeholders, to convene a workshop on African pastoralism, indigenous peoples’ rights and climate adaptation.
The Permanent Forum recalls the recommendation contained in paragraph 39 of its report on its sixteenth session, in which States were encouraged to continue to cooperate with indigenous peoples to develop fair, transparent and effective mechanisms for the repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains at the national and international levels.
Within the framework of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and its Action Plan, the Forum recommends that:
(a) All United Nations bodies and Governments initiate new ethnographic studies that re-evaluate stereotypical views on gender relationships within indigenous populations in order to challenge existing misconceptions by highlighting diverse community roles in which indigenous women wield real power and play leadership roles;
(b) Member States with indigenous populations develop multicultural public policies with a view to implementing the contents of the Declaration and strengthening, in an equitable manner, local cultures;
(c) UNESCO promote the recovery of underwater indigenous heritage, the oral tradition and ancient writings with a view to recognizing them as the heritage of humanity.