The Permanent Forum is requested to support the planning and development of a world indigenous forum on the right to water, including the cultural and spiritual dimensions of water and peace. Planning for the forum shall be carried out through appropriate United Nations agencies and bodies and indigenous peoples’ organizations from all regions that have been working on water issues, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Water Education, the World Water Assessment Programme and UNICEF.
There generally appears to be positive recognition of the approach to Goal 1 suggested by the Permanent Forum, while there has been less attention paid to Goal 2. In both areas, there appears to be an increase in the number of projects being implemented in Latin America, with limited projects in Asia, and one or two projects in Africa. This is particularly the case under Goal 2, where there is a general lack of reporting from Asia or Africa on intercultural/bilingual education projects or programmes in this area.
The Forum calls on the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to continue its support to the national indigenous peoples biodiversity participatory mechanisms of the small island developing States through the Convention's island and biodiversity project and indigenous peoples program, in the promotion of sustainable biodiversity
The Permanent Forum recommends that Governments and States promote the creation of conditions for indigenous peoples that will enable them to maintain the forests in their traditional way and conserve their cultural identity, with priority accorded to indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, strengthening their capacities and highlighting the value of ancestral knowledge related to native forests. The Forum further recommends that the traditional knowledge and traditional forest management practices and governance systems of indigenous peoples for the protection and use of their forests be recognized in all forest policies and climate-related forest initiatives.
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 welcomes the recognition by UNICEF of the valuable contributions indigenous children and youth can make in their local communities to ensure the sustainability of climate change adaptation and mitigation plans. The Forum urges the Fund to continue to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on indigenous children and youth, and requests that it ensure the effective participation of indigenous children and youth in the discussions on and solutions to environmental issues in accordance with article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
OHCHR, the secretariat of the Permanent Forum, ILO, the World Bank Group and other relevant United Nations entities, including United Nations country teams, should focus on increasing the understanding of indigenous peoples’ underlying material rights to land and the need to give material rights priority over process rights. These agencies should undertake analytical work on how the intensity and exclusivity criteria that are commonly encompassed in domestic property rights systems could be understood in the context of international human rights standards related to indigenous property rights.
The Forum recommends the creation of a global, legally binding regime for toxic industrial chemicals and hazardous pesticides, the vast majority of which are currently unregulated under existing conventions, to protect the rights of everyone, including indigenous peoples, from the grave threats to human rights presented by the ongoing chemical intensification of the global economy. Such a regime should have strong accountability and compliance mechanisms and be in conformity with international human rights standards, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Forum recommends that UNESCO invite indigenous experts and specialists to participate in its education forums, congresses, conferences and meetings to ensure the recognition and contribution of indigenous scientific and technological knowledge.
UNESCO should provide technical assistance for the elaboration of national and regional programs and projects on developing culturally relevant curricula and educational materials as well as pedagogy to improve the access to and quality of indigenous education in all countries with indigenous peoples
Relevant States of the Congo Basin region and the World Bank are urged to enforce, expand and respect the moratorium on the new forest concessions in order to allow time to strengthen the capacities of indigenous peoples and civil society in the Congo Basin region and to allow a participative zoning process.
Recognizing the central role of public and indigenous peoples’ education
systems, the Permanent Forum recommends that Member States collect disaggregated
data, within the next two years, on the number of indigenous students who attend
kindergartens, small ungraded schools, nomadic schools and boarding schools across
the regions to secure opportunities for children to remain in their communities.