The Permanent Forum is concerned about the growing impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on the lives and livelihoods of indigenous peoples around the world. The Forum recommends that the International Organization for Migration and other relevant organizations provide technical cooperation and operational assistance to those Governments and communities planning organized migration management solutions for climate change and environmental refugees and migrants, giving priority, according to the principle of free, prior and informed consent, to the assisted voluntary resettlement and reintegration of those indigenous communities whose territories are no longer inhabitable.
The Permanent Forum calls for heightened attention to be paid to diabetes and other non communicable diseases by WHO, PAHO and States, including at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, to be held in 2014, and calls upon these parties to discuss issues relating to indigenous health and formulate an action plan with particular focus on improving prevention and access to the care of diabetes and non-communicable diseases.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the renewed political focus on forests stimulated by current policy debates on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change be used towards securing the rights of indigenous peoples living in forests and rewarding their historical stewardship role and continuing conservation and sustainable use of forests. According to the principle of free, prior and informed consent, indigenous peoples must not be excluded from, and should be centrally involved in and benefit from, deciding forest policies and programmes at all levels that deliver justice and equity and contribute to sustainable development, biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that WHO conduct a study on the health effects on indigenous peoples throughout the world caused by uranium mining, dumping of radioactive waste and nuclear testing on indigenous held lands and territories, and provide a report to the ninth session of the Forum in 2010.
The Permanent Forum calls on States to ensure that indigenous peoples that are undertaking their own mitigation measures are provided with policy support, technical assistance, funding and capacity-building in order to deepen their knowledge on climate change and to allow them to implement more effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. They should gain benefits from the environmental services derived from their territories and resources. Processes and mechanisms for the valuation of these environmental services, and methods that allow them to get adequate benefits, should be developed jointly with them. Efforts to create better documentation of good practices in mitigation and adaptation and to replicate and upscale these practices should likewise be supported.
The Forum recommends that the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change sponsor a workshop to discuss the merits and mechanisms for the establishment of a working group on indigenous peoples within the Conference of the Parties process, ensuring the participation of indigenous peoples from developed and undeveloped countries as well as interested member States.
Reinforce the investments in population and reproductive health which is crucial for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals - to reduce poverty, achieve universal primary education, improve maternal and child health, curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, promote gender equality, ensure sustainable development, and establish a strong partnership for development
The Permanent Forum urges the Governments of Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia regions to implement international standards and norms on the rights of indigenous peoples and ensure their rights to lands, territories and resources, in particular article 20 of the Declaration. This includes recognizing reindeer herders’ use and management of grazing land and use of necessary biological resources by hunters, fishers and foragers.
The Permanent Forum recommends that all United Nations agencies concerned with water, including UNESCO and the International Hydrological Programme, UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, the United Nations Environment Programme and FAO, give full support to the planning, development and implementation of an indigenous world forum on water in order to give voice to the indigenous peoples’ perspective of protection and access to all sources of water and its sacred role in the indigenous context.
With a view to assessing the effectiveness of the implementation of policies on indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum recommends to the United Nations entities that carry out free, prior and informed consent processes to develop a system for comprehensively documenting these processes.
The Permanent Forum urges States parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to seriously consider the recommendations of the above-mentioned international expert group meeting.
The Permanent Forum therefore urges the World Health Organization to develop a strategy and programme to tackle self-harm and suicide among indigenous children and young people at the global level. The Forum recommends taking into account the initiatives that are being conducted at the regional level, in particular by the Pan American Health Organization, and using them as a basis for further expansion. As a first step, the Forum suggests that the World Health Organization gather evidence and initiate research on the prevalence of self-harm and suicide among indigenous children and young people at the global level and prepare a compilation of good practices on prevention of self-harm and suicide among indigenous young people, publishing its findings by 1 January 2017.