As part of its mandate on the environment, the Permanent Forum has raised concerns and made recommendations pertaining to indigenous peoples and forests. The Forum has consistently recommended that the United Nations Forum on Forests and forest-related United Nations bodies develop effective means to monitor and verify the participation of indigenous peoples in forest policymaking and sustainable forest management, and establish a mechanism, with the participation of indigenous peoples, to assess the performance of governmental and intergovernmental commitments and obligations to uphold and respect indigenous peoples’ rights (see E/C.19/2004/23).
The Permanent Forum recommends that all Member States and intergovernmental agencies ensure that efficient programming is developed in order for the positive transformation of social problems stemming from the weak and inadequate implementation of articles 7, 17, 21 and 22 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This programming has to be targeted at indigenous youth for fundamental change.
The Permanent Forum decides to appoint Michael Dodson and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Members of the Permanent Forum, as Special Rapporteurs to organize and undertake a technical review of the proposed international regime on access and benefit-sharing, as recommended in paragraph 48 (i) of the report of the international expert group meeting on the international regime on access and benefit-sharing and indigenous peoples’ human rights of the Convention on Biological Diversity (E/C.19/2007/8).