The Permanent Forum requests the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Intellectual Property Organization to assist it in finalizing the study on sui generis systems based on customary laws for the protection of traditional knowledge with a view to advancing its protection.
The Forum recommends that the United Nations Forum on Forests develop effective means to monitor and verify the participation of indigenous peoples in forest policy-making 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.
The Forum encourages all United Nations entities to mainstream indigenous gender issues and to integrate the special needs and concerns of indigenous women into their programmes and policies by taking the following steps:
a. Compiling and integrating disaggregated data (both qualitative and quantitative in nature and taking into account local and regional cultural/social/ economic differences) on indigenous women’s issues in their own annual reports. The Forum commends those who have already begun to address this issue of lack of relevant data;
b. Integrating indigenous experts on indigenous women’s issues in their programming staff;
c. Appointing indigenous focal points on indigenous women’s issues within wider gender portfolios;
d. Planning special events centred on the theme "Indigenous men" and integrating that theme in their documentation and outreach activities (web site, reports etc.);
e. Increasing outreach to indigenous women’s organizations worldwide;
f. Increasing the outreach and information flow to and from the academic community, including indigenous educational institutions, on indigenous women’s issues.
The Permanent Forum is concerned about reports of UNDP entering into a strategic partnership with the oil company GeoPark, a private entity that has been accused by indigenous communities of disregarding their rights, to carry out economic development activities in Colombia without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous communities that will be affected. This partnership contradicts standard 6 (indigenous peoples) of the UNDP social and environmental standards, and the Forum urges UNDP to suspend all related partnership activities until a proper free, prior and informed consent process can be carried out.
The Permanent Forum urges States to increase the provision of funding to indigenous peoples and communities for water and wastewater systems in order to improve the quality of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as address water pollution and degradation in indigenous communities.