The Forum decides to appoint Yuri Boychenko and Parshuram Tamang, members of the Forum, as Special Rapporteurs, to prepare, without financial implications, a working paper on current practices and methods of work to be submitted at the fifth session of the Permanent Forum
Indigenous peoples in the Pacific rely on marine resources and fisheries for both livelihoods and as a food source. The Permanent Forum encourages United Nations entities to incorporate traditional knowledge into all their work in the region.
The Permanent Forum expresses its thanks to the Governments of Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Canada, China, the Congo, Denmark, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain and the United States, as well as the government of Greenland, for having hosted previous pre-sessional and intersessional meetings of the Forum. The Forum stresses the importance of organizing such pre-sessional and intersessional meetings and reiterates its recommendation that States that have not yet done so consider hosting such meetings in the future. It also requests that the secretariat of the Forum organize pre-sessional meetings for future sessions of the Forum.
The Permanent Forum recommends that, prior to its seventh session, United Nations organizations should provide technical assistance and convene, in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ organizations, regional workshops on the special theme of the seventh session, “Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship of indigenous peoples and new challenges”, with the participation of the members of the Forum and other experts, indigenous peoples’ representatives, indigenous parliamentarians, State representatives and representatives of the United Nations system, in order to formulate recommendations for consideration, as part of its preparatory work for the seventh session. The Permanent Forum further recommends that States, organizations and donors provide resources for these regional workshops and that the report on the human rights situation of indigenous peoples in States and Territories threatened with extinction for environmental reasons be included in the discussions held at the workshops.
The Permanent Forum recommends that interested parties organize an international expert group meeting on the theme “Indigenous peoples: sacred plants and sites, articles 11, 24 and 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, and requests that the conclusions of such a meeting be submitted to the Forum at its tenth session.
Noting the challenge of securing the constructive participation of indigenous peoples’ organizations in its sessions and ongoing work and of developing an active partnership between civil society, Governments and the United Nations system, the Forum recommends that a workshop be convened to develop innovative working methods for future sessions of the Forum, including methods of disseminating information before the sessions.
The Permanent Forum expresses its concern about the continuing and long-term negative impacts of large dams on indigenous peoples in many parts of the world. Many large dams continue to be planned for construction on indigenous lands. The Permanent Forum supports the implementation of the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams contained in its report Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-making. The implementation of these recommendations must be in accordance with the provisions set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.