The Permanent Forum takes note of the difficulties mentioned in the IFAD report and during the in-depth dialogue regarding engagement with partners whose approach may not be favourable to indigenous issues. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been acknowledged by IFAD as an important instrument to promote a strong focus on indigenous peoples with its partners. The Permanent Forum recommends that IFAD use the Declaration actively and engage in a constructive dialogue regarding indigenous peoples’ issues, even if its partners demonstrate a lack of interest or a less-than-positive attitude.
The Permanent Forum commends UNFPA for its efforts to build staff capacity on indigenous peoples’ issues and recommends that such efforts continue, together with efforts to recruit indigenous peoples where possible.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations country teams in Asian countries with indigenous populations, in cooperation with indigenous peoples, formulate a matrix of indicators, benchmarks and milestones to assess the outcomes and results of their policies and programmes relevant to indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations agencies and donor agencies expand their funding and technical assistance to support capacity-building of Asian indigenous peoples’ organizations.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Arctic Council formally engage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to jointly follow up the International Experts Meeting on Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development: scientific, social, cultural and educational challenges (3-6 March 2009 in Monaco).
The Permanent Forum invites the European Commission, through its Directorate-General for International Partnerships and European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations to follow and engage in the work of the Permanent Forum, including by the designation of focal points.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should serve as a key and binding framework in the formulation of plans for development and should be considered fundamental in all processes related to climate change at the local, national, regional and global levels. The safeguard policies of the multilateral banks and the existing and future policies on indigenous peoples of United Nations bodies and other multilateral bodies should be implemented in all climate change-related projects and programmes.
The Permanent Forum recommends that a meeting additional to the pre-sessional meeting be organized in the fourth quarters of 2012 and 2013, without any budgetary implications, to discuss methods of work.
The Forum recommends that the findings of the millennium ecosystem assessment and its recommendations concerning the environment be submitted to it at its fourth session, and that the participation of indigenous peoples be taken into account by the assessment in the review of its reports, analysis and findings.
The Permanent Forum urges States to recognize and protect indigenous peoples’ cultural right to water and, through legislation and policy, to support the right of indigenous peoples to hunt and gather food resources from waters used for cultural, economic and commercial purposes. This is consistent with article 25 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum commits to facilitating informal online regional dialogues between Member States and indigenous peoples on autonomy and self-governance to support the development of guiding principles for the realization of the rights of indigenous peoples to autonomy and self-government. The Permanent Forum invites the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous People’s Issues to participate in the organization of these regional dialogues and in the preparation of a discussion paper on this matter to be presented at the twenty-first session of the Forum. The Permanent Forum also invites the Group of Friends of Indigenous Peoples to encourage the active participation of Member States in this endeavour.
Taking into account decision 22/16 of the Governing Council of UNEP, the Forum recommends that UNEP and relevant United Nations agencies and programmes hold consultations at the regional and national levels with indigenous peoples to examine this issue and prepare recommendations on possible further strengthening of the understanding of the link between environment and cultural diversity.
During the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the members of the Permanent Forum were not able to register as United Nations experts. Forum members attend many United Nations meetings where their specific status is not recognized. The Forum therefore recommends that Member States include Forum members as United Nations experts, not as part of major groups, in United Nations accreditation processes.