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 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 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.
With a view to establishing a partnership with the United Nations Forum on Forests to work in the area of traditional forest-related knowledge and social and cultural aspects of forests pertaining to indigenous peoples, the Forum appoints Pavel Sulyandziga, member of the Forum, as Special Rapporteur to work with the United Nations Forum on Forests, without financial implications, and to report on that subject to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at its fifth session
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, the expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people should evaluate whether existing and proposed climate change policies and projects comply with the standards set by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These bodies, together with the members of the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Issues, should collaborate with States and indigenous peoples to effectively ensure that the implementation of the Declaration is central to the design and implementation of climate change policies and programmes.
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.
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.