The Permanent Forum reiterates to the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and especially to the parties to the Nagoya Protocol, the importance of respecting and protecting indigenous peoples’ rights to genetic resources consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Consistent with the objective of “fair and equitable” benefit sharing in the Convention and Protocol, all rights based on customary use must be safeguarded and not only “established” rights. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has concluded that such kinds of distinctions would be discriminatory.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the decision taken by the General Assembly in its resolution 61/193 to declare 2011 the International Year of Forests. The Forum calls on the United Nations Forum on Forests to work closely with the secretariat of the Permanent Forum to ensure the full participation of indigenous peoples in the design and implementation of the activities planned for the International Year of Forests, including the implementation of the recommendations referred to in paragraph 23 above
The Permanent Forum requests the Global Environment Facility, as well as other funding mechanisms, to prioritize support for conservation approaches that are led or co-managed by indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that United Nations organizations provide technical assistance and convene, in cooperation with indigenous peoples’ organizations, regional workshops on the special theme of the sixth session of the Permanent Forum, namely, “Territories, lands and natural resources”, with the participation of Permanent Forum members, 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 sixth session. The Permanent Forum further recommends that States, organizations and donors provide resources for these regional workshops.
The Forum calls on the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to continue its support to the national indigenous peoples biodiversity participatory mechanisms of the small island developing States through the Convention's island and biodiversity project and indigenous peoples program, in the promotion of sustainable biodiversity
The Permanent Forum urges its secretariat, in cooperation with the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, to organize a side-event on the occasion of the fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing of the Convention on Biological Diversity, as an occasion for the co-chairs of the Working Group, States parties and other interested groups to consider the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the international expert group meeting, held from 17 to 19 January 2007, on the Convention on Biological Diversity’s international regime on access and benefit-sharing and indigenous peoples’ human rights.
The Permanent Forum calls on all United Nations agencies and States to support the reclamation of traditional practices and laws leading to global solutions to climate change.
The Forum recommends that the United Nations system urge all States to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the Bio-Safety Protocol, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the Conference of Parties to the Stockholm Convention should establish mechanisms for indigenous peoples to maintain an active presence at its meeting), the Rotterdam Convention on Hazardous Chemicals, the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and its 1995 prohibition on the export of hazardous waste from the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to non-member countries, and 1996 Protocol to the London Convention on marine waste deposits etc.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the International Council on Mining and Metals provide a list of and invite members of the Forum, members of affected indigenous peoples and indigenous experts to visit the project sites for the purpose of reporting back to the Forum at its tenth session.