The Forum decides to appoint Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Lars Anders-Baer, members of the Permanent Forum, as special rapporteurs to prepare a report on various models and best practices of mitigation and adaptation measures undertaken by indigenous peoples from various parts of the world. The Forum requests that these special rapporteurs, in collaboration with indigenous peoples, also prepare a draft declaration of action on climate change and indigenous peoples, which can include a road map for indigenous peoples towards the 2009 Copenhagen Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and beyond. These will be presented at the eighth session of the Forum.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, university research centres and relevant United Nations agencies conduct further studies on the impacts of climate change and climate change responses on indigenous peoples who are living in highly fragile ecosystems, such as low-lying coastal areas and small island States; semi-arid and arid lands and dry and sub-humid lands (grasslands); tropical and subtropical forests; and high mountain areas.
The Forum recommends that FAO and the Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development Initiative work further on the development of cultural indicators for identifying priorities and criteria and methodologies for the right to food and food security, with the participation of indigenous peoples, taking into account the protection and restoration of indigenous peoples' traditional food systems and their agrobiodiversity and associated traditional knowledge and livelihoods. The threats to sustaining such systems, such as monoculture cash crop production, mineral extraction, environmental contamination and genetically modified seeds and technology, should be addressed.
Alarmed at attempts to exclude indigenous peoples of Africa in the application of World Bank Operational Policy 4.10, the Permanent Forum recommends that the World Bank immediately initiate consultations with States and indigenous peoples in Africa as part of its safeguards policy review and ensure the application of safeguards to indigenous peoples of Africa, as directed by articles 19 and 41 of the Declaration.
The Permanent Forum urges Member States to include indigenous peoples’ rights in the outcomes of the 2019 Climate Summit called for by the Secretary- General, which will be held on 23 September 2019. The Forum also recommends that States, the United Nations system, indigenous peoples’ organizations and other partners secure funding to ensure the adequate participation of indigenous peoples at the Summit and at the preparatory meetings.
The Permanent Forum calls upon Member States to ensure that the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is aligned with the rights affirmed in the Declaration, and invites UNEP to organize a dialogue to discuss the Rio+20 outcome, its implications for indigenous peoples and its implementation.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Framework Convention on Climate Change, in cooperation with States, provide adaptation funds to indigenous peoples affected by climate change-related disasters. Indigenous peoples whose lands have already disappeared or have become uninhabitable or spoilt due to seawater rise, floods, droughts or erosion, and who have thus become environmental refugees or displaced persons, should be provided with appropriate relocation with the support of the international community.
A request for the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Forum to consult and collaborate with indigenous organizations to promote the role of indigenous peoples as stewards of biological and cultural diversity for the International Year of Biodiversity.
The Permanent Forum calls upon the Arctic States to provide financial resources to indigenous peoples of the Arctic for the purpose of building a partnership to enable them to adapt to climate change.
The Permanent Forum recommends that States ensure that the territories of indigenous peoples in Asia be free of State military interventions and that military bases, camps and training centres established in indigenous territories without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples be removed immediately, consistent with articles 19 and 30 of the Declaration.
The Forum recognizes the unique contributions made by indigenous women in terms of possessing and transmitting through the generations a wealth of traditional knowledge on the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable environmental management, and calls on the secretariat of the Convention for Biological Diversity, UNEP and all relevant United Nations bodies to mainstream indigenous gender issues and knowledge in national environmental policies and programmes.
The Permanent Forum takes note of the sixth call for proposals of the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility of IFAD, which is focused on advancing indigenous peoples’ biodiversity conservation and sustainable management for adaptation and resilience to climate change. The Permanent Forum urges IFAD to facilitate direct access to climate financing to indigenous peoples’ communities and organizations through the Facility and the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, and encourages Governments and donors to support those initiatives.