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Addressee: Conservation organizations, Donor agencies, Member States, IP, UNFCCC, UN system/UN agencies, World Bank
Full Text
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and relevant parties develop mechanisms for indigenous peoples’ participation, as appropriate, in all aspects of the international dialogue on climate change, particularly the forthcoming negotiations for the next Kyoto Protocol commitment period, including by establishing a working group on local adaptation measures and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples. The Forum encourages dialogue and cooperation among indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women and youth, States, conservation and development organizations and donors in order to strengthen the participation of indigenous peoples in dialogue on climate change.
Responses
UNFCCC reports that 19 indigenous peoples' organizations have participated as observers. IPOs are treated as one constituency and UNFCCC provides support to their activities, including meeting opportunities with the COP president and chairs of subsidiary bodies. IPO representatives participated actively at COP 14 in Poznan, Poland.
The Government of Bolivia reports: 6. Bolivia has conducted research with the participation of the social actorscinvolved in development problems relating to climate change, who focused on adaptation measures in two pilot regions at the national level: one in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca, the other in the mesothermic valleys of the Department of Santa Cruz, as part of a process known as “learning by doing”, coordinated and developed by the National Climate Change Programme with rural communities in six municipalities. 7. On the basis of this experience, a multidisciplinary programme entitled “Anthropological considerations and ancestral knowledge” is being incorporated in the National Mechanism for Adaptation to Climate Change, with the aim of
identifying the reasons for erosion based on ancestral knowledge of practices which may be relevant in adaptation to climate change. 8. A further success has been the development of local adaptation strategies in Chipaya indigenous communities, in which indigenous actors revive ancestral practices to tackle climate change. The project was carried out in the context of the National Climate Change Programme Five-Year Plan. 9. The Government of Bolivia has been conducting consultations with social organizations, in particular with indigenous peoples, and formulating national positions on a participatory basis with regard to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in preparation for the fifteenth Conference of the Parties, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.
The Government of Bolivia reports: 31. With regard to the protection of the natural balance in which indigenous peoples live and work, article 342 of the new Constitution provides that “the State and the population shall be bound to conserve, protect and sustainably use natural resources and biodiversity and to maintain the balance of the natural environment”. Indigenous peoples’ rights to the exploitation of natural resources in their territories are recognized in article 304, paragraph 3, of the new Constitution, which provides that indigenous peoples have exclusive jurisdiction over the “management and administration of renewable natural resources, in accordance with the Constitution”. On the rights to the flora and fauna in those territories, article 352 of the new Constitution provides that “citizen participation in the process of environmental management shall be guaranteed and the conservation of ecosystems shall be promoted ... Consultations with indigenous and aboriginal farming nations and peoples shall be conducted in accordance with their rules and procedures”.
DESA reports: 33. The discussions during the two-year cycle of the sixteenth and seventeenth sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development (which will end on 15 May 2009) have already been shaped by the strength of indigenous peoples’ views and inputs. The summary of the Chairman of the sixteenth session includes explicit references to indigenous peoples in 20 separate paragraphs15 that address issues important to current and past recommendations of the Permanent Forum, including: the need for access to land and secure land tenure, especially for women; the importance of local and traditional knowledge in agriculture, integrated water resources management, drought and desertification adaptation and mitigation; the need to support capacity-building for local communities and indigenous peoples according to the Bali Strategic Plan; and promotion of small-scale traditional agriculture and sustainable livestock production. The Chairman also stated that implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples would further efforts to achieve sustainable development goals.
IFAD reports: 69. IFAD is accompanying indigenous peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin America in their processes, leading the way on climate change dialogue and negotiations in
the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Two grants, provided in 2008 and early 2009, respectively to the Indigenous Peoples’
International Centre for Policy Research and Education (Tebtebba Foundation) and the Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organization, will contribute to
enabling indigenous peoples to share their experiences, lessons, aspirations and strategies in dealing with climate change, based on their cultural and traditional understandings, as well as the current conditions they face. The grants will enable indigenous peoples to unite and strengthen their voices and become equipped with the knowledge and understanding of the national, regional and international decision-making processes on climate change issues.
IFAD has financed several projects in order to facilitate the dialogue and cooperation among indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women and youth and States, in order to strengthen the participation of indigenous peoples in dialogue on climate change.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 7 (2008)
Area of Work
