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Addressee: Member States, Intergovernmental organizations, UN system/UN agencies
Full Text
The Permanent Forum recommends that the international community take serious measures to mitigate climate change. The survival of the traditional ways of life of indigenous peoples depends in large part on the success of international negotiations in developing strong, enforceable agreements that will truly be effective in combating climate change. The Permanent Forum concurs with a major conclusion of the Stern report that strong and immediate measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions now will be less costly than attempting to adapt to the widespread changes that unchecked climate change will cause in the future.
Responses
The Government of Mexico reports:4. To encourage the participation and activities of civil society organizations, the
Forum on Gender and Sustainable Development in Mexico was held. At the Forum;a network of agencies was proposed to work jointly on rural, indigenous, urban and
natural issues and thereby to promote the exchange of experience and proposals between the social sector and the government sector; 5. One of the priority research areas for CDI is traditional knowledge, natural resources and the environment; hence it supported in 2008 the study “Climate
change and indigenous peoples: documentation and analysis of the problem”, in order to examine the topic on the national and international levels and to document strategies for adaptation and mitigation. In 2009, a study is planned on community strategies and traditional practices used by indigenous peoples to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Asian Development Bank reports on a series of initiatives it has undertaken to mitigate climate change and the fact that climate change issues are prominent in their strategic framework for 2008-2020. This includes advancing energy efficiency and promoting sustainable land use and forestry, among other actions. ADB is also providing access to innovative financing mechanisms to scale up investments in new and cleaner technologies.
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.
The Government of Colombia reports on two projects under the Clean Development Mechanisms that have to do with indigenous communities. The report of Colombia also highlights the role of indigenous territories (resguardos) and national parks in mitigating climate change by preserving forests. This is especially the case in the Amazon Region and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
The Government of Nicaragua reports that the Ministry of the Environmment and Natural Resources is developing a National Action Plan on Climate Change which includes indigenous peoples as key actors and which will address traditional livelihoods and forest conservation issues within this context.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 7 (2008)
Area of Work
