Indigenous culture and tourism is often seen as a driver of growth and development for the economies and businesses of indigenous peoples, with indigenous peoples often trivialized and viewed solely as cultural icons and objects by others. The Permanent Forum therefore recommends that United Nations agencies, in collaboration with the indigenous peoples concerned, affirm and make operational the right of indigenous peoples to determine their own priorities for development and opportunities concerning indigenous culture and tourism.
The Permanent Forum recommends that Member States, the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations system ensure that the processes relating to the definition of the development agenda beyond 2015 are formulated in accordance with the objectives of sustainable development, as defined in the Indigenous Peoples’ International Declaration on Sustainable Development and Self-Determination, adopted by the Indigenous Peoples’ International Conference on Sustainable Development and Self-Determination, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012, and also recommends that culture be affirmed as the fourth pillar of sustainable development.