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 recommends that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other relevant United Nations agencies further develop and enhance natural disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies involving indigenous peoples in the development and implementation of those strategies.
The Forum encourages the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to recognize the importance of and emphasize support for indigenous agricultural systems, including forestry, shifting cultivation, fisheries, livestock, pastoralism and hunting-gathering systems, and their associated biodiversity, foods, knowledge systems and cultures. It encourages FAO to promote the responsible use of culturally appropriate agricultural inputs and technology so as to protect the traditional livelihoods of indigenous peoples
The Forum recommends that WHO, in conjunction with indigenous health providers, undertake a study on the prevalence and causes of suicide among indigenous youth, and efforts being undertaken, including culturally based approaches, to address suicide prevention and the promotion of mental health and wellness.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Population Fund organize, in coordination with the secretariat of the Forum an international expert workshop on the theme “Indigenous peoples and health, with special emphasis on sexual and reproductive health”, and that a report of the expert workshop be submitted to the Forum at its ninth session, in 2010.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the relevant treaty bodies take into account the Declaration and urges States to include information regarding its implementation in their reports to the universal periodic review of the Human Rights Council.
The Permanent Forum calls upon United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, other multilateral financial institutions and bilateral donors to establish clear policy commitments to protect the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples.
With regard to the development of national action plans, as committed to by Member States at the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption by the Government of El Salvador of a national action plan and encourages its full and effective implementation. The Forum strongly urges other States to follow this good practice and develop their own national action plans for the full implementation of the Declaration. The Forum also encourages States to review recommendations made at past sessions, renew efforts at their implementation and report on progress made by 2021. The Forum invites the United Nations system to support the efforts of Member States in this regard.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Government of Paraguay should give priority, in its emergency plans, to the protection of vulnerable indigenous children from practices of forced labour and other forms of exploitation.
Celebrating 22 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is the first legally binding international instrument affirming human rights for all children, the Permanent Forum welcomes the adoption of the third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, enabling individual claims and the use of the examination process, and urges States to accede to this important instrument regarding children in the most vulnerable situations, many of whom are indigenous, to allow them access to recourse and redress.
There generally appears to be positive recognition of the approach to Goal 1 suggested by the Permanent Forum, while there has been less attention paid to Goal 2. In both areas, there appears to be an increase in the number of projects being implemented in Latin America, with limited projects in Asia, and one or two projects in Africa. This is particularly the case under Goal 2, where there is a general lack of reporting from Asia or Africa on intercultural/bilingual education projects or programmes in this area.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the themes for the round tables of the World Conference be decided by Member States and indigenous peoples through the preparatory processes. The Declaration provides a substantial framework for the development of the focus of the World Conference.