The Forum recommends that Member States, the intergovernmental system, international financial institutions and the private sector respect and adhere to the principle of free, prior and informed consent in all matters affecting indigenous peoples
The Forum recommends that courts and judicial bodies take urgent step to ensure the protection of indigenous peoples from threats of the use of physical violence by Governments or paramilitary groups controlled by Governments and non-State actors
As highlighted in article 31 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum requests that both WIPO and States take effective measures and establish mechanisms to recognize the right of indigenous peoples to protect their intellectual property, including their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games, and visual and performing arts.
The Forum recommends to the United Nations Development Group that the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals be assessed and that additional indicators be identified to give fuller assessment of environmental sustainability.
The Permanent Forum urges United Nations bodies and specialized agencies to implement the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the establishment and development of indigenous-led funds as a self-governance practice, which promote funding access to indigenous communities and shift power relations in donor and philanthropy processes. The Forum invites the broad donor and philanthropic community to support these initiatives.
The Permanent Forum also welcomes the launching by FAO, during the twenty-seventh session of its Technical Committee on Agriculture, in 2020, of the global hub on indigenous peoples’ food systems. It recommends that FAO continue to facilitate the work of the global hub. In addition, the Permanent Forum welcomes the White/Whipala paper on indigenous peoples’ food systems, which was drafted under the coordination of the global hub, and which has been accepted as one of the scientific papers that will serve to inform constituents at the Summit.
The Permanent Forum encourages FAO and other relevant agencies to favour and promote in member countries the acknowledgement and improvement of land tenure legal frameworks to recognize indigenous peoples’ land rights. The Forum recommends that FAO and other relevant United Nations agencies support activities for participatory delimitation and titling where the legal framework recognizes indigenous land rights. FAO should pay special attention to indigenous peoples’ customary laws regarding land.
The Permanent Forum recommends that UNESCO, as the primary United Nations agency dealing with education, science and culture, implement and strengthen strategies based on recommendations from the Permanent Forum’s six sessions, placing emphasis on the quality of education and taking into account the visions and pedagogies of indigenous peoples. This recommendation should be reflected in the contents and activities of the global plan of action and in the medium-term financial strategy 2007-2013.
The Forum notes with appreciation decisions VII/16 A-1 of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its ongoing work with respect to traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities covering many areas for future works to be jointly undertaken by the Convention and the Forum.
The Forum notes the preparation of the World Congress on Protected Areas, to be held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2003, which Forum members consider to be an important meeting calling for their attention and action. The Forum recommends that all laws, policies or work programmes on forests and protected areas guarantee, ensure and respect various aspects of indigenous peoples’ lives, such as their spiritual and cultural lives, lands and territorial rights, including sacred sites, needs and benefits, and recognize their rights of access to and control over the management of forests.
The Permanent Forum invites the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and relevant States of the Congo Basin to provide at the eighth session of the Forum, in 2009, specific information on the biosphere reserves project and how they will incorporate the indigenous peoples of the Congo Basin and their respective associations into the implementation of the project.