The Permanent Forum calls on States, in consultation with indigenous peoples, to establish national judicial institutions tasked with identifying lands, waters, coastal waters and other resources to which the indigenous peoples concerned have established ownership and usufruct rights, and to demarcate such lands and resources.
Recalling articles 3–4, 8, 18, 25–26 and 32 of the Declaration, the Permanent Forum urges African States to promote, recognize and protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources through the development of mechanisms to ensure the legal recognition of land and resource rights, the resolution of land disputes, fair and equitable redress, and the creation of permanent dialogue frameworks to facilitate political participation and representation of indigenous peoples in decision-making.
The Permanent Forum welcomes the approval of the approach to recognizing and working with indigenous and local knowledge adopted at the fifth plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, in 2017, and the establishment of a participatory mechanism for indigenous peoples and local communities in the work of the Platform. The Forum urges the identification of procedures and methodologies for effective implementation of the approach and the participatory mechanism, in partnership with indigenous peoples.
The Permanent Forum requests FAO to enhance the participation of indigenous peoples and representatives from the Forum in the work of the Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Forestry, the Committee on Fisheries, the Committee on World Food Security and the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
Further, the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal on ensuring access to affordable and modern energy for all (Goal 7) is posing threats as well as providing opportunities for indigenous peoples. The Permanent Forum encourages States to work with indigenous peoples to develop guidelines for responsible renewable energy development.
The 2030 Agenda is now in its third year of implementation. The Permanent Forum reiterates that countries undergoing voluntary national reviews at the high-level political forum on sustainable development should include indigenous peoples in their reviews, reports and delegations and invites States to report on good practices to the Forum at its eighteenth session.
