The Permanent Forum urges States and State-owned corporations to consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before the approval of any policies, plans and projects affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of minerals, water and other resources, in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ensure a significant focus on refugee issues in the Pacific region, giving particular attention to the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in that region.
The Permanent Forum invites the Chairman of the Special Committee to report on the decolonization process within the Pacific region to the Forum at its eighth session in 2009.
The Permanent Forum invites the Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples to examine and report on the situation of the human rights of indigenous peoples in Non-Self-Governing Territories of the Pacific region, and urges relevant States to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur for that purpose.
The Permanent Forum expresses its concern for the human rights of indigenous peoples in the Non-Self-Governing Territories in the Pacific region and calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council to designate a Special Rapporteur on the situation of indigenous peoples of those territories.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the Pacific States endorse and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Permanent Forum notes the increasing incidence of tuberculosis among indigenous peoples, rates which are up to 20 to 30 times higher than those of non indigenous communities. The Forum supports the proposal by the Assembly of First Nations in Canada and the Stop TB Partnership to hold an expert group meeting on the global situation of indigenous peoples with tuberculosis, which should include indigenous health experts, and encourages the organizers to invite members of the Forum.
Considering the increasing impact of climate change on the health of indigenous peoples, particularly in terms of increased vulnerability to water-borne and vector-borne disease, the World Health Organization is encouraged to actively engage the Permanent Forum and its secretariat and establish a dialogue with a view to organizing a meeting on this issue in 2009.
Scientists, policymakers and the international community as a whole should undertake regular consultations with indigenous peoples so that their studies and decisions will be informed by indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge and experiences. The Permanent Forum can play a role in ensuring that the traditional knowledge and best practices of indigenous peoples relevant to fighting climate change and its impacts will be considered in the negotiation processes leading to the Copenhagen Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and beyond, including through discussions with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Permanent Forum urges indigenous academics, scientists and traditional knowledge holders to organize their own processes to consolidate their knowledge and experiences in climate change science into a report that can feed into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Permanent Forum.
The Permanent Forum recommends that donors and United Nations agencies give more support to indigenous peoples in Africa, where appropriate, to promote, recognize, protect and enhance indigenous traditional knowledge.
The Permanent Forum recommends that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and relevant parties develop mechanisms for indigenous peoples’ participation, as appropriate, in all aspects of the international dialogue on climate change, particularly the forthcoming negotiations for the next Kyoto Protocol commitment period, including by establishing a working group on local adaptation measures and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples. The Forum encourages dialogue and cooperation among indigenous peoples, particularly indigenous women and youth, States, conservation and development organizations and donors in order to strengthen the participation of indigenous peoples in dialogue on climate change.