STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distribution15 years and the Brundtland report on sustainable development (1987) 8 beforeindigenous peoples were mentioned in an environmental document.The real breakthrough occurred during the 1992 United Nations Conferenceon Environment and Development (UNCED, often called the Earth Summit),when indigenous peoples were included as a “major group” that their specificrelationship with the environment was recognized and some of their concernstaken into consideration. This was, among other things, the result of effortsmade by the international indigenous movement prior to the Earth Summit.The indigenous movement had by then gained strength and recognition withinthe UN system, notably with the creation of the Working Group on IndigenousPopulations (1982) and the adoption of ILO Convention No. 169 (1989).UNCED was therefore seen as an opportunity to inform the internationalcommunity about the environmental issues indigenous peoples were facing andhow their traditional ecological knowledge and practices could contribute toresolving the global environmental problems.Indigenous peoples prepared for UNCED as thoroughly and extensively asany state. Prior to the Earth Summit, indigenous peoples held their ownsummit at Kari Oca, near Rio de Janeiro, to develop their own Declaration andCharter on sustainable development. The Kari Oca Summit was instrumentalin formulating the basic documents for indigenous peoples on issues relatedto sustainable development at a global level and for influencing the officialand civil society summits.All these efforts were reflected in some of the documents that came out of theSummit, including the Convention on Biological Diversity. Since then, indigenousconcerns, knowledge and expertise have been taken increasingly into accountby the numerous international initiatives related to the environment and by theensuing documents and policies. Indigenous peoples have also gained somerecognition from a number of large environmental organizations such as WWFand IUCN, 9 which have taken this step to work with indigenous peoples in theirconservation activities.this Declarationrecognizes in its preamblethat “respect forindigenous knowledge,cultures and traditionalpractices contributes tosustainable and equitabledevelopment and propermanagement of theenvironmentAt the same time, the inherent rights of indigenous peoples to their lands andresources and to their full and effective participation in decisions relating totheir lands, resources and livelihoods have been reflected in a number of8 See Our Common Future (also known as the Brundtland Report), Report of the World Commissionon Environment and Development (1987).9 In 1996, WWF (now standing for World Wide Fund for Nature) issued a Statement of Principleson Indigenous Peoples and Conservation, intended to guide partnerships betweenWWF and indigenous peoples' organizations in conserving biodiversity within indigenouspeoples' lands and territories and in promoting sustainable use of natural resources.This statement was last updated in 2008. The IUCN’s World Conservation Congress haspassed several resolutions on indigenous peoples (e.g. in 1996) in relation to issues suchas protected areas, traditional biodiversity knowledge, forests, marine and coastal areas,and mining.THE ENVIRONMENT | 85