Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

Key benchmarks of the past decade

The UN Human Rights Process

The Martinez-Cobo Report (1983) The Working Group on Indigenous Populations

(1982) The ILO Convention 169 (1989) The Second International Decade of the World’s

Indigenous People (2005-15) The UN Permanent Forum For Indigenous People

(July 2000) Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights

and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people UNHRC Expert mechanism on the rights of

indigenous peoples (EMRIP - 2008) The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous

Peoples (September 2007)

The UNDRIP: 46 articles – at least 15 relevant to conservation

Article 29. 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such conservation and protection, without discrimination.

Article 20. 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.

International Environmental Instruments

The Convention on Biological Diversity (Traditional knowledge, customary management, protected areas, other areas)

The Ramsar Convention – guidelines, culture The UN Forum on Forests The UN Convention to Combat

Desertification The World Heritage Convention The UN Framework Convention on Climate

Change The non-governmental conservation

community (CIHR), 2009

International Environmental Instruments General approach: inclusive of

indigenous and traditional peoples – definitions are less important than characteristics of peoples and communities in relation to natural resources

Focus mostly on how traditional knowledge and management practices can help conservation of nature and how conservation can help livelihoods

Issues in the international conservation agenda Landscape approach Ecosystem approach Ecoystems goods and services Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Climate change adaptation Cultural aspects of ecosystem management Governance of natural resources New PA paradigm Food security based on good management of

ecosystems and biodiversity Growing concern about extractive industries