UN Photo/Milton Grant

Keywords: Indicators (9 hits),

Monday, October 31, 2011

Secretariat, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20)

RE: Input and Contributions to the Rio + 20 compilation document to serve as a basis for the preparation of zero draft of the outcome document.

Dear UNCSD Secretariat,

The Dene Nation (Northwest Territories, Canada), the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada), the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB), Indigenous World Association IWA, as well as Alaska Community Acton on Toxics (ACAT), and Ms. Mirna Cunningham, President, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and on behalf of CADPI (Nicaragua), all Indigenous Nations, Organizations and individuals of the Arctic, North America and Mesoamerica and other regionsⁱ , present the following recommendations for the compilation document which will serve as a basis for the Zero draft of the outcome document of Rio + 20.

We acknowledge with approval the Manaus Declaration and in particular affirm the Conclusions and Recommendations adopted by Indigenous Peoples at the Preparatory Conference for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio + 20, June 4 ? 6, 2012.

We affirm that Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity.

A. Indigenous Peoples and UNCED (Rio)

As does the Manaus Declaration, we recall the United Nations World Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED, more popularly known as the ?Earth Summit? held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. We note that Indigenous Peoples, although denied access to the UNCED, are prominently mentioned in the outcome documents and the activities that the United Nations committed to carry out, including: The Rio Declaration (Principle 22); Agenda 21 (Section 3 and Chapter 26 therein) The Statement of Principles of Forests (Principles 5(a) and 2(d) ); The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (Theme: traditional forest-related knowledge); the Commission on Sustainable Development (Cluster: Roles of Major Groups including Indigenous Peoples and Chapter 26); and the Convention on Biological Diversity (Article 8j).

The Rio Declaration, in Principle 22, stated that, ?Indigenous people and their communities? have a vital role in environmental management and development because of their knowledge and traditional practices. States should recognize and duly support their identity, culture and interests and enable their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development.?

Chapter 26 within Section 3, ?Recognizing and strengthening the role of indigenous people and their communities," calls for the objectives of Agenda 21 to be accomplished, "in full partnership with indigenous people and their communities." Chapter 26 also recognizes Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge of ecology and sustainable development. It calls upon the states to strengthen and facilitate Indigenous Peoples' participation in their own development and in external development activities that may affect them: ?Indigenous Peoples should be accorded greater self-control over Indigenous lands and resources, recognition of traditional subsistence practices and the strengthening of national legislation (26.3).?

Chapter 26 does not refer specifically to right to food, it provides for the protection and strengthening of indigenous peoples? access to and utilization of resources which form the basis for ensuring indigenous peoples? food security. Chapter 26.3 highlights the special status of indigenous peoples in the development process that is a basis for the control of land and resources necessary food security and food sovereignty. Chapter 26 also recommends, as activities in furtherance of Agenda 21, the ratification of international instruments relevant to Indigenous Peoples; action within the UN and international development agencies, including financial and technical support that incorporates the views of Indigenous Peoples and their organizations in the implementation and design of policy and; the adoption or strengthening of policies to protect Indigenous Peoples' intellectual and cultural property. (26.4 and 26.5)

Chapter 17 refers to Indigenous Peoples' traditional fisheries (17.17), the incorporation of traditional knowledge concerning marine ecosystems into domestic management plans [17.75(b)] and the recognition of subsistence rights in the negotiation of international instruments on marine resources (17.83).

Chapter 11, "Combating deforestation," recommends Indigenous participation in state activities pertaining to forests [11.1(b)]; capacity building programs to facilitate research and implementation of measures to protect forest ecosystems and biodiversity [11.1(g) and 11.19]; the creation of protected reserves and areas, including the traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples [11.13(b)]; programs to support the participation of Indigenous Peoples in forestry management [11.13(i)], and support for Indigenous organizations and communities [11.14(c)(c)].

B. Indigenous Peoples since Rio

It was not encouraging that in the 74 pages of the Commission on Sustainable Development's report on its second session, Indigenous Peoples are specifically mentioned only twice (paragraphs 100 and 101, under the heading, "health, human settlements and freshwater").

Other statements in Rio Documents with regard to Indigenous knowledge and its relevance to sustainable development have been effectively undermined by the focus of UNCED and the subsequent World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002), as well as other UN Conference such as the World Food Summit (1996) and the World Food Summit Five Years Later (2002). All of these Summits and Conferences called for more ?sustainable? development and a reliance on globalization that has proven unsustainable and detrimental to global food and water security, the loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and an increased addiction on fossil fuels.

UNCED did not address the problem of over-consumption of the world's resources and the actual and growing inequitable distribution of wealth. Agenda 21 does not address the issue of wellbeing or how it is measured. It only addresses Gross National Product and defines "well being" in terms of dollars produced by development, but shared more "equitably." In effect, it called for more consumption and more development.

The rights of Indigenous Peoples have been universally recognized since UNCED in 1992 though the adoption in 2007 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples , now supported by all States. As noted in the Manaus Conclusions and Recommendations, the UN Declaration is the now the accepted minimum standard which contains many provisions that are directly relevant to the issues under discussion at Rio + 20. Nevertheless, Indigenous Peoples rights have still not been mainstreamed or effectively safeguarded in the various processes which were created by the UNCED, nor, overall, in international discussions about development Our lands and resources remain fodder for the machine that continues at an alarming, exponential rate to consume not only the world?s biological diversity, but forests, waters and fisheries, air, and all that we hold sacred, including our cultures and identities. The focus of Rio + 20 and its slogan, ?the green economy? promises to change very little.?

In response, and do offer a different direction, we underscore the affirmation in the Manaus Conclusions and Recommendations that, in preparation for Rio + 20 as follows:

?Indigenous Peoples continue to challenge the development model based on resource extraction and market-based models, which fails to recognize that we human beings are an integral part of the natural world, and also fails to respect human rights, including the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples. International standards like the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirm that development is social and cultural, as well as economic. Indigenous Peoples maintain the right to define and freely pursue our own vision of development based on our needs, priorities, traditional understandings and responsibilities, including the cultural and spiritual relationships with the Natural World, our ancestral territories and the ecosystems that have sustained us since time immemorial. We also affirm our sacred responsibility to defend the lives and survival of future generations of our Peoples.?

Indigenous Peoples have much to offer the world in maintaining its sustainability. Our vision of the Sacred relationship to our Mother the Earth is real and has allowed us to maintain the Earth?s remaining biological diversity and its life creating and life sustaining capacity. Not considering humanity?s relationship to the Earth and ensuring the Earth?s capacity to create and maintain life can only lead to humanity?s destruction.

Even by accepted western scientific measurement, the focus on globalized development is inexorably going down that destructive road. The world?s monetary crisis should serve as a lesson on the greed and indifference to humanity and human rights that characterizes the liberalization of trade. Indigenous Peoples are most directly and most profoundly affected by this indifference. Now the rest of the world is as well affected by this crisis and its causes.

But all things are related. The relevance of the fact of Indigenous Peoples living in harmony and balance within very diverse ecosystems demonstrate the essential relationship between cultural diversity and biological diversity. The focus of UNCED and now, Rio + 20, on assigning monetary ?value? to ?ecosystem services? are themselves related to the creation of markets and the destruction of biodiversity and with that, the destruction of Indigenous cultures, of identities and sacred relationship with the Earth.

C. Rio + 20 and the ?Green Economy?

The themes of Rio + 20 promise much as did UNCED 20 years ago: ?Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication;? and, ?Institutional Framework for sustainable development.? It is clear by the discussions so far, that the icons of ?green? including the solar panel, the wind turbine and the neon light bulb are not the sole agenda items. Global Industrialized Agriculture and biomass are included in the discussion on the ?Green Economy.?

As in the discussions on climate change, the Green Economy debate places great importance on renewable sources of energy and the production and manufacturing of materials now petroleum based, as the basis for a new vision of ?sustainable development.? The transition to the Green Economy calls for agriculture as the primary source of renewable material for bio-fuels and new technologies for non-petroleum based manufacturing. New biological technology is being touted as the provider of renewable and thus ?sustainable? development, for food security, ?clean? energy and poverty alleviation. As all things are related, it is no accident that the largest transnationals in the world are developing technologies on bio-mass and its use in renewable fuels and manufacturing materials.

A world-wide ?bio-economy? is proposed as the solution to climate change and sustainable development. Again, as in proposals for ?market based solutions? to climate change, the Earth?s biological resources are the target for this new ?green? economy and the markets that it will create. The very basis of life, genetic material, both plant and animal, become potential markets in this formula. The experience of Indigenous Peoples, particularly those that inhabit bio-rich environments, is that their lands, territories, waters and total environments are targets for the new technologies, industrialized agriculture and the concentration of productive lands, their lands, in the hands of the private few, for the production of so-called ?renewable? resources.

Rio + 20 must include e a deeper examination of global sustainability and not merely an opportunity for more markets and business as usual in the name of a ?Green Economy?. It is an opportunity to examine why the promise of UNCED, in spite of the many UN fora, conventions and subsidiary bodies that it created and the billions of dollars spent in its search for sustainable development, failed not only to alleviate poverty, but produced a major and growing loss of biological diversity, the pollution of the world?s waters, oceans, rivers and streams, growing food insecurity and an unsustainable world economy. As in climate change, there is also an ecological debt outstanding. As many have said and are saying, ?Business as usual is not an option. And Governance as usual is not an option.?

Specific Text Recommendations for the Zero Draft

Zero Draft Preamble

Keeping in mind the United Nations Declaration on the right to development and its recognition that the right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized,ⁱⁱ

Noting the relevance of the United Nations Declaration on the right to development to sustainable development, that the human right to development also implies the full realization of the right of all Peoples, including Indigenous peoples, to self-determination, which includes, subject to the relevant provisions of both International Covenants on Human Rights, the exercise of their inalienable right to full sovereignty over all their natural wealth and resources,ⁱⁱⁱ

Recognizing that sustainable development is a process that leads to the fulfillment of all human rights,^iv

Recognizing and reaffirming the human rights basis of sustainable development and rejecting unsustainable development practices that violate human rights, in all programmes and outcomes of Rio + 20, States shall recognize, respect and fulfill all human rights and particularly the rights recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the right to Development as the right of all Peoples and individuals, emphasizing its goal of a participatory development by all,^v

Keeping in mind, General Assembly Resolution A/Res/60/1 of 24 October 2005, on the outcomes of the World Summit, that: ?the sustainable development of indigenous peoples and their communities is crucial in our fight against hunger and poverty?, and its commitment,: ?to respect, preserve and maintain the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from their utilization?

Reaffirming the General Assembly?s ?commitment to continue making progress in the advancement of the human rights of the world?s indigenous peoples at the local, national, regional and international levels, including through consultation and collaboration with them.? in that same resolution,

Affirming that all decisions, programs and actions pertaining to sustainable development shall be carried out in conformity with international human rights norms and standards including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.^vi

Further affirming, the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (2007) article 32 that the Right of Development for Indigenous Peoples must be based on the right to Free Prior and Informed Consent.

Operative paragraphs f or the Zero Draft

General Provisions

1. Indigenous Peoples have much to offer the world in maintaining its sustainability. Our vision of the Sacred relationship to our Mother the Earth is real and has allowed us to maintain the Earth?s remaining biological diversity and its life creating and life sustaining capacity. Not considering humanity?s relationship to the Earth and ensuring the Earth?s capacity to create and maintain life can only lead to humanity?s destruction.

2. But all things are related. The relevance of the fact of Indigenous Peoples living in harmony and balance within very diverse ecosystems demonstrate the essential relationship between cultural diversity and biological diversity. The focus of UNCED and now, Rio + 20, on assigning monetary ?value? to ?ecosystem services? are themselves related to the creation of markets and the destruction of biodiversity and with that, the destruction of Indigenous cultures, of identities and sacred relationship with the Earth.

3. Rio + 20 must include a deeper examination of global sustainability and not merely an opportunity for more markets and business as usual in the name of a ?Green Economy?. It is an opportunity to examine why the promise of UNCED, in spite of the many UN fora, conventions and subsidiary bodies that it created, the billions of dollars spent in its search for sustainable development, failed not only to alleviate poverty, but produced a major and growing loss of biological diversity, the pollution of the world?s waters, oceans, rivers and streams, growing food insecurity and an unsustainable world economy. As in climate change, there is also an ecological debt outstanding. As many have said and are saying, ?Business as usual is not an option. And Governance as usual is not an option.?

The ?Green Economy?

4. The call of UNCED for ?national and international efforts to implement environmentally sound and sustainable development should recognize, accommodate, promote and strengthen the role of indigenous peoples and their communities? is reaffirmed along with a call for the full respect, protection and fulfillment of Indigenous Peoples? rights as recognized in the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, in all outcomes of Rio +20.^vii

5. In this context, we continue to challenge the development model that promotes the domination of nature, relentless economic growth, resource extraction without limits with profit, consumption and production patterns, products and unregulated financial markets. The prevailing econometric system fails to understand that humans are an integral part of the natural world, and does not respect the inherent human rights, including rights of indigenous peoples. We believe that our world view and respect for natural law, our spirituality and culture and values of reciprocity, harmony with nature, solidarity, community, caring and sharing among each other, are crucial to a more just, equitable and sustainable.^viii

6. The proposed "Green Economy" should be defined and differentiated from the model of development based on market approach and resource extraction. It is important that developed countries emphasize conservation and reduced consumption levels and that projects and proposals for sustainable development support the functioning, protection and restoration of Indigenous economies, food systems and local production, respect and implementation of human rights including the rights of indigenous peoples and respect for our development proposals. Any discussion of green economy must include full and effective participation and the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of indigenous peoples in all stages.^ix

7. The ?Cultural Pillar? should be adopted at Rio + 20 as the missing ?4th Pillar? of Sustainable Development based on the perspectives, rights, traditional knowledge, cultural integrity, identity and sustainable practices of Indigenous Peoples which are integral to our vision, practice and understanding of development, thus effectively, reflecting the international accepted definition of the right to development, as a fundamental component of self-determination of all peoples.

8. The ?Green Economy? shall focus sustained efforts to fund and ensure sustainable communities and not on global markets and globalized activity.

Poverty: Food Sovereignty as the basis of  Food Security

9. Food Sovereignty is the right of Indigenous Peoples to define their own policies and strategies for sustainable production, distribution, and consumption of food, with respect for their own cultures and their own systems of managing natural resources and rural areas, and is considered to be a precondition for Food Security for Indigenous Peoples.^xi

10. For indigenous peoples, ?living well? is not about per capita income or economic growth; it is about cultural identity, harmony between human beings and Mother Earth. Living well is based on the values of the culture of life, coexistence and complementarities not only between individuals, but in the harmony between them and nature, responding to the protection of the common good and benefit of all life. Food sovereignty and food security is a crucial aspect of the notion of "living well" of indigenous peoples. Everyone has the right and responsibility to participate in the decision on how to produce and distribute food. The vision of food sovereignty entails transforming the current food system to ensure that those who produce food have equitable access to and control over, land, water, seeds, fishing and agricultural biodiversity.^xii

11. Emphasizing the importance of ensuring sustainable access to water resources for agriculture to realize the right to adequate food, attention should be given to ensuring that disadvantaged and marginalized farmers, including women farmers, have equitable access to water and water management systems, including sustainable rain harvesting and irrigation technology. Taking note of the duty in article 1 in Common,, which provides that a people may not ?be deprived of its means of subsistence?, States, international financial institutions and investors should ensure that there is adequate access to water for subsistence farming and for securing the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.^xiii

12. Indigenous Traditional Practices related to agro-ecology, and various forms of food production (fishing, hunting, farming, gathering and pastoralism) as a basis of Food sovereignty, which also serve to protect biological diversity and traditional knowledge should be recognized and supported as alternatives to the non-sustainable industrial food production models, based on genetically modified seeds, plants and animals and the use of toxic pesticides and other agro-chemicals.^xiv

13. In all processes related to Rio + 20, the rights to lands, territories and natural resources of the Indigenous Peoples, their vision of well-being and sustainability based on a harmonious relationship with the Natural World be formally incorporated, respected and included, as a vital contribution to prevent the urgent threats to the destruction of the global environment.^xv

14. Indigenous peoples? guaranteed and uninterrupted access to and their utilization of their traditional lands, territories and resources is the basis for ensuring the preservation of biodiversity and indigenous peoples? right to food sovereignty and food security in their own means of subsistence and shall be a particular focus of all efforts, programmes and measures undertaken in furtherance of the outcomes and objectives of Rio + 20.

15. Indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage, innovations, technologies, traditional cultural expressions, indigenous peoples? spiritual beliefs and their relevance to sustainable development, food sovereignty and food security and the alleviation of poverty are inalienable and shall recognized and protected in all intellectual property regimes and schemes.

16. Environmentally sound and sustainable development shall include Indigenous Peoples? right to development, including their right of free, prior and informed consent before any development activities are planned or implemented on their traditional lands and territories.

17. Recognizing the important contribution Indigenous Peoples? traditional knowledge of ecology and sustainability to sustainable development, the objectives of Rio + 20 shall be accomplished in full partnership with indigenous people and their communities and their right of free, prior and informed consent.

18. The traditional knowledge, held, used and transmitted to future generations by Indigenous women, particularly in regard to methods of adaption and mitigation must be respected, promoted and strengthened and that their roles as leaders and actors in all levels of discussion and decision making regarding sustainable development and wellbeing for Indigenous Peoples be respected and protected.^xvi

19. Consistent with Agenda 21, Chapter 26, one global economic system of free markets for the world has proven to be destructive to sustainability, biodiversity, and water as a source of self sustaining production of means of subsistence, Indigenous Peoples food sovereignty, food security, cultures, spiritual lives and identities shall be protected.

20. Particularly for Indigenous Peoples and world sustainability, an alternative emphasis on sustainable communities and green economies should be emphasized;

21. Consistent with the United Nations Declarations on the Right to Development and on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we affirm Indigenous Peoples? right to participate in sustainable development as subjects and not objects of development. We further affirm Conclusion # 1 from the Manaus Declaration that ?The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 and now supported by all UN member States, provides a framework for the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples in all stages of the Rio + 20 process.?

22. As 80% of the world?s population is fed by small scale food producers, including Indigenous Peoples, industrialized agriculture is not a solution for Indigenous Peoples food security and food sovereignty as it creates poverty by displacing Indigenous and local communities from their lands and resources necessary for their subsistence, and leads to the loss of biodiversity, the pollution of our oceans, groundwater, rivers and streams; industrialized agriculture deprives small scale food producers and subsistence based indigenous food production of land, biodiversity and other resources causing even more poverty and food insecurity.

23. Existing human rights standards that call for the return of lands and territories taken from Indigenous Peoples without their free, prior and informed consent be be returned to them shall be respected and affirmed, and States shall take effective measures toward environmentally sound and sustainable food sovereignty particularly for these lands and territories and Indigenous communities.

Water, Food security, Food Sovereignty

24. Indigenous Peoples? relationship with their lands, territories and water is the fundamental physical cultural and spiritual basis for their and humanity?s existence and should be respected and protected for the benefit of humanity: This relationship to our Mother Earth requires us to conserve our freshwaters and oceans for the survival of present and future generations. We assert our role as caretakers with rights and responsibilities to defend and ensure the protection, availability and purity of water. We stand united to follow and implement our knowledge and traditional laws and exercise our right of self- determination to preserve water, and to preserve life.^xvii

25. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.^xviii

26. The UNESCO Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity (2001) and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (2002) urges the dialogue and cooperation within human society and among cultures in order to wisely use and sustainably manage earth?s resources. Water is a vital resource, having economic, ecological, social and spiritual functions. Consequently its management determines to great extent sustainability. Due to its fundamental role in society?s life, water has a strong cultural dimension. Without understanding and considering the cultural aspects of our water problems no sustainable solution can be found.^xix

27. UNESCO lists issues that must be positively addressed at Rio + 20 in order to find sustainable solutions to the world?s water and food crisis:^xx

? Relations between peoples and their environment are embedded in culture.

? The ways in which water is conceived and valued, understood and managed, used or abused, worshipped or desecrated, are influenced by the cultures of which we are a part.

? Water is life, physical, emotional and spiritual. It should not be considered merely as an economic resource. Sharing water is an ethical imperative and expression of human solidarity. The intimate relationship between water and peoples should be explicitly taken into account in all decision-making processes.

? As the frequent failure of ?imported solutions? has proven, water resources management will fail without the full consideration of these cultural implications.

? Cultural diversity, developed during the millennia by human societies, constitutes a treasure of sustainable practices and innovative approaches. Indigenous knowledge holders should be full partners with scientists to find solutions for water-related problems.

? Indigenous ways of life and knowledge are an integral part of humanity?s heritage and cultural diversity. Indigenous peoples have an important role to play in sustainable water resources management. In this context, due respect must be given to indigenous peoples? rights.

Treaty Rights, Food Security and Food Sovereignty

28. ?Our ancestors in some areas have secured our traditional ways and food systems in Treaties. These international agreements were signed for ?so long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow?^xxi

29. ?The Privilege of hunting, fishing, and gathering the wild rice upon the lands, the rivers and the lakes is guaranteed.?^xxii

30. Indigenous Peoples? have stated that Inherent and Treaty Right to Food^xxiii includes the

need to:

1. Affirm that our Right to Food is an Inherent Right affirmed in our Treaties, and that Food Sovereignty is an essential aspect of our Sovereignty as Treaty Nations.

2. Affirm that our traditional foods are essential to our physical, cultural and spiritual health, identity and survival.

3. Recognize that the Creator placed us on our traditional lands and provided clean food and water for our health and survival and that we have a inherent and Treaty right and responsibility to care for and protect the land, plants, animals and water, and our sacred Mother Earth as a whole, from destruction and contamination.

4. Affirm that any attempt to restrict or curtail our rights to hunt, fish, grow or gather our traditional foods and to use the water on our Treaty lands by federal, provincial or municipal government laws, regulations or ordinances are fundamental violation of our human rights and Treaty rights, including our Treaty Right to Food.

5. Recognize the negative impacts of imposed development such as mining, damming, drilling, Tar Sands extraction and clear cutting, as well as climate change and environmental contamination on our traditional foods and water sources. We recognize our Inherent and Treaty rights and responsibilities to care for and protect the food and water sources that have been the basis of our survival since time immemorial.

6. Recognize that we continue to have the traditional knowledge and wisdom within our Nations about how to use and protect our traditional foods, and that our elders, spiritual leaders and other traditional practitioners carry this knowledge as passed down from our ancestors.

7. Recognize the urgent need to make sure that our children, young people and future generations learn about our Treaty Rights, including our Treaty Right to Food and how to use and care for our traditional subsistence foods, waters and medicines. This is fundamental for our continued survival.

8. Recognize the importance of re-establishing the traditional trade relationships that always existed between our Nations as part of our Indigenous development, Nationto- Nation relations, and food sovereignty; we recognize the importance of reestablishing these Indigenous trade relations that include the exchange of traditional foods and knowledge as a response to the urgent situations now facing many of our Nations as their traditional foods become more scare (such as urbanized areas).

9. Call upon all of our Treaty Nations to assert and put into practice these rights and responsibilities, to exercise their Inherent and Treaty Right to Food and Food Sovereignty on their traditional and Treaty lands, to protect these resources from contamination and destruction, and to accept this responsibility for the survival of our Nations, especially our children, grandchildren and future generations.

31. An objective of Rio + 20 shall be to ensure the implementation of Treaty Rights to Food and Food Sovereignty in accordance with these internationally binding treaties and agreements made between Indigenous Peoples and Colonialist States and their successors.

Indigenous Women: Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Food Sovereignty

32. The UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier de Schutter reported to the UN Human Rights Council 10th session in March 2009 that ?Climate change constitutes the single most important threat to food security in the future?.^xxiv

33. ?Indigenous women are life givers, life sustainers and culture holders. Our bodies are sacred places that must be protected, honored and kept free of harmful contaminants in order for the new generations of our Nations to be born strong and healthy.?^xxv

34. Indigenous knowledge systems and the diversity of life within our territories are collective resources under our direct control and administration. Indigenous women play a key role in the protection and maintenance of the biodiversity in diverse ecosystems including forests, dry and sub-humid, inland waters, and marine and coastal, mountains regions. Our lifeways, our artistic expressions, are dependent on and the bounty of the land. Any erosion of biodiversity irreversibly impacts not only our Indigenous cultural heritage but the ability of the world to sustain itself and its future generations.^xxvi

35. Medicinal knowledge of Indigenous women is widespread and in their vast expertise, they are our midwives, spiritual leaders, healers, herbalists, botanists and pharmacists. Their knowledge, use and control of these medicinal plants must be protected from external research and commercialization efforts in order that they continue to heal us and maintain all related biodiversity necessary for sustainability and food sovereignty.^xxvii

36. Technologies and policies such as the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes that violate Indigenous Peoples? rights to maintain our traditional knowledge, practices, seeds and other food related genetic resources threaten biological diversity and food sovereignty and food security. The introduction of genetically engineered life-forms, and genetic use restriction technologies (GURTs) which pose serious negative impacts to biodiversity as well as Indigenous peoples? food security, health, environment, and livelihoods;^xxviii

37. Indigenous communities have been and continue to be expelled from their lands and to be victimized by the despoilment of their lands and sacred sites, on the pretext of the establishment of protected areas and national parks. The rights of Indigenous women and all Indigenous Peoples should be restored and that these acts, which violate our human rights and the rights of women, cease immediately. ^xxix

38. Protected Areas should serve to protect Indigenous and local communities, who should manage and control those areas consistent with the rights of local communities and the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Protected areas should protect their biodiversity, for future generations. Unsustainable logging, mono-crop industrialized agriculture, mining and mineral extraction should not be permitted. Concerted efforts should take place to restore and sustain their sustainability as communities.

39. Adequate compensation for all the past wrongs and damages inflicted by the establishment of protected areas should be provided for their restoration and protection.

40. Current debate regarding the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources that is taking place in various UN fora is centered on mechanisms for exploitation of these resources, not their protection. These discussions focus on the use of Western Intellectual Property Rights to be used as the mechanisms for the protection of Indigenous knowledge. These mechanisms are not only inadequate, but dangerous to biodiversity and life itself, creating markets for the very source of life, subjecting it to commercialization and exploitation.

41. To ensure that truly sui generis systems of protection of Indigenous peoples are adequate to the task, sui generis systems of protection should be based on Indigenous customary laws and traditional practices. Indigenous existing protection systems are legitimate on their own right and any new mechanisms for protection, preservation and maintenance of traditional knowledge and associated biological resources must respect and be complementary to such existing systems and not undermine or replace them.^xxx

Forests and Climate Change including Global Warming, REDD, and Biodiversity

42. The potential loss of traditional knowledge and of the cultural and spiritual identity of indigenous peoples and local communities shall be addressed in any safeguards, including the concern that REDD-related payments could alter and undermine the traditional way of life and related knowledge and customary practices of indigenous peoples and local communities. REDD-plus efforts should build on community-based governance systems, and acknowledge the shared responsibility of national governments in strengthening community-based institutions of indigenous and local communities with regards to the sustainable management, use, and control of biodiversity and natural resources.^xxxiv

43. There is a need for monitoring the impacts of REDD-plus on indigenous peoples and local communities, in accordance with the main risks identified by the Nairobi Global Expert Workshop. Indicators could include: (i) Indicators on full and effective participation; (ii) status and trends of boundaries of indigenous territories, land tenure, and access rights; (iii) involuntary resettlements; (iv) changes in livelihoods and traditional knowledge related to REDD-plus, and (v) gender equality and rights and livelihoods of women. However, it should be noted that the social Indicators identified here are not necessarily Indicators to be used at global level, and that any monitoring of social impacts on a significant scale will be costly and requires adequate resources and capacity.^xxxv

44. The Cultural Indicators for Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Development, the Indigenous Peoples' Indicators of Bio-diversity and the ?Indicators of Well-being?, developed by the UN Permanent Forum shall be considered and applied as important assessment tools directly related to the themes of Rio+20 and should be used as a basis of Indicators for any assessments of programmes and policies of Rio+20.^xxxvi

45. Indigenous women and peoples and local communities can also be essential in cost- effective monitoring of impacts of REDD-plus on biodiversity. This could include links to Indicators about traditional knowledge, for example the quality and quantity of natural resources and biodiversity that is used for traditional purposes such as cultural ceremonies.^xxxvii

46. The detrimental effects of climate change are most directly, immediately and most acutely felt by Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic Region where the overall magnitude of warming in the Arctic is nearly twice that of the global average. The Arctic is a hemispheric sink for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) many of which originate from thousands of miles away, traveling northward via oceanic and atmospheric currents. POPs accrue in the north through global distillation, as the cold cimate and fat-based food web favor retention of pollutants. Arctic Indigenous Peoples suffer levels of POPs contamination in blood and breast milk that are among the highest of any population on earth, even though these chemicals have never been produced in the Arctic. Because of this long-range transport of POPs, even those toxic chemicals that have been banned (e.g. DDT and PCBs) continue to accumulate in the Arctic and sub-Arctic and certain currently used POPs such as PBDEs and PFCs are increasing exponentially. Increasing global temperatures accelerate transport and mobilization of POPs into and within the Arctic. Contaminants threaten the health of present and future generations of Indigenous Peoples who rely on traditional diets of fish and marine mammals, and their biodiversity and Food Sovereignty.^xxxviii

47. We call for the rapid phase-out of chemicals that are subject to long-range transport and that cause adverse health effects, including those chemicals that are carcinogenic, cause harm to learning and neurodevelopment, damage the immune system, or disrupt our endocrine and reproductive systems.^xxxix

48. Indigenous Peoples continue to reject market-based mitigation and adaption models regarding climate change and reaffirm paragraph 6 of the ?Anchorage Declaration? regarding carbon markers and forest offsets, as follows: ?We challenge States to abandon false solutions to climate change that negatively impact Indigenous Peoples? rights, lands, air, oceans, forests, territories and waters. These include nuclear energy, largescale dams, geo-engineering techniques, ?clean coal?, agro-fuels, plantations, and market based mechanisms such as carbon trading, the Clean Development Mechanism, and forest offsets. The human rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect our forests and forest livelihoods must be recognized, respected and ensured.?^xli

49. Mining is an activity that produces large amounts of environmental contamination, including greenhouse gasses, and is vastly destructive to natural ecosystems, biodiversity, our health and well being, and the water and food sources upon which Indigenous Peoples and other communities depend. We therefore call for a moratorium on mining in fragile and culturally important ecosystems such as forests, deserts, near water sources, in sacred, subsistence, in fragile arctic ecosystems and in or near the traditional lands or territories of Indigenous Peoples.^xlii

50. Particularly environmentally and biologically damaging fossil fuel extraction such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and tar sands oil extraction should immediately be reduced and eliminated.

51. Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development should be fully implemented, requiring all polluters to internalize the environmental cost of their pollution. National authorities should promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution.

Agriculture, Sustainable Development, Food Sovereignty, Biodiversity, and Poverty

52. Agricultural methods and practices used traditionally by Indigenous communities based on safe alternatives to toxic pesticides be recognized and supported. The ?precautionary approach? (principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development) is reaffirmed at Rio + 20, together with a renewed commitment by States to eliminate the production, use and dumping of chemicals that are toxic, persistent and hazardous that pose dire threats to the health of impacted communities and ecosystems, and most of all violate human rights; including the rights of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and informed consent as stated in Article 29 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We call upon States to make a commitment to utilize and implement the Precautionary Principle as an alternative to the models of ?risk assessment? and ?management? of toxic chemicals presented in sections 19 and 20 of Agenda 21^xliii.

53. The practice of exporting banned pesticides and other chemicals by the USA and other States should cease immediately. The provisions within UN Conventions and national laws which permit this practice without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples and communities, who may be impacted at the source of exposure as well as through global transport, be reviewed immediately and revised.^xliv

54. The indiscriminate use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals promoted and applied by industry poisons the food chain and causes involuntary infertility, premature births, and severely affects infant health. Environmental reproductive justice must address involuntary infertility and the inordinately high level of birth defects among Indigenous Peoples and other local communities exposed to these agricultural toxics, and the disproportionate numbers of premature births, miscarriages, and developmental disabilities that is occurring with alarming frequency and part of a global trend. Impaired fecundity over the past two decades has increased in all reproductive age groups, but most sharply in younger women under age twenty-five. Data (together with a growing body of epidemiological research) show a causal link between male and female fertility impairment and a wide array of modern chemicals.^xlv

55. Indigenous Peoples, and in particular women and children suffer the detrimental, devastating, multi-generational and deadly impacts of environmental toxins and contaminates that were unheard of in their communities prior to industrialization, including:

? Contamination of mothers? breast milk at 4 to 12 times the levels found in the mother?s body tissue in some Indigenous communities;

? Elevated levels of contaminates such as POPs and heavy metals in infant cord blood; Disproportionate levels of reproductive system cancers of the breasts, ovaries, uterus, prostate and testicles, including in young people;

? Increasing numbers of miscarriages and stillbirths, and;

? High levels of sterility and infertility in contaminated communities.^xlvi

56. States, international financial institutions, United Nations programmes and actions, as well as private investors and corporations must do due diligence and fully disclose to all Indigenous Peoples, Nations, tribes, and communities, their activities and potential risks. Peoples and individuals who may be affected by or exposed to pesticides, mining, dumping, incineration and other forms of toxic chemical production, the complete known or suspected affects of the chemicals in question, the location and names of corporations producing them, any current or prior legal sanctions or cases filed against them, the Indigenous Peoples in the same or other countries who have experiences with the given process or corporation, so that informed decisions can be made as part of Indigenous Peoples right to free, prior and informed consent.

57. Commercial pressures on land are rapidly growing. Biofuels, large-scale infrastructures projects, carbon-credit mechanisms, and speculation lead to rapid changes in land rights, creating new threats for vulnerable land users, particularly Indigenous Peoples. Climate change and population growth will exacerbate tensions within countries and between them. Guidelines on land governance, consistent with the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and other International human rights Standards should be adopt rules on land investment, and harmful investments to the detriment of local populations ? so- called land grabbing - be warded off by securing the underlying rights of indigenous peoples, small scale farmers, herders and fisherfolk.^xlvii

58. States, International financial institutions and other investors must strengthen security of tenure for small-scale food producers, such as Indigenous Peoples, smallholder farmers, nomadic herders, and fisherfolk, all of whom are gravely threatened by the current commercial pressures on land.^xlviii

59. In encouraging responsible investment in land, States should be wary of the dangers of speculation over land and concentration of ownership when land rights are transferred to investors offering to ?develop? farmland. We must escape the mental cage that sees largescale investments as the only way to ?develop? agriculture and to ensure stability of supply for buyers. Focus should be placed on the improvement of access to markets for Indigenous Peoples and other small-scale farmers.^xlix

Institutional Framework f or Sustainable Development:

Governance

1. The Precautionary Principle, Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development shall be applied to all technologies and practices, existing and proposed for sustainable development by Rio + 20. ?In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

2. The Polluter Pays, Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development should be fully implemented, requiring all polluters to internalize the environmental cost of their pollution. National authorities should promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution.

3. The focus of Rio + 20 shall be on sustainable ?communities? and not on sustainable ?development.?

4. Food Sovereignty should be the framework for food security and the alleviation of poverty.

5. The ?Cultural Pillar? be adopted at Rio + 20 as the missing ?4th Pillar? of Sustainable Development based on the perspectives, rights, traditional knowledge, cultural integrity, identity and sustainable practices of Indigenous Peoples which are integral to our vision, practice and understanding of development, thus effectively, reflecting the international accepted definition of the right to development, as a fundamental component of self-determination of all peoples.

6. All Human Rights, particularly the rights recognized by the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous people must be recognized, protected and fulfilled by States, international funds and financial institutions and private investors, in all Rio + 20 programmes, actions and activities,

7. Reliance on carbon fossil fuels must be reduced as it is the major element in the world?s unsustainable and environmentally damaging economy. False market solutions such as carbon trading, carbon offsets and the creation of markets in sequestration have not worked and have actually led to higher carbon emissions, the loss of biological diversity, land grabs, forced displacement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and the violations of human rights, and should be rejected.

8. A moratorium shall be declared for the development of the extraction of fossil fuels; particularly environmentally and biologically damaging fossil fuel extraction such as fracking and tar sands oil extraction should immediately be reduced and ultimately eliminated.

9. Industrialized agriculture and particularly its introduction of genetically modified seeds and foodstuffs, toxic chemicals, non-native species and the production of bio-fuels and other non-food plants are not a solution to sustainable development and actually lead to the mounting loss of biodiversity, displacement of indigenous and local communities, the loss of livelihood and the loss of production of means of subsistence.

ⁱ IITC and IWA are in Consultative Status with ECOSOC (IITC ? General, IWA ? Special.) The NGOs listed herein are themselves organizations of Indigenous Nations and organizations, See, e.g., Addendum, the Board and the affiliates of the IITC.

ⁱⁱ Source: UN Declaration on the Right to Development (1986)

ⁱⁱⁱ Source: Article 1 in Common, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESC) (1966); UN Declaration on the Right to Development (1986); UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

^iv Source: Fn. 1, UN Declaration on the Right to Development.

^v Fn.2, UN Declaration on the Right to Development.

^vi Source: International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change proposals at the UNFCCC COP 16, December 2010, reaffirmed by the Second Technical Workshop of Indigenous Peoples and States in the UNFCCC in preparation for COP17 in Durban South Africa held in Oaxaca Mexico October 10 ? 12, 2011.]

^vii Source; All references to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its respect, protection and fulfillment by Rio + 20 are supported by the following international norms relevant to indigenous peoples: Article 1 in Common to the Universal Bill of Human Rights (Fn. 3, supra); ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1989); articles 29 (c) and (d) and 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); article 8 (j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), recommending that States respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovation and practices of indigenous communities; Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992), in particular chapter 26; and Part I, paragraph 20, of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993), stating that States should take concerted positive steps to ensure respect for all human rights of indigenous people, on the basis of nondiscrimination. See also the preamble and article 3 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992); and article 10 (2) (e) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (1994). During recent years an increasing number of States have changed their constitutions and/or introduced legislation recognizing specific rights of indigenous peoples.

^viii Source: Mirna Cunningham Kain, Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN. Paris, France. 5 - 7 September, 2011 Meeting of FAO / OECD initiative on "Greening the economy with agriculture" (GEA)

^ix Source: Id, Mirna Cunningham Kain, Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN. Paris, France. 5 - September 7, 2011 Meeting of FAO / OECD initiative on "Greening the economy with agriculture" (GEA), and Chief Bill Erasmus

^xi Source: The Declaration of Atitlan from the 1 st Global Consultation on the Right to Food, Food Security and Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples, 2002?.

^xii Source: Id, Mirna Cunningham Kain, Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN. Paris, France. 5 - September 7, 2011 Meeting of FAO / OECD initiative on "Greening the economy with agriculture" (GEA)

^xiii Source: Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, articles 11 and 12, the right to water (2002).

^xiv Source: Manaus Declaration, Global Preparatory Meeting of Indigenous Peoples on Rio +20 and Kari-Oca 2, August 22 - 24, 2011, Manaus, Amazonia, Brazil.

^xv Id.

^xvi Source: Manaus Declaration, fn. 6.

^xvii Indigenous Declaration, 3 rd World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan, March 2003,

^xviii Article 32, Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples

^xix UNESCO Statement to the Ministerial Conference Preamble,, 3rd World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan, 22 March 2003.

^xx Id., Issues

^xxi Chief Wilton Littlechild, Ermineskin Cree Nation, United Nations World Food Summit, Rome, November 1996

^xxii 1837 United States Treaty with the Chippewa Nation.

^xxiii Source: Official Resolution #T1-11.2011-09-23/05, Treaties No. 1 ? No. 11 Gathering, September 21 ? 23, 2011, Treaty No. 7 Traditional Territories, Treaties No.1 - No. 11 Elders gathered in the Tsuu T'ina Nation territories September 20,2011 wherein they held discussion on the Treaty Right to Food.

^xxiv Source: Report of the UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food, UN Human Rights Council, 10 th session, March 2009

^xxv Source: ?Declaration for Health, Life and Defense of our Lands, Rights and Future Generations,? 1 st International Indigenous Women?s Environmental and Reproductive Health Symposium, July 1 st , 2010.

^xxvi Source: The Manukan Declaration of the Indigenous Women?s Biodiversity Network Manukan, Sabah, Malaysia, 4-5 February, 2004, http://www.ipcb.org/resolutions/htmls/manukan.html

^xxvii Id.

^xxviii Id.

^xxix Id.

^xxx Source: Indigenous Peoples? Council on Bio-colonialism, http://www.ipcb.org/

^xxxiv Source, Source [modified]: Submission by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 26 September 2011, UN Doc. UNEP/CBD/WS-REDD/1/3, Citing COP Decision IX/5 http://www.cbd.int/forest/doc/2011-09-26-cbd-submissionunfccc-reddplus-en.pdf, visited 10/11/2011.paras 29(v) and 32.

^xxxv Source: Id, para. 38

^xxxvi Source: Manaus Declaration, Global Preparatory Meeting of Indigenous Peoples on Rio +20 and Kari-Oca 2, August 22 - 24, 2011, Manaus, Amazonia, Brazil.

^xxxvii Source: Id, para 39.

^xxxviii Source: Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC)

^xxxix Id.

^xli Source: Manaus Declaration Recommendations, Fn 28 supra.

^xlii Id.

^xliii Id.

^xliv Id.

^xlv Source: Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC)..

^xlvi Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 10 th Session, Report of the International Indigenous Women's Environmental and Reproductive Health Symposium , June 30 ? July 1, 2010 UN Doc. E/C.19/2011/CRP. 9, 3 May 2011, International Indian Treaty Council

^xlvii Source: UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Shutter, Rome Food Summit 2011. See, also, ?Access to Land and the Right to Food?, Report presented to the 65th General Assembly of the United Nations by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, UN Doc. A/65/281), 21 October 2010, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/annual.htmor http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/2 0101021_access-to-land-report_en.pdf; and,, Comments on the Zero Draft of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests?, 16 May 2011, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/other_documents.htm orhttp://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/otherd ocuments/20110516_comments-zero-draft-guidelines_en.pdf

^xlviii Id.

^xlix Id.

Addendum

International Indian Treaty Council Board of Directors (2011)

1. Francisco Cali: Mayan Kachiquel, Guatemala; IITC Board President; representative, Comité Campesina del Altiplano (CCDA) ; Altérnate: Rigoberto Garcia

2. Hinewirangi Kohu: Maori Nation, Aotearoa (New Zealand); Te Rau Aroha, Maori Women's Resource Center; Board Vice-President; Alternate: Anaru Fraser;

3. Ron Lameman, Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, Cree Nation, Canada, Board Board Treasurer; Alternate: Colby Tootoosis, Cree Nation Canada (youth representative)

4. Saul Vicente Vasquez: Zapoteca, Oaxaca Mexico, Unidad de la Fuerza Indigena y Campesina (UFIC); Board Secretary;

5. Rodney Factor: Seminole Nation, Oklahoma; Seminole Sovereignty Protection Initiative, Alternate: Jacquelynn Warledo;

6. Leonard Foster: Dine' Nation, National Native American Prisoners' Rights Coalition, Arizona;

7. William A. Means: Oglala Lakota Nation, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota:

8. Faith Gemmill, Venetie Tribal Government, Gwich'in Athabascan Nation, Alaska:

9. Patricia Bellanger : Ojibway (Anishnabe) Nation, Three Fires Society, Minnesota; Alternate: Lisa Bellanger,

10. Pu?uhonoa "Bumpy" Kanahele: Hawaiian Nation; Spokesperson and Head of State, Independent & Sovereign Nation State of Hawaii; Alternate: Gina Maikai;

11. Yamilka Hernandez, Movimiento Juventud, Kuna/Kuna Youth Movement, Panama; Alternate: Taira Stanley;

12. Radley Davis, Pit River Nation, California: Alternate: Mark Lebeau;

13. Naniki Reyes: Taino, Boriken, Caribbean, Confederacy of United Taino People; Alternate: Roberto Borrero;

Partial List of IITC Affiliate Indigenous Nations and Organizations

Mesoamérica

Mexico:

   1. Congreso Nacional Indigena de Mexico,

2. Asamblea Nacional Indígena Plural por la Autonomía (ANIPA),

3. Consejo de Pueblos Nahuas del Alto Balsas, Guerrero, AC,

4. The Traditional Authorities and Yaqui Pueblo of Huirivis, Rio Yaqui, Sonora Mexico

5. The Traditional Authorities and Yaqui Pueblo of Potam, Rio Yaqui Sonora Mexico

6. The Traditional Autorities and Yaqui Pueblo of Torim, Rio Yaqui Sonora Mexico

7. Unidad De la Fuerza Indígena y Campesina (Mexico)

8. Red Indigena de Turismo, A.C. (RITA)

9. Jittoa- Bat-Nataka-Weria ( Río Yaqui, Sonora)

Guatemala:

10. Defensoría Maya,

11. Fundación Rigoberta Menchu/Indigenous Initiative for Peace,

12. Comité de la Unidad Campesina,

13. Centro de Proyectos para el Desarrollo Integral Indígena (CEPRODI)

14. Centro Pluricultural para la Democracia (CPD)

15. Oxlajuj Ajpop de los Ajq?ijab? (Conferencia Nacional de Ministros de la Espiritualidad

Maya de Guatemala);

16. Consejo de los Aj?quija?b/Mayan Spiritual Leaders? Council (Guatemala);

17. La Unión Nacional Campesina (Guatemala)

Panama:

18. Movimiento de la Juventud Kuna

19. Pueblo de Estupu (Kuna Yala)

20. Asociación Napguana

21. Congreso General Kuna (Kuna Nation General Congress)

El Salvador:

22. ANIS (Asociación Nacional Indígena de El Salvador)

Nicaragua: 

  23. Consejo de Ancianos de la Nacion Comunitaria Moskitia/Elders Council of the Moskitia Nation (Atlantic Coast, Nicaragua),

24. Centro para la Autonomía y Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CADPI)

North America:

United States:

25. National Native American Prisoners' Rights Coalition,

26. White Clay Society/Blackfoot Confederacy,

27. Columbia River Peoples,

28. Rural Coalition Native American Task Force,

29. Yoemem Tekia Foundation,

30. Tohono O'odham Nation Traditional community,

31. Pit River Tribe,

32. Redding Rancheria,

33. Tule River Nation,

34. Muwekma Ohlone Nation,

35. Coyote Valley Pomo Nation

36. Round Valley Pomo Nation,

37. Oklahoma Region Indigenous Environmental Network,

38. Wanblee Wakpeh Oyate,

39. Independent Seminole Nation of Florida,

40. Cactus Valley/Red Willow Springs Big Mountain Sovereign Dineh Community,

41. Leonard Peltier Defense Committee,

42. Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance,

43. Seminole Sovereignty Protection Initiative,

44. Mundo Maya,

45. Los Angeles Indigenous Peoples Alliance,

46. American Indian Treaty Council Information Center,

47. Vallejo Inter-Tribal Council;

48. Three Fires Ojibwe Cultural and Education Society (Minnesota, USA).

Canada: 

  49. Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, Cree Nation Canada

50. Saddle Lake Cree Nation,

51. Kehewin Cree Nation,

52. Frog Lake Cree Nation,

53. Enoch Cree Nation,

54. Paul Cree Nation,

55. Alexis Nakoda Sioux Nation,

56. Alexander First Nation,

57. Samson Cree Nation,

58. Ermineskin Cree Nation,

59. Louis Bull Tribe,

60. Montana Cree Nation,

61. Sunchild First Nation,

62. O?chiese First Nation,

63. Cold Lake First Nation,

64. Whitefish/Goodfish First Nation,

65. Heartlake First Nation

Arctic:

Alaska 

  66. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government/Arctic Village Traditional Council,

67. Chickaloon Village Traditional Council,

68. Stevens Village Traditional Council, Pacific:

Hawai?i

69. Sovereign Nation of Hawai?i

70. Aloha First (Hawai?i)

Aotearoa/New Zealand:

   71. Kirikiriroa and Tauranga Moana Marae,

72. Maori Women?s Resource Center,

73. Te Rau Aroha

74. Waitangi Action Committee

75. Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Network (Pacific-Wide)

Maluku

76. Bangsa AdatAlifuru in Maluku (The Indigenous Alifuru Peoples of Maluku)

South America:

Chile:  

77. Ad-MAPU

Brazil: 

  78. GRUMIN

Argentina:  

79. AIRA

Ecuador:  

80. CONAIE (La Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador)

Columbia:  

81. ONIC (Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia),

Bolivia:  

82. CONNIOB (La Confederación Nacional de Naciones Indígenas Originarias de Bolivia)

Caribbean:

83. United Confederation of Taino Peoples

Multi Regional/Multi­National:

84. Indigenous Environmental Network

85. North-South Indigenous Network Against Pesticides

86. International Indian Women?s Environmental and Reproductive Health Network

87. Indigenous Environmental Network Youth Council,

88. Indigenous Peoples Working Group on Toxics