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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES'
PLAN OF IMPLEMENTATION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Johannesburg, South Africa
Presented to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development,
September 2, 2002
Introduction
We, the representatives of Indigenous Peoples attending the World Summit
on Sustainable Development, have defined this Plan of Implementation for
the next decade, based on the Kimberley Declaration, as part of our
contribution for achieving human and environmental sustainability in the
world.
The Plan of Implementation reflects the heart and mind of Indigenous
Peoples as traditional caretakers of Mother Earth who, for many millennia,
have developed and refined our sustainable societies.
Cosmovision and Spirituality
1. We will direct our energies and organizational strength to consolidate
our collective values and principles which spring from the interrelation
of the different forms of life in Nature. Therein lies our origin which we
reaffirm by practicing our culture and spirituality.
2. We will strengthen the role of our elders and wise traditional
authorities as the keepers of our traditional wisdom which embodies our
spirituality and cosmovision as an alternative to the existing
unsustainable cultural models.
3. We demand that the concept of cultural damage be incorporated to impact
assessments as part of the legal instruments which will safeguard our
cultural integrity against energy mega projects, mining, tourism, logging
and other unsustainable activities.
Self-Determination and Territory
4. We will ensure the recognition, protection and respect for Indigenous
Peoples' unqualified right to self-determination, which is the basic
precondition to guarantee our ownership, permanent sovereignty, control
and management of our lands, territories and natural resources. Any
dialogue or partnership with Indigenous Peoples on sustainable development
must be based on recognition, protection and respect for this fundamental
principle.
5. We urge governments to establish specific legal frameworks, recognizing
Indigenous Peoples' rights to self-determination, ancestral lands and
territories and to adopt the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples as approved by the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations and
the UN Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights
before the end of the United Nations International Decade of the World's
Indigenous Peoples.
6. We continue to demand recognition of our land tenure systems and
customary laws. We reaffirm our spiritual and cultural connection to our
land and territories. We call for an immediate halt to all policies and
law reforms that compromise our collective land tenure systems.
7. We will share experiences about our use and management systems of
natural resources with other Indigenous Peoples, and promote exchanges
between our Peoples.
8. We, the Indigenous Peoples, will further our global strategy for
international policies, to influence and shape governmental programmes.
9. We will protect and strengthen our institutions, safeguarding customary
laws and practices, which are the bases of sound sustainable management of
our environment and territories.
10. We assert our rights to demarcate our traditional lands and
territories with our full participation, and we request governments to
agree on mechanisms with Indigenous Peoples for this purpose, respecting
our right to collective ownership.
11. We urge governments to initiate a process of restitution of Indigenous
Peoples' ancestral lands and territories, as a concrete way of furthering
human and environmental sustainability.
Treaties
12. We urge the United Nations to promote the recognition, observance and
enforcement of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements
concluded between Indigenous Peoples and States, or their successors,
according to their original spirit and intent, and to have States honor
and implement such treaties, agreements and other constructive
arrangements.
Children and Youth
13. We will nurture an environment of intergenerational support, thereby
laying a strong foundation for future generations. We will take the
responsibility to pass on our indigenous way of life to safeguard our
pride and dignity as peoples.
14. We will support and strengthen indigenous youth organizations to be
fully empowered with resources to initiate, enable and support continuous
communications among indigenous youth to enable them to voice their
concerns in the international arena.
15. We will continue to promote the participation of indigenous youth in
the international, national and local decision making processes pertinent
to our peoples.
16. We call for immediate measures to stop child labour, child sexual
exploitation, child trafficking, child soldiers, execution of minors and
all other exploitations and injustices against indigenous children.
Women
17. We reaffirm the rights of Indigenous women and their vital role in
human, cultural and environmental sustainability; and we work towards fair
and equitable access to land, resources, education and other social and
welfare services. We will take deliberate steps to ensure that indigenous
women participate in all levels of governance and leadership both locally,
nationally and internationally.
18. Violence against indigenous women must be systematically addressed. We
call for immediate measures against all forms of sexual exploitation,
forced sterilization and trafficking of women.
19. We reaffirm the role of indigenous women as custodians of traditional
knowledge, culture and the sustainable use of biological diversity.
Sacred Sites
20. We urge States, governments and civil society to work in conjunction
with Indigenous Peoples to ensure that Indigenous Peoples' sacred,
ceremonial and culturally significant sites and areas are preserved,
respected and protected from destructive or exploitative development. We
will ensure our peoples' access to our sacred, burial, archeological and
historical sites, including the unqualified right to restrict access to
those sites.
Food Security
21. We will promote the conservation, sustainable use and management of
our traditional foods and strengthen our own models, systems and networks
of production and trade, urging States to guarantee the integrity of our
biological habitats for this purpose.
22. We will work against technologies, policies, and legal regimes that
violate Indigenous Peoples' rights to maintain our traditional knowledge,
practices, seeds and other food related genetic resources.
23. We urge governments and international institutions to develop
mechanisms to support Indigenous Peoples' own practices and institutions
to ensure food sovereignty.
24. We call for an immediate moratorium on the development, cultivation
and use of genetically modified seeds, plants, fish and other organisms,
in order to protect human health, native seeds and other food related
genetic resources, governments must declare
25. We will strengthen pastoralism, hunting and gathering as viable and
sustainable economic systems that ensure food sovereignty, including
government recognition, acceptance and support.
26. We will urge governments to work with Indigenous Peoples to stop the
introduction of alien or invasive species which threaten the health of our
traditional territories and food sources.
Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
27. We commit ourselves to safeguard, protect and reaffirm the use of
indigenous knowledge and practices, respecting the spiritual values and
dimensions of such knowledge. We will strengthen our own initiatives for
disseminating information, research, capacity building and the exchange of
experiences on biological and cultural diversity among indigenous peoples.
28. We reaffirm and commit ourselves to protect indigenous knowledge
systems and the diversity of life within our territories which are
collective resources under our direct control and administration. We will
work against any IPR regime that attempts to assert patents, copyrights,
or trademark monopolies for products, data, or processes derived or
originating from our knowledge. Genetic material, isolated genes, life
forms or other natural processes must be excluded from IPR regimes.
29. We urge States and international organizations to recognize and
respect the establishment and development of our own systems for the
protection of indigenous knowledge; and to call for the immediate halt of
all biopiracy activities.
30. We call on States and governments to respect the spirit of Article
8(j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity. We demand the annulment of
agreements adopted under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPs) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that
compromise indigenous knowledge.
31. We strongly assert our right to full and effective participation in
the national and international decision making arenas on biodiversity and
traditional knowledge, such as Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), UN Commission on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) and Andean Community of Nations (CAN).
Biodiversity
32. We call for the declaration of a moratorium on all activities related
to human genetic diversity, specifically involving Indigenous Peoples,
including access, sampling, testing, research and experimentation.
33. We demand that States establish mechanisms for returning all human,
botanical and genome collections, and for providing complete and exact
information of any past use of such collections to our peoples.
34. We demand the establishment of an international code of ethics on
bioprospecting to avoid biopiracy and to ensure the respect of our
cultural and intellectual heritage.
35. We will continue to participate actively in the full process of the
Convention on Biological Diversity, through the International Indigenous
Forum on Biodiversity, in order to defend and safeguard the biodiversity
of our lands and territories, and we call for the coherence and
consistency in the implementation of the different Rio instruments, with
other local, national and regional instruments.
36. We will oppose biopiracy and the patenting of all life forms.
37. We call for constitutional and legislative recognition of our
conservation and management of biodiversity, as inherent to the
sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples.
Forests and Protected Areas
38. We demand that all legislation, policies or work programs on forests
and protected areas guarantee and rigorously respect our lands and
territories, rights, needs and benefits and recognize our full rights to
control and manage our forests.
39. We will defend the cultural values and material integrity of our
forests, promoting adequate policies for this defense, specifically we
call for the declaration of a moratorium on any harmful economic activity,
as well as on the granting of concessions for oil and timber exploitation
or mining.
40. With regards to protected areas established on indigenous lands and
territories, including wetlands, coasts and seas, States must transfer the
territorial control, including the jurisdiction, administration and
management over these areas to Indigenous Peoples.
Mining
41. We demand the declaration of a moratorium on mining activities until
governments and corporations recognize and respect our fundamental rights
to self-determination and to free, prior and informed consent on all forms
of mining.
42. We demand comprehensive and participatory multi-criteria assessment of
mining activities, which incorporates environmental, social, cultural and
health impact assessments.
43. We urge governments to establish laws, rules and constitutional
provisions that prohibit the confiscation of indigenous lands for mining
activities. Indigenous lands and territories must not be included in the
planning zones for mining.
Energy
44. We call for the declaration of governmental moratoria on the following
activities:
a. The expansion of and new exploration for
the extraction of oil, natural gas and uranium and coal mining within or
near indigenous lands and territories, especially in pristine areas and
environmentally, socially, culturally and historically sensitive areas.
b. The construction of large dams. Governments and multilateral
institutions should utilize the framework proposed by the World Commission
on Dams for an approach to development based on the recognition of rights
and the assessment of risk.
c. New nuclear power plants. We call for a phase-out and decommission of
all nuclear power plants.
d. The transportation and storage of radioactive waste on indigenous
peoples' lands and territories. We firmly support the containment and
monitoring of waste on-site for the duration of its radioactive life.
45. We will support and commit ourselves to
promote the use of renewable energy sources to meet the energy needs of
our peoples and communities. We will work towards the development of
international mechanisms to support capacity building, financial
mechanisms and technology transfer for our communities to address
renewable clean energy development to promote sustainable development
initiatives that embrace traditional knowledge.
46. We will demand that, in addition to environmental impact assessments
on energy related activities, social, cultural and health impact
assessments must be conducted, and we commit ourselves to participate
actively in such impact assessments.
47. We will urge governments to establish laws, rules and constitutional
provisions that prohibit the confiscation of indigenous lands for
development energy related activities.
48. We will identify Government subsidies of unsustainable forms of energy
and demand that such subsidies be phased out under a five year time frame.
Tourism
49. We will take responsibility for tourism activities we generate, that
these are based on our own development strategies, incorporate the respect
for our traditional values, ethics and human rights and conserve our
natural and cultural heritage.
50. We invite governments to participate in our efforts to develop and
apply norms, guidelines and regulations on the development of tourism,
based on the principles of respect for our rights, the cultures and the
integrity of ecosystems.
Fisheries, Marine and Coastal Resources
51. We will maintain and promote our traditional systems for the
sustainable harvesting of marine resources.
52. We commit ourselves to maintain our marine and freshwater fisheries
resources that many of our peoples depend upon, and we will fight against
overfishing, waste and toxic dumping, as well as the impact of tourism,
which affect the oceans, coasts and inland waters.
53. We will develop proposals for the protection and management of
national and transboundary coastal areas and their biological resources,
and we call on States to incorporate these proposals into legal and policy
frameworks.
54. We will promote the establishment of new quota regimes on an equal
footing with other stakeholders, through national and international
negotiations, based on our inalienable historical rights as resource
owners and managers.
Water
55. We will demonstrate our power and our common interest to protect water
and life, by building water alliances and networks worldwide.
56. We call for the creation of an International Regulatory Body to track
the trade of water. We oppose and denounce the privatisation of water, as
well as the diversion which affects the water resources of our
territories.
57. We will demand the establishment of systems for restoration and
compensation, to reestablish the integrity of water and ecosystems.
Climate Change
58. We urge the United States and all other countries which have not done
so, to ratify and implement the Kyoto Protocol. We urge all countries to
adopt equitable cross-sectoral strategies to halt the destruction of key
carbon sequestration ecosystems.
59. We demand that the Kyoto Protocol raise the 5.2% carbon dioxide
reduction target and implement the recommendation from the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that greenhouse gas
emissions be immediately reduced by 60% in order to stabilize global
temperatures.
60. We renew our commitments to our practices and knowledge for minimizing
the emission of greenhouse gases, and urge all countries to fulfill their
commitments to reduce greenhouse gases emissions.
61. We oppose the implementation of carbon sinks and carbon-trading
mechanisms in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol
and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
62. We urge the States to promote equitable cross-sectoral sociopolitical
processes, based on an ecoregion approach, for the economic mitigation of
natural disasters caused by climate change.
63. We will give priority to our own scientific and technical initiatives
based on our traditional practices, which generate knowledge on production
systems which have a minimal greenhouse effect.
64. We demand that Indigenous Peoples be accorded Special Status in the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process.
65. We demand the creation of an Ad Hoc Open-Ended Inter-Sessional Working
Group on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and Climate Change with
the objective of studying and proposing timely, effective and adequate
solutions to respond to the emergency situations caused by climate change
affecting Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
66. We call upon all governments to implement Climate Impact Assessments
which take into account indigenous knowledge systems and observations, as
well as the full and equal participation of Indigenous Peoples in all
aspects and stages of the assessment.
Health and Toxics
67. We will continue to utilize, strengthen and protect our traditional
health systems within our communities. Our indigenous health systems,
practices and traditional healers must be given due and equitable
recognition. Our collective intellectual rights to our traditional
medicines must be protected.
68. We demand financing and equitable partnerships for our own health
programs, projects and initiatives.
69. We urge international institutions and governments to participate in
the construction of a plural model of public health which validates our
traditional knowledge, innovations and practices and healers.
70. We will cooperate to urgently establish all necessary measures to
control new and resurgent diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria. Our traditional and customary institutions and laws should be
recognized and strengthened to fight against these diseases.
71. We demand effective participation in the planning, implementation and
monitoring of national and international health policies, programmes and
services. We also demand that the national health systems provide
treatments and vital medicines that are accessible, free of cost or at an
affordable price.
72. We urge governments to recognize the particular vulnerability of
indigenous children and pregnant and breastfeeding women and take the
necessary steps to protect them from being exposed to harmful
environmental pollutants and conditions.
73. We call for an immediate halt to all polluting activities on
indigenous lands and territories and the adoption of mechanisms to contain
and monitor existing pollution and its effects on the environment,
including the oceans, and human health. We call for the immediate phasing
out of leaded gasoline and other toxic substances.
74. We demand that industries and governments be accountable for the harms
they have already caused to the environment and human health. We demand
compensation and reparation for the destruction of the environment,
including the oceans, and exposure to toxics.
75. We demand that governments expeditiously sign and ratify the Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the Rotterdam Convention on
hazardous chemicals and pesticides; the Basel Convention and its 1995 ban
on the export of hazardous wastes from OECD to non-OECD countries and the
1996 Protocol to the London Convention on ocean dumping.
Desertification
76. We call for the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples
and local communities, especially those of Africa, in the negotiation and
implementation process of the Convention to Combat Desertification.
Therefore, we call for the necessary financial resources and equitable
mechanisms that will enable us to substantially contribute to this
Convention and related activities.
Education, Science, Technology and Communications
77. We will revitalize, strengthen and develop our traditional education
institutions and systems for learning at all levels.
78. We will work towards changing the public and private education systems
to recognize and teach the cultural diversity of each country, taking into
account the revision of curricula, restoration of historical truth,
production of new teaching aids, and introduction of our languages.
79. We will promote capacity-building programmes in indigenous as well as
non-indigenous societies on our rights and priorities for sustainable
development, in order to strengthen the application of policies for
cooperation with and amongst Indigenous Peoples.
80. We will strengthen our research, planning, conservation, use and
management of indigenous lands, territories and natural resources using
traditional knowledge and other appropriate technologies that respect our
cultures and traditions.
81. We will continue strengthening our systems of and networks for
information, communications and telecommunications and will request
financial resources for these purposes.
82. We will promote networks for scientific and technical cooperation
between Indigenous Peoples to strengthen our specialized and diversified
learning and capacity building.
Security and Conflict Resolution
83. We will strengthen the capacity of our own indigenous systems of
conflict resolution and reaffirm the role of our leaders and traditional
authorities in resolving issues related to security and armed conflict
such as rape, torture and all other forms of human rights violations. We
will ensure that Indigenous Peoples' communities will not be used against
each other to escalate armed conflict.
84. We demand the immediate demilitarization in and near indigenous lands
and territories and a halt to human rights violations against Indigenous
Peoples. We urge States to resolve conflicts according to democratic
principles and relevant international and humanitarian laws.
85. We urge governments to support the voluntary return of Indigenous
Peoples, refugees and internally displaced peoples to their ancestral
lands and territories. Rehabilitation efforts should address the specific
interests of Indigenous Peoples.
Sustainable Livelihoods
86. We strongly reject all policies, including privatization,
liberalization and structural adjustment programmes which do not recognize
and respect Indigenous Peoples' rights. We strongly support the
cancellation of the eternal debt of countries of the South which has
resulted in adverse impacts on our cultures, lands and territories.
87. We urge States and the international community to develop specific
instruments for the protection of Indigenous Peoples' natural, cultural,
social and technological capital as a repository for our economy and the
strengthening of indigenous development.
88. We request national governments and the international community to
establish a legal framework that validates and enables the functioning of
traditional and innovative collective economic models. These economic
models should have access to mainstream financial mechanisms, including
credit, and should enable trade or barter in goods and services relevant
to Indigenous Peoples and our communities.
Corporate Accountability
89. We support the adoption of a legally binding Convention on Corporate
Accountability which upholds Indigenous Peoples' rights, including our
free prior and informed consent to any activity of States or transnational
corporations, which affects our land, territories or communities.
Governance
90. We demand Indigenous Peoples' full and effective participation at all
stages and levels of decision making in programmes, policy and
institutions promoting sustainable development.
91. We support the sustainable development models presented by the Arctic
Council, which incorporate principles of genuine partnership between
States and Indigenous Peoples, ecosystem approaches, collaboration between
traditional and scientific knowledge and local, national and regional
implementation plans.
92. We call for the inclusion of specific indicators of the situation of
Indigenous Peoples in the assessment of the implementation of all levels
of Agenda 21 and, in particular, of the progress on the implementation of
Chapter 26 and 20 on the participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local
Communities.
93. We demand and support the right to appoint our own governing
structures. We reject so called "indigenous authorities" imposed at any
level on our territories by the government, and used for implementing
development models, whether sustainable or not.
Human Rights
94. In accordance with our values, we will take all necessary measures to
promote human rights, including human rights education among Indigenous
Peoples and within our communities.
95. We call for the strengthening of the mandate of the Working Group on
Indigenous Peoples under the African Commission on Human and Peoples
Rights.
96. We will continue to participate in a constructive way in the
processes, institutions and bodies of the United Nations and other
multilateral organizations dedicated to Indigenous Peoples, such as the
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Working Group on Indigenous
Populations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the
Organization of American States.
97. We urge the United Nations to organize and convene a World Conference
on Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Development in the framework of the
International Decade of the Indigenous Peoples of the World (1995-2004).
98. We urge the United Nations to declare the Second International Decade
of the Indigenous Peoples of the World (2005-2014).
99. We urge governments to sign, ratify and implement the International
Labour Organization Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples,
in accordance with the wishes of the Indigenous Peoples in their
respective countries.
100. We support the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues as a global
focal point for promoting cooperation among States and Indigenous Peoples
in the implementation of international policies, commitments and action
plans on Indigenous Peoples and sustainable development. We will utilize
the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to monitor the fulfillment of
this plan of implementation.
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