UN
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Joint
submission by The Indigenous World Association ECOSOC NGO, Kamakakuokalani
Center for Hawaiian Studies, Tebtebba Foundation, Comunidad Integradora del
Saber Andind, Andes Chinchasu Yo, Euaman Poma, Fundacion Para la Promocion
del Indigena, Indigenous Information Network, Hawaii Institute for Human
Rights, and the Rapanui Parliament
INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S BIODIVERSITY NETWORK
First of all we wish to recognize that we are on the traditional lands of the
Haudenosaunee and wish to thank the traditional occupants of this land for
their hospitality. Indigenous women have a vital role in the
conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and in regards to
maintaining Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge, cultures and
languages, which we pass on from generation to generation. Indigenous women
are concerned that inappropriate policies cause resource abuse, climate
change, foster extractive industries, and over-harvesting all resulting in
the continued loss of biodiversity. This biodiversity loss causes grave
social, political, economic, cultural, environmental, and health problems for
Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous women have a role in the transmission of
knowledge from the past to future generations. This link ensures the
strengthening of our cultural values and our cosmovisions.
These values support the empowerment of governance mechanisms, sustainable
trade and economic systems. The traditional knowledge, innovation and
practices of Indigenous women are vast. Our specialized experience has made
us midwives, spiritual leaders, healers, herbalists and botanists within our
peoples and beyond. Our knowledge, use and control of medicinal plants must
be protected from misuse and misappropriation, including studies, research
and commercialization efforts. They must be protected from the negative
impacts of climate change.
We recognize that Indigenous knowledge has contributed to humanity in regards
to food security and via the many Indigenous medicines used throughout the
world. Our right to keep collecting, saving and exchanging our natural seeds
must be protected. This is how we have been able to feed our peoples for
generations. Indigenous women are the key providers of food and have a
crucial role in protecting our natural food resources in order to overcome
poverty and hunger.
The effects of climate change are especially multifaceted: social, political,
economic as well as
environmental. Thus, by recognizing that women are key agents of
environmental transformation, we also counter the gender inequalities that
render climate change especially devastating to women. Climate change is
causing the melting of the arctic ice, a rising of the sea-level, causing
flooding of lands and islands. These factors have exacerbated poverty and
turned many Indigenous Peoples, especially indigenous women and children,
into environmental refugees. This results in our displacement and relocation
from our lands and homes, thereby forcing us to leave our communities and
take on the task of building new communities elsewhere.
The full and effective participation of Indigenous women is critical so that
we are active participants and decision-makers at every stage regarding the
vital issues of biodiversity conservation and climate change.
In closing, we the IWBN, have three recommendations to make to the Permanent
Forum on
Indigenous Issues, namely that it should:
1) seek the expertise of the IWBN in their work, in order to ensure that the
Gender aspect is taken into account, especially relating to their mandated
area of Environment and in their follow-up work to the 2004 Special Theme
“Indigenous Women”.
2) undertake, in conjunction with the Human Rights Council Expert Mechanism
on Indigenous Peoples, the Interagency Support Group and other relevant
bodies, an examination to determine whether the Convention on Biological
Diversity adheres to the standards of the Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
3) Support and facilitate a PFII workshop on “Indigenous Women and
Environmental Issues” in which issues such as biodiversity, climate change,
protected areas, globalization and contaminants, such as persistent organic
pollutants - especially in relation to the health of Indigenous women and
children - and biopiracy can be handled in-depth. As Indigenous women we are
ready to take our part of the responsibility in the implementation of these
recommendations and the Indigenous Women’s Biodiversity Network (IWBN) will
commit to
working on positive solutions.
|