The Anchorage Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change

[Editor's Note: Our thanks to the Western Shoshone Defense Project (WSDP) for forwarding a copy of the Anchorage Declaration to us. For information and background about the summit itself, see our April 25th post titled Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change.

Following is the Declaration from the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change held in Anchorage, Alaska April 20 – 24th.

The Anchorage Declaration
_____________________________________________________
24 April 2009

From 20-24 April, 2009, Indigenous representatives from the Arctic, North America, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Caribbean and Russia met in Anchorage, Alaska for the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change. We thank the Ahtna and the Dena’ina Athabascan Peoples in whose lands we gathered.

We express our solidarity as Indigenous Peoples living in areas that are the most vulnerable to the impacts and root causes of climate change. We reaffirm the unbreakable and sacred connection between land, air, water, oceans, forests, sea ice, plants, animals and our human communities as the material and spiritual basis for our existence.

We are deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development. We are experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on our cultures, human and environmental health, human rights, well-being, traditional livelihoods, food systems and food sovereignty, local infrastructure, economic viability, and our very survival as Indigenous Peoples.

Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life.

Through our knowledge, spirituality, sciences, practices, experiences and relationships with our traditional lands, territories, waters, air, forests, oceans, sea ice, other natural resources and all life, Indigenous Peoples have a vital role in defending and healing Mother Earth. The future of Indigenous Peoples lies in the wisdom of our elders, the restoration of the sacred position of women, the youth of today and in the generations of tomorrow.

We uphold that the inherent and fundamental human rights and status of Indigenous Peoples, affirmed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), must be fully recognized and respected in all decision-making processes and activities related to climate change. This includes our rights to our lands, territories, environment and natural resources as contained in Articles 25–30 of the UNDRIP. When specific programs and projects affect our lands, territories, environment and natural resources, the right of Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples must be recognized and respected, emphasizing our right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, including the right to say “no”. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreements and principles must reflect the spirit and the minimum standards contained in UNDRIP.

Calls for Action

1. In order to achieve the fundamental objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), we call upon the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC to support a binding emissions reduction target for developed countries (Annex 1) of at least 45% below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 95% by 2050. In recognizing the root causes of climate change, participants call upon States to work towards decreasing dependency on fossil fuels. We further call for a just transition to decentralized renewable energy economies, sources and systems owned and controlled by our local communities to achieve energy security and sovereignty.

In addition, the Summit participants agreed to present two options for action which were each supported by one or more of the participating regional caucuses. These were as follows:

A. We call for the phase out of fossil fuel development and a moratorium on new fossil fuel developments on or near Indigenous lands and territories.

B. We call for a process that works towards the eventual phase out of fossil fuels, without infringing on the right to development of Indigenous nations.

2. We call upon the Parties to the UNFCCC to recognize the importance of our Traditional Knowledge and practices shared by Indigenous Peoples in developing strategies to address climate change. To address climate change we also call on the UNFCCC to recognize the historical and ecological debt of the Annex 1 countries in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. We call on these countries to pay this historical debt.

3. We call on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and other relevant institutions to support Indigenous Peoples in carrying out Indigenous Peoples’ climate change assessments.

4. We call upon the UNFCCC’s decision-making bodies to establish formal structures and mechanisms for and with the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples. Specifically we recommend that the UNFCCC:
a. Organize regular Technical Briefings by Indigenous Peoples on Traditional Knowledge and climate change;
b. Recognize and engage the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change and its regional focal points in an advisory role;
c. Immediately establish an Indigenous focal point in the secretariat of the UNFCCC;
d. Appoint Indigenous Peoples’ representatives in UNFCCC funding mechanisms in consultation with Indigenous Peoples;
e. Take the necessary measures to ensure the full and effective participation of Indigenous and local communities in formulating, implementing, and monitoring activities, mitigation, and adaptation relating to impacts of climate change.

5. All initiatives under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) must secure the recognition and implementation of the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, including security of land tenure, ownership, recognition of land title according to traditional ways, uses and customary laws and the multiple benefits of forests for climate, ecosystems, and Peoples before taking any action.

6. 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, large-scale 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.

7. We call for adequate and direct funding in developed and developing States and for a fund to be created to enable Indigenous Peoples’ full and effective participation in all climate processes, including adaptation, mitigation, monitoring and transfer of appropriate technologies in order to foster our empowerment, capacity-building, and education. We strongly urge relevant United Nations bodies to facilitate and fund the participation, education, and capacity building of Indigenous youth and women to ensure engagement in all international and national processes related to climate change.

8. We call on financial institutions to provide risk insurance for Indigenous Peoples to allow them to recover from extreme weather events.

9. We call upon all United Nations agencies to address climate change impacts in their strategies and action plans, in particular their impacts on Indigenous Peoples, including the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). In particular, we call upon all the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other relevant United Nations bodies to establish an Indigenous Peoples’ working group to address the impacts of climate change on food security and food sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples.

10. We call on United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to conduct a fast track assessment of short-term drivers of climate change, specifically black carbon, with a view to initiating negotiation of an international agreement to reduce emission of black carbon.

11. We call on States to recognize, respect and implement the fundamental human rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the collective rights to traditional ownership, use, access, occupancy and title to traditional lands, air, forests, waters, oceans, sea ice and sacred sites as well as to ensure that the rights affirmed in Treaties are upheld and recognized in land use planning and climate change mitigation strategies. In particular, States must ensure that Indigenous Peoples have the right to mobility and are not forcibly removed or settled away from their traditional lands and territories, and that the rights of Peoples in voluntary isolation are upheld. In the case of climate change migrants, appropriate programs and measures must address their rights, status, conditions, and vulnerabilities.

12. We call upon states to return and restore lands, territories, waters, forests, oceans, sea ice and sacred sites that have been taken from Indigenous Peoples, limiting our access to our traditional ways of living, thereby causing us to misuse and expose our lands to activities and conditions that contribute to climate change.

13. In order to provide the resources necessary for our collective survival in response to the climate crisis, we declare our communities, waters, air, forests, oceans, sea ice, traditional lands and territories to be “Food Sovereignty Areas,” defined and directed by Indigenous Peoples according to customary laws, free from extractive industries, deforestation and chemical-based industrial food production systems (i.e. contaminants, agro-fuels, genetically modified organisms).

14. We encourage our communities to exchange information while ensuring the protection and recognition of and respect for the intellectual property rights of Indigenous Peoples at the local, national and international levels pertaining to our Traditional Knowledge, innovations, and practices. These include knowledge and use of land, water and sea ice, traditional agriculture, forest management, ancestral seeds, pastoralism, food plants, animals and medicines and are essential in developing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, restoring our food sovereignty and food independence, and strengthening our Indigenous families and nations.

We offer to share with humanity our Traditional Knowledge, innovations, and practices
relevant to climate change, provided our fundamental rights as intergenerational
guardians of this knowledge are fully recognized and respected. We reiterate the urgent
need for collective action.


Agreed by consensus of the participants in the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on
Climate Change, Anchorage Alaska, April 24th 2009

__________________________________________________________
Source: Western Shoshone Defense Project (WSDP)

Native Rights News is making this Declaration available in accordance with the wishes of its authors. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
____________
Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by Temple Beit Shem Tov as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.

Extractive Industries Boycott International Expert Workshop on Violations of Human Rights and Environment

[Forwarded by Western Shoshone Defense Project wsdp@igc.org]

PRESS RELEASE
28 March 2009

International Experts Deliberate on Piles of Human rights and Environment Violations of Extractive Industries

MANILA, Philippines – Officials of the United Nations system, multilateral institutions such as the European Commission, the World Bank, ADB, Member States of the UN, international experts, indigenous peoples and other organizations attending the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, Corporate Accountability and the Extractive Industries have started deliberating yesterday on piles of serious issues surrounding the Indigenous Peoples all around the world, and in their bid to find better and lasting solutions to stop large-scale oil, gas and mining companies from further destroying indigenous lands, the environment, and contributing to the alarming problem of global warming.

“Although there have been substantial developments in the promotion and protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples in recent years, indigenous peoples have continued to suffer violations of their human rights on a regular basis. This is especially the case in the context of extractive industries, such as mineral, oil and gas extraction, which disproportionately impact indigenous peoples,” said Carol Pollack of the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples Issues during her opening address.

The Experts and participants are expected to craft stronger recommendations within the three-day workshop that will help solve the problems of the Indigenous Peoples’ rights worldwide and mitigate the effect of climate change which is mainly caused by extractive industries, particularly oil, gas and coal extraction.

Among others, the officials will try to find better mechanisms to force extractive industries into complying with relevant provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which includes self determination, right to traditional lands, right to be secure in subsistence and development, right to conservation and protection of the environment and productive capacity of lands and the often violated free, prior and informed consent provision.

“We have lived within nation states which established norms and laws according to their interest. We have suffered disproportionately from the impact of extractive industries as our territories are home to over sixty percent of the world's most coveted mineral resources,” the Indigenous Peoples’ said in the final [Manila] Declaration [attached English Spanish] crafted after the International Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries. “The activities of these corporations have led to the worst forms of environmental degradation, human rights violations and land dispossession,” they added. Although, the extractive industries must play a vital role in addressing these problems, those invited opted not to send their representatives to the international expert workshop, to which Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, a Kankana-ey from the Cordillera and the current chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), expressed disappointment over failure to do so.

In a statement sent to Tauli-Corpuz, the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), a CEO-led organization representing many of the world's leading mining and metals companies as well as regional, national and commodity associations, said that “it has been working on Indigenous Peoples issues for several years including; producing a Mining and Indigenous People's Review (2005, holding two roundtables on mining and Indigenous Peoples (2005, 2008), seeking legal reviews of FPIC, approving a Position Statement outlining our member's policy on Indigenous Peoples and recently we have produced a first draft of a Good Practice Guidance on Mining and Indigenous Peoples.”

Along with ICMM, transnational mining corporations such as Rio Tinto, among others, were also invited to sit in the international expert dialogue. However, they declined saying that, “In view of the global financial crisis, we are cutting on costs and prioritize activities that are essential.”

Tauli-Corpuz said, “They did not see the importance of attending a dialogue with the World's Indigenous Peoples, where 60 to 70 percent of the world's minerals, oil and gas are found in their territories. It is sad that they undermined the importance of this event.

“It is in the interest of the extractive industries corporations to listen to indigenous peoples affected by mining, oil and gas projects so that there would be less conflict, less human rights violations and more equitable-sharing and sustainable use of resources if a dialogue with them is to happen,” she added.

For inquiries, please contact: Jo Villanueva
Mobile: 09194111660
Email: jomvillanueva@gmail.com

__________________________________________________________

Source: IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com

Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with a Press Release. This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
____________
Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by Temple Beit Shem Tov as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.

Sign-On Letter to Canadian Government Calls for Action to Stop Abuses Committed by Extractive Industries

[Editor's Note: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, current chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) , is urging organizations and individuals to add their support and signature to her letter to Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper. In that letter, Ms. Tauli-Corpus expresses her disappointment in Canada's past and current policies vis a vis the abuses committed by Canadian transnational corporations against Indigenous Peoples and the environment. She asks that the Canadian government take specific actions to curb such abuses and hold the Canadian extractive industry to account. Following are both letters.

Alliance for Indigenous Rights is signing on to the letter, and we urge all NGO's and individuals concerned about protecting Indigenous Peoples rights and the environment to do the same. -- Perry H. Chesnut, Editor NRN]

Sign-on Letter to Canadian Government

FYI. If you wish to sign-on, please respond directly to vicky@tebtebba.org. Thanks.

----- Original Message -----

From: "vicky tauli-corpuz" mailto:vicky@tebtebba.org
Sent: March 30, 2009
Subject: Letter to Canadian Government

Dear Friends,

At the Expert Group Meeting on Extractive Industries, Indigenous and Corporate Social Responisbility a discussion was held regarding the response of the government to the series of roundtables held in Canada which looked into the issue of Extractives. Obviously, the government has not accepted the recommendations. So we drafted a letter [below] which contains our disappointment with the results. Please read this and if you want to sign on please send your name and your organization [to vicky@tebtebba.org]. If you do not have an organization, [please sign] as an individual.

regards, Vicky

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Executive Director, Tebtebba
Convenor, Asia Indigenous Women's Network
1 Roman Ayson Road, Baguio City, Philippines, 2600
Telephone: 63-74-4447703 Fax: 63-74-4439459 mobile: 63-91-75317811
website: http://www.tebtebba.org/
http://www.un.org/socdev/esa/unpfii

------------ --------- --------- ------

29 March 2009
Manila , Philippines Peoples' Rights
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa , ON
Canada
K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

It is with great regret that we, the undersigned participants of the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Corporate Accountability and Extractive Industries, and the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples, note the adoption of the new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector. It is a strategy that falls far short of upholding Canada 's international commitments on human rights, Indigenous Peoples and the environment. By advising on existing voluntary guidelines, instead of imposing binding, regulatory requirements, it is one that will do little to stop abuses by Canadian extractive companies from continuing unabated and unpunished.

Among the Indigenous Peoples present at these two meetings - the first was organized by the Tebtebba Foundation and the second by United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) - are those who earlier in the decade shared personal reports of abuse by Canadian mining companies with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT). In 2005, as you know, that Committee responded by calling on the Government of Canada to "establish clear legal norms to ensure that Canadian companies and residents are held accountable when there is evidence of environmental and/or human rights violations associated with the activities of Canadian mining companies."

In "Building the Canadian Advantage" that recommendation has been ignored, as have the groundbreaking consensus recommendations that resulted from the National CSR Roundtable process. Together these recommendations represent the views of national Parliamentarians, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, industry, labour, socially responsible investors, academics and members of the Canadian public. Given this breadth of support, it is disappointing that the Conservative Government of Canada has chosen to so freely set aside the progressive outputs of democratic and officially mandated dialogue.

Particularly alarming in the new CSR Strategy is the absence of an independent and empowered ombudsperson to investigate and respond to the concerns of affected communities, and the lack of provisions for sanctions and withdrawal of public support when extractive companies fail to comply with human rights and environmental standards. Furthermore, an appointed CSR counselor, who requires the consent of the company involved to undertake a review, and who may target his or her review at both communities and their allies, offers no real recourse for communities that have been adversely affected by Canadian extractive companies, and raises serious questions about corporate co-optation of this instrument, as well as fears that the review process may be used against Indigenous Peoples.

Over the course of the last seven days, numerous participants at the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples and the International Expert Workshop on Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Corporate Accountability and Extractive Industries have made it clear that the abuse of Indigenous Peoples' rights to lands, territories and resources at the hands of Canadian extractive companies is ongoing. This reality once again underscores the failure of voluntary, industry-driven initiatives to protect human rights and reinforces the need for extra-territorial regulation of extractive industries, especially in the context of weak governance in host countries.

It is our position that the "Canadian Advantage" has already been established in the global extractive sector and it has been established at the expense of the environment and of Indigenous Peoples. The advantage that has been lost is Canada 's reputation as a leader on human rights.

As these important meetings draws to a close in Manila, we call on the Government of Canada to take immediate steps to bring its CSR Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector into line with the recommendations of the SCFAIT Report and the Report of the Advisory Group to the National Roundtables on CSR and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries.

It is also critical that any effort by the Canadian government reflects respect for Canada's obligations under such agreements as the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as internationally recognized rights that have been entrenched in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). As you are aware, UNDRIP was endorsed by the Canadian House of Commons last year and in 2007 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination' s (CERD) concluding observations to Canada noted: "with concern the reports of adverse effects of economic activities connected with the exploitation of natural resources in countries outside Canada by transnational corporations registered in Canada on the right to land, health, living environment and the way of life of indigenous peoples living in these regions." CERD concluded by recommending that Canada "explore ways to hold transnational corporations registered in Canada accountable."

Until such a time as full regulatory measures governing Canadian extractive companies can be enacted, we further encourage Canadian Parliamentarians, including members of the Conservative Party of Canada, to consider passing the proposed Bill C-300, an Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. Over the short-term this Act would effectively supplement the Canadian CSR Strategy by requiring publicly-funded extractive companies to uphold standards like the International Finance Corporation' s Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability, with Ministers empowered to review complaints and required to report back to Parliament. Particularly welcome are the suggested amendments contained within Bill C-300, which would lead to the withdrawal of support by Export Development Canada and the cessation of investment by the Canadian Pension Plan where extractive operations are inconsistent with the guidelines that are endorsed in section 5 of the Act.

Ultimately, we request that you reconsider your limited CSR response and commit to measures that genuinely address the serious human rights and environmental abuses associated with Canadian extractive industry companies.

For your information, we have attached the Manila Declaration, the document that resulted from the International Conference on Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples, and will forward the report of the Expert Group Workshop when it is finalized.

We look forward to receiving your reply and request that it be directed to the Secretariat for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, so that they might in turn forward it to participants of the Manila meetings.

Thank you for your consideration of our concerns, which echo those raised by over 100 participants from 35 countries.

Institutional Signatories (as of 30 March 2009)
Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago ( Indonesia )
Cordillera Peoples Alliance ( Philippines )
Kanak Agency for Development ( New Caledonia )
Centre for Environmental Research and Development ( Papua New Guinea )
Western Shoshone Defense Project ( USA )
PIPLinks - Indigenous Peoples Links ( UK )
Tebtebba Foundation (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education) ( Philippines and UK )

Individual Signatories (as of 30 March 2009)
Mr. Brian Wyatt ( Australia )
Ms. Urantsooj Gombosuren ( Mongolia )
Mr. Cathal Doyle ( Ireland )
Ms. Meaghen Simms ( Canada )
Ms. Elisa Canqui Mollo ( Bolivia )
Mr. Luis Vittor ( Peru )
__________________________________________________________
Source: http://IndigenousThinkers@yahoogroups.com

Native Rights News is making this material available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.
____________
Native Rights News (NRN) is published by the Alliance for Indigenous Rights, a nonprofit corporation owned and operated by Temple Beit Shem Tov as part of its Peace and Justice Ministry.