UNDRIP and ILO Convention 169

The global economic transition to sustainable, low carbon development will require revitalization of diverse local economies, including support for Indigenous peoples’ self-determined development. Economic planning combined with adaptive management to climate change will need to apply an ecosystem-based approach, and must fully respect the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and local communities. Securing our rights to our ancestral lands, forests, waters and resources, provides the basis for sustainable local social, cultural, spiritual and economic development, and some insurance against our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. This is also beneficial towards improving ecosystem governance, ecosystem resilience and the delivery of ecosystem

Many forests are within the traditional lands and territories of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples around the world live in and depend upon forests for their survival and to enjoy their fundamental rights to forests and land tenure. They are of cultural, social, economic and spiritual significance for us and provide benefits for humankind. Accordingly, the rights of Indigenous peoples, including our land and resource rights, must be recognized and respected at all levels (local, national and international) before we can consider REDD initiatives and projects. The recognition of our rights must be in accordance with international human rights law and standards including the UNDRIP and ILO Convention 169, among other human rights instruments. If there is no full recognition and full protection for Indigenous peoples' rights, including the rights to resources, lands and territories, and there is no recognition and respect of our rights of free, prior and informed consent of the affected indigenous peoples, we will oppose REDD and REDD+ and carbon offsetting projects, including CDM projects. All decision-making processes on REDD and REDD+, Clean Development Mechanism, Land Use and Land Use Change and Forests (LULUCF), Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) as well as other ecosystem-based mitigation and adaptation measures and projects must be conditional to the free prior informed consent of Indigenous peoples. Our laws, regulations, and plans shall be recognized as authoritative and determinative as to the risks, values and benefits associated with measures to adapt to, or mitigate for, climate change effects within the territorial jurisdiction of tribal governing bodies.