Indigenous Peoples and Cultures

World Bank Indigenous Peoples — by Stanzin Tonyot — last modified 2006-12-18 16:16

Indigenous Peoples are a significant and important portion of humanity. Their heritage, their ways of life, their stewardship of this planet, and their cosmological insights are an invaluable treasure house for us all. The World Bank is honored to be working worldwide with Indigenous Peoples in global dialog and in development projects. The World Bank aims to promote Indigenous Peoples' development in a manner which ensures that the development process fosters full respect for the dignity, human rights, and uniqueness of Indigenous Peoples.

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) — by Stanzin Tonyot — last modified 2006-12-15 18:04

The Permanent Forum is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. According to its mandate, the Permanent Forum will: * provide expert advice and recommendations on indigenous issues to the Council, as well as to programmes, funds and agencies of the United Nations, through the Council * raise awareness and promote the integration and coordination of activities related to indigenous issues within the UN system * prepare and disseminate information on indigenous issues

World Bank Report - Brazil - Amazon Protected Areas Project - GEF - Indigenous Peoples Plan — by webadmin — last modified 2006-09-21 14:50

The Amazon Protected Areas Project aims to create a mosaic of protected areas in the Amazon Region, where the design of protected areas responds to the specific needs of each environmental and social conditions of each area. The project takes into account the possibility of people living within the boundaries of the protected areas (PA), and for such reason, the project will guarantee the right of the traditional and indigenous people during the process of establishing and managing the PAs. The project will benefit indigenous people in the vicinity of the PAs, as the PAs will act as buffer zones for frontier encroachment or illegal activities Besides, the project will benefit conservation of waterways, vegetation and wildlife in the neighborhood of the indigenous land. The indigenous people will participate in project management through its representatives in the Project Committee and/or through the PAs Management Councils established in the surroundings of the indigenous people. For unresolved cases of PA consolidation, the Conflict Resolution Mediation Committee will be called upon to investigate the particular situations. Full report available at this site.

World Bank Report - LAC Regional Integrated Ecosystem Management in Indigenous Communities in Central America Project, Vol. 1 — by webadmin — last modified 2006-09-21 16:13

The global objective of the Regional Integrated Ecosystem Management in Indigenous Communities in Central America Project is to achieve effective biodiversity conservation in Central America - Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama - by strengthening the capacity of indigenous communities to protect, and manage their natural and cultural resources, and, by recuperating and promoting their cultural values, and sustainable traditional land use practices, thereby preventing further land degradation that threatens environmental services, livelihoods, and economic well-being, and, conserving the region ' s high, though increasingly threatened, biodiversity resources. The components are : 1) Cultural and institutional strengthening, and capacity building of participating communities, which consists of a) generation and strengthening of the organizational, technical and administrative capacities of indigenous communities regarding the application of their cultural values to the management of their natural resources; b) standardization and criteria formation for traditional ecosystem management of indigenous communities, including a certification process for them to engage in effective ecosystem management, and; c) strengthening empowerment capacities of community organizations for traditional ecosystem management. 2) Promotion of sustainable cultural land use and traditional ecosystem management entails the development of a progressive series of community conservation, and sustainable cultural land use plans that together can form a network of land use areas, to yield greater collective conservation impacts, actually focused on actual planning and management of conservation areas. 3) Development of culturally appropriate products, markets, and services for environmental sustainability in indigenous communities will channel grant resources to develop financial mechanisms at the community level. Specifically, it will finance a progressive series of community biodiversity conservation, and sustainable use subprojects, compatible with the land use plans. Grant activities will focus on income-generating opportunities in four categories: a) traditional products; b) environmental services; c) eco/ethnotourism; and, d) traditional ecosystem management models. 4) Participatory project monitoring and evaluation will support training and capacity building on monitoring and evaluation of project impacts, and also progress in conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. It will finance scientifically sound monitoring and evaluation of biodiversity, to follow project implementation and biodiversity changes over time. Full report can be downloaded from this link.

Conservation International — by Jon Dale — last modified 2007-01-25 13:09

Conservation International is an NGO that works with indigenous peoples in South and Central America and South Asia. The website contains some information about their programs, abridged versions of working and policy papers, and some links to biodiversity and environmental resources.

IUCN: Indigeous & Local Communities, Equity, and Protected Area (CEESP) — by Portal Web Editor — last modified 2007-04-05 13:33

The Theme on Indigenous and Local Communities, Equity, and Protected Areas (TILCEPA), was set up in 2000 by the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) . The TILCEPA seeks the full and effective recognition of the rights and responsibilities of local communities in the development and implementation of conservation policies and strategies that affect the lands, waters and other natural and cultural resources that they relate to.