15th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

15th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
Statement by Yon Fernandez- de-Larrinoa, FAO Indigenous Peoples’ Focal Point

Agenda Item 4: Implementation of the six mandated areas of the Permanent Forum with reference to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (9 - 20 May 2016)

 

 

Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues,
Elders and Honourable members of the Permanent Forum,
Indigenous representatives,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

 

On behalf of FAO we take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Alvaro Pop, who has worked in our organization for some years, for his recent nomination as Chair of the Permanent Forum. We wish Mr. Alvaro Pop the best of energies and luck during his mandate.

 

Since the last session of this Permanent Forum, numerous important developments have taken place. The most important one has been the launching of System-wide action plan or SWAP for ensuring a coherent approach to achieving the ends of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples .

 

This SWAP give UN agencies, funds and programmes the opportunity to work in a way that advances indigenous peoples’ agenda by building bridges based on mutual respect among all of us, indigenous peoples, Member States, members of the Permanent Forum and UN Agencies. Communication and coordination among ourselves is more important than ever.

 

FAO has mapped the actions that it is undertaking together with indigenous peoples, showing how they relate with each SWAP’s six pillars. These actions emanate from the work plan developed in February 2015 in Rome together between FAO and indigenous representatives.

 

With regards to this joint work plan, there are already several tangible results that we are glad to share with all of you today:

 

Free, Prior and Informed Consent is now mandatory in FAO. Together with some FAO partner organizations such as Action Against Hunger, Action Aid, the German Cooperation Agency GiZ, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Spanish Cooperation Agency AECID and World Vision, we are finalizing a FPIC manual to guide project and programme managers in our respective organizations.

 

FAO has also opened a grievance office, which has the mandate to independently review complaints related to non-compliance of the organization’s obligations under the FAO environmental and social standards, which now also include FPIC.

 

FAO is implementing capacity development initiatives with indigenous peoples. These include national programmes for indigenous women on human rights, advocacy and food and nutrition security with the International Indigenous Women’s Forum, as well as collaborations with the Indigenous Women’s Global Leadership School.

 

At the same time, we are working at regional and country level in Asia and Central America to strengthen the tenure rights of indigenous peoples in relation to their communal land, territories and resources.

 

In relation to the SDG process, FAO is pleased to see how the Food Insecurity Experience Scale from the Voices of the Hungry project in FAO, has been accepted as a valid approach to measure the indicators for the Sustainable Development Goal number 2, “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”.

 

In 2015, several indigenous representatives were trained in FAO Rome on the use of this Food Insecurity Experience Scale. We hope to work closer with all of you to ensure that indigenous peoples data is measured in the indicators measured by the national statistical services.

 

FAO also applauses the decision of establishing a consultation on how indigenous peoples can be better represented in the UN System. FAO will contribute by sharing its experience on the very active paper of indigenous peoples since 2009 in the discussions of the Committee on World Food Security in FAO Rome.

 

We are also glad to announce that for the first time, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is including the voices of indigenous peoples in the upcoming 2016 global consultation.

 

FAO is well aware that indigenous peoples are among the hardest hit by climate change because of the impact in their livelihoods and food security. At the same time indigenous peoples’ knowledge is central for climate change mitigation, reduction, and enhancing the sequestration capacity of forests and soils. This is why FAO is implementing several initiatives like the Forest and Farm Facility, GEF projects and value chain projects together with indigenous peoples.

 

FAO would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for contributing to building relationships among us and together, advance the indigenous peoples’ agenda at a global level, regional and local level.

 

Thank you for your attention