FAO’s mission: Advance Indigenous Peoples agenda and address their concerns
On 10-12 October, the International Forum “Public-Private Partnership in the Field of Sustainable Development of Indigenous Peoples” was held in Murmansk, it was attended by a representative delegation of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation that included Director Oleg Kobiakov, his Deputy Aghasi Harutyunyan and Consultants Igor Shpakov and Varvara Parilova.
“From the very beginning of preparations for the forum, we have been in active contact with the organizers, first and foremost, with the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, the UN Global Compact Russia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and, of course, Indigenous Peoples representatives”, noted Oleg Kobiakov, Head of the FAO Moscow Office, in his welcoming remarks.
“For our organization,” he continued, “it is a great honour, trust and recognition of the role that it plays as an international technical assistance organization and, to top it all, of the work that our Moscow Office, which has been operating since 2016, has been performing.”
In his presentation titled “FAO policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples”, Oleg Kobiakov highlighted the fact that, among other things, in 2020, at the 27th Session of the FAO Committee on Agriculture, the creation of the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems was launched. This Hub is “a platform of knowledge that brings together universities, research centres, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and UN agencies working on food systems issues.”
“The main principle of the Global-Hub,” emphasized the Head of the Moscow Office, “is joint knowledge generation with the involvement of Indigenous Peoples. It is unique in that it provides contacts and ensures exchange of information which allows to establish relations of mutual understanding and respect among stakeholders operating at different levels.”
In his turn, Aghasi Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, thanked the organizers of the forum for “an eventful programme and the possibility to establish partnerships and contacts with new organizations of both Indigenous Peoples and private sector.”
The organization’s experts have developed a whole set of documents on the work with Indigenous Peoples, noted Aghasi Harutyunyan. They include “Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security” (2004), as well as “FAO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples” (2011).
The FAO specialists have worked out 6 steps to implement the principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), informed the speaker. The practical guidance on FPIC comprises the following measures:
1) Identify the Indigenous Peoples’ concerns and their representatives;
2) Document geographic and demographic information through participatory mapping;
3) Design a participatory communication plan and carry out iterative discussion, through which project information will be disclosed in a transparent way.
4) Reach consent, document Indigenous Peoples’s needs that are to be included into the project, and agree on a feedback and complaints mechanism;
5) Conduct participatory monitoring and evaluation of the agreement;
6) Document lessons learned and disclose information project achievements.
Igor Shpakov, Consultant at the FAO Moscow Office, made a presentation at the panel session titled “Government, business, Indigenous Peoples: dialogue and consultations”. He outlined the “key principles of interaction”, according to FAO policy. It is “self-determination and preservation of identity; observance of cultural and collective rights; dialogue, participation and involvement”. He also mentioned “priority thematic areas: environment, natural resources and climate change; nutrition quality and food security; formation of economic opportunities.”
The speaker listed the existing and growing threats to Indigenous Peoples’ food systems. These includes, according to FAO, “environment degradation, lack of resources due to poverty, increasing migration to urban areas, the use of products from “global markets” with inadequate nutrition value.”
FAO has always advocated not only for the preservation of Indigenous Peoples’ identity, but also for the creation of conditions for sustainable social and economic development of these ethnic groups based on the principles enshrined in the foundation of the UN and in all its specialized agencies.
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During the Murmansk Forum, the FAO Moscow Office set up a stand with information materials on FAO’s partnership with Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and, in particular, their joint struggle to eradicate hunger. Varvara Parilova, Consultant at the FAO Office, hosted the stand.
Background:
The Forum was organized by the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Artic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, as well as by Nornikel. The Forum partners were the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and the UN Global Compact.
The forum was attended by numerous delegates from many regions of Russia, as well as from abroad, representatives of federal and regional authorities, business, Indigenous Peoples’ associations, international organizations, as well as by reindeer herders, heads of tribal communities of Taimyr, Yamal, Chukotka and a number of other regions.