CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

International Indian Treaty Council

28^th Annual Treaty Conference

Pu’uhonua o Waimanalo Village, Oahu, Hawai’i

January 18-22, 2003

Commission on Environment, Biodiversity, Sustainable Development, Medicinal Plants and Bio-Piracy, Natural Resources, Right to Food, Food Security and Health

RESOLUTION

WE, as representatives, traditional authorities and members of the Kanaka Maoli (Nation of Hawai’i), Traditional Seminole, Dakota, Ahtna Dena, Apache, White Clay, Oglala Lakota, Dine’, Cherokee, Comanche, Tanana, Okanagan, Colville, Pitt River, Oneida (USA), Gwich’in (AK and Canada), Cree, Nakota, Anishinabe, Blackfoot (Canada), Taino (Puerto Rico), Kuna (Panama), Yaqui, Zapoteca, Mayo (Mexico), Mayan (Guatemala), Maori (Aotearoa/New Zealand) and Quechua (Bolivia) Nations, assembled in Pu’uhonua o Waimanalo Village in Waimanalo, Oahu, on the ancestral homelands of the Sovereign Nation of Hawai’i,

REAFFIRM established principles and international standards that assert:

Indigenous Peoples have a unique relationship with and responsibilities to Mother Earth and the living beings in the natural world;

There is a clear link between biological and cultural diversity because our many, distinct cultures and ways of life depend upon the diversity of all life forms;

There is a critical link between our traditional foods, our health, our spiritual practices and cultural identities. Our Right to Food is a human right, and it cannot exist without our Food Sovereignty, or our right to decide what foods we will produce and how we will distribute these foods, based on what is important to our cultures. Our Right to Food is also a collective right, and to deny us this right is to destroy our cultures.

The protection of our environment, natural resources and the full access of our Peoples to our lands, waters and territories, sacred sites, traditional foods and medicinal plants, are essential for the physical, mental and spiritual well being of our Peoples and the continuation of our cultures;

We have an unqualified right to self-determination as Indigenous Peoples;

We have the Right to Development, as defined by our communities and based on our cultures and worldviews;

We have the right to say “no” to un-sustainable forms of development, within or near our lands and territories, including all bodies of fresh and salt water;

We have suffered from outside management of resources within our lands and territories, which undermines our environmental, social and political integrity;

WE DENOUNCE all forms of development that degrade the environment, cause harm to habitat and wildlife, or are imposed on or near our lands, waters and territories, including:

These practices and policies not only weaken or destroy our cultural and spiritual relationships with the natural world, they often cause diseases or terminal illness, deny our access to our natural resources, foods, medicines and sacred sites, and lead to the migration of our Peoples from rural communities to urban areas.

WE CALL FOR: 

1. The phase-out and total elimination of persistent bio-accumulative toxics (PBTs), persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including agricultural chemicals and toxic chemicals released into the environment;
2. The phase-out and decommissioning of all nuclear power plants, and the prohibition of nuclear testing and storage of nuclear waste on our lands and territories;
3. The prohibition of oil and gas exploration and development of Iizhik Gwatsan Gwandaii Goodlit, “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins” on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;
4. A moratorium on all mining activities on or near Indigenous lands until governments and corporations recognize and respect our fundamental rights to self-determination and to free, prior and informed consent on all mining development;
5. Governments to recognize and take action on the particular vulnerability of Indigenous children and pregnant and breastfeeding women, and protect them from exposure to harmful environmental pollutants and conditions;
6. A ban on the privatization of water, which defiles the sacredness of water by turning it into a commodity on the world market;
7. A moratorium on the production of GMOs and the application of the precautionary principle, due to the unknown harm that these foods carry;
8. Our communities to continue or strengthen our traditional food systems and the use of traditional seeds;
9. Governments to support programs to ensure our communities’ access to clean drinking water, and for wastewater and water treatment programs, especially in developing countries;
10. Governments to support clean, renewable energy development and capacity building in our communities so that these systems can be established and maintained in our communities. IITC supports the concept of “Indigenous Sustainable Homeland Economies” based on renewable wind and solar energy development on Indigenous lands as an alternative strategy for sustainable economic development;
11. Support for the effective management of solid, non-biodegradable and other wastes through programs such as recycling and composting toilets; 
12. Support for our Peoples to manage and control their own natural resources;
13. Government and corporate accountability and transparency in decision-making in sustainable development, as well as compensation of Indigenous landowners at fair market value when lands are zoned for development or conservation;
14. The dissemination of complete information to our communities, on both the positive and negative impacts of development policies and projects before they are established and implemented;
15. The full participation of our communities in all stages and at all levels of decision-making and assessment of development projects so that we can assert our right to free, prior and informed consent;
16. A moratorium on all new development within or near our territories until full environmental, health, cultural, spiritual, and social impact assessments are conducted with the participation of our Peoples, including the participation of our traditional practitioners and spiritual leaders;
17. Establishment of political and financial mechanisms for demanding and conducting the above mentioned impact assessments in our communities, lands and territories prior to the approval of development projects, or when our community members find evidence of harm to environment or health from existing projects;
18. The designation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve to the status of a World Heritage Site;
19. The IITC to promote the participation of Indigenous youth in the international, national and local decision-making processes pertinent to Indigenous Peoples, the environment and sustainable development;
20. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to establish an Indigenous Youth Working Group to ensure the participation of Indigenous youth in the establishment of global policy on environment and sustainable development;
21. The IITC member affiliates to intensify their support for the Gwich’in Nation at this critical time by taking political action at national and international levels to prevent the violation of the inherent human right of the Gwich’in Nation to continue their ancestral way of life;
22. The IITC to develop a North/South Indigenous network on pesticides and toxics as an agricultural chemical education program.  The network would unite our Peoples in the North and South in the fight against pesticides and agricultural chemicals that affect our communities and our future generations, and will compile testimonies and case studies by affected Peoples.

FINALLY, WE ENDORSE the following documents, statements, resolutions and declarations: