CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
Intersessional Working Group on International Cooperation for an
Enabling Environment for Sustainable Development

Statement by the International Indian Treaty Council (ECOSOC NGO since 1977) March 13, 2001

Thank you to the Chairperson, distinguished delegates and colleagues for the opportunity to briefly address Traditional Knowledge and the work of the World Bank, as they are integrally related, and are equally critical to two of the Reports of the Secretary General being discussed by the Working Group: the Report on International Cooperation for an Enabling Environment for Sustainable Development, and the Report on Information for Decision Making and Participation.  

We whole-heartedly agree with the sections of the latter Report that underscore the value of traditional knowledge as it is addressed in Agenda 21, Chapter 40.  Paragraphs 27-29 on "Strengthening the Capacity for Traditional Information" mention efforts within the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to increase indigenous and local community participation in the work of the CBD.  With regard to the CBD and its Ad Hoc Open-ended Intersessional Working Group on the Implementation of Article 8(j) and Related Provisions, our organization and many other Indigenous Nations and organizations worked hard to bring it about, and we are committed to continuing to improve and participate in the working group on Article 8 (j).

We have been encouraged by World Bank efforts in the past decade, to develop safeguard policies to protect the environment and limit harm to Indigenous Peoples -- the keepers and practitioners of Traditional Knowledge. However, we are alarmed by the World Bank's current plans to implement a "conversion" programme that, by making guidelines more flexible, will ultimately weaken the very policies that Indigenous Peoples and other members of civil society have worked to develop in partnership with the World Bank.  

We therefore call on the World Bank NOT to weaken its safeguard standards, and to formalize a development approach that maintains consistency with international law.  

We also call for the implementation of the provisions of Agenda 21, Chapters 26 and 40 relevant to Indigenous Peoples and local communities traditional knowledge. In order to assure that Traditional Knowledge (TK) is justly protected and used toward the conservation and management of the world's biodiversity and natural resources, we call on governments, the CSD, WIPO, UNESCO and other relevant UN agencies and processes such as those of the CBD, to: