CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DECLARATION

TO THE WORLD PARKS CONGRESS

Preamble

We, the Indigenous Peoples united here in Durban, South Africa, at the Indigenous Peoples' Preparatory Conference for the World Parks Congress, held 6 to 7 September 2003, would especially like to thank our Indigenous hosts, the Khoi and the San Peoples of South Africa for welcoming us to their territory;

Recalling the international community’s commitment made at Rio and Johannesburg, on Indigenous Peoples vital role in sustainable development and environmental conservation, we reaffirm our vision of a respectful relationship by all peoples towards Mother Earth and our commitment to practice this respect in our terrestrial, coastal/marine and freshwater domains. Our respect for nature must not be limited to protected areas, but must encompass the earth;

Taking into account the special relationship we have with our lands, territories and the resources therein, we reaffirm our holistic vision which strongly binds biodiversity and cultural identity and unites a people with its territory;

Affirming that Indigenous Peoples are rights-holders, not merely stakeholders;

Remembering that internationally recognized Indigenous Peoples' rights have been systematically violated in protected areas, including the right to life;

Recognizing that Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, practices and areas of conservation, as well as systems of resource management pre-date the imposition of Western and alien concepts of protected areas. The latter result in the loss of Indigenous territories, impoverishment and the degradation of nature. 

Drawing attention to the fact that the current global economic model contradicts the aims of conservation and preservation of nature;

Highlighting the fact that all states have international obligations to promote Indigenous Peoples’ rights and that although some states have made advances in national legislation, there is still insufficient application of these norms at the national level;

Acknowledging IUCN’s positive efforts in advancing the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the adoption of World Conservation Congress Resolution 1.53 Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas (Montreal, Canada 1996), we nevertheless call attention to the lack of implementation of these policies;

We therefore declare the following:

1) We reassert Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right to self-determination.

2) We Indigenous Peoples are rights-holders and not merely stakeholders.

3) We call special attention to the severe problem of the forced expulsion and systematic exclusion of Indigenous Peoples from their lands and territories in the creation of protected areas in Africa, as well as in other parts of the world. We thus call for an immediate halt to these practices which result in the destruction of their livelihood and condemn this form of cultural genocide.

4) The ancestral and customary rights of Indigenous Peoples to their lands, territories, and natural resources must be recognized, respected and protected. In cases where our lands have been expropriated to create protected areas, these must be restituted to us and rapid, just, fair and significant compensation, agreed upon in a fully transparent, participatory and culturally appropriate manner, must be provided.

5) We categorically reject any protected area and conservation policy which promotes the discrimination, exclusion and/or expulsion of Indigenous Peoples from their territories and their impoverishment.

6) In the light of these experiences, we call upon the World Parks Congress to uphold civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in all protected area policies, programmes, projects and activities. Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ best practices at the grassroots level prove that rights-based approaches to sustainable development and natural conservation are the way forward.

7) We urge the World Parks Congress to call for the immediate adoption of the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples within the present International Decade for the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

8) When protected areas are to be established, the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples concerned must be obtained, an appropriate social and cultural impact assessment must be carried out and, most importantly, the Indigenous Peoples must at all times reserve the right to say "no".

9) In existing protected areas, created on Indigenous Peoples’ territories, the World Parks Congress should support the rapid establishment of a legal framework to ensure culturally appropriate, full and effective participation of the Indigenous Peoples concerned in all aspects of the administration and management processes of protected areas.

10) Neither Indigenous Peoples, nor our lands and territories are objects of tourism development. If tourism is to benefit us it must be under our full control.

11) We call upon the World Parks Congress and IUCN to uphold and strengthen IUCN Amman Congress (Jordan, 2000) Recommendation 2.82 Protection and conservation of biological diversity of protected areas of the negative impacts of mining and exploration and to prohibit extractive industries in and around protected areas and to halt planned and existing extractive activities in and around World Heritage Sites.

12) The World Parks Congress must recognize the cultural integrity of Indigenous Peoples and ensure the integration of traditional collective management systems as a basis for the management of protected areas.

13) We call upon this global gathering to recognize that through the protection and promotion of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and through recognizing and integrating our dynamic and holistic visions, we are securing not only our future, but the future of humanity and social and environmental justice for all.