A Global Voice to the States and humanity for the preservation of life on the planet and for future generations
Following the Assembly of the “Alliance of Mother Nature’s Guardians”, which occurred on November 28th, 2015 in Paris, Indigenous peoples and allies, from around the globe, reminded us that indigenous populations represent more than 370 million people, in more than 70 countries and 5 continents. They form more than 5,000 different groups, and speak more than 4,000 languages.
Preamble
Indigenous peoples and allies reconvened here at Brasilia, Brazil, on October 12-16, 2017, invited by the Indigenous leaders of Brazil to solidify the proposed recommendations of 2015 in Paris. This 2nd Assembly acknowledges our prophecies and wisdom that tell us that life on Mother Earth is in danger and is coming to a time of great transformation. Indigenous peoples have continually taken care of Mother Earth and humanity. We want to continue to do that, with support of the people of the world. As Indigenous Peoples, we are accepting the responsibility designated by our prophecies to tell the world that we must live in peace with each other and the Mother Earth to ensure harmony within Creation and Mother Earths natural laws. We are calling for effective solutions that recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are calling to the world leaders, the States, the United Nations and civil society to romp with the actual colonial legal system and adopt a new one that treats nature and Mother Earth as a fundamental, rights bearing entity (plural?). A paradigm, that is based on Indigenous thought and philosophy needs to be forwarded, which grants equal rights to nature and which honors the interrelation in all life and territorial integrity of Mother Earth. There is no separation between the rights of Indigenous peoples and rights of Mother Earth.
As a consequence, we are demanding States and humanity to:
1. Will take action calling for the adoption by the United Nations and national and local governments, including Indigenous peoples governance structures, of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, as voiced by 35,000 people, representatives, and delegates at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 2010. That Declaration is a call stating fundamental and universal principles whose mission is to achieve the recognition of the rights of the Mother Earth and all its living beings, such as the foundation of a culture of respect necessary to the Buen Vivir* (Good Living) and to unite all inhabitants of the Earth around a common and universal interest: the Mother Earth is alive, she is our common home and we must respect and take care of her and future generations.
2. Implement and affirm the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 2007, in response to the recommendation of UN Conference on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Universally ratify and apply strictly the ILO 169.
3. All governments and corporations shall obtain the consent of Indigenous peoples according to the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, through collective decision in accordance with their own procedures prior to the approval of any projects affecting their land and territories, recognizing their right to refuse any project that will impact their peoples and life; including toxic polluting industries, agro-business and extractive mining with subsurface* and ocean sub-marine mining development; with assessment of impacts to sacred areas, to cultural and to human and ecological health. Indigenous peoples have the right to revoke at any moment the consent that may have been granted.
4. Taking into account indigenous traditional and sacred knowledge, we are asking all national States and local governments to make a just transition away from the fossil fuel economy to 100% renewable clean energy, leaving all the earth elements that when are burned, release climate change fumes under the soil and beneath the ocean floor. We also demand banning all new exploration and exploitation of oil, tar sands, oil/gas shale, fracking, coal, uranium, natural gas, and including the transportation infrastructures.
5. Action to strengthen The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 to address Indigenous peoples’ rights and needs. Indigenous peoples and allies number one concern is the Agreement is not strong enough and ambitions need to be increased with real solutions to avoid the projections on voluntary emission cuts that would still allow an average global temperature increase above 3-4°C . Indigenous peoples will educate our communities and develop strategy to take action addressing the following issues: The Paris Agreement is a trade agreement that does nothing but privatize, commodify and sell ocean, forest and agricultural offsets allowing those most responsible for greenhouse emissions not only to buy their way out of compliance for emission reduction but they get to profit from it as well; the agreement relies on other dirty and destructive energy including hydraulic fracturing, nuclear power, agro-fuels, carbon sequestration and other technological proposals that pose serious ecological risks; as the operating text of the Agreement omits any mention of human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples; , we need to work within the UN climate meetings to develop protocols with States for including traditional knowledge in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and the Agreement does not address the rights of reparations owed to the Global South by the Global North; and the demand for payments for reparations and restoration of loss and damaged lands, territories and livelihoods to Indigenous peoples of the South and North. We believe that climate change is not simply an environmental issue; it is the result of an unjust economic system that is in the business of pursuing endless growth, concentrating wealth in the hands of a few and over-exploiting nature to the point of collapse.
6. Adopt with full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples a international treaty establishing binding obligations towards transnational corporations and other business enterprises regarding human rights, which must include the rights of indigenous peoples, that would fully recognize all State’s obligations applicable to Indigenous peoples by virtue of international instruments in force.
7. Put into place mechanisms and legislations to ensure the Free, Prior and Informed Consent for protecting indigenous intellectual property rights, respecting their spiritual, sacred and secret dimensions of this knowledge. States must prevent unlawful and offensive appropriation of traditional knowledge. In access and benefit sharing, the provisions of FPIC must be applied
8. Take action on the illegal trade in: wildlife, timber, forest products and resources, genetic resources, endangered species and other biological resources. To assess the application of the United Nations Convention against Corruption as it applies to Indigenous people’s rights.
9. Recognize the actions of corporate and governmental policies that result in the destruction, degradation, contamination and toxic poisoning of the environment, ecosystems and habitat as an eco-crime against the territorial integrity of Mother Earth – also called ecocide. This shall align with the initiative to bring provisions of international crime of ecocide into the International Criminal Court.
10. Support the establishment of local, sub-national, nation-State and international programs and cooperation and partnership initiatives to protect, conserve and restore native forests and other ecosystems of the world within and near Indigenous peoples’ lands and territories, with the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples not to include market systems,. These programs must include funding for the demarcation and granting of property titles to indigenous forest dependent communities and to include indigenous-approved monitoring and surveillance of all indigenous lands. The self-management and full self-determination of Indigenous peoples in caring for their forests and biodiversity is required. These programs should be evaluated with Indigenous peoples to be replicated in other forests regions with mechanisms for financially scaling up implementation.
11. Urgently sanctuarize all primary forest spaces of this planet, traditionally under the watch of indigenous peoples, the UN having already recognized that their presence is a guaranteed factor of the non-deterioration of those invaluable environments. Indigenous peoples must once and for all own and guard these territories and cannot be evicted. The
Alliance underlines the need for creating as soon as possible, with the support of States, an international legal status to efficiently protect these vital ecosystems from any form of
predation*. These ecosystems must not be used as part of a carbon market mechanisms that quantifies and commodifies Mother Earth**, branded as payment for ecosystem services, carbon trading, carbon offsets, carbon pricing, REDD, CDM, biodiversity offsets and financialization of Nature; turning nature into “units” to be sold in financial markets.
12. Alert States and the international governing bodies and all people to protect and ensure a future for oceans, oceanic biodiversity, marine species and ocean sources*. If oceans die, we will die. Indigenous peoples have the right to establish title (título de propriedade)to ocean, sea bed, sea areas, coastal seas and sea ice through the law of the sea and the process set up under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. So, to protect and ensure the future of ocean and oceanic biodiversity we need to implement the following actions:
– Cease all world government subsidies to industrialized fishing operations.
– Ban all industrialized fishing technologies like super trawlers, longlines, drift nets, purse
seiners, all plastic monofilament nets and lines etc.
– Enforce international regulations against illegal fishing operations.
– Ban all commercial whaling activities. This does not apply to Indigenous peoples doing subsistence whaling.
-Ban all offshore drilling, fossil fuel exploration and sub-marine mining.
– Encourage diversity by promoting population growth in the fishes, marine mammals, seabirds and all other marine organisms.
– End the feeding of fish-meal (some 40% of the fish caught) to domestic animals like pigs,
chickens, salmons, and so far.
– Stop the dumping of chemicals, plastic, agricultural run-off and radioactive materials into the sea.
-Stop sonic pollution in the form of sonar exploration for oil and sonic weapon systems.
13. Ensure that UNESCO protect and respect, with full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples, in accordance with FPIC, sacred sites and spaces, within the biological and cultural diversity of Indigenous peoples, along with their land and governance rights.
14. Ban new constructions of hydroelectric dams, as preconized by Indigenous Peoples. For existing permitted hydroelectric dams, we call for the international and national regulation in a binding manner to the construction and maintenance of hydroelectric dams. The Alliance also recommends the dismantling of dams built in violation of the right to consent or to prior, free and informed consent of the affected indigenous peoples, and of all applicable obligations in force.
15. Recognize rights for future generations, in particular through the adoption of the declaration of rights (and duties) of humankind. The text aims to « remind that the present
generation has a duty to protect the heritage bequeathed by past generations, but also make choices which engage its responsibility towards future generations ». The text establishes four fundamental principles. It establishes the principle of responsibility, equity and solidarity between generations, the principle of the human dignity , the principle of continuity of the existence of humankind, and finally non-discrimination due to the belonging to a generation. This aligns with our Indigenous worldviews that expresses our consideration of all decisions we make that will have effect on future generations of our peoples, life and nature.
16. We the Indigenous peoples of the world declare that water is a living being that has rights that we shall protect now and for future generations. Water is a living spirit that has a right to be treated as an ecological entity, with its own inherent right to exist, including watersheds and aquatic ecosystems having right to be healthy and clean. Water includes rain water, rivers, source of rivers, headwaters, glaciers, ice, water caches, springs, lakes, streams, waterfalls, coastlines, subsidiaries, estuaries, underground water tables, aquifers and other water bodies. Water is not a commodity and States must to ban the privatization of water. All of Mother Earth’s species have inherent rights to water. Indigenous peoples have inherent rights to water and waterways for navigation, customary and cultural uses. All Indigenous peoples have a right to access adequate supplies of water that are safe for human consumption, hygiene and cooking.
17. States and all governments must take action on the targeting of Indigenous women and find new ways to end violence that is linked between the dominant society’s treatment and objectification of Mother Earth and women. Humanity must recognize the importance of indigenous women as caretakers of biodiversity. Women have the strength and resilience to face effects to man-made climate change and environmental injustice. Indigenous women and Mother Earth bear the consequences of these effects; compounded by a patriarchal capitalistic society. Women are harmed from man-camps of the extractive industries; resulting in domestic and sexual abuse; sex trading and prostitution; and alcoholism and drug abuse causing disruption of maintaining healthy indigenous families and communities. Women are the “First Environment”. Nursing infants are the first victims. Women experience the effects of toxic chemicals and high toxic body burdens in the uterus, causing spontaneous abortions, breast milk contamination, causing harm to future generations. Funding mechanisms must be created to empower Indigenous women and their communities to have a voice in local, national and international levels as decision-makers in climate, energy, environment and health policy. The invisibility of our humanity is literally killing Indigenous women, children and future generations.
18. Indigenous peoples in situation of voluntary isolation have the right to accept or refuse any contact. States must protect their territories and must recognize Indigenous peoples already contacted by national societies as guardians of the autonomy and the rights of these peoples. Governments and individuals must behold responsible for violations for rights and damage against Indigenous peoples in situation of voluntary isolation.
