The objective of this meeting, held on the margins of the 8th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), was to present an update on the on-going work in the elaboration of UNESCO’s policy on engaging with indigenous peoples and to collect comments and inputs from indigenous peoples’ representatives in the process.

Ms Serena Heckler from UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector presented comprehensive information on the principles and focus areas of the draft policy as well as on next steps towards it finalization. It was repeatedly underscored that indigenous peoples have a unique diversity of cultures, languages, knowledge and wisdom with which they contribute to the world’s sustainability.

The meeting highlighted that UNESCO’s work in education, natural, social and human sciences, culture, communication and information must be well harmonized with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Special attention should be also paid to the empowerment and capacity building of indigenous peoples to enable them to fully enjoy their rights, including  free, prior and informed consent.

The critical importance of local and indigenous knowledge for natural resource management and for adaptation to climate change was especially stressed. It was recalled that UNESCO’s Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Programme works to raise awareness on this issue and to reinforce transmission of indigenous and local knowledge at the local, national and global levels.

Participants showed particular interest in the question of the protection of the indigenous peoples rights with respect to their cultural heritage in view of the EMRIP’s study on this topic that was considered on the same day by the Experts Mechanism.

In that respect, Mr Edmond Moukala from UNESCO Culture Sector explained that the World Heritage Committee has given increasing consideration to the notion of community participation over the past decade, although this principle had not initially been a central aspect in the framing of this Convention when it was adopted in 1972. Furthermore, the most recent revisions to the Operational Guidelines of the World Heritage Convention in June 2015 included a reference to the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

UNESCO encouraged indigenous peoples and experts in this area to continue providing their inputs to the policy and invited them all to the International Conference “Resilience in a Time of Uncertainty: Indigenous peoples and climate change”, to be held on 26-27 November 2015 in Paris, France.