24 September 2014: The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with the International Land Coalition (ILC) and other partners organized a side event on ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources,’ at the margins of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) in New York, US.

Mirna Cunningham, Indigenous Advisor to the WCIP and former chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), chaired the event, which featured several keynote speakers, including Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Netherlands, among others.

Speakers discussed: ways to address indigenous peoples’ needs and priorities related to land issues, in the international development agenda; how to combat land grabbing and strengthen land governance for indigenous peoples and others enjoying customary land rights; and implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs). They also discussed traditional knowledge, customary sustainable use of biological resources and responses to climate change, as well as ways to ensure sustainable livelihoods for traditional pastoralists.

IFAD President, Kanayo F. Nwanze, said the principle of free, prior and informed consent must be followed in the design and implementation of all development strategies and programmes affecting indigenous peoples. Ploumen urged governments and the private sector to listen to, include, and respect the views of indigenous peoples in matters of land rights.

Others collaborating on the event were the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), and the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the UN.

The ILC grew out of an alliance known as the Population Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty, which formed at the 1995 Conference on Hunger and Poverty held in Brussels, Belgium. The ILC now focuses on its mandate to promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men through advocacy, dialogue and capacity building. The ILC is currently seeking input from members and non-members in support of its 2016-2020 strategic framework, which is anticipated to be adopted at its Global Assembly in Dakar, Senegal, in early 2015. [IFAD Press Release] [Event Agenda] [ILC Blog]