Report submitted to the Canadian Commission for UNESCO by the Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Austin Nunez, Mona Polacca, Darlene Sanderson, and Tom Goldtooth

Conclusions and recommendations from participants and conveners

From sessions on Indigenous peoples’ and water-‐related issues during

7^th World Water Forum, Korea, April 2015

Summary of Citizen’s Forum, B41, Water Climate Change and Peace

and concluding Session on Water Culture, Justice and Equity 4.4CON

and Thematic Session: 4.4.2.

Recognition by all governments of Indigenous peoples’ interests on water and customary uses of water by ensuring that Indigenous rights are enshrined in national and sub-‐national legislation and policy through the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that was adopted in 2007 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Establish in the Daegu Implementation Road Map a process for recognition of the rights of water, as enshrined within the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth-‐Nature
Develop curricula for multiple-‐stakeholder education on the understanding of Indigenous peoples worldview on the culture of water and the sacredness of water that includes: Indigenous-‐based perspectives of water democracy and governance of water; the rights of Indigenous peoples; the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

Acknowledge the need for education, workshops and dialogues with diverse stakeholders, including but not limited to government, water policy makers, civil society, women, youth and the business sector, with Indigenous peoples’ on the need for humanity to re-‐evaluate its relationship to the sacredness of water, nature and Mother Earth

Embrace Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in water management, water security, and all crosscutting links of water to food security and food sovereignty, climate change, water scarcity, water governance, sanitation, energy, disaster preparedness and recovery, and its link to green growth and transitions to living economies and incorporate this in the Daegu Implementation Road Map.
Develop cultural, social and spiritual indicators of water’s health, wellbeing and the inherent rights of water; and develop and implement research mechanisms to assess nation-‐states relationship to Indigenous peoples and the recognition and application of indigenous-‐based worldviews of water management.
Strengthen in consultation with Indigenous traditional knowledge keepers and spiritual leaders, the criteria and classification within UNESCO and countries, to protect sites and areas that have cultural, spiritual, and historical significance to water and the heritage of water. Strengthen mechanisms for establishing rivers as World Heritage sites.

Establish mechanisms including financial support to enable increased participation of Indigenous peoples in future World Water Forum meetings. Inter alia through collaboration with and funding of the Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace as a catalyst for community and institutional capacity building, education and paradigm shift in humanity’s relationship with achieving global water-‐related goals that recognize the territorial integrity of Mother Earth.

Respect traditional and Indigenous knowledge and experience; find ways to combine Indigenous and modern science for better solutions.

Address through the World Water Forum and World Water Council, the nuclear leaking in the Pacific and incorporate activity on this in the Daegu Implementation Road Map.

Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace