UNESCO Chief Urges New Arrangements For Global Sustainability

Tehran, Aug 7, IRNA — Director-General of UNESCO Ms. Irina Bokova in her message on the occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9, 2013, said in order to protect the rights of all indigenous peoples, new alliances, agreements and arrangements for global sustainability are needed. According to a press release issued by the UN Information Center (UNIC), she said in her message that in a world undergoing rapid environmental change and societies experiencing deep transformation, solidarity must be our guiding principle – solidarity embodied in alliances amongst indigenous groups and with non-indigenous partners -- to safeguard and promote unique identities, languages, knowledge systems and worldviews. This is especially important as we shape the contours of a new global development agenda to follow 2015. For UNESCO, global sustainability must build on foundations that are local, that reflect the views and needs of local communities, including those of indigenous peoples. This is why we seek to integrate culture at the heart of all development efforts – as a wellspring of identity and cohesion and a source of creativity and innovation. No society can flourish without culture -- no development can be sustainable without it. Indigenous peoples know this better than most, as custodians to rich linguistic and cultural diversity, carrying unique knowledge of sustainable living and respect for biodiversity. We need new alliances to take this vision forward – across the United Nations system, with member states, within and between societies, she added. The United Nations 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognized that “respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and proper management of the environment.” To build on this vision, and to protect the rights of all indigenous peoples, we need new alliances, agreements and arrangements for global sustainability./end