International Meeting Applaud's Australia's Support for Indigenous Peoples

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International Meeting Applaud's Australia's Support for Indigenous Peoples

Friday, 03 April 2009
PRESS RELEASE 3 April 2009 At today's international meeting under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), being held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Australia was given spontaneous applause following the announcement that Australia has supported the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The CBD meeting, continuing for one week until 9 April 2009, is the seventh session of the working group developing a regime for access to and benefit sharing of genetic resources. In acknowledging Australia's improved position on the Declaration Mr Mattias Ahren, the chairperson of the Saami Council of Arctic and northern Europe region, expressed the view in the meeting that the stance of the government represented not only a significant benefit for the Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, but all Indigenous Peoples of the world. He said Indigenous Peoples welcomed the decision of the government and thanked the government of Australia for its positive change in international policy. The brief announcement, made during the morning discussions, drew immediate and prolonged applause from the 600 participants at the meeting, including governments, environmental groups, industry and Indigenous Peoples. One of the subjects under discussion at the meeting is the protection of Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge rights in obtaining access to genetic resources. The objective is to identify an international regime which might be adopted at the 10th session of the Conference of Parties, the general assembly for the Convention, to be held in Japan in 2010. Les Malezer < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Last Updated ( Friday, 03 April 2009 )

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Nominations open: Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website Award.

The award is presented to indigenous tourism operations for their websites that promotes sustainable practices and biodiversity conservation, and educates visitors on cultural protocols. Globally, indigenous communities are the stewards of significant amounts of land with rich biodiversity, and many of them promote sustainable tourism as an additional livelihood option and as a means to share their culture and educate visitors on traditional knowledge.

http://www.indigenousportal.com/Biological-Diversity/Nominations-open-Indigenous-Tourism-and-Biodiversity-Website-Award.html