Representatives from indigenous communities around the world will gather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to discuss how to engage with and contribute to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). While the original Earth Summit 20 years ago aimed to implement sustainable development, indigenous peoples see little progress on the relationship between humanity and nature, with ecosystems and biodiversity still threatened. The four-day Indigenous Peoples Global Conference will focus on food sovereignty, development with culture and identity, impacts of extractive industries, and free prior and informed consent, with working groups developing proposals and recommendations each day.

1. Indigenous Peoples in route to Rio+20
Indigenous Peoples’
Global Conference
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil— June 16-19, 2012
Representatives of indigenous peoples communities, organizations and networks from Latin
America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, North America and the Artic will gather to discuss
how to engage and contribute effectively in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development,
also known as “Rio+20”.
Why is Rio+20 important for us ?
Almost 20 years have past since the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where States and peo-
ple of the world made a firm collective commitment to the implementation of a new vision for
Sustainable Development. However, 20 years later, indigenous peoples see that little has
changed since then regarding the fundamental relationship between human societies and the
natural world, and that ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as indigenous peoples who depend
on them, are ever more threatened and endangered.
Event info
The Indigenous Peoples Global Conference will be divided in four days and it will cover the
following themes:
Day 1 - Food Sovereignty and the Right to Food
Day 2 - Development with Culture and Identity
Day 3 - Impact of Extractive Industries on the “good life” of Indigenous Peoples
Day 4 - Free Prior and Informed Consent
Each theme will have work groups, plenaries, conferences and spaces for reflection. Likewise,
at the end of each day proposals and recommendations will be made as part of the final docu-
ment that will be presented.
For more information please contact Mr. Joel Cerda joel.cerda@iiwf.org