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We the participants of the Indigenous Forum represent more than sixty communities and indigenous peoples from different parts of the world, united in the city of Cuzco, Peru between 25-30 June 2008, in the framework of the XI International Congress of Ethnobiology, where we discussed and exchanged experiences regarding the Food Sovereignty and Local Livelihoods of our communities, declare:
- Our conviction to maintain and enhance our traditional knowledge systems and intercultural dialogue.
- We celebrate the adoption of the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as part of the General Assembly of nation members.
- We demand the real and concrete implementation of the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by governments in their legislation, policies and national strategies.
- We urge all scientists and academics worldwide to incorporate and implement the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in their research and activities.
- We demand the respect and revalorization of our ancestral cultures and the recognition of our rights to access land, seeds, food diversity and water as tools to our livelihoods and guarantee for our food security.
- We demand that governments respect and support our exchange systems and the marketing of our agrobiodiversity resources.
- We reject all free trade agreements and oligopolies by agricultural corporations that threaten to seize the agrobiodiversity and our associated knowledge in order to advance the production of biofuels and the expansion of transgenic seeds.
- We demand that the scientific community search for alternatives to reduce carbon emissions, reduce pollution and mitigate climate change, in order to avoid that indigenous peoples become obligated to participate in the carbon market and the REDD initiatives.
- We reject biopiracy in any of its forms and demand from the scientific community, governments and NGOs, the unrestricted respect of our culture and associated traditional knowledge of genetic and biological resources.
Finally we urge the members of the International Society of Ethnobiology to continue providing the Indigenous Forum with the space that allows the enrichment of traditional knowledge systems and methods, and to improve the dialogue for the joint search for alternatives to the food and environmental problems of humanity.
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