This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples General Assembly.

To commemorate this, hundreds gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York for the 23rd session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The forum was established in July 2000 and was tasked to address indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, as well as on education, health, and human rights. 

UN General Assembly president Dennis Francis says indigenous peoples are also guardians of 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity. 

“We have much to learn from indigenous peoples,” he said, “who have long proven themselves to be responsible custodians of the natural resources of the planet.”

Filipino delegates to the forum agreed with Francis that IPs are the real stewards of the environment. 

Said Gaspar Cayat, a commissioner of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples: “In Ifugao, we have the Moyong, the community [who] maintains forested areas in order to protect the environment and source of water. So, indeed, the IPs know how to preserve the environment.”

NCIP chairperson Jennifer Pia Sibug-Las, meanwhile, underscored the importance of the Indigenous People Rights Act, enacted into a law in 1997. 

“Our indigenous Filipinos continue to face discrimination especially related to their identity and dignity,” she said in Filipino. 

“We hope that the time comes that there is no more discrimination, that the opportunities and treatment for the indigenous Filipinos will be equal.”

At a side event at the Philippine Consulate General in New York, Manila’s envoy to the UN Antonio Manuel Lagdameo reiterated the Philippines’ commitment to the UN Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“Even without the UNDRIP, the Philippines had already made headway in the promotion and protection of the rights and well-being of our indigenous peoples belonging to more than 200 ethnolinguistic groups,” he said, referring to the country’s IPRA. 

The said measure mandates, among others, that the government protect the rights of IPs to their ancestral domains, ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being, and recognize customary laws that govern their property rights.