On Worldwide Indigenous Peoples Day, new briefing paper calls on banks and financiers to guard the rights of Indigenous Peoples
In recognition of World’s Indigenous Peoples Day, a brand new briefing paper calls on banks and financiers to ban dangerous financing in areas the place Free, Prior and Knowledgeable Consent (FPIC) has not been obtained from Indigenous Peoples and native communities.
Co-published by Friends of the Earth US, Cultural Survival, and Instituto Maíra, the paper, “Protecting biodiversity from harmful financing: Areas Where the Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous and local communities have not been obtained,” demonstrates the very important function of Indigenous Peoples and native communities play in defending biodiversity. It explains the nuances in how Free, Prior and Knowledgeable Consent is a singular proper to Indigenous Peoples assured beneath worldwide legislation, whereas FPIC can be utilized as a greatest apply in participating native communities.
Though Indigenous Peoples make up simply six % of the world’s inhabitants, their lands maintain 80% of the world’s biodiversity. So as to shield biodiversity, banks and financiers should shield the rights of Indigenous Peoples and native communities, as the 2 are inexorably linked. Indigenous and group lands and forests are related to decrease charges of deforestation, increased ranges of carbon storage, decreased battle, and general higher biodiversity conservation. But banks are driving biodiversity loss, local weather change, and human rights abuses through their continued monetary assist to high-risk sectors, notably fossil fuels, extractive industries, and industrial agriculture.
The paper gives helpful classes and key takeaways on how the worldwide banking sector can set up strong Indigenous Peoples insurance policies.
Key takeaways of this paper embrace:
- Indigenous Peoples are the perfect guardians of world’s biodiversity, wherein to guard Indigenous rights is to guard biodiversity.
- FPIC is outlined as consent that’s given freely, by individuals totally knowledgeable of the implications, previous to any choice being made, and based on their very own decision-making processes.
- FPIC is enshrined beneath worldwide human rights legislation for Indigenous Peoples, and is a course of for expressing the suitable of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination.
- FPIC can be utilized as a greatest apply for meaningfully participating with native communities.
- Respecting Indigenous Peoples’ proper to FPIC is vital in permitting and enabling them to train their proper to self-determination, and their capability to find out their very own financial, social, and cultural improvement paths.
- Failing to implement FPIC accurately usually results in much more dangers and challenges for each banks and their shoppers.
- Banks and financiers should set up a strong Indigenous Peoples Coverage which requires FPIC, if not already developed
- Banks and financiers ought to make sure that Indigenous Peoples and biodiversity insurance policies or frameworks are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
- Banks and financiers ought to prohibit financing to sectors and firms that are well-known drivers of human and environmental rights violations, such because the fossil gasoline and industrial agribusiness sectors.
- Banks and financiers ought to set up institutional accountability mechanisms, if not already developed. They need to additionally require any venture degree grievance mechanism to be truthful, accessible, and efficient.
- Banks, financiers, and shoppers ought to plan for a “no venture” choice at any stage of a financed exercise with a view to permit and facilitate correct implementation of FPIC as an iterative course of.
- Banks and financiers ought to think about the historic, documented patterns of previous abuse in opposition to Indigenous Peoples in high-risk sectors, and account for the way Indigenous communities have responded to earlier or comparable initiatives in close by areas.
- The place Indigenous Peoples have clearly and repeatedly spoken out in opposition to sure sectors and related initiatives prior to now, banks ought to respect Indigenous Peoples’ selection to not interact in any additional or future proposed actions or initiatives.
- Banks and financiers ought to explicitly reference and adjust to the UN Guiding Rules on Enterprise and Human Rights, along with key worldwide legislation requirements on human rights, and Indigenous customary legislation and protocols.
- Banks and financiers ought to publicly disclose lending, underwriting, shareholding, and funding in high-risk sectors, together with info on possession and shareholder pursuits in particular investments in oil palm and different agribusiness corporations to make sure transparency, together with pursuits in shadow corporations registered in offshore jurisdictions.
- Banks and financiers ought to set up significant incentives for employees and shoppers to instill and encourage a tradition of cautious due diligence and accountable choice making on human rights and environmental governance.
- Banks and financiers ought to embrace non-compliance clauses in financing agreements, corresponding to the suitable to interrupt or cancel financing the place there may be proof of violation of land rights, FPIC, and/or severe unresolved group grievances (i.e. killings, violence, retaliation, threats, and many others.)
This paper is a part of Buddies of the Earth US’ new “Defending Biodiversity from Dangerous Financing” briefing paper collection, which underscores why banks and financiers ought to exclude dangerous, unsustainable financing to actions and initiatives which impression vital, at-risk ecosystems.
Every briefing paper is devoted to a key space as recognized by the Banks and Biodiversity Initiative’s eight proposed No Go Areas. This paper is about areas the place free, prior and knowledgeable consent has not been obtained by Indigenous Peoples and native communities, which is paper 07 of the collection.
Full briefing paper collection consists of:
Buddies of the Earth US is a part of the Banks and Biodiversity Initiative, a civil society coalition which advocates that banks and financiers strengthen their biodiversity insurance policies and practices with a view to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. Be taught extra at banksandbiodiversity.org.
