Partners

	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) As a UN specialized agency, UNESCO’s role is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among countries and peoples through education, sciences, culture and communication. UNESCO has been contributing for many years to international efforts with respect to climate change, but this work has focused primarily on climate science. Recently, however, following the lead of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UNESCO has adopted a Strategy for Action on Climate Change. The Strategy includes a focus on the needs of countries and communities that must adapt to changes brought about by global warming. To this end, the Frontlines Forum reaches out to vulnerable communities in order to bring their knowledge and experience into international climate change debates, while facilitating the sharing of local strategies for climate change adaptation. The Forum builds on the success of UNESCO’s Small Islands Voice (SIV) project and its Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) programme.
	Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) The Convention on Biological Diversity, the first global agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, was signed in 1992 at the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This treaty gained rapid and widespread acceptance. Over 150 governments signed the document at the Rio conference, and since then more than 187 countries have ratified the agreement. The Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the major international movements in recognizing the role of indigenous and local communities and their traditional knowledge in conserving and ensuring the sustainable use of biodiversity, two fundamental objectives of the Convention. This recognition is enshrined in the preamble of the Convention as well as its Article 8(j). In addition, this unique legal instrument stresses the importance of customary practice in biodiversity conservation and calls for its protection and for equitable benefit sharing from the use and application of traditional technologies and that such access and use is with the approval of the relevant indigenous and local communities.
	Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UN-SPFII) The Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (SPFII) was established by the General Assembly in 2002 and has been based, since February 2003, at UN Headquarters in New York in the Division for Social Policy and Development of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DSPD/DESA). SPFII works year-round to prepare the annual sessions of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and provide support to the Members of the UNPFII throughout the year. SPFII advocates for, facilitates and promotes the implementation within the UN system of the recommendations that emerge from each annual UNPFII session and promotes awareness of indigenous issues within the UN system, governments, and the broader public. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will devote its special theme for its seventh sesssion in 2008 to "Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges" and will adopt significant recommendations addressed to the inter-governmental system, governments, indigenous organizations and civil society at large.
	Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) OHCHR is based in Geneva and is the UN's prinicipal office mandated to promote and protect human rights for all. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the General Assembly in September 2007, was elaborated under the auspices of the office. Two important human rights mechanisms are administered by OHCHR. They are the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Both report to the Human Rights Council, the UN's principal inter-governmental body for human rights. OHCHR has a specialist unit on indigenous peoples which works to integrate indigenous issues into its policies, programmes and field presences. The office also adminsters a travel fund to assist indigenous representatives take part in the Expert Mechanism and Permanent Forum. More than 100 travel grants are given every year. In 2008, the Human Rights Council requested that the High Commissioner prepare a study on "climate change and human rights" and information for the study is being solicited from all sources including indigenous peoples. Further information can be obtained from the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Unit or on the OHCHR website.
	Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark The activities of the Climate Frontlines Forum during 2009-2011 are made possible through a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.