Indigenous people must be included in discussions about water rights, U.N. rapporteur says

6 Sep 2019

Water rights must be “high on the agenda” for world leaders, and Indigenous concerns must be taken into account, the U.N. special rapporteur on Indigenous rights told Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview at a conference about water in Stockholm.

Indigenous people needed to be better “consulted and involved” with water projects to help stem the impacts of climate change, said special rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.

“The way indigenous people deal with water is something that has been developed through thousands of years so they have very, very sustainable systems of managing water,” she said.

“If indigenous peoples are not included then the contributions and their knowledge will also not be taken into account and that is a loss for society.”

Read the full story here.

Share your thoughts with us