United Nations expert, political analyst and longstanding activist for the rights of indigenous peoples, Álvaro Pop was also for several months a FAO consultant and focal point for indigenous peoples in his home country, Guatemala. He has been now appointed to chair the Fifteenth Session of the Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues. In this interview, he gives us his insight on the work of FAO with indigenous peoples and the challenges that come ahead in this new session of the Permanent Forum which will focus on the theme "Indigenous Peoples: conflicts, peace and resolution." 

Álvaro, congratulations for this new appointment. What do you expect to be the dynamics in this session of the Permanent Forum?

It will be a difficult session because in many parts of the world we are suffering attacks, violence and criminalization of our leaders. Conflict is a constant against indigenous peoples, being violation of our rights a form of violence per se. Indigenous peoples have become the bastions in the defence of lands, water and natural resources, slowly people are realising that these resources are essential for the future of humanity. During centuries, indigenous peoples have been working together and building a view of the world that dialogues with nature and at some point this must be recognized. 

As someone who knows FAO, who participated in the elaboration of FAO Policy of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, what advice can you give us to improve our support to indigenous peoples?

Both in countries where the majority of the population is indigenous, and the ones with low indigenous populations, indigenous peoples are treated as minorities. I would recommend FAO to build up different strategies that imply the allocation of resources, technical capacities and support to States according to the number of indigenous populations in each country. 

In addition, I think it is essential to undertake an evaluation on the technical capacities of each FAO country office to implement the Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. This Policy is an extremely important tool, perhaps the more evolved tool United Nations agencies have in the field, in this sense, FAO has taken an invaluable step forward to dialogue with indigenous peoples in different regions. 

Other important issue is the need to increase the participation of indigenous women in our field projects. We know that projects and programmes undertaken by United Nations in all regions multiply its impacts if women participate fully. In this sense, we need to expand our network of indigenous and gender focal points with professionals that know well how indigenous communities work. 

As you know the United Nations System Wide Action Plan for Indigenous Peoples (UNSWAP) requested by Ban ki-moon has already been sent to all country offices, what are the main challenges for its implementation?

The UNSWAP is a tremendous achievement in which we have advanced very rapidly, although it does bring challenges. We need to revise the capacities of our agencies per country and per region to identify what is working and what is not. 

There are indicators that prove that we have not been as efficient as we should have. For example, it worries me that in Latin America, and in Guatemala in particular, chronic malnutrition has increased in indigenous regions, although in the overall country it has been reduced. In this sense, the assessment the Secretary General and the Assembly are bringing up is fundamental to improve our work, and in the context of an Action Plan for all the UN system means we need to do much more sensitization, allocation of resources and coordination between the UN Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ILO Convention 169. 

The principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent is already compulsory in all FAO projects, having being incorporated also in the Environment and Social Management Guidelines, what are the difficulties in the application of FPIC in the countries?

There are big challenges for the achievement of indigenous peoples rights on the side of States. We have seen that in all regions of the world, but there is also a fundamental actor we need to recognize and treat adequately and that is the world of business, investments and translational capital. The key challenge on FPIC is the will of the international business elite and political classes. These actors need to recognize what we are requesting from FAO, and what has been already agreed through the United Nations. In the national level, these business and political elites have to accept or at least engage in a dialogue around these instruments. 

But there is also the need to recognize indigenous peoples' own mechanisms and ancestral authorities for decision-making, because in every region, country or community mechanisms are different and we have to be aware of those mechanisms in order to effectively implement Free, Prior and Informed Consent. 

Indigenous peoples in many parts of the world are involved in the process of the formal recognition of their ancestral lands, territories and natural resources, what do you think about the Voluntary Guidelines of the Governance of Tenure?

Land is a key issue when looking at the compliance of indigenous peoples rights and constitutional rights in our countries, and guidelines of this nature give the conditions to build regulations in this respect, but it is a very slow process. The challenge is that they are voluntary, so FAO and governments have to make a great effort to engage in a legislation dialogue to move ahead in this sense. 

What is more valuable of the Guidelines is that their socialization can raise the consciousness to overcome the marginalization in which indigenous peoples live in many places, knowing that they are powerless before the violation of their rights of access to their ancestral lands.

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