Goal 1: Poverty

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Thematic Focus Chittagong Hill Tracts Climate Change Identification of Indigenous Peoples International and National Policies Land Rights Self-determination Poverty Racism Sustainable Development Political Participation Intellectual Property Rights

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Working Group on Indigenous Populations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Council UN Special Rapporteur African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Human Rights Committee Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2nd UN Decade on Indigenous Peoples Arctic Council Organisation of American States

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	Thematic Focus
	Logging
	Oil and gas development
	Millennium Development Goals
	Chittagong Hill Tracts
	Climate Change
	Identification of Indigenous Peoples
	International and National Policies
	Land Rights
	Self-determination
	Poverty
	Racism
	Sustainable Development
	Political Participation
	Intellectual Property Rights

The pictures below are from Indigenous Affairs 1/2006 School at nomad camp near Tezirzet, Niger, in the Air and Tenere Reserve. Photo: Nigel Crawhall Hadzabe children, Tanzania. Photo: Nigel Crawhall Fulani herder watering his animals at a borehole in Niger. Photo: Brigitte Thébaud Maasai women sell beadwork at the MWEDO booth at the 2005 Gender Festival in Dar es Salaam. Photo: Dorothy L. Hodgson		Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger Numerous technical and comparative studies reveal that poverty affects indigenous peoples more severely than the rest of the population, be it those living in their communities of origin or those living in urban areas. Poverty indicators for indigenous peoples are generally below the national average. A low level of per capita monetary income is not the only form that poverty takes. Poverty among indigenous peoples also translates in a failure to meet their basic needs, insufficient access to public and social services, including access to quality education, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to productive resources such as land, water, forests and other natural resources. This is a complex panorama of persistent poverty, deeply rooted in the historic conditions of spoliation, discrimination and structural inequality suffered by indigenous peoples. Such multifaceted poverty cannot be overcome with piecemeal measures. It requires comprehensive public policies that unfortunately, to date, neither the majority of states nor multinational bodies have succeeded in bringing about. Indigenous notion of poverty Although indigenous peoples generally belong to the poorest segment of the societies in which they live, many indigenous peoples do not consider themselves to be poor. Many in fact dislike being labelled as such because of its negative and discriminatory connotations. On the contrary, they consider that they have resources, unique knowledge and know-how and that their cultures have special values and strength. But they often feel ‘impoverished’ as a result of processes which are out of their control and sometime irreversible. These processes have dispossessed them of their traditional lands, restricted or prohibited their access to natural resources, resulted in the breakdown of their communities and the degradation of their environment, thereby threatening their physical and cultural survival. Therefore, when talking about poverty in an indigenous context it may be more appropriate to talk about impoverishment processes, which finds its roots in colonization, the destruction of indigenous economic and socio-political systems, continuing systemic racism and discrimination, social exclusion, and the non-recognition of indigenous peoples’ individual and collective rights. Further reading Editorial (Indigenous Poverty: An Issue of Rights and Needs), by Diana Vinding. Indigenous Affairs 1/2003 MDGs, Globalisation and Indigenous Peoples in Africa, by Nigel Crawhall. Article from Indigenous Affairs 1/2006 Will Pastoral Legislation Disempower Pastoralists in the Sahel?, by Ced Hesse and Brigitte Thébaud. Article from Indigenous Affairs 1/2006 Cause for Celebration or Celebration of a Cause: Pastoralism and Poverty Reduction Strategies in East Africa, by Michael Ochieng Odhiambo. Article from Indigenous Affairs 1/2006 MDGs and the Maasai of Kenya: What Prospects, What Challenges?, by Michael Ochieng Odhiambo, MPIDO, 2006 The paper "Indigenous peoples and the Millennium Development Goals" submitted to the 4th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, PFII chairperson deals specifically with the issue of poverty from page 2-11. Minority Rights Group International has produced two reports on indigenous peoples and poverty: "Indigenous Peoples and Poverty: The Cases of Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua" and "PRSPs, Minorities and Indigenous Peoples"