Post 2015 Development Process: Water

Indigenous peoples constitute 5 % of the world’s population but 15 % of the world’s poor. They make up around 1/3 of the world’s extremely poor rural population. Many lack access to, control over and suffer pollution of their water resources, severely damaging their health, livelihood and cultural survival. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a unique opportunity to address these concerns and to take indigenous peoples’ right to water into consideration. This note, produced by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) in collaboration with Tebtebba and with contributions and advice from indigenous peoples’ experts,1 aims to inform stakeholders about the issue of water from an indigenous perspective in the post 2015-development discussion.