A/HRC/24/41 of indigenous peoples across the globe do not now have the capacity or financial means to develop their own resource extraction enterprises, or to build strategic partnerships with non-indigenous companies that would help develop their control over extractive enterprises. A long-term view should be taken to assist indigenous peoples who might want to go down this path as one of the alternatives that may be available to them, in contrast to the alternative of seeing the natural resources within their territories being extracted under the control of others. Indigenous peoples should not be viewed as being frozen at a certain stage of development or capacity, but rather should be supported in ways that enable them to develop and build capacity in accordance with their own designs and aspirations. 14. The Special Rapporteur is aware that in several countries State-sponsored programmes exist to assist indigenous peoples to manage natural resources or develop their own income generating enterprises, as part of broader programmes for development assistance. These programmes provide various kinds of support, such as grants, loans, favourable tax treatment, advisory services, skills training and scholarships. Where these programmes exist they should be strengthened and specifically targeted to support capacitybuilding and to provide financial assistance for indigenous peoples’ own initiatives for natural resource management and extraction. In those countries where they do not exist, such support programmes should be introduced and likewise developed by the State. International, regional and national donor and development agencies should also support indigenous peoples’ own resource extraction and development initiatives. 15. State support for indigenous peoples, furthermore, should include providing assistance for acquiring any necessary licenses or permits. Also, in granting any licenses or permits, States should give preference to indigenous peoples’ initiatives for resource extraction within their territories over any initiatives by third party business interests to pursue resource extraction within those same lands. 16. The justification for this preference is in the fact and nature of the indigenous presence. Characteristically, indigenous peoples have strong cultural attachments to the territories they inhabit, and their presence in those territories predates that of others. They have been stewards of the lands and resources within their territories for generations past, and have sought to safeguard the lands and resources for future generations. Very often indigenous peoples lay claim to all the resources, including subsurface resources, within their territories, under their own customs or laws, notwithstanding the laws of the State, and very often, those claims have not been adequately resolved. Given these factors, recognizing a priority for indigenous peoples for the extraction of resources within their territories is a matter of equity if not of entitlement. 17. Giving preference to indigenous peoples’ initiatives for resource extraction within their territories is, moreover, a matter of good practice. Resource extraction carried out by indigenous peoples themselves maximizes the possibility of such extraction being pursued in manners respectful of the rights and interests of indigenous peoples. When indigenous peoples themselves control resource extraction, many of the challenges and elements of instability inherent in extractive activities by State or third party enterprises are necessarily diminished or altogether avoided. In addition, profits that the resource extraction project generates are more likely to stay within the State, and capacity enhancement benefits local people. III. The standard scenario: when States or third party business enterprises promote the extraction of natural resources within indigenous territories 18. Just as indigenous peoples have the right to pursue their own initiatives for resource extraction, as part of their right to self-determination and to set their own strategies for 6