A/77/238 assistance and the establishment of ways and means of ensuring participation of indigenous peoples on issues affecting them. Under article 42, United Nations specialized agencies, including at the country level, and States shall promote respect for the full application of the provisions of the Declaration and follow up on its effectiveness. 2. International environmental law 16. In addition to the laws and policies directly affirming indigenous peoples’ rights, a number of international environmental treaties regulate the management of lands, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa. All three conventions derive from the Eart h Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992 and address interdependent issues. Predating them are the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972 and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat of 1971. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur will focus on the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Heritage Convention because they both deal with the designation of protected areas. 17. Under article 8 (j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the States parties are required to respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous peoples relevant for the conservation of biological diversity, to promote their wider application with the approval of knowledge holders and to encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices. Although the human rights of indigenous peoples are not explicitly recognized in the Convention, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention has supported numerous initiatives relating to the rights of indigenous peoples, including the Ad Hoc Open-ended Inter-sessional Working Group on Article 8 (j) and related provisions, established in 1998. The Working Group has developed a number of guidelines to strengthen the inclusion of indigenous peoples in decision-making, including the Mo’otz Kuxtal and Rutzolijirisaxik Voluntary Guidelines, adopted in 2016 and 2018, respectively. 7 V. Current impacts on indigenous peoples’ rights in protected areas 18. Indigenous peoples across the globe have overall not seen a concrete improvement in the realization of their rights in the context of conservation initiatives since the issuance of the relevant thematic report by the previous mandate holder in 2016. The Special Rapporteur continues to receive a high number of communications with allegations of alarming violations in protected areas. Indigenous peoples are denied their rights to land and resources, self-determination and autonomy, and cultural heritage, and suffer from forced evictions, killings, physical violence and abusive prosecution. Such violations have had particularly negative impacts on women and girls, who are primarily responsible for gathering food, fuel, water and medicine and are therefore exposed to risks of sexual violence at the hands of militarized security forces, park rangers and law enforcement. The ability of indigenous peoples to maintain and transmit their knowled ge is also impeded by limited access to natural resources and sacred sites. __________________ 7 22-11289 See www.cbd.int/convention/wg8j.shtml. 7/20