A/HRC/48/54 be adopted) provided for in ILO Convention 169 and other pertinent international and national instruments.”22 Correlation between deforestation and zoonotic diseases 19. Securing the land rights of indigenous peoples further protects biodiversity and forest habitats, resulting in fewer pandemics. 23 There is significant spatial overlap between the traditional lands of indigenous peoples and areas which retain the highest levels of biodiversity. Traditional indigenous territories encompass around a quarter of the world’s land surface and they coincide with areas that hold some 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity. It has been estimated that 50 per cent of protected areas worldwide have been established on lands traditionally occupied and used by indigenous peoples. Studies have demonstrated that the territories of indigenous peoples who have been given land rights have been significantly better conserved than the adjacent lands.24 20. Importantly, there is a correlation between deforestation, habitat loss and outbreaks of infectious diseases.25 Deforestation not only threatens the survival of indigenous peoples, it disrupts fragile ecosystems, causing the emergence of infectious zoonotic diseases, such as COVID-19. For example, reports show that gold mining and associated land-clearing have caused a surge in malaria infections among indigenous peoples.26 Of all new human infectious diseases, around 75 per cent are zoonotic. Zoonotic diseases are attributed to people and their livestock encroaching further into animal habitats, allowing viruses, such as COVID-19 and other disease-causing agents, to jump from animals to humans.27 Scientists predict the next pandemic will come out of a cleared forest. 28 Reducing deforestation and protecting biodiversity would enhance the availability of medicinal resources to treat the coronavirus and future pandemics. Climate change is further exacerbating habitat destruction through desertification, wildfires and other ecological changes, driving animals into closer contact with humans.29 Economic, social and cultural rights 21. COVID-19 recovery measures need to address the long-term needs and financial impacts of the pandemic on indigenous peoples in terms of education, employment, housing, health and other social services. 22. Many countries lack the social protection measures needed to address the widening inequality experienced by indigenous peoples as a result of COVID-19, or have reduced budgets for existing social protections from which indigenous peoples benefit. 30 The allocation of financial resources to mitigate economic losses caused by the pandemic have been insufficient or State agencies have underspent budgets earmarked for indigenous peoples,31 forcing some to migrate to cities in search of employment. Indigenous peoples do not always receive government COVID-19 benefits because of administrative requirements to present documents; the failure to consider “differing cultural definitions of a nuclear 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Resolution 01/2020, para. 57. See Arooba Ahmed, “COVID-19 and biodiversity loss: how destruction of the environment leads to pandemics”, 24 November 2020; Eric Haxthausen, “Deforestation makes pandemics more likely”, Climate Links, 19 October 2020; and Amanda Morrow, “Why land rights for indigenous people could prevent future pandemics”, Radio France Internationale, 16 September 2020. A/71/229, para. 15. See Bruce A. Wilcox and Brett Ellis “Forests and emerging infectious diseases of humans”, Unasylva, vol. 57, No. 224 (2006) and The Conversation, “How deforestation helps deadly viruses jump from animals to humans” 25 June 2020. See Jill Langlois (National Geographic), “Amazon gold mining drives malaria surges among indigenous peoples”, 12 August 2020. See Secretary-General of the United Nations, “COVID-19 recovery, planetary repair ‘two sides of the same coin’”, statement to Columbia University, New York, 2 December 2020. See Katarina Zimmer (National Geographic), “Deforestation is leading to more infectious diseases in humans”, 22 November 2019. See A/HRC/36/46. See submission by Council of the Charrua Nation. See submission by Cultural Survival. 7