A/HRC/39/62 49. In the private sector, free, prior and informed consent is developing into an international standard for companies operating on indigenous lands. In November 2014, First Peoples Worldwide published the “Indigenous Rights Risk Report”,49 finding that 89 per cent of the projects assessed had a high or medium risk exposure “to indigenous community opposition or violations of indigenous peoples’ rights” and that Governments that disregarded their commitments to the Declaration, often with the justification that they were obstacles to development, “actually propagate volatile business environments that threaten the viability of investments in their countries”. Many entities such as extractive industries are aware of these risks inherent in not soliciting free, prior and informed consent and have endeavoured to create their own free, prior and informed consent protocols. 50. There are numerous publications outlining the business case for free, prior and informed consent 50 and an increase in policy commitments to free, prior and informed consent by companies between 2012 and 2015: a report from Oxfam concluded that, “extractive industry companies are increasingly seeing the relevance of free, prior and informed consent in their operations”. 51 A guide for businesses by the United Nations Global Compact equates consent with “a formal, documented social licence to operate”, noting that “indigenous peoples have the right to give or withhold consent, and in some circumstances, may revoke their consent previously given”.52 Thus, for example, between 1975 and 2015 First Nations entered into formal “impact benefit agreements” in respect of 198 mining projects in Canada; however, sometimes these are agreed upon in the framework of an unwanted project to which First Nations believe they cannot object. 51. At least one third of the Sustainable Development Goal targets are linked to the rights in the Declaration53 and a number of them have been connected to free, prior and informed consent.54 In its Voluntary National Report 2017, Malaysia listed under Goal 15 (life on land) the aim to include indigenous and local communities in the management of natural resources and recognition of their right to give or withhold consent to proposed projects that may affect their lands. Indigenous peoples demand the recognition of free, prior and informed consent in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals to address their distinct circumstances with a view to ensuring that “no one is left behind”. 52. Article 8 (j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which refers to access to traditional knowledge being subject to the approval and involvement of the holders of traditional knowledge, has been consistently interpreted as “prior and informed consent”, and “free, prior and informed consent”, as substantiated in the Akwé: Kon Voluntary Guidelines. The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity establishes that access to traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources is based on “prior informed consent” or “approval and involvement” and on an equitable sharing of benefits. The Green Climate Fund has developed its own interpretation of free, prior and informed consent based on the Declaration. Article 29 of the Declaration is also the basis for the revision of the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides as endorsed by the International Indian Treaty Council, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and other bodies. 53. International Finance Corporation Performance Standard 7 on Indigenous Peoples (2012) conditions funding of the private sector on documenting consent in certain circumstances. The receipt of free, prior and informed consent is also one of the nine fundamental principles guiding engagement of the International Fund for Agricultural 49 50 51 52 53 54 14 Available at https://mahb.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Indigenous-Rights-RiskReport.pdf. E.g., Implementing a Corporate Free, Prior, and Informed Consent Policy: Benefits and Challenges (Foley-Hoag LLP, July 2010); and Boreal Leadership Council, Free, Prior and Informed Consent in Canada (September 2012). See www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2015-07-23/global-mining-companies-improvepolicies-community-consent-while. See www.unglobalcompact.org/library/541, p. 28. See http://nav.indigenousnavigator.com/images/Documents/Tools/Navigator_UNDRIP-SDGs.pdf. Goals 3, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 15.