Part I The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Background, content and implementation Chapter 4: The content of the Declaration: Lands, territories and resources; development with identity; and redress and compensation KEY QUESTIONS • What are the lands, resources and territories of indigenous peoples? • How do indigenous peoples relate to their lands, resources and territories? • What protections exist in relation to the lands, resources and territories of indigenous peoples? • What avenues of redress do indigenous peoples have in relation to their rights to lands, territories and resources? • What is development with culture and identity? 1. CHALLENGES FACED BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN RELATION TO LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES From time immemorial, indigenous peoples have maintained a special relationship with the land, their source of livelihood and sustenance and the basis of their very existence as communities. The issues of land, territory and access to natural resources remain central to observing the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. The nature and importance of those relationships is fundamental for both the material subsistence and the cultural integrity of many indigenous peoples.136 The Permanent Forum has commented on the significance of the relationship between indigenous peoples and their lands: Land is the foundation of the lives and cultures of indigenous peoples all over the world. This is why the protection of their right to lands, territories and natural resources is a key demand of the international indigenous peoples’ movement and of indigenous peoples and organizations everywhere. It is also clear that most local and national indigenous peoples’ movements have emerged from struggles against policies and actions that have undermined and discriminated against their customary land tenure and resource management systems, expropriated their lands, extracted their resources without their consent and led to their displacement and dispossession from their territories. Without access to and respect for their rights over their lands, territories and natural resources, the survival of indigenous peoples’ particular distinct cultures is threatened. 136 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Rights Over Their Ancestral Lands and Natural Resources: Norms and Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System (OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 56/09, 2009), para. 56. Chapter 4: The content of the Declaration: Lands, territories and resources; development with identity; and redress and compensation | 31