Legal action against those pursuing unsustainable mining practices. Action that convinced the Government of the United States of America to suspend patenting of genes from the Hagai People of Papua New Guinea. Obstacles Obstacles to furthering the cause of indigenous peoples include prejudiced perceptions about indigenous peoples, lack of representation in decision-making forums, globalization and trade barriers. Many non-indigenous people hold a reductionist view in which they fail to recognize the important linkages between indigenous peoples and the ecosystems in which they live. Indigenous peoples continue to suffer from poverty, hunger, war, debt, pollution, disease, illiteracy and homelessness caused by unsustainable development.
Most international agreements fail to address the needs of indigenous peoples adequately.
Agenda 21 portrays indigenous peoples and their traditional practices as objects of research for commercialization. It also makes little reference to indigenous peoples in the Arctic regions or to the negative impact of mining activities on indigenous communities. Indigenous peoples lack representation in international and national forums. Use of hazardous chemicals, global warming, long-range transboundary air pollution and loss of biological diversity have particularly negative implications for indigenous groups in the Arctic regions. Multilateral trading systems, economic globalization and trade liberalization are promoting a free market in which corporations hold a great deal of power, little social responsibility and no local accountability.