In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development stated that the international community could learn a great deal from the traditional skills of indigenous peoples in managing complex ecological systems. More recently, a head of State told his citizens to listen and learn from indigenous peoples, who he said had always respected and lived in harmony with nature and who pursued the type of development his country now wished to follow. Indigenous peoples have developed successful systems of land use and resource management, including nomadic pastoralism, shifting cultivation, various forms of agro-forestry, terrace agriculture, hunting, herding and fishing. They also possess extensive knowledge of herbal medicine, soils, plants, animals and climate. The Kayapo of Brazil, for example, practice sophisticated methods of cultivation such as seed selection and crop rotation to ensure regrowth and replenishment of the forest.
Many indigenous peoples view themselves as the world's most experienced environmentalists.
Unfortunately, indigenous people have also engaged in unsustainable practices. Even relatively well-off indigenous people have veered from the path of sustainability. For example, new fishing technologies employed by the indigenous peoples of Greenland, who have enjoyed home rule since 1979, have contributed, along with climatic and biological changes, to the depletion of local fish stocks. Nevertheless, Greenland's home-rule government is committed to sustainable development, and on the whole, experts say the planet's healthy ecosystems tend to be found in areas inhabited by indigenous people. The role of indigenous peoples in the practice of sustainable development was the focus of attention as representatives of Governments and indigenous groups, and independent experts on indigenous peoples, gathered in Santiago, Chile, in May 1992 for a Technical Conference held as part of the run-up to the Earth Summit.