Rights of Indigenous Peoples A/RES/79/159 11. Reaffirms that Indigenous Peoples have the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, 33 including, inter alia, the conservation of their vital medicinal plants, as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, and also reaffirms that Indigenous individuals have the right to access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services; 12. Recalls the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples, 34 encourages Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to continue to contribute to the trust fund on Indigenous issues and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples and invites Indigenous organizations and private institutions and individuals to do likewise, and notes the importance of accessibility, accountability, transparency and balanced geographical distribution in the management of those funds; 13. Also recalls the expansion of the mandate of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples so that it can assist representatives of Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and communities in participating, whether in person or alternatively by electronic means, in other mechanisms and negotiations such as the Forum on Business and Human Rights and in the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including in its preparatory sessions and in the meetings of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform Facilitative Working Group organized by the secretariat of the Convention, in accordance with their respective rules and regulations; 14. Decides to further expand the mandate of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples so that it can assist representatives of Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and communities in participating in meetings related to the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage; 35 15. Notes the ongoing work and potential of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, emphasizes the important role of Indigenous Peoples in achieving the targets and goals set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 36 the Paris Agreement 37 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and recognizes that Indigenous Peoples are among the first to face the direct consequences of climate change owing to their dependence upon and close relationship with the environment and its resources; 16. Stresses the disproportionate impact of climate change on Indigenous Peoples due to their direct reliance on ecosystems, including for meeting their basic needs and engaging in traditional and other economic activities, and further emphasizes that climate change poses a threat to the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous Peoples and exacerbates the existing inequities and challenges that they face; 17. Also stresses the urgent need to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples to climate change and extreme weather events, and to support the leadership, knowledge, technologies, practices and efforts of Indigenous Peoples to address and respond to climate change, and encourages Member States to take measures that will ensure the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making processes relating to climate __________________ Resolution 61/295, annex, art. 24, para. 1. A/79/262. 35 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1037, No. 15511. 36 Ibid., vol. 1771, No. 30822. 37 See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex. 33 34 24-24152 9/15