Agenda 21 notes that some goals inherent in the program's objectives are already contained in such international legal instruments as the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Convention No. 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, and are being incorporated into the draft universal declaration on indigenous rights that the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations is preparing. Agenda 21 also indicates that the international community's strong interest in these issues led to the designation of 1993 as The International Year for the World's Indigenous People.
The rights of indigenous peoples are also noteworthy in the context of The Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), which recognizes some rights in principle but leaves much unresolved as to the extent of those rights in practice. The potentially high economic value of pharmaceuticals derived from medicinal plants used by indigenous peoples stimulates interest in the issue.
Informative resources on indigenous people include the following: