Summary: "At its tenth session in 2011, the Permanent Forum appointed Raja Devasish Roy, Bertie Xavier and Simon William M?Vidouboulou, members of the Forum, to conduct a study on shifting cultivation and the socio-cultural integrity of indigenous peoples, to be submitted to the Forum at its eleventh session in 2012. The present study assesses the importance of the various traditions, practices and usages of shifting cultivation in different parts of the world to the maintenance and protection of the socio-cultural integrity of indigenous peoples, including aspects of their identity as distinct peoples, their spirituality, history, traditions, democratic decision-making norms, social unity, community self-help practices, literature, music, dance and numerous other aspects of their culture that are intricately linked to shifting cultivation traditions and practices. These are vital not only to protect their social and cultural rights but are also closely related to their economic, civil and political rights. In a wider context, shifting cultivation is also closely related to forest protection, sustainable forest management, the protection of watersheds, the conservation of headwaters of rivers and streams and the maintenance of biological and linguistic diversity... The study concludes that the practice of shifting cultivation needs to be maintained, strengthened and promoted in its sustainable forms, in accordance with the rights acknowledged in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on indigenous and tribal peoples of 1989, ILO Convention No. 107 and Recommendation No. 104 on indigenous and tribal populations of 1957, and ILO Convention No. 111 on discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. The study also seeks to address some of the myths, misinformation and misconceptions that have been associated with the practice of shifting cultivation, based on a lack of understanding of the nuanced differences in the way shifting cultivation has been and is still practised today in Central America, South America, Africa and Asia."