15 Sep International Conference on Indigenous Sacred and Cultural Sites, 5 – 11 April 09, Cusco, Peru

Yachay Wasi, a Non-Governmental Organization in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, is organising an International Conference on Indigenous Sacred and Cultural Sites, in Cusco, Peru aiming at bringing attention to the importance of Indigenous Sacred Sites and the need for their protection by UN member states and the International Community. Among the Conference’s major issues will be the protection of diodiversity, the desecration of indigenous remains and their exploitation, sustainable tourism as part of the 7th Millennium Development Goal: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability and the protection of natural resources.

Invited speakers will include representatives of local High Andes Indigenous communities, of international Indigenous communities, of UN agencies such as UNESCO, Secretariat of Convention on Biodiversity and some universities. Cusco, ‘Qosqo’  is the ancient capital of the Inka empire ‘Tawantinsuyo’. Cusco is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1983.