The Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus, convened and sponsored by the Indigenous Environmental Network USA/CANADA, Seventh Generation Fund USA, International Indian Treaty Council, Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, the Abya Yala Fund, and TEBTEBBA (Indigenous Peoples’ Network for Policy Research and Education), issued a statement on 1 December 1999 in Seattle, on the occasion of the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization.
In their "Seattle Declarations", they begin stating that "We, the Indigenous Peoples from various regions of the world, have come to Seattle to express our great concern over how the World Trade Organization is destroying Mother Earth and the cultural and biological diversity of which we are a part."