In Brief: The White/Wiphala Paper on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems

Abstract

The 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) was a call from the UN that brought together key players with the objective to provide potential solutions for transforming current food systems and increasing their sustainability, resilience, equitability, nutritional value, and efficiency. Key actors from science, business, policy, healthcare, the private sector, civil society, farmers, Indigenous Peoples, youth organisations, consumer groups, environmental activists, and other key stakeholders came together before, during and after the Summit, to review how food is produced, processed, and consumed across the world in order to bring about tangible, positive changes to the world’s food systems.

The White/Wiphala Paper on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems (FAO, 2021a) was a critical reference, an evidence-based contribution to the 2021 UNFSS that highlights the crucial role of Indigenous Peoples and their food systems as game-changers and shows us how we can respect, better understand, and protect said systems. The paper resulted from the collective work of Indigenous Peoples’ leaders, scientists, researchers, and UN staff. More than 60 Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributions from 39 organisations and ten experts in six socio-cultural regions were received by the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems. The Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems is a knowledge platform that brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts, scientists, and researchers to co-create intercultural knowledge and provide evidence about the sustainability and resilience of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems (https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/global-hub/en/), which coordinated the writing and editing of the paper through a Technical Editorial Committee.

The White/Wiphala paper emphasised the centrality of a rights-based approach, ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ rights and access to land, natural resources, traditional territorial management practices, governance, and livelihoods, as well as addressing the resilience and sustainability of their foods systems. The paper demonstrates how the preservation of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems is necessary for the health of more than 476 million Indigenous Peoples globally while providing valid solutions for addressing some of the challenges humankind faces on sustainability, resilience, and spirituality.

It is essential to note critical developments that have occurred since the White/Wiphala paper was published in mid-2021, the July Pre-Summit in Rome, and the September Summit in New York, followed by COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

For example, at COP26, little attention was given to food systems, despite their contribution to the climate crisis, with responsibility for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions (FAO, 2021b). COP26 highlighted the need to focus on mitigation strategies and adaptation in the face of the current climate crisis. These strategies must include Indigenous Peoples’ food systems as game-changers for effective climate adaptation strategies that they have been testing and adjusting for hundreds of years.

At the UNFSS Pre-Summit in Rome, the Indigenous Peoples’ delegation voiced their concerns and presented three key proposals: the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems as a game-changing solution; the launching of a coalition on Universal Food Access and Indigenous Peoples’ food systems; and the request to create an Indigenous Peoples’ fund. All their concerns and proposals were rejected at the Pre-Summit, including launching a Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and Universal Food Access.

In the aftermath of the UNFSS Pre-Summit, and thanks to the leadership of the Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), Indigenous leaders following the UNFSS, seven countries, and the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit (PSUI), timely discussions and collective work led to the creation of a new Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems.

Thanks to the leadership of Mexico and the support of Canada, the Dominican Republic, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and Spain, along with the support of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems, and FAO, this Coalition was announced at the New York September UNFSS Summit.

The Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems builds upon the White/Wiphala Paper, establishing the objective of ensuring the understanding, respect, recognition, inclusion, and protection of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems while providing evidence about their game-changing and systemic nature. To support this objective, the Coalition organises its work around two main goals: Goal 1: Respect, recognise, protect and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ food systems across the world; and Goal 2: Disseminate and scale-up traditional knowledge and good practices from Indigenous Peoples’ food systems with potential to transform global food systems across the board.

Acronyms

CINE:

Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment

COP:

Conference of Parties

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FPIC:

Free, Prior and Informed Consent

GHG:

Greenhouse Gases

HDP:

Humanitarian Development Peace

ICC:

Inuit Circumpolar Council

IFAD:

International Fund for Agricultural Development

ILO:

International Labour Organization

IPBES:

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

IPFS:

Indigenous Peoples’ food systems

IPR:

Intellectual Property Rights

LCIPP:

Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples’ Platform

PSUI:

Indigenous Peoples Unit (FAO)

SDG:

Sustainable Development Goal

UN:

United Nations

UNFCCC :

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

UNFSSS:

United Nations Food Systems Summit

UNDPI:

United Nations Department of Public Information

UNDRIP :

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

UNPFII:

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

The Complete list of contributors is in Annex 2 of this chapter.

FAO. 2021. The White/Wiphala Paper on Indigenous Peoples’ food systems. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4932en

The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO.

1 Purpose of This Brief

This brief version of the White/Wiphala paper on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems summarises some of the key messages and conclusions from the full publication. The White/Wiphala paper was written at a time when the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) discussions followed ‘Five Action Tracks.’ While the White/Wiphala paper policy recommendations are laid out according to these five Action Tracks, the authors acknowledge that these themes cannot be looked at in isolation, and that any single strategy must be implemented within a broader context of supportive governance and an open-minded legislative environment.

Since the White/Wiphala paper was published, the UNFSS has replaced the five Action Tracks with five Action Areas. Contrastingly, this short brief is aligned with newly identified Action Areas and thirty (non-exhaustive) different coalitions emanating from the September 2021 Food Systems Summit.

The objective of this brief version, through the work of the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and under the ‘do no harm’ principle, is to support the two goals of the Indigenous Peoples’ Coalition. This is: to ensure the recognition, respect, protection, and support of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems; and to upscale valid lessons learned from Indigenous Peoples’ food systems capable of informing the transformation of other food systems towards sustainability and resilience. The overarching goal remains to promote the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This is particularly relevant within the context of the UN Decades of Ecosystem Restoration and the Decade of Indigenous Peoples Languages.

After the significant concerns experienced during the Summit with the rejection of the demands expressed by Indigenous Peoples, particularly on the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems as game-changers and the creation of an Indigenous Peoples’ fund, we saw clear opportunities for a way forward with the overwhelming support from countries for a new and reinvigorated Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems.

This paper presents clear lessons that can be learned from Indigenous Peoples’ approach to food and natural resources, which will contribute to the resilience and sustainability of food systems worldwide while supporting the wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples. It provides evidence on the sustainable characteristics and diversity of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, including how they have proven their resilience over time. The White/Wiphala paper brief will serve as a base for other documents that will support the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples and the different strategies that will be implemented to achieve the goals and objectives of the Coalition, resulting in more evidence-based recommendations.

While the extended version of the White/Wiphala paper was written with scientists and food system experts in mind, this chapter is aimed at media, member countries, policy-makers, and the general public (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

Circular representation of the relations in Indigenous Peoples’ food systems

Key Messages

• The current global food system is unsustainable; while we will need to double food production by 2050 to satisfy food demands, we also must reduce the contribution of the current food system to climate change, which accounts for about 30% of total GHG emissions, with 30% of that 30% being caused by food waste. Unmitigated, our food systems result in radically modified ecosystems, environments, coastlines, mountain tops, glaciers, water bodies, and weather patterns, with consequences for human wellbeing and life on earth. At COP26, the discussions indicated that, rather than mitigating, we need to think about adaptation, and Indigenous Peoples have shown us for centuries how to adapt to a changing world. Their Indigenous core values and principles of reciprocity, community-solidarity, balance, reutilisation and not wasting food are being progressively understood and incorporated into other contexts about food.

• Indigenous Peoples’ foods systems are well placed to contribute to global debates about food. Despite this, Indigenous Peoples, their food and knowledge systems, and their ancestral territorial management practices continue to be marginalised in policy and decision-making and their Human and Indigenous Peoples Rights not respected. Numbering over 476 million worldwide, Indigenous Peoples live across over 90 countries and seven socio-cultural regions (ILO, 2019). They live in areas of rich biodiversity and sustain and enhance immense biocultural diversity and knowledge that has been carried on for generations. Their participation in the drafting and implementation of food policies is paramount in actualising their human rights and continuing their livelihoods, cosmogonies, cultures, and traditional knowledge systems, as well as the planet’s ecological health.

• As guardians of 80% of the worlds’ remaining biodiversity in their territories (Sobrevilla, 2008), Indigenous Peoples are fundamental knowledge holders in any global effort to make current food systems sustainable and resilient.

• Indigenous Peoples’ food systems have been providing nourishment and healthy diets for hundreds of years through food generation and food production practices rooted in a comprehensive understanding of the environment and tailored territorial management. They make use of several hundred species of edible and nutritious flora and fauna, including traditionally cultivated crops, crop wild relatives, and animal wildlife (including bush meat, insects, fish, and aquatic species).

• Indigenous Peoples’ food systems promote the equitable distribution of resources and power and support Indigenous identities and values, ensuring that no one is left behind. Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, cosmogony, practices, and worldviews differ from dominant mainstream science. Their food and knowledge systems are embedded with a biocentric approach that is intimately tied to nature and related to their cosmogonies.

• Indigenous Peoples’ food systems cannot be characterised according to dominant conceptualisations of food systems presented as linear value chains.

• The Scientific group participating in the July 2021 UNFSS Pre-Summit acknowledged that, on the other hand, Indigenous Peoples’ food systems constitute game-changing solutions, with a systemic approach to sustainability and resilience.

• Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems are eroding, and their traditional knowledge is disappearing. Urgent actions are needed to guarantee the survival of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and the preservation of biodiversity on the planet.

• Efforts to protect and strengthen their food systems must be prioritised. However, Indigenous Peoples, their food systems, knowledge, and practices have been and continue to be marginalised in policy, science, and funding.

• Indigenous Peoples from the seven socio-cultural regions contributed actively to the 2021 UNFSS and to the global debates on transforming food systems towards sustainability and resilience and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

• At the September 2021 Summit, Indigenous Peoples from the seven socio-cultural regions, the UNPFII, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and FAO represented the Indigenous Peoples’ food systems Coalition.

• The Coalition has two main goals: 1. Respect, recognise, protect and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ food systems across the world; and 2. Disseminate and scale-up traditional knowledge and good practices from Indigenous Peoples’ food systems with the potential to transform global food systems across the board.

What is the problem?

• 1. Indigenous Peoples, their food systems, knowledge and practices, have been and continue to be marginalised in policy-making. Numbering over 476 million worldwide, Indigenous Peoples live across over 90 countries and seven socio-cultural regions (ILO, 2019). They often reside in sites of rich biodiversity and possess rich biocultural diversity and knowledge that has been preserved for generations. Their participation in the drafting and implementation of food policy is crucial to the future continuation of their livelihoods.

• 2. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems cannot be characterised according to dominant conceptualisations of food systems that are presented as linear value chains. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems do not follow linear value chains, comprising different values, systems of governance, and cultural relations to food compared to value-chain-oriented food systems. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems emphasise circularity and include many ways of obtaining, preparing, storing and sharing food.

What are the main characteristics of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, and what they can bring to the debate?

• 3. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are embedded in a biocentric approach intimately tied to nature. Compared to specialised, input-intensive systems of conventional food production, Indigenous Peoples generate a diversity of foods with minimal intervention on the ecosystems and use inputs endogenous to the local system. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are efficient in resource use, with little waste and wide circulation of resources. Material inputs tend to be fully used and recycled locally while also promoting biodiversity preservation, as they respect the seasonality of the systems.

• 4. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems promote the equitable distribution of resources and power and support Indigenous identities and values. Food generative practices are often localised, using communal resources and supporting traditional governance systems. Exchange is often barter-based or based on reciprocal agreements. Indigenous Peoples’ lands, waters and resources are often used, managed or governed collectively as a common resource under community-based management. Indigenous Peoples’ systems of collective ownership of resources and food-sharing can thus support inter- and intra-community cooperation, the cultivation and maintenance of shared identities, and healthy, resilient and culturally appropriate food systems.

• 5. Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, practices and worldviews differ from western science and provide a valuable contribution to current debates on sustainable food systems. While the value of Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge has been recognised, Indigenous Peoples’ views, cosmovisions, time-tested practices and relational values continue to be excluded in science and policy. The contribution of systemic observation carried by Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge is a time-tested scientific approach. The sensitive inclusion of Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge in policy will support the sustainable management of natural resources and the transformation of food systems for all.

• 6. Indigenous Peoples occupy over a quarter of the world’s land, and their food systems can help preserve global biodiversity. There is evidence that lands and forests managed and governed by Indigenous Peoples can resist forest loss and experience lower rates of land conversion than forests within protected areas and undefined national forests. Indigenous Peoples’ communities have persisted as custodians of the planet’s food and genetic resources.

• 7. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems provide nourishment and healthy diets. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems make use of several hundred species of edible and nutritious flora and fauna, including traditionally cultivated crops, crop wild relatives and animal wildlife (including bushmeat, marine mammals, insects and fish). Indigenous Peoples’ communities are feeling the effects of the dietary transition, with increasing consumption of highly processed foods becoming a growing public health concern. With Indigenous Peoples already suffering higher malnutrition rates worldwide than their non-Indigenous counterparts, supporting the continuation of Indigenous Peoples’ food practices is essential to future nutritional health.

What is needed to protect and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ food systems?

• 8. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are themselves a game-changing solution. The speed at which Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are eroding and their traditional knowledge systems disappearing requires urgent actions to guarantee the survival of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are intimately tied to the natural world and can provide food and nutritional security while restoring ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity. Such protection and preservation are fundamentally aligned with the human and cultural rights that guarantee the survival of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems Coalition: Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ food systems

• 9. The Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems builds upon the White/Wiphala Paper, establishing the objective of ensuring the understanding, respect, recognition, inclusion, and protection of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems while providing evidence about their ‘game-changing and systemic’ nature. To support this objective, the Coalition organises its work around two main goals: Goal 1: Respect, recognise, protect and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ food systems across the world; and Goal 2: Disseminate and scale-up traditional knowledge and good practices from Indigenous Peoples’ food systems with the potential to transform global food systems across the board.

2 Coalitions from the United Nations Food Systems Summit and the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems

In September 2021, at the UN Food Systems Summit, 30 coalitions organised into five Action Areas were announced, among them, the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems that falls within the Action Area of “Advance equitable livelihoods, decent work, and empowered communities.” The Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems was endorsed by seven member countries: Canada, the Dominican Republic, Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and Spain.

The Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems builds upon the White/Wiphala Paper, establishing the objective of ensuring the understanding, respect, recognition, inclusion, and protection of Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems while providing evidence about their game-changing and systemic nature. Table 1 summarises the objective and goals of the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and how it overlaps with the Action Areas of the UNFSS2021 (More details on the Coalition are available in Annex 1).

Table 1 Summary of Action areas vis-à-vis the Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems Coalition’s goals

3 Action Area 1: Nourish All People

This Action Area could help countries connect to coalitions, initiatives, and resources around i. zero hunger, ii. healthy diets from sustainable food systems, iii. universal school meals, iv. food is never waste, v. the Food Coalition, vi. One Health, and beyond.

Key Contributions from Indigenous Peoples

• 1. Indigenous Peoples have developed unique territorial management practices to generate food while preserving biodiversity.

• 2. The biodiversity maintained by Indigenous Peoples supports a broad food base, which, in some cases, exceeds 250 edibles for food and medicinal purposes in a single food system, consisting of different species, varieties and breeds, including wild, semi-domesticated and domesticated species of plants, animals, and fish.

• 3. Despite the reported weather variability associated with climate change, the integration of seasonality into Indigenous Peoples’ food practices is an important characteristic of their food system. This seasonality contributes to their resilience and self-sufficiency, ensuring numerous foods that guarantee dietary diversity. The combination of territorial management and generation techniques results in food systems that provide a broad base of foods from fields, forests, pastures, and waterways. At COP26, the need to invest in adaptation and mitigation strategies was highlighted. Indigenous Peoples are champions at adapting to their environment, and do not seek to adapt their environments to them, as conventionally happens with other societies. Indigenous Peoples’ game-changing solutions can be scaled out as provably sustainable and resilient.

• 4. Indigenous Peoples’ governance systems and solid social cohesion enable the maintenance of solid social bonds and solidarity within their communities, based on values of reciprocity and caring for each other, i.e., not leaving anyone behind. Indigenous trade and sharing networks are based on trusted relationships for acquiring and sharing foods from and with other communities.

• 5. Indigenous Peoples’ land tenure and sovereignty are prerequisites to biodiversity conservation and adaptive capacity in confronting climate change and addressing global sustainability. There is strong evidence of the positive and central role of traditional governance practices and Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems in maintaining and enhancing biodiversity in Indigenous Peoples’ lands and territories while supporting the generation of healthy food. (ICC -Alaska, 2015)

Recommendations for Action Area 1

• 6. Leaving no one behind can only be achieved by the overarching recommendation of engaging Indigenous leaders in policy discussions and devising strategies to access safe and nutritious foods. At the global level, the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and recognition of their knowledge in platforms, mechanisms and processes that affect their food systems should be promoted, such as (i) UNFSS and outcomes; (ii) the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP); (iii) The Treaty on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; and (iv) the Committee on World Food Security.

• 7. The establishment of a zero-hunger fund, proposed by the Summit, should not be done at the expense of Indigenous Peoples. Therefore, it is recommended that this global fund include a sub-fund allocated to and led by Indigenous Peoples to protect and preserve their food systems and that considers the wide variety of food systems, from the arctic region, to the rainforest, to the deserts. At COP26, a fund that will support degradation loss and reverse forest loss was announced. It is important to note that funds like this should consider a holistic approach and the wide range of landscapes and environments where Indigenous Peoples live other than the forest, e.g., include the complexity of food systems and their multipurpose nature, as well as consider environments from deserts to fishing landscapes.

• 8. The expansion of coverage of social protection systems proposed by the Summit is essential for Indigenous Peoples and must resolve the lack of recognition by governments of the Indigenous Peoples’ populations living in their countries.

• 9. Develop new standards and legal frameworks to drive private sector change and hold companies accountable. This is fundamental to ending displacement situations, the expansion of the agriculture frontier into ecosystems, and the pollution and destruction of the environment undertaken by the private sector, often under state-run concession systems. During COP26, countries of the Global North committed to supporting the disproportionate effects of climate change, including Indigenous Peoples. If the Glasgow Climate Pact is committed to climate justice, Indigenous Peoples should receive investment to support their resilience and adaptation strategies.

• 10. In the case of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, the principle of self-determination and self-determined development is fundamental in critical areas such as intellectual property rights, harvesting rights, access to plant genetic resources, territorial rights, and the right to self-determination and self-governance.

• 11. The influence of predominant cultures and school education curricula that are not rooted in Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems have been linked to elevated rates of food insecurity, cultural degradation, erosion of traditional knowledge and loss of language in many Indigenous Peoples’ communities. Therefore, Indigenous Peoples must be leaders in devising and implementing intercultural education, policies and strategies for sustaining their food systems and creating cultural security in education, health services, policies, programmes, and decision-making. It is also vital to protect and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ connections to their knowledge and food systems, languages, values, and cultures, beginning with school children and community leadership.

• 12. Building interventions to restore and sustain local food systems using locally preferred methods.

4 Action Area 2: Boost Nature-Based Solutions of Production

This Action Area could help countries connect to coalitions, initiatives, and resources around i. agroecology and regenerative agriculture, ii. blue and aquatic foods, iii. sustainable livestock, iv. AIMs for limate, v. a global soil hub, vi. efforts to stop and reverse biodiversity loss, and beyond.

Key Contributions from Indigenous Peoples

• 1. Indigenous Peoples are custodians of the majority of the planet’s food and genetic resources and are stewards for the territories and biocultural processes that shape and support genetic diversity (Hunter et al., 2015; Garnett et al., 2018; Díaz et al., 2019; Hunter et al., 2020).

• 2. For thousands of years, Indigenous Peoples have managed their territories and natural resources in sustainable and dynamic ways that have allowed them to inhabit the same territories and preserve the natural resources, making them available for future generations.

• 3. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems typically involve the generation of food from multiple distinct areas of the landscape and from a rich diversity of species, varieties and breeds, which diffuses the risk associated with any single resource and allows Indigenous Peoples to benefit from the diversity of resources from different ecological zones through the year. Biodiversity-rich practices contribute to resilience by providing insurance against resource failures, enabling adaptation of food resources over longer time frames through evolutionary processes, encouraging positive symbiotic interactions between species and areas in the landscape that support nutrient cycling, control pests and disease, and facilitate pollination, and sheltering the food system from the impact of ecological shocks. (Mijatović et al., 2013).

• 4. Indigenous youths are the future knowledge keepers of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, languages, knowledge, cultures, and lifeways. Their opportunities and decisions now will determine the future existence or extinction of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and territories across the world. To sustain their lifeways and cultures, Indigenous youths need to have opportunities for the intergenerational transfer of knowledge with their elders and be empowered, informed decision-makers in their communities, as well as regionally and globally. The health and empowerment of Indigenous youths are crucial for Indigenous Peoples’ resilience and the planet’s health.

Recommendations for Action Area 2

• 5. Proposals to increase agro-biodiversity for improved production and resilience are critical to future nature-positive production in which Indigenous Peoples can play a significant role. Not only are Indigenous Peoples’ communities the custodians for significant proportions of the world’s genetic resources, but their territories also encompass unique dynamic biocultural spaces that enhance and allow these resources to continue to evolve and adapt further to ongoing climate variability and other challenges. Also, Indigenous Peoples’ intellectual property rights and leadership in policy work, such as the International Treaty on Plant and Genetic Resources and Convention on Biological Diversity, have a crucial role in preserving agrobiodiversity.

• 6. Scaling-out agroecological production systems and adopting regenerative agricultural practices for resilient landscapes at scale have the potential to conserve and promote nature-positive production. Indigenous Peoples’ communities and farmers can make numerous contributions in this effort, given their rich knowledge, agroecological practices and access to a diversity of crop genetic resources.

5 Action Area 3: Advance Equitable Livelihoods, Decent Work, & Empowered Communities

This Action Area could help countries connect to coalitions, initiatives, and resources around i. Decent Work and Living Incomes, ii. More and Better Jobs for Youths, iii. Making Food Systems Work for Women and Girls, iv. Indigenous Peoples Food Systems, and beyond.

Key Contributions from Indigenous Peoples

• 1. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are based on inclusive agroecological networks that lead to equitable and sustainable livelihoods.

• 2. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems have traditionally relied on sharing and barter exchange. Further, examples of small farmers and Indigenous Peoples’ inclusive and sustainable agroecological networks advance equitable livelihoods for the communities involved in these exchange networks. The food that they produce and their exchange systems rely on diversified and low-input agriculture and short, domestic, and equitable value chains that ensure transparency and trust between producers and consumers, along with cultural security and preserving cultural values, such as sharing and reciprocity.

Recommendations for Action Area 3

• 3. The establishment of forums that bring together representatives of government, trade unions and employers’ associations, and other key stakeholders and organisations, such as cooperatives, small business organisations, women’s groups, peasants’ and Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, has been proven to be an effective way of jointly designing and implementing common strategies to promote decent work in the agri-food sector and economic development.

• 4. Labelling and certification schemes for Indigenous Peoples’ food, driven forward by Indigenous Peoples to ensure their rights to self-determination and intellectual property rights. The integration of Indigenous Peoples’ biocultural products in public procurement programmes and the creation of supportive infrastructure will facilitate physical access to markets and promote value chains for traditional food varieties.

• 5. Investing in the intercultural education of Indigenous Peoples to reach positions within research, policy-making and decision-making on matters that affect their livelihoods, territories and peoples. At COP26, examples of how intercultural education and research led by Indigenous Peoples can have a positive impact on their lives were presented, but more investment is needed to support intercultural education.

• 6. The creation of a global matching investment fund for small-scale producers’ organisations to ensure decent and fair incomes, livelihoods and equitable development opportunities for local communities, especially for rural youths, women and Indigenous Peoples. All investments must respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their territories and ancestral domains, cultural heritage and landscapes, and traditional knowledge and practices.

6 Action Area 4: Build Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks, and Stresses

This Action Area could help countries connect to coalitions, initiatives, and resources around i. Local food supply chains, ii. Climate-resilient development pathways, iii. The Humanitarian Development Peace (HDP) Nexus, iv. Safety nets, and beyond.

Key Contributions from Indigenous Peoples

• 1. As knowledge keepers of intergenerational traditional knowledge and experts on their local environments, Indigenous Peoples’ leadership and expertise are critical to the global efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Indigenous Peoples’ perceptions of change, observational histories, and use of modern technologies with traditional practices position them to develop risk analysis and innovative strategies for climate change and safeguard food systems within their territories. Indigenous researchers and communities globally have developed their climate adaptation plans utilising technical data paired with value-based evidence to design more responsive solutions to community priorities. Many Indigenous Peoples are ahead of other entities in their planning and response to the climate crisis. Further, many Indigenous Peoples’ communities and territories are among the most heavily impacted and vulnerable to climate change impacts. Their territories and lands are priority areas for preserving ecosystems with endemic plants, animals, seeds, crops (wild and cultivated), and other food diversity elements essential for sustainable and resilient food systems.

• 2. Occasional gene flow between domesticated and wild species also contributes to the generation of unique genetic diversity. Indigenous Peoples frequently source new diversity from nearby communities or further afield and exchange materials with friends and relatives (Maxted et al., 2020).

• 3. Beyond simply the preservation of biological diversity, the vast biocultural diversity of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems contributes a broad knowledge base that can inform and expand the set of possibilities and resources that humanity can draw upon in facing environmental uncertainty. Indigenous Peoples often possess rich environmental knowledge, encompassing a breadth of topics, including climate, botany, ecology, and spirituality, that guide resource use and land management practices.

• 4. Indigenous beliefs, rituals and values, in many cases, underpin collective action by enabling processes that gather and reconcile different viewpoints on how to respond to environmental issues (Ford et al., 2020).

• 5. Food-sharing is a norm in many Indigenous Peoples’ communities, which helps buffer food availability and diversity during periods of stress (Zavaleta-Cortijo et al., 2020). Indigenous Peoples place significant value on learning by adopting and modifying existing practices and abandoning practices that no longer serve them. Learning is supported by the intergenerational exchange between Indigenous youths and elders and supports the continual adaptation of food systems in response to environmental change (Van Uffelen et al., 2021); most of this knowledge is passed through orality, and therefore Indigenous languages play a crucial role in maintaining the learning loop.

Recommendations for Action Area 4

• 6. Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives and leadership must be incorporated within risk analysis and risk management strategies to monitor, prevent and mitigate environmental shocks and change. During COP26, Indigenous Peoples demonstrated different strategies and innovations that they are using in monitoring and adapting to climate change, e.g., GIS and Indigenous knowledge to monitor the rise of rivers and oceans, land-use change and how it affects food seasonality, warning mechanisms for flooding, etc. Funds to support these monitoring and adaptation strategies should be promoted.

• 7. Indigenous Peoples’ land tenure and sovereignty are prerequisites to adaptive capacity in confronting climate change and addressing global sustainability. That includes the right to access and manage traditionally occupied or used land, territories and resources, as well as the rights to mobility and passage to access food system resources.

• 8. Long-term conservation on food diversity in gene banks and the field, and sustained diversification of the food basket. Creation of biocentres that ensure food for all in a sustainable way.

• 9. Blended financing mechanisms for small projects/initiatives locally owned by women and youths to empower women’s agency and leadership in developing resilience solutions. In COP26, Indigenous women and youths showcased their different climate change adaptation strategies and highlighted their role as knowledge holders of these strategies. Investment funds for ongoing projects and supporting alliances among different stakeholders should be promoted to reinforce their work and success.

• 10. Universal food access: enacting food as a public good. Indigenous Peoples perceive food as a concept beyond the nutritional and physical aspects that embodies culture, cosmogony, and territorial management.

• 11. Intercultural education systems that allow Indigenous Peoples to reclaim, preserve and restore their knowledge systems and their languages; these actions are crucial for supporting their resilience and the planet’s.

• 12. Intercultural health services and the institutionalisation of cultural security in health services: To ensure quality and equitable health care provided to Indigenous Peoples and recognise the centrality of nutrition and culturally aligned foods and medicinal practices to support and sustain the health of Indigenous Peoples.

7 Action Area 5: Support Means of Implementation

This Action Area could help countries connect to coalitions, initiatives, and resources around i. Finance, ii. Governance, iii. Science and Knowledge (e.g., True Value of Food; Indigenous Food Systems), iv. Innovation, Technology, & Data, v. Capacity, v. Human Rights, and beyond.

Key Contributions from Indigenous Peoples

• 1. Indigenous Peoples are crucial for the planet’s sustainability, and both their food systems and they themselves are game-changers for the current food security and climate challenges and for achieving the SDG2030. However, they face structural racism and marginalisation that also force them to face economic poverty that stands in sharp contrast to Indigenous societies’ cultural and ecological richness. Therefore, it is not possible to imagine world leaders meeting and trying to discuss and implement measures about sustainability and resilient food systems without including Indigenous Peoples, because they have been practising many sustainable and resilient strategies successfully in their communities and ecosystems before these terms were even conceptualised.

Recommendations for Action Area 5

• 2. The overarching rights to land, territories and natural resources, and the right to self-determination and cultural rights, are preconditions for the full and effective exercise and realisation of other rights. During COP26, the pressure and forced displacement Indigenous Peoples face were highlighted; thus, to achieve the goals of the SGD2030, Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land, territories and resources must be fully respected and recognised, including their capacity for the management and co-management of resources that are at the heart of their food systems. The right to self-determination under the principle of “Nothing for or about Indigenous Peoples without Indigenous Peoples” is relevant for any external entity whose actions involve or impact Indigenous Peoples in any way that could affect their livelihoods, food systems, or territories. The implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent are the international standard for the rights-based approach with Indigenous Peoples.

• 3. Policy-making and decision-making concerning food resources must start and end with Indigenous Peoples and their management and co-management of institutions and bodies and, where relevant, in collaboration and cooperation with state government bodies that support such Indigenous-driven decisions. Any and all relationships with non-Indigenous Peoples at all levels require trust, respect, sharing and cooperation, as well as education to support Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, thereby guiding and protecting the cultural integrity of Indigenous Peoples and their communities now and into the future.

• 4. Indigenous Peoples should be leaders in devising strategies for developing their food systems based on their insights and priorities for their communities. Policies must be created to be intercultural, and thus strengthen (not erode) Indigenous Peoples’ values, foods and traditional knowledge.

• 5. Create a fund to research and support the potential of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and resilience strategies supporting Indigenous-led researchers’ use of funds. Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ data sovereignty and governance are upheld and intellectual property rights are not violated.

• 6. The co-creation of platforms within which mutual respect for knowledge is ensured and fosters inclusive and effective sustainable food system development. There is a need to preserve, value, and respect the richness of Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems and further identify ways that bring together the synergistic strengths of scientific knowledge and Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems. The process of knowledge co-creation fostered by the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems is similar to that followed by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and regards Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge systems and non-Indigenous scientific knowledge with equal respect and consideration. This process of co-creating knowledge identifies and builds synergies between Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems and scientific knowledge systems.

• 7. Innovative financing and investments for sustainable land management practices (for example, economic incentive systems such as payment for ecosystem services and carbon credits) offer ways for Indigenous Peoples to continue safeguarding and managing their territories in sustainable ways for the land and their food systems, with positive side effects such as sequestering carbon, maintaining carbon in ecosystems and preserving biodiversity while also earning an income that sustains their communities’ economic needs. However, these funds should be allocated directly to Indigenous communities, such as the investment announced at COP26 last November first, 2021, that will support Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

Annexes

1.1 Annex 1: Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems

Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems Coalition

Main objective of the Coalition:

Ensure understanding, respect, recognition, inclusion, and protection of Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems (IPFS) post-UNFSS, providing evidence about their ¨game-changing and systemic¨ aspects. Goal 1: Respect, recognise, protect, and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ food systems across the world  1. Strengthen policy and regulations to ensure that Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are not harmed by intensive and transformed food systems.  2. Work with national governments and international agencies to secure funding.  3. Support interculturality at all levels.  4. Support the drafting of national policies, research, and programmes to protect and strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems, including them in decision-making, with a special focus on Indigenous women, youths and elders.  5. Support processes of inter- and intra-generational transmission of knowledge and horizontal capacity building in regard to Indigenous Peoples’ food systems.  6. Strengthen the leadership of Indigenous youths for innovative intercultural approaches, integrating indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge, science, technology and management.  7. Promote seed security to ensure Indigenous Peoples’ access to seeds and planting material that meets their preferences. Goal 2: Disseminate and scale-up traditional knowledge and good practices from Indigenous Peoples’ food systems with the potential to transform global food systems across the board  1. Scale-up Indigenous Peoples’ food systems by strengthening scientific and empirical research and intercultural co-creation processes.  2. Increase food systems’ resilience and risk management by incorporating Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge about ecosystems.  3. Promote Indigenous Peoples’ leadership in food systems by sharing their models of food management, production, and processing.  4. Provide evidence about Biocentric-Biocultural considerations in food for policy discussions.  5. Work with other coalitions to ensure the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems under the ‘do no harm’ principle and promote the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other related UN Declarations.

Science-based evidence to prioritise this Coalition (scientific references):

The Scientific-Committee included the Wiphala paper as a reference document and recognised Indigenous Peoples’ food systems as game-changers at the Pre-Summit. This Coalition builds on the Wiphala Paper and other research and scientific publications:  ● FAO and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. 2021. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems: Insights on sustainability and resilience in the front line of climate change. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb5131en  ● Settee and Shukla. 2020. Indigenous Food Systems: Concepts, Cases and Conversations. Canadian Scholars an Imprint of CSP Books, Inc.  ● Jackson, G., McNamara, K.E., Witt, B. 2020. “System of hunger”: Understanding causal disaster vulnerability of indigenous food systems, Journal of Rural Studies, Vol 73, Pages 163–175, doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.10.042.  ● Dawson, N. M., B. Coolsaet, E. J. Sterling, R. Loveridge, N. D. Gross-Camp, S. Wongbusarakum, K. K. Sangha, L. M. Scherl, H. Phuong Phan, N. Zafra-Calvo, W. G. Lavey, P. Byakagaba, C. J. Idrobo, A. Chenet, N. J. Bennett, S. Mansourian, and F. J. Rosado-May. 2021. The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation. Ecology and Society 26(3):19. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12625-260319.  ● Rosado-May, F., Urrieta, L. Jr., Dayton, A., Rogoff, B. 2020. Handbook of the Cultural Foundations of Learning Innovation as a Key Feature of Indigenous Ways of Learning. Routledge  ● Jackson, G. 2019. The influence of emergency food aid on the causal disaster vulnerability of Indigenous food systems. Agriculture and Human Values, 37, 761–777. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-10006-7  ● Kuhnlein, H.V., Erasmus, B. &Spigelski, D. 2009. Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: The Many Dimensions of Culture, Diversity and Environment for Nutrition and Health. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. 339 pp.  ● Kuhnlein, H.V., Erasmus, B., Spigelski, D. &Burlingame, B. 2013. Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and Wellbeing: Interventions and Policies for Healthy Communities. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. 398 pp.  ● Turner, N., Berkes, F., Stephenson, J., Dick, J. 2013. Blundering Intruders: Extraneous Impacts on Two Indigenous Food Systems, Human Ecology, Vol. 41, No 4, pp. 563–574. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24017347

Mechanisms of implementation (Global to National levels):

The Coalition’s working groups, supported by the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, Indigenous Peoples’ forums and experts mechanisms, will work on:  1. Intercultural Co-Creation of Knowledge and Research: To establish a research agenda on Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems, support policy-making, improve national-global programmes, and include interculturality in school meals, school-university curricula, and scientific dialogues.  2. Financing the Strengthening of Indigenous Food Systems and Knowledge: To collaborate with IFIs and development agencies to improve donor coordination and funding towards creating an Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems Global-Fund.  3. Coordination at the Rome Level: To facilitate coordination among member states, RBAS and Indigenous Peoples.  4. National and Regional Dialogues: To work with countries on national and regional dialogues on strengthening Indigenous Peoples’ food systems.  5. Monitoring, Reporting and Accountability: To monitor post-UNFSS efforts to transform unsustainable and inequitable food systems and safeguard against harm to Indigenous Peoples.  6. Support other UNFSS Coalitions: To integrate Indigenous Peoples’ views on sustainability.  7. Inclusion in other Platforms: To promote the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and the recognition of their knowledge and food systems in platforms, mechanisms and processes that affect them.

Strategic partners (members, private sector, civil society, academia):

The following Member States have expressed interest in the Coalition; the formal structure of this group, including membership, will be determined after the Summit: Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Norway, the Dominican Republic, Spain, UNPFII, Global-Hub, FAO, WFP, IFAD. Indigenous Organizations/Communities from seven socio-cultural regions at the country and regional levels.

Monitoring and Evaluation (clear quantifiable indicators and targets linked to SDGs)

Post-UNFSS activities must be guided by UNDRIP’s rights of Indigenous Peoples and monitored through disaggregated data and Indigenous Peoples’ sensitive indicators. This Coalition will work with other coalitions, identifying measurable outcomes and indicators, such as: land and resource rights; support for Indigenous Peoples’ institutions, knowledge and food systems; participation by Indigenous Peoples in decision and policy-making; states’ efforts to commit to non-discrimination in international conventions and in adopting laws and policies. This Coalition will oversee the election of Indigenous Peoples’ representatives to the Advisory Group to the RBAs coordination food systems hub, and will participate in the SGs Two-year Stocktake of this process and of the 2030 Agenda, contributing at the national level to Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams’ reports.

1.2 Annex 2: The White/Wiphala Paper on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems

1.2.1 Contributors

Members of Global-Hub and the Technical Editorial Committee

Danny Hunter (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT); Gam Shimray (Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact); Thomas Worsdell; (Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact); Anne Brunel (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Gennifer Meldrum (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Ida Strømsø (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Luisa Castañeda (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Mariana Estrada (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Mikaila Way (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Yon Fernandez de Larrinoa (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Charlotte Milbank (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit, University of Cambridge); Pablo Arigita Baena (FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit); Tania Martinez (Greenwich University, Natural Resources Institute); Harriet Kuhnlein (McGill University, Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment); Bhaskar Vira (University of Cambridge).

Members of Global-Hub

Amparo Morales (Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe); Dennis Mairena (Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe); Ernesto Marconi (Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe); Gabriel Muyuy (Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe); Luis Alfredo Rojas (Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe); Myrna Cunningham Kain (Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe); Carolina Herrera (Fundación Gaia Amazonas); Juliana Sanchez (Fundación Gaia Amazonas); Julieth Rojas (Fundación Gaia Amazonas); Maria Isabel Valderrama (Fundación Gaia Amazonas); Pamela Katic (Greenwich University, Natural Resources Institute); Julie Brimblecombe (Monash University); Tero Mustonen (Snowchange Cooperative); Bhogtoram Mawroh (The Indigenous Partnership on Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty); Lukas Pawera (The Indigenous Partnership on Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty); Phrang Roy (The Indigenous Partnership on Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty).

Contributors from Africa

Boris Ibela (Association pour le devenir des autochtones et de leur connaissance originelle); Davy Pouaty Nzembialela (Association pour le devenir des autochtones et de leur connaissance originelle); Pierre Mondjo (Association pour le devenir des autochtones et de leur connaissance originelle); Sandrine Moughola (Association pour le devenir des autochtones et de leur connaissance originelle); Bakari Chaka (Maasai Mara University); Charity Konana (Maasai Mara University, Individual Expert from the Maasai Community); Mariam Wallet Aboubacrine (Tin Hinan, women’s association); Abdallah Marjan (Maasai Mara University); Osano Aloys (Maasai Mara University); Morompi Ole Masago (Maasai Mara University).

Contributors from the Arctic

Dalee Sambo (Inuit Circumpolar Council, Individual contribution); Vera Metcalf (Inuit Circumpolar Council, Individual contribution); Vernae Angnaboogok (Inuit Circumpolar Council, Individual contribution); Carolina Behe (Inuit Circumpolar Council, Individual contribution).

Contributors from Asia

Pradeep Metha (Central Himalayan Institute for Nature & Applied Research); Lalita Bhattacharjee (Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge, FAO); Fidel Rodriguez (FAOPH, FAO Representation Office in the Philippines); Jeffrey Oliver (FAOPH, FAO Representation Office in the Philippines); Jasmine Magtibay (FAOPH, FAO Representation Office in the Philippines); Kathleen Ramilo (FAOPH, FAO Representation Office in the Philippines); Melanie Sison (FAOPH, FAO Representation Office in the Philippines); Virginia Agcopra (FAOPH, FAO Representation Office in the Philippines); Dharmen G. Momin (Garo tribe, Individual contribution); Neelam Kerketta (Oraon tribe, India, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Mardha Tillah (Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment); Basavi Kiro (Torang Trust).

Contributors from Latin America

Samuel Cauper Pinedo (Asociación Centro Indígena para el Desarrollo Sostenible); Gloria Amparo Miranda Zambrano (Departamento de Estudios Culturales, Demográficos y Políticos. División de Ciencias Sociales y Administrativas, Campus Celaya-Salvatierra. Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico); Liseth Escobar (National University of Colombia, Amazonia Campus); Olga Lucía Chaparro Africano (National University of Colombia, Amazonia Campus. Honorary Fellow Researcher in the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program (LACIS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison); Jenny Chicaiza (pueblo Kayambi, Red de jóvenes Wambra Páramo); Carmen Laura Paz Reverol (pueblo wayuu, Fundación Indígena Lumaa, Universidad del Zulia).

Contributors from North America

Hannah Tait Neufeld (Indigenous Health Wellness and Food Environments, School of Public Health and Health Systems, Faculty of Health, University of Waterloo); Steven Holley (Dena’ina (the Many People), Alaska Village initiative, Alaska Carbon Exchange); Erin Riley (Division of Community and Education, Institute of Youth, Family and Community-IYFC USDA|National Institute of Food and Agriculture-NIFA); Kellyann Jones-Jamtgaard (Division of Community and Education, Institute of Youth, Family and Community-IYFC, USDA|National Institute of Food and Agriculture-NIFA); Jamie Betters (Oneida Nation); Debra Nkusi (First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Indigenous Services Canada); Lesya Marushka (First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Indigenous Services Canada); Andrea Carmen (International Indian Treaty Council, Yaqui Nation); Joseph Gazing Wolf (Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux Nation, Arizona State University, USA); Tara Maudriez (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Individual contribution); Sara Moncada (The Culture Conservancy, Yaqui Nation); Robert Brown (Oneida Nation); Vicki Hebb (University of Nevada Reno, Community Services – Extension Mineral County, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe); Jonathan Long (US Forest Service); Tracy Morgan (Washington State University, FRTEP Tribal Extension under the Kalispel Tribe of Indians; Friend of Kalispel Tribe).

Contributors from the Pacific

Jane Lokomaikaʻikeakua Au (Kānaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) ʻĀina Momona); Dr Kamana Beamer (Kānaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian), Center for Hawaiian Studies in the Hui ‘Āina Momona Program at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa).

Contributors on COVID-19 and Resilience

Carol Zavaleta-Cortijo (Quechua from Peru, Unidad de Ciudadania Intercultural y Salud Indígena (UCISI), Facultad de Salud Pública y Administración, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia; Eranga K. Galappaththi (Individual (expert) contribution).General contributions. Amy Ickowitz (Center for International Forestry Research); Alexandre Meybeck (Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Forests, Trees and Agroforestry research programme of the CGIAR); Vincent Gitz (Center for International Forestry Research, the Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) research programme of the CGIAR); Junko Nakai (FAO, Natural Resources Management Officer); Francesco N. Tubiello (FAO, FAOSTAT); Alvaro Toledo (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Daniele Manzelaa (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Francisco Lopez (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Kent Nnadozie (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Mario Marino, Technical Officer (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Mary Jane Ramos De la Cruz (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Olivier Rukundo (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Rodica Leahu (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Tobias Kiene (FAO, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources); Anneleen Van Uffelen (FAO, Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment); Ghislaine Gill (FAO, Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment); Irene Hoffmann (FAO, Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment); Monika Kobayashi (Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment) Preetmoninder Lidder (FAO, Office of the Chief Scientist); Jessica Vega Ortega (Global Indigenous Youth Caucus); Ajay Rastogi and Lok Chetna Manch (IIED and members of the Biocultural Heritage Working Group); Alejandro Argumedo (IIED and members of the Biocultural Heritage Working Group); Dr. Chemuku Wekesa (Kenya Forestry Research Institute, IIED and members of the Biocultural Heritage Working Group); Dr. Philippa Ryan (RBG Kew, IIED and members of the Biocultural Heritage Working Group); Dr. Yiching Song (Farmer Seed Network (China), IIED and members of the Biocultural Heritage Working Group); Krystyna Swiderska (IIED and members of the Biocultural Heritage Working Group); Gina Kennedy USAID Advancing Nutrition, IUNS Task Force on Traditional and Indigenous Food Systems and Nutrition, Individual contribution); Rosalaura Romeo (Mountain Partnership Secretariat in FAO); Samantha Abear (Mountain Partnership Secretariat in FAO); Sara Manuelli (Mountain Partnership Secretariat in FAO); Valeria Barchiesi (Mountain Partnership Secretariat in FAO); Yuka Makino (Water and Mountains, Mountain Partnership Secretariat in FAO); Angus W. Naylor and Prof. James D. Ford (Priestley International Centre for Climate, University of Leeds, Leeds, Arctic/Canadian Arctic Individual contributions); Lev Neretin (Safeguards, Climate Risks and Bioeconomy Team of FAO).

Glossary

Biocentrism

An ethical approach that holds that all life deserves equal consideration and has, therefore, rights of existence and standing.

Biodiversity conservation

The practice of protecting and preserving the abundance and variety (biodiversity) of all species, regardless of classification, ecosystems and genetic diversity, on the planet (IFAD, 2015 and Convention on Biological Diversity).

Bushmeat

Meat for human consumption derived from wild animals (IPBES Glossary).

Communal resources or “common property”

Rights held by members of a community to land and other natural resources (e.g., pastures) that members can use independently of one another (FAO Glossary). Common property is characterised by the following elements: overarching ritual and cosmological relations with traditional lands; community “rights” of control over land disposal (sometimes delegated to traditional leaders); kinship or territory-based criteria for land access; community-based restrictions on dealings in land with outsiders; and principles of reversion of unused land to community control (IFAD, 2015).

Community-based natural resource management

An approach to natural resource management that involves the full participation of Indigenous Peoples, local communities and resource users in decision-making activities, and the incorporation of local institutions, customary practices and knowledge systems in management, regulatory and enforcement processes. Under this approach, community-based monitoring and information systems are initiatives by Indigenous Peoples and local community organisations to monitor their community’s wellbeing and the state of their territories and natural resources, applying a mix of traditional knowledge and innovative tools and approaches (IPBES Glossary).

Conservation

Includes protection, maintenance, rehabilitation, restoration and enhancement of populations and ecosystems. This implies sound biosphere management within given social and economic constraints, producing goods and services without depleting natural ecosystem diversity.

Co-creation (of knowledge)

The collaborative process of bringing a plurality of knowledge sources and types together to address a defined problem and build an integrated or systems-oriented understanding of that problem (Armitage et al., 2011).

Cosmogonies

A vision of reality that places the highest importance or emphasis on the universe or nature, as opposed to an anthropocentric vision, which strongly focusses on humankind as the most important element of existence (IPBES Glossary).

Customary tenure

Rules and norms that communities devise and uphold to regulate how their lands are acquired, owned, used and transferred. Many rules and norms are tested over generations (hence, “traditions” or “customs”). IFAD Glossary

Customary use of biological resources

Uses of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation and sustainable use requirements (Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD).

Ecosystem services

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; the pollination of crops; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as the nutrient cycling that maintains the conditions for life on Earth (IPBES Glossary).

Empowerment (of Indigenous Peoples)

The process of increasing the opportunity of Indigenous Peoples to take control of their own lives (IFAD, 2015).

Endemism

The ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere (IPBES Glossary).

Equitable benefit-sharing

Equitable distribution of benefits among stakeholders (modified from IPBES).

Food generation

Viewed in contrast to food production, food generation relates to consumptive activities involving minimal human intervention within the ecosystem. Food generation includes hunting, fishing and gathering activities, which traditionally rely on a deep understanding of the seasonality of ecosystems, the availability of food sources, and knowledge that supports the recollection of food spontaneously generated by the system.

Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)

Operational principle empowering local communities to give or withhold their consent to proposed investment and development programmes that may affect their rights, access to lands, territories and resources, and livelihoods. Defined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Holism

Holistic perspectives consider a large number of variables qualitatively, while science tends to concentrate on a small number of variables quantitatively (adapted from Berkes and Berkes, 2009).

Hunter-gatherers (present-day)

A term used to refer to small-scale, mostly egalitarian, societies that subsist primarily on food that has been obtained directly from the environment – through hunting animals, gathering plant food, fishing or scavenging. A more general term for this is “foraging,” and such peoples are also sometimes referred to as “foragers” – or often “post-foragers,” given that most such societies no longer survive through these subsistence techniques alone. They constitute a tiny fraction (less than 1 percent) of the 476 million peoples referred to as Indigenous (Lee et al., 1999).

Indigenous food

Foods from the natural environment that became included in the cultural food use patterns of a group of Indigenous Peoples (FAOTERM).

Indigenous language

Not only methods of communication, but also extensive and complex systems of knowledge that have developed over millennia. They are central to the identity of Indigenous Peoples, the preservation of their cultures, worldviews and visions and an expression of self-determination. Indigenous languages are critical markers of the cultural health of Indigenous Peoples. When Indigenous languages are under threat, so too are Indigenous Peoples themselves (UNDPI, 2018)

Indigenous Peoples

In accordance with international consensus, the four following criteria apply when considering Indigenous Peoples: priority in time, with respect to occupation and use of a specific territory; the voluntary perpetuation of cultural distinctiveness, which may include the aspects of language, social organisation, religion and spiritual values, modes of production, laws and institutions; self-identification, as well as recognition by other groups, or by state authorities, as a distinct collectivity; and an experience of subjugation, marginalisation, dispossession, exclusion or discrimination, whether or not these conditions persist (FAO, 2010).

Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge

Cumulative body of knowledge (for example, know-how), practices and manifestations maintained and developed by Indigenous Peoples with long histories of interaction with their natural environment. Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge is adapted to the local culture and transmitted orally from generation to generation (adapted from FAOTERM).

Knowledge system

A body of propositions that are adhered to, whether formally or informally, and are routinely used to claim truth. They are organised structures and dynamic processes (a) generating and representing content, components, classes or types of knowledge, that are (b) domain-specific or characterised by domain-relevant features as defined by the user or consumer, (c) reinforced by a set of logical relationships that connect the content of knowledge to its value (utility), (d) enhanced by a set of iterative processes that enable evolution, revision, adaptation and advances, and (e) subject to criteria of relevance, reliability and quality (IPBES Glossary).

Land rights

Property rights pertaining to land. There are three principal rights linked to the spatial dimension of land: use rights, control rights and transfer rights (FAOTERM).

Land tenure

The relationship, whether legally or customarily defined, among people, as individuals or groups, with respect to land. More than one person may hold rights to a parcel of land, which gives rise to the concept of a “bundle of rights” (adapted from FAOTERM).

Linguistic diversity

Range of variations exhibited by human languages (IFAD Glossary).

Local food

Local food refers to food that is produced near its point of consumption.

Marginalisation

The process of pushing particular groups of people – usually minorities such as Indigenous Peoples or rural women – to the edge of society by not allowing them to have an active

Oral tradition

A variety of spoken forms, including proverbs, riddles, tales, nursery rhymes, legends, myths, epic songs and poems, charms, prayers, chants, songs, dramatic performances and more, used to pass on knowledge, cultural and social values, and collective memory. They play a crucial part in keeping cultures alive (IFAD Glossary).

Ownership

The rights to land that are, in everyday language, associated with the ability to use, control, transfer or otherwise enjoy a land parcel as long as those activities are allowed by law. In statutory tenure, it is often associated with freehold. However, land law does not tend to define explicitly what is meant by “ownership” (FAOTERM).

Pastoralism

A wide family of livestock-based, livelihood/food production systems, which are specialised in improving the animals’ diet and welfare through different forms of mobility (from short movements to nomadism), thus managing their grazing itineraries at a variety of scales in time and space (FAO, forthcoming).

Protected areas

A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values (IUCN Definition 2008).

Reciprocity

Within this report, the concept acknowledges a moral and practical obligation for humans and biota to care for and sustain one another and arises from human gratitude and reverence for the contributions and sacrifices made by another biota to sustain humankind.

Restoration

The active intervention and management of degraded biotic communities, landforms and landscapes in order to restore biological character, ecological and physical processes and their cultural and visual qualities (FAOTERM).

Rituals

Understood as a network of practices, knowledge and behaviours, rituals associated with food form a key role in maintaining Indigenous world views, passing on practices and values and strengthening the sense of community and collective responsibility to conserve socio-ecological systems (Anacio, 2017).

Self-determination

The ability or power to make decisions for oneself, especially to decide how to be governed. The UNDRIP (article 3) recognises the right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination. By virtue of that right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Self-sufficiency

A group is considered self-sufficient by its ability to produce all the materials it consumes and to consume what it produces. Self-sufficiency refers to a closed loop from production to consumption to production. It is a model, sometimes an ideal that is never achieved. Economic self-sufficiency is in total contrast to complete market economy, in which everything produced is traded and everything consumed is secured through trade (Callan and Coleman, eds., 2018).

Spirituality

A fundamental belief in the sacredness of nature, Earth and the universe.

Stewardship (of the environment)

The actions taken by individuals, groups or networks of actors, with various motivations and levels of capacity, to protect, care for or responsibly use the environment in pursuit of environmental and/or social outcomes in diverse social–ecological contexts (Bennett et al., 2007).

Subsistence

Subsistence is the process whereby people supply themselves with the necessities of life, such as food and shelter. Subsistence relates primarily to self-provisioning by small productive units, often families. These groups are referred to as autarkic for being able to supply all their own needs with no dependence on or interaction with others to obtain necessities (Callan and Coleman, eds., 2018).

Territory

Lands and waters traditionally occupied or used by Indigenous and local communities.

Traditional custodian

The group, clan or community of people, or an individual who is recognised by a group, clan or community of people, in whom the custody or protection of the expressions of culture are entrusted in accordance with the customary law and practices of that group, clan or community (IFAD, 2015).

Traditional lands and territories

Lands and waters traditionally occupied or used by Indigenous and local communities.

Traditional resources

Tangible or intangible assets of biological, spiritual, aesthetic, cultural and economic value used traditionally by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Traditional medicine

The medicinal preparations, often based on centuries-old traditions, that contain derivatives from plants or animals that have proven or reputed medicinal properties (CITES Glossary).

United Nations Declaration of Rights on Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)

Adopted by the General Assembly in September 2007, the UNDRIP contains provisions on land, natural resources and subsistence activities relevant for the realisation of Indigenous Peoples’ right to food and food sovereignty. It also includes the protection of traditional knowledge, biodiversity and genetic resources, and sets limits on the activities of third parties on the territories of Indigenous communities without their consent.

Use rights (“usufruct”)

Right to use the land for growing crops, passage, grazing animals and the utilisation of natural and forest products. A holder of a use right may not have the right to sell the property, etc. (FAO TERM).

Value systems

Set of values according to which people, societies and organisations regulate their behaviour. Value systems can be identified in both individuals and social groups (IPBES Glossary).

Vulnerability

The ability to be easily physically, emotionally or mentally hurt, influenced or attacked. Vulnerable groups define those who have insufficient access to the quantity and quality of food that would ensure a healthy life and/or are at risk of losing such access altogether (World Food Programme [WFP]).

Wellbeing

A context- – and situation- – dependent state, comprising basic material for a good life, freedom and choice, health, good social relations and security (UN, 2008).

Western science (also called modern science)

A broad term to refer to knowledge typically generated in universities, research institutions and private firms following paradigms and methods typically associated with the “scientific method” consolidated in Post-Renaissance Europe on the basis of wider and more ancient roots. It is typically transmitted through scientific journals and scholarly books. Some of its central tenets are observer independence, replicable findings, systematic scepticism and transparent research methodologies with standard units and categories.

Wild food (or “uncultivated food”)

Wild plants, animals and insects that are not cultivated or reared in captivity. They are part of the minor crops and underutilised species, and include roots and tubers, vegetables and leafy vegetables, fruits, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, game and mammals gathered for food (Bioversity International, 2017).

Worldviews

Worldviews defined by the connections among networks of concepts and systems of knowledge, values, norms and beliefs. Individual person’s worldviews are moulded by the community to which the person belongs. Practices are embedded in worldviews and are intrinsically part of them (e.g., through rituals, institutional regimes, and social organisation, but also in environmental policies, in development choices, etc.).