Food Sovereignty, Cultural Indicators and Traditional Knowledge

Cusco Peru, November 6, 2014

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living

adequate for the health and well-being of himself & of

his family…including food”

-- Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1948

Health, Food and Well-Being are Human Rights

“…In no case may a people be

deprived of its own means of subsistence.”

-- Article 1 in Common,

International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social

and Cultural Rights

Oregon, USA

What is “Food Sovereignty” ?

“Food sovereignty is the right of Peoples to define their own policies and strategies for sustainable production, distribution, and consumption of

food, with respect for their own cultures and their own systems of managing natural resources and rural areas, and is considered to be a

precondition for Food Security.” - Declaration of Atitlan, 1st Indigenous Peoples’ Global Consultation on the

Right to Food and Food Sovereignty, Guatemala, 2002

The Right to Food from the Perspective of Indigenous Peoples

The Right to Food for Indigenous Peoples is a collective right;

Based on our special spiritual relationship with Mother Earth;

Based on our lands and territories, environment, and natural resources that provide our traditional nutrition;

Nourishes our cultures, languages, social life, worldview and relationship with Mother Earth;

“The denial of the Right to Food denies us our physical survival, social organization, cultures, traditions, languages, spirituality, sovereignty, and total identity”;

--The “Declaration of of Atitlan”

Indigenous Peoples Define the Right to Food from their own Perspective

Gwitch’in Singers, Arctic Village,

Alaska

Colonization and Food Sovereignty“Without the Buffalo, the independent life of the Indian

people could no longer be maintained. The Indian spirit, along with that of the buffalo, suffered an enormous loss”

-- White Clay Bison Restoration Project, Ft. Belknap Reservation Montana USA

In 2003 IITC carried out a global consultation in

coordination with FAO to identify the main obstacles

to Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples. 128 completed questionnaires

were received from communities, food

producers, organizations, and knowledge holders in 29 countries, representing

over 5000 persons

Fresh Water Aqueduct from Oviachi dam to Ciudad Obregon, Rio Yaqui, Sonora Mexico

Obstacles Identified by Indigenous Peoples: # 1: Denial of Land and Water Rights

The six biggest producers of GMO seeds -- Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Agrosciences, BASF, Bayer, and Pioneer (DuPont) -- are also the biggest producers of chemical herbicides and insecticides

Toxic Exports: Pesticides and GMO’s

Cristian Molina age 13, died May 15th, 2008,

with his mother in Potam Pueblo Sonora Mexico 2006

Juan Antonio Rodriquez, age 2, died April 11, 2013,

shown his grandmother in Vicam Rio Yaqui Sonora Mexico; January 2013

Impacts: Disabilities and Infant Mortality

Imposed Development and Denial of Free, Prior & Informed Consent

.

Diseased fish, Athabasca Delta and

Lake, 2010

In 2008, the Treaty Chiefs of Alberta adopted a resolution calling for a Moratorium on expansion of tar

sands extraction.

Syncrude Mildred Lake Tar Sands mine Northern Alberta, Canada

75% of the respondents stated that they were either not consulted at all or not listened to by

the governments, corporations, NGO’s, national and international development

agencies carrying out programs impacting their food sovereignty, cultural practices and ways of

life.

...and Climate Change

“Climate change constitutes the single most important threat to food security in

the future”. Report of the UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food,

UN Human Rights Council, 2009 --- “

Montana Alaska

Mexico: Changing weather patterns include dramatic decreases in summer rainfall directly impacting traditional

agriculture. Growing capacity of traditional crops such as corn is decreasing dramatically in many regions

More than a million spring-run Chinook lived in Central Valley waters. Today there are fewer than 10,000 - a

99% decline. In 2010, Researchers at UC Davis created models to predict the effect of climate change on the Chinook salmon run. In all the scenarios, even the hopeful ones, spring run Chinook failed to survive

until 2099.

Northern California

And Loss of Language, Practices & Ways of Transmitting Traditional Knowledge to New Generations

History is Made: the UN General Assembly Adopts the Declaration on the Rights of

Indigenous Peoples, September 2007

New York September 13th, 2007

Geneva, 1977

Subsistence Rights and Traditional Economies

“Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.”

-- Article 20, para. 1

Lands, Territories and Resources

“Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they

have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired…”

--- Article 26, para 1.

Right to Education: Article 14“Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control

their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate

to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.”

Article 25: Spiritual Relationship to Traditional Lands and Resources

Yarn painting, Huichol Corn Ceremony

“Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and

strengthen their distinctive spiritual

relationship with their traditionally owned or

otherwise occupied and used lands, territories,

waters and coastal seas and other resources and to

uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this

regard.”

Environmental Protection and Productive Capacity of Lands

Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources… -- Article 29, para. 1

Article 32: FPIC and Development “States shall consult and

cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of their mineral, water or other resources.”

Traditional Knowledge: Article 31

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora…

Border Rights: Article 36 1. Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other peoples across borders.2. States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples,shall take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensurethe implementation of this right.

North-South Seed Trading and Sharing

2nd International Indigenous

Peoples Corn Conference, 2014

The “Cultural Indicators for Food Security, Food Sovereignty and Sustainable

Development”: a community tool to assess threats and develop solutions

Traditional Prayer Stick guards the crops, Rio Yaqui, Sonora Mexico

11 Cultural Indicator Areas Finalized at the 2nd Global Consultation on the Right to

Food and Food Security for Indigenous Peoples Bilwi Nicaragua, September, 2006 (IITC, CADPI & FAO)

1. Access to, security for and integrity of lands, territories ad natural resources for traditional food production2. Abundance, scarcity and/or threats to traditional seeds, plant foods and medicines, food animals, as well as cultural practices associated with their protection and survival3. Consumption and preparation of traditional plant and animal foods and medicines, ceremonial/cultural and household use4. Continued practice of ceremonies, dances,

prayers, songs and stories and other cultural traditions related to the use of traditional foods and subsistence practices.

5. Preservation and continued use of language and traditional names for foods and processes 6. Integrity of and access to sacred sites for ceremonial purposes related to use of traditional foods 7. Migration and movement away from traditional lands return patterns and relationships to continued use of traditional foods.8. Effective consultations for planning, implementation and evaluation applying Free, Prior Informed Consent and full participation 9. Mechanisms created by and accessible to Indigenous Peoples for transmission of food-related traditional knowledge and practices to future generations 10.Adaptability, resilience, resistance and/or restoration of traditional food use and production in response to changing conditions 11.Ability of Indigenous Peoples to implement rights, legal norms and standards as well on the community, national and international levels

Chimaltenango, Guatemala

Field-testing the Cultural Indicators 2007 – 2010, 5 countries

Gaigirgordup, Kuna Yala, PanamáPascua Yaqui Tribe, Tucson, Arizona

Kuna Yala, Panama

Chickaloon Village, Alaska Vicam,Sonora, Mexico

Rio Yaqui, Sonora Mexico Structural Indicator: The

Mexican Government’s “Green Revolution” mandated hybrid imported corn and other seeds for Yaqui farmers to obtain bank loans in the 1940’s - 70’s

Process Indicator: No formal processes in place for elders to share seeds and knowledge

Result Indicator: <15% Yaqui farmers use or have access to traditional seeds

Response: A new traditional seed bank and seed trading

with other communities

Yaqui Traditional Leaders Assert Free, Prior and Informed Consent, Declare Ban

on Aerial Spraying of PesticidesDecember 2006, Vicam Pueblo, Rio Yaqui, Sonora, Mexico

Chickaloon Village AlaskaStructural Indicator: Boarding Schools, Land Claims, State-run education impacting inter-generational knowledge sharing

Process Indicator: Family, clan and community members teach hunting, fishing & related cultural knowledge, but not wild plant gathering

Results Indicator: 80% of adults and children did not participate in wild plant gathering

(except berries)

Response: New program at implemented at tribal school for elders to teach gathering and preparing of wild tsass

“49. We stress the importance of the participation of indigenous peoples in the achievement of

sustainable development. We also recognize the importance of the United Nations Declaration on the

Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the context of global, regional, national and subnational implementation of

sustainable development strategies.”

Rio + 20 Outcome Document: “The Future We Want”

The Voluntary Guidelines recognize the Cultural Values of Indigenous Peoples

“State and non-state actors should acknowledge that land, fisheries and forests have social, cultural,

spiritual, economic, environmental and political value to indigenous peoples and other communities with

customary tenure systems.” -- Article 9.1, UN Voluntary Guidelines for Land Tenure, Forests and

Fisheries, adopted May 2012

Yurok Girls gather Tule reeds for

basket making, Northern California

Follow up IITC consultation in 2012 – 2013 with input from over 5000 Indigenous

Peoples: 86% said that traditional knowledge and practices can be useful in

responding to climate change

The UN Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s):

Indigenous Peoples’ Priorities

• Culture as the “4th pillar”

• Rights-based approach (Land & resources, Treaties, FPIC, Self-determination, etc.)

• Protection for Traditional Knowledge & Livelihoods

• Full participation and real

partnershipsIndigenous Peoples Rio+20 International Conference, Rio de Janeiro, June 2022

Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

2.3. by 2030 double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment

Final proposed Goals and Targets agreed by the Open Working Group on July 19,

2014

39

Traditional Knowledge, Cultural Rights and Solutions to Climate Change:

Cultural Indicators Areas 2, 6 and 10

“Tule marshes absorb more than ten times more carbon than a pine forest”

-- Dr. William Carmen (Yaqui) Wildlife Biologist

Indigenous Peoples International Corn Conference, September 2012

“The health and survival of our corn mother/father in all its natural varieties, colors and original

strength and resilience cannot be separated from the health and survival of our Peoples. Our

struggles to protect corn as a source of our lives cannot be separated from our struggles to defend

our rights to land, water, traditional knowledge and self-determination.”

--- Declaration of Santo Domingo Tomaltepec, September 30th, 2012

Sharing and Trading Seeds at the Indigenous Peoples “Corn is Life” Gathering, September, 2013, Tsaile, Arizona and the 2nd International

Indigenous Peoples Corn Conference, Okmulgee Oklahoma, September 2014

“The cycles of our lives and the countless generations of our Peoples are merged with the life cycles of the Salmon. Salmon is our traditional food but it also defines who we are… The health of the Salmon is one

with the spiritual, cultural, and physical health of our Peoples” --- Declaration from the Indigenous Peoples' International Gathering to

Honor, Protect and Defend the Salmon, June 23rd, 2013, Yurok Nation, Klamath River, Northern California

“Before there were human beings, before there was man

and woman, there was the corn. The spirit of the corn, the corn

song, the corn pollen -- they were always here. Take care of your

family corn. It is a sacred being. It is who we are and how we are

made. Listen to that song. Learn your language. The corn is

praying for you to come home and be healed.”

Declaration of a GMO- and Pesticide-Free Food Sovereignty Zone, Dine’ Nation Territory,

Indigenous Peoples “Corn is Life” Gathering September 19 – 21, 2013, Tsaile, Arizona

-- Dine’ Hataali Avery Denny, September 20th, 2013.

The Family Farm: essential for revitalizing and transmitting our traditional food knowledge

Cheoque Utesia, Thank you very much