Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and Biocultural Heritage: Addressing Indigenous Priorities Using Decolonial and Interdisciplinary Research Approaches

Krystyna Swiderska (), Alejandro Argumedo, Chemuku Wekesa, Leila Ndalilo, Yiching Song, Ajay Rastogi and Philippa Ryan ()
Additional contact information
Krystyna Swiderska: International Institute for Environment and Development, London WC1V 7DN, UK
Alejandro Argumedo: Swift Foundation and Asociacion ANDES, Santa Fe, NM 87508, USA
Chemuku Wekesa: Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Wundanyi 80304, Kenya
Leila Ndalilo: Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Wundanyi 80304, Kenya
Yiching Song: Farmer Seed Network, Nanning City 530000, China
Ajay Rastogi: Lok Chetna Manch, Ranikhet 263645, Uttarakhand, India
Philippa Ryan: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London TW9 3AE, UK

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-23

Abstract: The food systems and territories of Indigenous Peoples sustain much of the world’s biodiversity, cultivated and wild, through agroecological practices rooted in Indigenous cosmovision and cultural and spiritual values. These food systems have a critical role to play in sustainability transformations but are widely threatened and have received limited research attention. This paper presents the results of four virtual workshops with Indigenous Peoples: a global workshop and local workshops with communities in coastal Kenya, northeast India and southwest China. Indigenous participants highlighted the role of their food systems in resilience to climate change, nutrition, sustainability and resilience to pandemics, and threats from agriculture, development and conservation policies. They called for research on the rapid loss of Indigenous knowledge; Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and food sovereignty; and the impacts of industrial agriculture on Indigenous food systems, stressing the need for decolonial approaches to revitalise Indigenous knowledge. The paper presents a decolonial and interdisciplinary framework for action-research on Indigenous food systems past and present, from farm to plate, drawing on the virtual workshops, Andean decolonising methods and historical approaches. It concludes that decolonising action-research, led by Indigenous Peoples, is urgently needed to reverse the rapid loss of food-related biocultural heritage.

Keywords: indigenous peoples; biocultural heritage; indigenous food systems; traditional crops; climate resilience; decolonizing action-research; indigenous cosmovision; interdisciplinary approaches (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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