By Nicoline de Haan, Director, CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform
12 August 2024, France: Indigenous Peoples’ relationship with food systems is profound and intricate, embodying essential knowledge for climate resilience and a heightened vulnerability to climate and environmental impacts. As custodians of most of the world’s remaining biodiversity, Indigenous communities possess invaluable insights into sustainable agricultural practices that could help transform global agri-food systems. And with climate, environmental and other challenges increasingly threatening global food security, including this knowledge can provide much needed solutions.
Indigenous Peoples, while only representing 6.2% of the global population, govern at least a quarter of the world’s terrestrial surface. Yet, their lands face deforestation and degradation, misuse, natural resource extraction, colonization, and infrastructure development. Even so, they are increasingly asserting their voices in discussions about our collective food future and paving the way for a more sustainable future.
As we mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we recognize the pivotal role Indigenous communities play in building food security and advancing agri-food system sustainability. They possess a wealth of traditional knowledge and practices, refined over generations, offering time-tested solutions to modern agricultural challenges. This is an opportunity for policymakers and scientists to learn from and collaborate with Indigenous leaders by supporting, amplifying, and valuing Indigenous rights, voices, and knowledge to create a resilient food future for all.
Indigenous Land Rights
Discussions about Indigenous voices and knowledge must begin by acknowledging Indigenous land rights. When given the protection of land tenure, Indigenous communities can contribute to ecological and social sustainability. Without it, our food systems are at risk.
While international treaties such as the Committee on World Food Security Tenure Guidelines acknowledge that land tenure is essential for eradicating hunger and meeting global climate goals, they are often disregarded at national and subnational levels. Many Indigenous communities still lack formal recognition and legal protection of their traditional territories, often due to strict and complex application processes. For example, in Peru, over 38 steps are required to obtain title to their territories.
Since the 1990s, research has highlighted the importance of tenure rights in sustainable natural resource management, alleviating poverty, and ensuring food security for rural populations dependent on agriculture in lower income countries. Between 2013 and 2021, CGIAR examined the drivers and consequences of tenure insecurity, to find ways to strengthen it for rural communities, including Indigenous Peoples. Greater tenure security tended to be associated with lower poverty levels and improved food security and nutrition.
Land tenure is a foundation for agri-food systems transformation, and when given formal recognition of their customary rights, Indigenous Peoples are well positioned and empowered to drive this change. Our research supports strategies such as inclusive land use planning involving multiple stakeholders and forming organized social alliances such as Indigenous Peoples’ groups.
Indigenous Voices in Policy-Making Processes
For many years, Indigenous Peoples have advocated for increased and authentic involvement in climate and other policy discussions. Their leadership is increasingly shaping effective climate adaptation strategies.
Let’s take Kenya as an example. The Kenyan Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE) advocates that Indigenous Peoples have the potential to drive change in ways that address their worldviews, rights, and values. Despite being among those most affected by climate impacts due to unpredictable weather patterns, changes in fish populations, decreasing forest coverage, and exclusions from the forests they once depended on, Kenya’s Indigenous Peoples are leveraging their deep knowledge to drive impactful solutions.
Kenya’s agricultural policies also increasingly acknowledge the invaluable role of Indigenous voices and knowledge in improving food system sustainability due to their sophisticated understanding of local environments and unique ecosystems within their territories. Through various initiatives, Indigenous communities are leading agricultural-sector development and creating transformative change.
This includes Indigenous community groups leveraging investments in capacity-building and advocacy that influences climate-smart agricultural programs, actively participating in national decision-making via platforms like the Climate Smart Agriculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform (CSA-MSP), strengthening their role in local adaptation planning, and using allocated funds to improve agricultural extension services.
Kenya may be a model for decision-makers in institutions worldwide, accepting Indigenous knowledge systems as valuable resources and opportunities for creating climate adaptation strategies.
Indigenous Knowledge: Integrating with Modern Science
Now more than ever, we must take a holistic approach to creating sustainable solutions, something which many Indigenous communities have mastered through centuries of wisdom, knowledge, and connection to the land.
A CGIAR study emphasized the effectiveness of Indigenous knowledge in agriculture, specifically in pest and disease control, seed selection, and crop production. Despite the benefits, this invaluable knowledge is under-documented and is being rapidly replaced by modern techniques. For instance, 92% of Indigenous Ethiopian farmers used traditional methods and knowledge to protect their crops from pests and diseases, with 89% using cow urine to control fungi and insects.
Including Indigenous knowledge and demonstrating its scientific effectiveness in modern agriculture could enhance sustainability, promote organic farming practices, and reduce the overall environmental impact of agriculture. These methods have the potential to transform agri-food systems by reducing dependency on polluting inputs and promoting a wider understanding of agriculture’s role in maintaining the ecological balance for climate change adaptation.
Additionally, this series of stories from the Ogiek and Endorois communities showcases the co-creation of solutions with the research community, highlighting how Indigenous beekeepers have developed strategies that address the impacts of climate change.
Let’s ensure Indigenous Peoples are equal partners
Putting Indigenous rights, voices, and knowledge at the forefront of global agri-food systems is not just a matter of justice, but a strategic necessity for achieving inclusive, sustainable transformation in our food, land, and water systems.
Indigenous Peoples offer unparalleled insights into climate resilience and sustainable practices. Their land, voices, and knowledge are already making significant contributions to global food security, and further acknowledgment within policymaking and the scientific community has the power to amplify these contributions, driving even greater advancements. Equality and inclusion are at the heart of food systems transformation. Let’s ensure Indigenous Peoples are prominent in our investments, programs, and science. We will all benefit.
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