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

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.

Indigenous knowledge is key to sustainable food systems

“…Although Indigenous communities have yet to receive the recognition they deserve, food-security workshops involving Indigenous people and local communities are beginning to shape research agendas 25 -such as those organized under the Colombia Bio programme involving multiple Colombian and British stakeholders, and co-led by colleagues at Kew. By adopting more-holistic and more-sustainable views on the management of nature, and focusing on the relationships between human and non-human species 4 , Indigenous peoples are challenging the status quo of economic growth at the cost of natural capital.…”

Biocultural innovation: Innovating at the intersection of the biosphere and ethnosphere

“…The process of synthesizing traditional knowledge, especially as it pertains to understanding the biosphere, with existing science has been referred to as biocultural innovation in policy circles (Swiderska et al, 2018). We define biocultural innovation as the application of traditional knowledge to improve intergenerational wellbeing while minimizing the depletion of biocultural assets .…”

“…Somewhat surprisingly, biocultural innovation has been widely documented in literature outside the field of innovation studies. For example, a review commissioned by the European Union identified 510 biocultural innovations that enhance food security, resilience, livelihoods, and biodiversity (Swiderska et al, 2018). These innovations include the revival of parma , a set of collective farming and knowledge‐sharing practices that address climate challenges and labor shortages in the Himalayas, and the use of Msinduzi tree bark as a low‐cost treatment for wounded livestock in Kenya.…”

“…Yet, theorization about biocultural innovation is either inadequate, or sits outside a clearly defined category. The term biocultural innovation was coined by Swiderska et al (2018:1), but only appears in policy briefings and is not theorized beyond a rudimentary definition: “new ways of doing things that involve components of biocultural heritage, or traditional knowledge, and science.” Likewise, literature that documents biocultural innovations uses cumbersome descriptors that limit its application to narrow spheres of influence. For instance, “types and examples of Indigenous knowledge used for climate change adaption” (Petzold et al, 2020:11), “biocultural approaches to conservation” (Gavin et al, 2015:140), or “ethnopharmacology” (McGonigle, 2016:217).…”

The indigenous bioculture of the Pungalá Parish of Ecuador an approach to their culinary and medicinal heritage.

“…Runa Ayllu includes human beings, domesticated plants, animals, water, etc. ; Sallqa Ayllu comprises wild plants and animals; Auki Ayllu represents the sacred and the ancestors; Ayni signi es reciprocity (11).…”