The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with the Alliance of Bioversity International and The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) released a new study identifying hundreds of diverse plant and animal species that Indigenous Peoples around the world depend on and care for to generate food sustainably and enhance biodiversity – and warning of increasing threats to these sophisticated food systems.

The report is titled Indigenous Peoples’ Food System, Insights of sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change. 

Nearly 500 million people in more than 90 countries self-identify as Indigenous Peoples, with unique traditional knowledge offering rich opportunities for food security and biosecurity preservation.  Eight Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are examined in depth and revealed to be among the most sustainable in the world in terms of efficiency, no waste, seasonality and reciprocity.

Today these systems are at high risk from climate change and the expansion of various industrial and commercial activities.

Read full article FAO report maps insights from and threats to Indigenous Peoples’ food Systems at fao.org

Photo credit: Quang Nguyen vinh from Pixabay