2015 was declared by the UN General Assembly as the “International Year of Soils” with FAO nominated as the technical secretariat. The year is increasing the awareness and understanding of the key role soil plays for food security and ecosystem functions. With 90% of our food coming from soils, yet 30% of them being degraded, the issue of how to develop sustainable food systems is now more important than ever. The resiliency of indigenous peoples’ systems and their capacity to produce food while preserving the environment are getting more and more attention. Indigenous food systems could provide a strong indication of how to integrate in one holistic model different social, cultural, spiritual and economic aspects.

During the event entitled “International Year of Soils: exploring links between indigenous food systems, protection of native seeds and sustainable livelihoods” organized at the UN headquarters on 21 April, 2015 by FAO, CBD, the Government of Nicaragua, Tebtebba, CAPDI, AIPP, and the Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty, indigenous representatives and eminent delegates participated in a panel discussion to bring attention to the important relationship between indigenous food systems, fertility of soils and sustainable alternatives to feed the planet’s growing population.

Chaired by John Scott, CBD Secretariat, the event was opened by Eloy Frank, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua, who suggested that strategies for development agendas should be comprehensive and promote the diversification between systems of production. He mentioned the “Forest and Farm Facility” implemented by FAO in Nicaragua, and its simple strategy of revitalizing indigenous knowledge (e.g. on the use of soils) by including it in the schools curricula.

Yon Fernandez de Larrinoa, from FAO, underlined how, to feed the growing earth population in the next decades, we need to ensure that soils are healthy and food systems sustainable, giving some examples of how several indigenous systems are not only resilient but contribute to soil fertility and biodiversity.

Victoria Tauli Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, added that traditional practices of indigenous peoples are being more and more challenged. “A lot of problems faced by indigenous peoples are related to the whole issue of seeds,” she said, adding that GMOs have destroyed traditional food systems and varieties on which they relied. Myrna Cunningham Kain, Special Ambassador for the International Year of Family Farming, shared the results of some studies conducted by FAO in Latin America, which highlighted the resiliency of the indigenous food systems.

Alvaro Pop, UNPFII member, stimulated reflection of the audience by stressing that it is in the soils that everything begins and ends, and called indigenous peoples “the custodians of development”. He showed the overlap between indigenous territories, pockets of poverty and malnutrition and areas of high biodiversity value.

Joan Carling, Asia representative of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, presented a publication which is about to be launched by AIPP, FAO and IWGIA on shifting cultivation, showing evidence that contrary to what has been thought for years, this practice does not cause deforestation but instead helps to preserve areas of high ecological value.

Phrang Roy from Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty encouraged FAO and other international agencies attending the event to include indigenous ancestral knowledge and its relevance in the agenda of the 2015 International Year of Soils.

An interactive discussion followed, during which indigenous persons from various countries shared the alarming rate at which they are being dispossessed of their lands and territories, thus their role as custodians of the earth is severely impacted and their rights violated day after day.

For photos from the event, please visit here.

To view Yon Fernandez de Larrinoa's presentation, please click here.