WORLD FOOD FORUM 2025 High-Level Opening of the Indigenous Peoples Territory and Launch of the Expert Meeting of the Global-Hub of Indigenous Peoples Food and Knowledge Systems Opening Remarks

Indigenous leaders,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Welcome to FAO! Welcome to your home!

I am so delighted to be with you here today in this Indigenous Peoples’ Territory at FAO in the heart of Rome.

This Indigenous Nomadic Tent has become a symbol of FAO’s commitment to our strong partnership and friendship.

A testament that we are Better Together!

Today, we celebrate in particular the coming together of all scientists.

To achieve food security for all, we need to bridge the gap between ancestral knowledge and modern technology and innovation.

By combining the best each of us can offer, we are able to eliminate global hunger and ensure prosperity for all – leaving no one behind.

This is what the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food and Knowledge Systems is doing.

By co-creating knowledge and bringing us together around the fire, we have created a strategic think-tank on Indigenous Peoples Food Systems.

The Sami people, the elders, and the Global-Hub are showing us what can be achieved by working together, thinking together, learning together and collaborating together, with mutual respect, leading to great impact.

In 2021, when the Global-Hub published the White Wiphala Paper, it helped us better understand Indigenous Peoples food and knowledge systems.

It presented a powerful and collective voice that had a deep impact at the UN Food Systems Summit.

Today, FAO continues to believe that Indigenous Peoples' food and knowledge systems are real game changers for transforming our global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.

There are more than 470 million Indigenous Peoples in the world, the large majority of which in Asia. They practice food systems that are thousands of years old, and are sustainable.

This meeting of the Global Hub is taking place just before the release of the first-ever High-Level Panel of Experts report on Indigenous Peoples Food Systems.

This is the fruit of collaboration by Indigenous leaders and the UN Rome Group of Friends of Indigenous Peoples – the largest in the UN system.

Listening to Indigenous Peoples’ voices and wisdom is fundamental, especially in these difficult times.

Dear Members of the Global-Hub,

We look forward to seeing how your work will advance during this week, and to the outcome of your research.

FAO is very proud to host the Secretariat of the Global-Hub as it brings together the best from different worlds: from spirituality to oral knowledge, from Indigenous Peoples’ innovations to academic science.

The Global-Hub is a unique space for dialogue and research, where Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts from all over the world combine their food and knowledge systems and skills to generate strong evidence that guides policies and leads to concrete actions.

These are pathways to a better foods-secure future for all.

The role of Indigenous Peoples in achieving a world without hunger is being increasingly recognized.

More and more Indigenous Peoples are participating in global processes and discussions affecting their lives.

FAO is committed to keep supporting Indigenous Peoples,

And we keep expanding our Global Programme on Indigenous Peoples’ Bio-centric Restoration.

Today this programme reaches seven countries and restores ecosystems, food systems and knowledge.

We look forward to the next UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum in 2026 and am sure that this week’s discussions will contribute meaningfully to it.

Dear Indigenous Friends,

Let me congratulate you on your work and contributions towards a future of peace, respect, solidarity, sustainability and food security.

Your knowledge is a gift to all humanity.

FAO is here to listen, to learn, and to work alongside you.

This year we celebrate FAO’s 80th anniversary, and I am sure that this collaboration will last for the next 80 years, and more.

This week, we will also inaugurate the FAO Food and Agriculture Museum and Network, which will include a dedicated room for Indigenous Peoples.

Before closing, I am honoured to welcome Chief Deskahe for the first time to FAO.

It was 102 years ago when the previous Chief travelled to Geneva to deliver a message of peace and dialogue from six Indigenous Peoples to the world.

Thank you for coming to FAO. Your words of wisdom and message of peace are needed today more than ever.

We are here to listen and to learn.

Because peace is a prerequisite for food security and the right to food is a basic human right.

Thank you.