Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

General remarks:

• Business and human rights: Include correlation between Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and global supply chains. In this regard, taking into account challenges concerning human rights in supply chains, specifically for Indigenous Peoples. Therefore, referencing also the document ‘UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’
• Biodiversity: The reference to the „Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework“ (point 8 under foundational documents) should also reflect the recent decisions of CBD COP 16 related to the role of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Guiding questions:

• Should the objectives include mainstreaming Indigenous Peoples food and knowledge systems, and lessons learned from them, for the benefit of all, or solely for the benefit of Indigenous Peoples as rights holders?

Indigenous People’s communities and farmers play a crucial role in conserving and developing plant genetic resources, which serve as the foundation of global food production systems. This vital contribution is acknowledged by the International Treaty on Plant and Genetic Resources adopted by FAO in 2001 and enforced starting in 2004. In that context, they can contribute significantly to the expansion of regenerative agroecological practices, conserving and promoting nature-positive food production systems worldwide. However, a critical prerequisite for this is the affirmation of Indigenous People’s rights, sensitive use of their knowledge and ensuring the equitable sharing of benefits.¹ Hence, the report should both benefit Indigenous Peoples as rights holders and increase the respect, protection and recognition of Indigenous Peoples food and knowledge systems. In a second step, „for the benefit of all,“ it should share ideas on how principles of biocentrism, seasonality and circularity could be further applied to mainstream food systems.

• How can the report ensure the inclusion of marginalized groups, sustainability, and protection against commercialization risks for Indigenous Peoples' food and knowledge systems?

The inclusion of small-scale farmers, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture is essential for sustainable food systems. The inherent right to self-determination of Indigenous Peoples is jeopardized by the commodification and overexploitation of aquatic resources. Through their own tenure systems, Indigenous Peoples have the right to manage and govern their coastal and riparian ecosystems. It is imperative that Governments recognise, respect, and protect Indigenous tenure.2

In the report (A/HRC/55/49), the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food provides a framework for the advancement of the rights of small-scale fishers, fish workers and Indigenous Peoples and a guide for States to ensure that the world’s aquatic ecosystems are biodiverse and safe, and that States fulfil human rights obligations despite climate change challenges.

Furthermore, there could be a special focus also on the role of Indigenous women and youth in their food and knowledge systems. Overall, the report should address risks of commercialization and potential remedies, also taking into account the work of WIPO Global Reference on intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, e.g. the publication “Protect and Promote Your Culture”.³

• What best practices, ethical standards, and strategies for addressing climate change should be highlighted in the report?

The most vulnerable actors in food systems – including small-scale farmers, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture, other SMEs, women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples – across food supply chains are not well-represented and empowered to influence the formulation of policies related to food systems. Despite the recognition of the valuable role of Indigenous Peoples knowledge and practices in in- forming sustainability, adaptation to climate change and resilience-building strategies, their values, views, cosmovisions, and practices continue to be excluded from policy and science. Western scientific knowledge remains the dominant knowledge system, whereas Indigenous People’s traditional knowledge is only understood as scientific when it is validated and transcribed into scientific language. Nevertheless, the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems can facilitate sustainable re- sources management.⁴

• Following and implementing important international agreements and voluntary guidelines such as the ‘Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security’ (VGGT Guidelines) and the ‘Voluntary Guide- lines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication’ (SFF Guidelines) is crucial to enhance Indigenous Peoples’ food systems.⁵ https://doi.org/10.4060/cb5131en
• In agricultural regions, women’s traditional and Indigenous People’s traditional knowledge is key to adaptive practices in farming, climate change and resource management. Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP&LCs), their relationship with nature and their traditional knowledge are indispensable partners for the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, and thus also for the protection of the climate and biodiversity. For instance, according to studies, deforestation rates in forests managed by IP&LCs are two to three times lower than in other forests.⁶ In the context of maintaining healthy aquatic food systems, the SSF guidelines recognize the important role of small-scale fisheries as environmental stewards by inter alia noting that “States should recognize the role of small-scale fishing communities and Indigenous Peoples to restore, conserve, protect and co-manage local aquatic and coastal ecosystems”.⁷
• The whitepaper on Indigenous Peoples food systems by FAO (2021) outlines eight key sources of resilience that can enhance adaptive capacity in indigenous fisheries systems for climate-sensitive small-scale fisheries systems: (1) “the use of diverse kinds of knowledge systems for daily fishing activities”; (2) “practise different ways of learning opportunities to foster adaptive learn- ing”; (3) “the use of community-based institutions to cope with everyday challenges and fisheries management”; 4) “efforts to improve human agency to build adaptive capacity”; (5) “unique worldviews that encourage living with the changing conditions and adapting”; (6) “specific cultural attributes such as sharing, collective action and collaboration”; (7) “effective social networks that lubricate specific information-sharing processes that are mandatory for fishing activities”; and (8) “the flexibility with which fisheries systems can switch between different adaptive responses or engage in multiple responses as appropriate to adapt to changing conditions.⁸

³ WIPO. Global Reference on intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/global_reference.html

WIPO. Protect and Promote Your Culture. A Practical Guide to Intellectual Property for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Protect and Promote Your Culture

⁴ FAO. 2021. The White/Whiphala Paper on Indigenous People’s food systems. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4932en

⁵ FAO and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. 2021. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems: Insights on sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb5131en

⁶ World Resources Institute (2016), https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/Climate_Benefits_Tenure_Costs_Executive_Summary.pdf)

⁷ Charles, A., Macnaughton, A. & Hicks, S. 2024. Environmental stewardship by small-scale fisheries. FAO, Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc9342en