Indigenous Peoples and local communities

The involvement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities is a prerequisite for sustainable mountain development. The traditional knowledge and food production systems of Indigenous Peoples and traditional mountain communities provide important lessons on how to adapt to climate change, and are a reflection of value systems that place ecosystem preservation at the centre of their belief systems.

For Indigenous Peoples and local communities living in mountain areas, land, water and forests are not simply natural resources to be used. As their ancestors before them, today’s mountain dwellers understand that their well-being, their group identity and their children’s future depend on the careful stewardship of the environment. This ‘intangible heritage’ also enriches the global community, providing inspiration and insights for realizing a more sustainable relationship between humankind and the environment.

Mountain peoples cultivate a wide variety of crops that are adapted to a range of different elevations, slope conditions and microclimates. Moreover, Indigenous local farmers in mountains around the world have explicitly designed their agricultural systems to protect the soil from erosion, conserve water resources and reduce the risks of disasters triggered by natural hazards. These agricultural systems contribute to the protection of ecosystems, with tangible benefits also for communities downstream. In fact, it is widely recognized that while Indigenous Peoples only make up 5% of the world’s population, they are considered custodians of as much as 80% of the world’s biodiversity.

Therefore, mountain-dwelling Indigenous Peoples and local communities serve as custodians of traditional knowledge and biodiversity, including agrobiodiversity. It is important to recognize in Indigenous Peoples' mountain communities that men and women often have different areas of knowledge, experience and responsibility that contribute to preserving biodiversity, therefore special attention should be given to the knowledge and contributions of Indigenous women.

Despite the demonstrated importance of Indigenous Peoples' food systems and the broader set of cultural practices from which they derive, these are in danger of being transformed beyond recognition by the demographic, economic and environmental changes underway in mountain areas today. Many Indigenous Peoples in mountains are losing their lands as a result of phenomena such as encroachment, forced displacement, rural-to-urban migration and soil degradation. Indigenous Peoples' foods, stigmatized as ‘foods of the poor’, are often abandoned in favour of non-local foods that may be more readily available or convenient to cook but often contain high levels of sugar and fat and have relatively low nutritional value. This phenomenon compounds the problem of relatively high rates of iodine and vitamin A micronutrient deficiencies found in impoverished mountain communities.

With climate change scenarios strongly suggesting that if current trends continue, extreme weather events are likely to become ever more common and more intense in mountain areas, it is necessary to integrate Indigenous Peoples' agricultural systems and their historical perspectives on climate variability as key-tools in climate change adaptation strategies. The Mountain Partnership advocates for global attention and tangible commitments from the international community to achieving sustainable mountain development. This includes the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples' knowledge in responding to climate change adaptation, as stipulated by the UNFCCC COP21 Paris Agreement, and the right of Indigenous Peoples to their land, territories and resources, as stipulated by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Mountain Peoples Map

 

VII Meeting of Knowledge and Practices of Rural Andean Peoples

VII Meeting of Knowledge and Practices of Rural Andean Peoples

event

For four days in the city of Andahuaylas, people who live in rural parts of the Andes in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru will meet again for a meeting of knowledge and practices, organized by REDAR Peru  and the Ministry of Agriculture of Peru.

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Method for climate adaptation in the mountains

Method for climate adaptation in the mountains

news

Active Remedy Ltd submitted a report - outlining a method/tool for working with mountain communities and integrating modern and traditional knowledge conservation approaches – to a United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) database. The worldwide database gathers various uses of Local, Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge and Practices for...

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Submissions for UN report on mountains

Submissions for UN report on mountains

news

The Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) is currently compiling summaries of the most important results of mountain development activities since July 2013 for the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) Report on Sustainable Mountain Development.

Now requested every three years, the MPS and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations,...

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Indigenous adaptation knowledge in mountains

Indigenous adaptation knowledge in mountains

news

Mountain ecosystems and communities are extremely vulnerable to climate change. There is evidence that temperatures are rising faster at higher altitudes. High mountains are ‘highly temperature sensitive regions’, with several extreme impact events of recent decades attributed to warming, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Glacier retreat...

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 A self-sustaining Peruvian community

A self-sustaining Peruvian community

news

Andean rural areas in South America are home to native ancient ethnicities such as Quechuas and Aymaras and Huancas. These custodians of the Andean cultural heritage, through their biodiversity in crops and local knowledge, demonstrate that ancient technologies can contribute to the reduction of inequality and a more inclusive society....

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A Year-long Ascent: Mountain Partnership Secretariat Annual Report 2014

A Year-long Ascent: Mountain Partnership Secretariat Annual Report 2014

publication

The Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) reflects its key achievements in promoting sustainable mountain development (SMD) in its 2014 annual report. Using mountain climbing as an analogy to facing SMD challenges, the annual report outlines its work in advocacy, communication and knowledge management, promoting International Mountain Day, brokering joint action and...

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