International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP)

INMIP is an Indigenous Peoples-led network coordinated by the Peruvian indigenous NGO ANDES (Association for Nature and Sustainable Development). It aims to strengthen the resilience of indigenous mountain peoples in the face of global change by revitalising biocultural heritage, particularly spirituality, indigenous knowledge, customary laws, biodiversity and indigenous landscapes; and to advocate for policies that protect the rights of mountain indigenous peoples. 

INMIP members comprise indigenous mountain communities in centres of crop diversity and domestication, and supporting NGOs and research organisations, in Bhutan, China, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand and the Philippines. 

INMIP uses a 'horizontal learning' approach to promote the exchange of traditional and local knowledge between communities that are living in similar mountain agroecosystems and facing increasingly pressing climate change, biodiversity, cultural and socio-economic challenges. The network's walking workshops enable practical learning about how to address shared challenges through empowering community-led processes.

Background

INMIP was established in Bhutan in May 2014, at the 14th Congress of the International Society for Ethnobiology (ISE). ANDES and IIED were co-chairs of the ISE Global Coalition for Biocultural Diversity, and organised a Mountain Communities Initiative workshop in Bhutan, which gave rise to the network. 

The aim of the workshop was to provide concrete benefits for communities in Bhutan through an exchange that brought together indigenous mountain communities from different countries, using a ‘walking workshop’ methodology. IIED co-supported this event through its SIFOR project and with FCDO funding.

Annual learning exchanges

Since Bhutan, INMIP has held annual learning exchanges in Tajikistan, China, Peru and Kyrgyzstan, involving walking workshops in different mountain communities. These have each had a particular focus on learning from local biocultural heritage and climate adaptation work – such as revitalisation of native fruit trees in Tajikistan, customary water management in China, the Potato Park biocultural territory in Peru, and walnut forests and nomadic herders in Kyrgyzstan. 

INMIP exchanges have also provided rare opportunities for equitable dialogue between indigenous mountain communities and policymakers on pressing issues such as climate change and out-migration, which is exacerbating the loss of traditional knowledge. The exchanges have also looked at the question of how to promote inter-generational knowledge transmission, and how to develop market linkages for biocultural products and services. 

What is IIED doing?

IIED has helped establish this emerging network through fundraising and facilitation support; rapporteuring and producing detailed reports of each workshop to collate the evidence for a policy audience; supporting the production of INMIP declarations; organising side events at UNFCCC, UNESCO and FAO conferences; and issuing news stories and media releases with INMIP.