Items tagged:
Biocultural heritage
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Resilient food systems and COVID-19: lessons for a Just Transition
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed huge vulnerabilities and inequalities in food systems. They are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change: to droughts, floods, typhoons, sea-level rise – the current locust outbreak in East Africa. But they are also part of the problem, contributing about one third of global greenhouse gas emissions and being highly inequitable too. Krystyna Swiderska spells out what needs to change
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Indigenous food systems, biocultural heritage and agricultural resilience
IIED is working with partners in the UK, China, India and Kenya to establish a new partnership and network for interdisciplinary research on indigenous food systems. The aim is to link humanities academics, agriculture researchers and indigenous peoples to design new interdisciplinary research on indigenous food systems past and present, from farm to plate, and enhance evidence on the role of indigenous crops in agricultural resilience
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Protecting indigenous cultures is crucial for saving the world’s biodiversity
2020 is being hailed as a ‘super year’ for nature, with a series of major international events looking at how we can stop the decline of wildlife and natural ecosystems. Krystyna Swiderska argues that saving biodiversity can’t succeed without working to save indigenous cultures
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International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP)
The International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP) brings together mountain communities from 11 countries as they seek to revitalise biocultural heritage for climate-resilient and sustainable food systems. IIED provides communications, advocacy and capacity support for INMIP.
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Indigenous biocultural heritage for sustainable development
IIED and partners in four countries are exploring how the traditional knowledge, biodiversity and landscapes of indigenous peoples can contribute to sustainable development
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Mountain communities stress the importance of biocultural heritage for global food security
Ahead of an intergovernmental forum on biodiversity and food security, the International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples has published a report highlighting the importance of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge for climate adaptation
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IIED and partners at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP14)
This page summarises the activities of IIED, its researchers and partners during the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP14) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt from 17-29 November 2018
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Three ‘E’s to guide the post-2020 biodiversity roadmap
Joji Cariño sets out three key principles that could underpin a new biodiversity deal where humans and nature work in harmony – and explains why indigenous peoples and local communities will be key in shaping this deal
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Q&A: Women in rural India are nature’s guardians
Reetu Sogani describes the special bond between women in India and the country’s natural resources – a connection that positions them as key preservers and managers of biodiversity. Despite this, women’s voices often go unheard in policies intended to support biodiversity conservation
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As climate changes, Himalayan farmers return to traditional crops
Traditional crops and innovations are offering Himalayan farmers a way to deal with the challenges of climate change, but there is much work to be done for this to become a truly viable alternative
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Q&A: Why indigenous seed-saving women are the stewards of biodiversity
In the latest in a series highlighting how women around the world are safeguarding biodiversity, Krystyna Swiderska discusses how women are sustaining biodiverse farming by combining traditional knowledge and innovation to protect local seed systems
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Biocultural heritage landscape to be established in Eastern Himalayas
New biocultural heritage landscape will protect rich biodiversity and indigenous identities
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Mountain indigenous peoples call for support for biocultural landscapes to achieve the SDGs
The International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples has called for support and legal protection for biocultural heritage landscapes and community conserved areas following an event in Peru
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New film shows Chinese mountain communities protecting biocultural heritage
A new film tells stories from inhabitants of the Stone Village in China, home to 220 Naxi ethnic families and a living example of the value of conserving biocultural heritage
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Designing a biocultural heritage labelling system: survey results
Our survey found broad support for a labelling scheme for biocultural heritage-based products. Now we need to get a pilot project off the ground
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IIED at the biodiversity COP in Cancun
IIED and partners will be at the Convention on Biological Diversity conference in Cancun, Mexico, in December to highlight sustainable solutions that protect biodiversity
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Indigenous people use own knowledge to boost food yields despite climate change, research finds
New research shows how indigenous communities are fine-tuning traditional knowledge to mitigate the risks of climate change
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Biocultural heritage territories film now in Spanish
A visually stunning photofilm that profiles three biocultural heritage terriritories and their role in biodiversity conservation and locally determined development is now available in Spanish. Biocultural heritage territories protect indigenous and traditional land tenure and use land management to preserve fragile ecosystems and promote locally determined patterns of development
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IIED at the IUCN World Conservation Congress
IIED and its partners will be at this year's World Conservation Congress in Hawai'i from 1-10 September 2016
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Mountain peoples call for support to protect traditional knowledge
More than 50 indigenous mountain peoples representing mountain communities in China, Nepal, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Peru gathered in the Stone Village, in Yunnan, Southwest China in May 2016, to discuss the impact of climate change on their communities. At the end of their meeting they issued the Stone Village Declaration, calling for urgent support for their traditional ways of managing natural resources, and setting out eight actions for the international community
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The Paris Agreement – a framework for local inclusion
The Paris Agreement commits governments to climate action. To deliver this agenda successfully, they must engage with all sectors of society, including indigenous peoples, and recognise traditional knowledge
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Mountain communities being devastated by extreme climate impacts
For those mountain communities living at the extreme edges of the world, climate change is already a very real threat. Researchers are calling for vulnerable communities to be given special consideration in the Paris negotiations next month
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Mountain communities rebuild diverse, climate-resilient crops
The Sustainable Development Goals have been agreed, but for mountain communities around the world this action can't come quickly enough. Climate change is already here, threatening their food security, nutrition and livelihoods
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Brazil's first community protocol: the Bailique experience
A remote community in the Amazon has agreed Brazil's first community protocol, giving them an equal voice in future discussions about natural resource use
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Consultation: designing a new biocultural heritage indication
How can indigenous people benefit more from their biocultural heritage? A new project wants to hear your feedback on how a labelling scheme for biocultural heritage-based products could work
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New film highlights mountain communities' climate workshop
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has released a film showcasing an event where mountain communities discussed the impacts of climate change and how to respond using their biocultural heritage
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'Guardians of Diversity' film in Spanish and Chinese
A film documenting an international meeting of indigenous farmers in Peru's Potato Park to discuss adaptation to climate change is now available in Spanish and Chinese
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Unmissable opportunity to build food security and reduce GHGs at Paris COP
International research organisations are stressing the need for climate agreements to support traditional farming, given its role in both adaptation and mitigation
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Return of potatoes from CIP to Andean farmers proves critical for climate adaptation
Peru's farmers are able to access a greater diversity of potato varieties for climate adaptation, thanks to the continued work of a ground-breaking agreement between CIP, ANDES and the Association of the Potato Park communities
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New photofilm profiles biocultural heritage territories
IIED has released a new photofilm profiling indigenous biocultural heritage territories and the role they play in development, conservation and adaptation
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Film documents visit to "Guardians of Diversity" in the Potato Park
A new 15-minute film documents a gathering of indigenous farmers from mountain communities around the world to exchange knowledge and ideas about protecting biodiversity and culture as the basis for adapting to climate change
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IIED at the World Parks Congress 2014
The full programme of IIED activity at this year's World Parks Congress, including news, events, blogs and updates
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A marriage to save the earth: Farmers and researchers innovate to conserve biodiversity
Traditional knowledge combined with the latest science could increase food production while safeguarding biodiversity, new research shows
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Indigenous mountain communities call on governments to support traditional knowledge-based adaptation
An International network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples has been formed to advocate for community biocultural heritage rights and help achieve food sovereignty and climate change adaptation
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Indigenous farmers from Peru, China and Bhutan agree to share seeds for climate adaptation
In the spirit of the International Year of Family and Peasant Farming, indigenous mountain farmers from China, Bhutan and Peru have agreed to share seeds in an effort to cope with global climate change
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Indigenous spiritual values guide climate change adaptation in mountain communities
Cultural and spiritual values of indigenous peoples and climate change will be the focus of an international event in the Potato Park, Cusco, Peru
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2014: the International Year of Family Farming
See how IIED's work during the International Year of Family Farming helped to raise the profile of family and smallholder farming and its contribution to eradicating hunger, reducing rural poverty and more
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China's farmers innovate to adapt to climate change
The film "Planting for Change" tells the story of how farmers in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces have responded to climatic adversity by using their own innovations and biocultural heritage
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Traditional innovation in farming is under threat
Indigenous knowledge is innovative, not static. Protecting it will help food security.
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Smallholder innovation for resilience (SIFOR)
IIED worked with partners in China, India, Kenya and Peru to revitalise traditional knowledge-based – or 'biocultural' – innovation systems of smallholder farmers in order to strengthen food security in the face of climate change. Traditional farmers continually improve and adapt their crops and farming practices in response to new challenges, using local knowledge and biodiversity, generating new technologies and practices
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Mainstreaming nature and biodiversity into wider planning and policy
Biodiversity conservation, climate change and economic development must be tackled together by the institutions that drive policy, rules, plans, investment and action – a process known as ‘mainstreaming’. We aim to ensure this happens through research, capacity building and partnerships with key organisations, communities and other actors
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Introduction to building greater local control and resilience into agricultural and food systems
IIED is working to promote farming systems that are sustainable, productive and resilient – and to support smallholder farmers and farmer-led innovation
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Protecting community rights over traditional knowledge
The current system of intellectual property rights is designed to promote commercial and scientific innovation. It offers little scope for protecting the knowledge rights of indigenous peoples, traditional farmers and healers, whose survival requires collective – not exclusive – access to new knowledge and innovations
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Making the Nagoya Protocol work at the community level
Two safeguards for communities' rights to resources can help implement the Nagoya Protocol.
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2010 International Year of Biodiversity
The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. It’s a key reminder of how fundamental biodiversity is to the health of planetary systems as well as human prosperity and wellbeing — and a chance for all of us to learn more.
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Patently obvious: intellectual property rights could support small producers
The humble potato is a great example of how Quechua communities in the Andes have maintained crop biodiversity.
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“Protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous people benefits us all”
He gave the example of indigenous peoples in Peru who are responding to climate change by reintroducing native potato varieties and so are “helping to conserve the earth’s biodiversity”. “Indigenous peoples have been living a ‘green economy’ for centuries,” he added — economists should look to old practices in indigenous communities for new ways to achieve sustainable development.
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New website shows how nature plus culture equals resilience
Nature and culture are deeply linked. Together they are central to the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of marginalised people around the world, and will be critical to how they respond to climate change and other environmental challenges.
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Protect and survive: customary safeguards, traditional knowledge
In thousands of rural communities from Bolivia to Bangladesh, traditional knowledge makes up the living core of culture. Bound up with local livelihoods and biodiversity, it forms a holistic system precisely tailored to local needs and environmental capacity. Its evolution over time and through shifting conditions ensures traditional practices are robust and adaptable to climate change.
