Biocultural Heritage

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As half of the world's population relies on mountains for their water, 18 indigenous mountain communities call for support to strengthen traditional natural resource management systems.

Stockholm Resilience Centre speaks to Pernilla Malmer about a "walking workshop" of the International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP) in Tajikistan, September 2015, and the importance of knowledge exchange for revitalising communities' biocultural heritage and developing tools for sustainable development in the face of climate change. 

TWN Info Service on Intellectual Property and Agriculture
4 March 2016

Zhu Zhenyan (Third World Network) describes important aspects of the final revision.

This 30 minute film, produced by indigenous filmmakers in Taiwan, documents the emergence of a new global indigenous network - the International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP) - at a ‘walking workshop’ in Bhutan in May-June 2014. The network aims to strengthen the capacity of indigenous mountain communities to confront climate change through exchange of indigenous knowledge and seeds, and strengthening biocultural heritage and indigenous farming systems.

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.

Respect for the spiritual values and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples is a key component in the response to climate change, as was today asserted by an agreement between the Center for Earth Ethics (CEE) of Union Theological Seminary, the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University, and the Indigenous Peoples Biocultural Assessments Initiative (IPBCCA) of Asociacion ANDES.

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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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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.

This week, from 11-18th September, indigenous mountain farmers from 20 communities in 10 countries are meeting in Tajikistan to assess the impacts of climate change and identify responses needed.

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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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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.

Article by Claudia Múnera, originally published by The Daly News | March 17th 2014

Research in Nicaragua suggests that recognising the value of biocultural heritage is key to protecting forests from economic pressures.

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

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.

The second annual meeting of China’s “National Farmers’ In-Site Breeding and Seed-Sharing Network” was held on January 11-13 2015, in Guangxi. It brought together farmers from several provinces, leading crop scientists, policy makers and China’s Soybean Industry Association.

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.

Read more including slides and audio on Geoff Tansey blog

In December 2014, a learning exchange was held in the Potato Park for SIFOR farmers from Kenya and India.

View the photos on Flickr

In this short film, smallholder farmers from India, Kenya and Peru explain the challenges they face due to climate change, and how they are responding.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (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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