Recently the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a United Nations organization that focues on "rais[ing] levels of nutrition, improv[ing] agricultural productivity, better[ing] the lives of rural populations and contribut[ing] to the growth of the world economy" released a report titled, Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems & Well-being (2013). The 437-page book available here, discusses the following:
[i]ndigenous Peoples in cultural homelands of the most rural areas of
developing regions experience challenges in using their traditional food systems
and to ensure food security and health despite the treasures of food
biodiversity that could support well-being. This book is the third in a series
promoting use of local food systems by Indigenous Peoples; the first defines the
process to document local food resources, and the second describes food systems
in 12 diverse rural areas of different parts of the world. Here we describe
processes and findings from more than 40 interdisciplinary collaborators who
created health promotion interventions for communities using local food systems.
Included are participatory processes using local knowledge and activities
specifically for local food; global overviews of Indigenous Peoples' health
circumstances, environmental concerns, and infant and child feeding practices;
and nine specific case examples from Canada, Japan, Peru, India, Colombia,
Thailand and the Federated States of Micronesia. Common themes of successful
interventions and evaluations are given along with chapters on human rights
issues and implications for policies and strategies. Throughout the 10 years of
this research we have shown the strength and promise of local traditional food
systems to improve health and well-being. This work is in context of the second
United Nations' International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples and the
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Recently the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a United Nations organization that focues on "rais[ing] levels of nutrition, improv[ing] agricultural productivity, better[ing] the lives of rural populations and contribut[ing] to the growth of the world economy" released a report titled, Tenure of Indigenous Peoples Territories and REDD+ as a Forestry Management Incentive: The Case of Mesoamerican Countries (2013). The 69-page report available here, discusses the following:
[p]rogrammes to reduce emissions from deforestation and ecosystem degradation,
such as REDD+ and other forestry incentive programmes, including Payment for
Environmental Services (PES), could represent an opportunity to strengthen
processes of conservation, sustainable usage and poverty reduction in the
Mesoamerican region, particularly in indigenous territories and communities.
Analysing the context of such initiatives and how they are interlinked is
relevant to understanding how these multipurpose programmes can achieve their
objectives in the light of recent developments in the recognition of indigenous
peoples’ rights over land tenure and natural resources in the region.
Examining these contexts and their linkages in countries such as Costa Rica,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama, where there are considerable
forest areas with significant indigenous populations, is the aim of this
study.
