Indigenous approach to conservation sought for Ethiopia and Peru

A declaration by farmers and scientists from Ethiopia and Peru urges policymakers to establish indigenous bio-cultural territories as areas for conserving agricultural biodiversity.

The call, made at a workshop in Peru that ended on 29 September, urges recognition of indigenous peoples' and their rights to land and biological, genetic and cultural resources, and their rights to define their own food production and consumption systems.

Delegates highlighted the contribution of indigenous peoples to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity that is important for food and agriculture. They pointed to the importance of resilient, biodiverse food systems to sustain livelihoods, reduce poverty and help communities mitigate and adapt to climate change.

"The declaration encourages action research and South-South learning," says Dr Michel Pimbert, who heads IIED's sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and livelihoods programme. "It calls for the creation of democratic spaces for intercultural dialogue and the strengthening of interdependent networks of food producers and other citizens."

IIED's Peruvian partner Asociación Andes organised the workshop with the Association of the Communities of the Potato Park, a pioneering example of community based conservation of agricultural biodiversity.

Discussion topics included a range of issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of native crops and agrobiodiversity. This included the Indigenous Biocultural Territory and Agrobiodiversity Conservation Areas approach, and continued with Customary Laws and governance structures for conservation of agrobiodiversity, resilience in managing climatic changes, indigenous knowledge, access to genetic resources and intellectual property.

Finally workshop participants considered possibilities for implementation of national and key international legal frameworks for agrobiodiversity conservations such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.