Traditional Food Systems of

Indigenous Peoples

Barbara Burlingame, PhD

FAO

Definitions

Indigenous peoples (PFII, 2007)

• Self- identification

• Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies • Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources • Distinct language, culture and beliefs • Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities

Traditional food systems • Local access

• Ecosystem service • Product of traditional knowledge and the natural environment • Naturally resilient, adapted food plants and animals

Issues

• Diets are not sustainable

– 870 million hungry people

– 2 billion people with micronutrient malnutrition

– 2 billion people overweight and obese

• Environments are not sustainable – ecosystems degraded

– biodiversity forever lost

• Food systems are not sustainable – Deforestation, intensive livestock industries, imports of “popularly

positioned products”, agricultural and industrial chemical contaminations

Distribution of hunger in the world

•CFS •Roma, 14th October 2010

Stunting prevalence and number affected in

developing countries

•1990 •2000 •2010

•0

•10

•2 0

•3

0

•40

•5

0

•Stu

nti

ng

(%

)

•40.3

•48.6

•23.7

•39.3 •37.7

•18.1

•38.2

•27.6

•13.5

•1990 •2000 •2010

•0

•50

•1

00

•1

50

•2

00

•Nu

mb

er

of

stu

nte

d (

mil

lio

ns

)

•45

•190

•13

•51

•138

•10

•60

•100

•7

•AFRICA

•ASIA •LATIN AMERICA •Source: Department of Nutrition, World Health Organization

Overweight prevalence and number affected in

developing countries

•1990 •2000 •2010

•0

•2

•4

•6

•8

•10

•Ov

er

we

igh

t (%

)

•4

•3.2

•6.8

•5.7

•3.7

•6.8

•8.5

•4.9

•6.9

•1990 •2000 •2010

•0

•5

•10

•1

5

•20

•Nu

mb

er

of

ov

er

we

igh

t (m

illi

on

s)

•4

•13

•4

•7

•14

•4

•13

•18

•4

•AFRICA •ASIA

•LATIN AMERICA

•Source: Department of Nutrition, World Health Organization

Definition of

Sustainable Diets

Sustainable Diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources.

Source: FAO, 2010

Ingano

Ingano forest resources

“Let’s return to our food, our life and our tradition. With our food, we will improve our health, will recover our culture, and will take care of the natural world. We need our plants and our jungle in order to have strength and to live better.”

Eva Yela, Ingano community member

Ingano forest resources

“Let’s return to our food, our life and our tradition. With our food, we will improve our health, will recover our culture, and will take care of the natural world. We need our plants and our jungle in order to have strength and to live better.”

Eva Yela, Ingano community member

Organización de Desarrollo de

Comunidades Fronterizas del Cenepa

(ODECOFROC, Organization for

Development of the Frontier

Communities of

Cenepa)

• The Awajun have always lived in equilibrium with their natural surroundings. Their forests and rivers are their life-blood and livelihood: “…if the rainforest disappears, the Awajun disappear”.

• The food system was based on more than 200 traditional foods, but the nutritional and health situation of the Awajun is not optimum.

• Studies have found high prevalences of infant and childhood malnutrition (stunting), and anaemia in women and children. Reasons for this include changing ecological, cultural and food systems, and a high prevalence of infections and parasites.

• Through participatory research with the communities, the project promotef the production and use of nutritious traditional foods that benefit the nutrition and health status of the population and preserve its food culture.

Inventory of plants at central nursery

Bananas and vitamin A

<5 µg carotenes >8500 µg carotenes

Impact of food biodiversity on

measurements of dietary adequacy Banana β-carotene

content in μg/100 g

Banana intake in Philippines in g/cap/d

Vitamin A intake through banana in μg RE/cap/d

%RDI for vitamin A calculated for banana intake

USDA 26 93 4 0.7

Lacatan 360 93 56 9.3

Utin Iap 8510 93 1320 220

•The marketing of UPF targets low income families •in emerging economies by using door-to-door

• vendors recruited in the communities

•and offering products in smaller packages (“more accessible”) •and “fortified” with micronutrients (“popularly

•positioned products”)

•Nestle to Sail Amazon River to Reach Emerging-Market Consumers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-17

•The marketing of ultra-processed products

• promotes compulsive overeating

• It is one after the other! • The name says it all.

• Non-stop is simply irresistible.

•New brand of ultra-processed products in Brazil

•From a Nestlé press release:

•Vevey, February 21, 2008

•“Popularly positioned products (PPPs). Products

•aimed at lower income consumers in the developing

•world, will continue to grow strongly in 2008 and

•beyond. Nestlé PPPs, which mostly consist of dairy

•products, Nescafé and Maggi culinary products,

•grew by over 25% to reach around CHF 6 billion in

•sales in 2007. The overall market for such products in

•Asia, Africa and Latin America is estimated at over CHF

•80 billion.”

Improving the evidence base

Conservation and Sustainable use of Agro-biodiversity to

Improve Human Nutrition

• National Information System on native agro-biodiversity, its nutritional properties and resilience to climate change

• Ensure support for in-situ conservation of agro-biodiversity linking high nutrient ecotypes to markets

• Mainstreaming conservation and sustainable use of agro-biodiversity for food security and nutrition into policy and regulatory frameworks

• Communication and capacity building

Environmental

footprint

Source: Mediterranean

Diet Foundation, 2010

•Note that the degradation of ecosystems and the loss of food biodiversity is contributing greatly to the increases in poverty and malnutrition in Africa; • Recognize that returning to local crops and traditional food systems is a prerequisite for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for food and nutrition; • Acknowledge that local foods are the basis for African sustainable diets.

• The Door of No Return

• House of the Slaves

• Gorée Island