TIP’s Global Webinar on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems calls for Stimulating Indigenous Peoples food systems by Supporting co-creation of intercultural knowledge

The Indigenous Partnership’s (TIP) Webinar on Supporting Intercultural Knowledge for  Stimulating Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems (IPFS) was held on the 3^rd of July 2025 with the participation of over 120 participants, mostly Indigenous Peoples, youths and Elders from all corners of the world. 

The Webinar held a broad discussion on how to create space for the co-creation of templates of solutions from the many common elements in the food systems of  Indigenous communities and appropriate contemporary scientific knowledge.  

In his opening remarks, Bah Phrang Roy emphasised that Indigenous Peoples’ food systems have their historical and proud templates of nature-based solutions that unfortunately, are still being globally neglected and ignored. He drew the attention of the audience to the very positive results of the TIP-led agroecology assessment of  Indigenous Peoples food systems in Northern Thailand, Northeast India, Kenya and  Yucatec Mexico and the collaboration that TIP had with FAO to generate intercultural evidence through FAO’s Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE)  methodology. 

Gratia Dkhar of NESFAS presented the key findings of the TAPE study, which confirmed the statement of Mr. Phrang Roy. She also presented the Outcome Framework prepared by TIP as a result of the TAPE Study, which highlights co-created pathways how  Indigenous Peoples Food Systems can strengthen biodiversity in a landscape, improve nutrition, create local livelihoods and build climate resilience, all critical elements of building sustainable nature-based food systems.  

Dr. Francisco J. Rosado May, TIP’s Board Member and Founding President of the  Intercultural Maya University of Quintana Roo, Mexico, as a Keynote Speaker, delivered  a presentation on how local and contemporary knowledge can be the pride of Indigenous  Peoples Youth who can work together to globally stimulate nature-based food systems.  

Using data from Yucatec, Mexico, Dr. Francisco J. Rosado May demonstrated how the  4000 years of accumulated knowledge and experience of the Yucatec Maya people have  been successfully sustained by highly sophisticated systems which predate our current  scientific knowledge. This pride and joy of Indigenous Peoples in their traditional knowledge systems need recognition, especially by young Indigenous Peoples themselves. However, in a changing world, both systems can play more effective and importantly, sustainable roles if an intercultural approach to knowledge is adopted that  would build bridges using the scientific tools of synthesis, analysis, methods and  concepts and Indigenous Peoples experiential knowledge and values of cooperation, co existence and circularity of food and livelihood supply systems. 

Dr. Francisco also shared findings from his studies on how Indigenous Peoples food systems incorporate nutrition, health, nature, and livelihood while supporting individual,  family and community wellbeing. He gave examples of the seasonal production of corn,  beans, and squash and how they provide year-round food sufficiency, food security and food sovereignty to the Yucatec Maya community. He also stated that a decline in  Indigenous Peoples farming system often leads to food insecurity and loss of  biodiversity. He ended his presentation by stating that understanding Indigenous  Peoples food systems and fully participating in processes of intercultural co-creation of  knowledge to change broken food systems requires new ways of training new generations.  “Effective co-creation of knowledge requires an epistemology that considers a transdisciplinary approach to interventions and interactions of different cultural ways of  learning, creating, innovating and transmitting knowledge. It is not easy but it is doable.”  Dr. Francisco J. Rosado May said. 

His presentation was followed by a round of suggestions from the Panel of Elders. Dr.  Michel Pimbert, former Director of the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience of  Coventry University, UK stated that any transformatory co-creation must be based on the  recognition of the right of all knowledge systems to exist. He further advised that an  intercultural approach must be a transformation away from the colonisation and  patriarchy that has dominated modern day food systems and that unfortunately often led  to the disempowerment of Indigenous Peoples' communities. He further stated that we  must answer the questions of co-creation of knowledge by asking: for whom, how and with what consequences will there be for emancipatory social projects. He further  reiterated what other Speakers later also stated that co-creation must strengthen  grassroots innovations and the cultural values that underpin them. He further said that  current contemporary science must also be democratised and intercultural research  must be protected from corporate theft. 

Dr. Dhrupad Choudhury, TIP’s IP Food Systems Specialist, shared that conventional food  system is experimental while Indigenous Peoples food systems are experiential whose  knowledge are passed on through generations of empirical experiences with no luxury  for failure. He strongly advocated the building of co-created community templates of  solutions linked to Indigenous Peoples food systems that can offer a solution for broken  food systems.  

Dr. Edmond Dounias, noted Ethnobotanist of Institute of Development Research (IRD),  France, agreed with Dr. Francisco J Rosado May and the other Speakers that we are in  trouble today because of the fragility of our biocultural diversity. He said that we need a  transformation of our knowledge systems. To do so, he said there needs to be a certain  level of trust on the knowledge makers of tomorrow, the youths and children of today and  the circulation of knowledge amongst them. He also said that we need to find new ways  of producing science. To do this, both Indigenous Peoples knowledge and Science must be able to admit their respective limits, gaps and caveats. They must recognise their  respective subjectivity as science itself is also built on values, uses, perceptions, history and its own historical evolution. They need to challenge each other. They also need to  recognise that upscaling local and undocumented knowledge will be tough, as is the systematisation of traditional knowledge and the understanding of the worldviews and  cosmology of Indigenous Peoples.  

Dr. Marilyn Ngales, Dean of the College of Arts and Science and the Program Director of  the Indigenous Studies and Education of the Lyceum of the Philippines University, talked  about the failure of education and policy matters in developing an understanding of  Indigenous Peoples world views, knowledge, practices such as shifting cultivation and  their spirituality and cosmology. She said that “educating the other side” should therefore be a key mission of any co-creation initiative. Promoting food sovereignty and  giving opportunities to decolonised Indigenous scholars are also critical for promoting  the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their control over their lands and supporting their  conservation roles.  

Dr. Wolde Tadesse, Pastoralist and Anthropologist from Ethiopia, talked about the  importance of defending the traditional land tenure and rights of Indigenous Peoples communities as land occupation and appropriation by Government and Corporate institutions are taking place aggressively in many Indigenous Peoples’ lands and territories, and they are leading to significant land degradation and loss of biodiversity.  

After the sharing of the Panel of elders, youth representatives from TIP’s partner organisations also shared a few reflections.  

Ms. Dorothy Cheruto, a representative of the Ogiek Peoples of Kenya and a representative of TIP’s partner organisation, Ogiek Peoples Development Project (OPDP), shared five stories about the Ogiek Community in Kenya, drawing inspiration from how  Indigenous Peoples communities have always lived in harmony with nature and how the knowledge of their communities' lives is in the stories of the Elders.  

Pyniarbor Kharshiing of NESFAS called for more training in intercultural aspects and asked the Elders to help young people like him develop a sense of direction to find local templates of solutions, which must be the starting point of any intercultural approach to facilitate the co-creation of indigenous knowledge across Indigenous Peoples' communities worldwide. 

Bah Phrang Roy then drew the curtain on the webinar by encouraging all participants to support Indigenous Peoples' food systems through an intercultural approach, and by scaling up this approach within our communities and within our academic institutions.

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