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IN 2023 | WHAT IF?
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2022
Washoe Tribe receives $380K grant to restore meadow, forest
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California was awarded a $380,454 grant by the California Tahoe Conservancy Board for the Máyala Wáta Restoration Project at Meeks Meadow.
Meeks Meadow has cultural importance for the Washoe Tribe, but the meadow’s ecological health has declined since European settlers drove the Washoe off their ancestral lands. The roughly 300-acre meadow served as a historical summer camp for the Washoe people, who hunted game, fished, gathered plant materials, and held ceremonies in the meadow and adjacent Meeks Bay area.
FOOD CANT BE MEDICINE UNTIL IT IS ACCESSIBLE TO ALL: An Interview with Camren Stott
The Kent County Food Policy Council interviews Camren Stott, Anishinaabe chef and co-owner of Thirteen Moons Kitchen.
As part of our Everybody Eats project, the Kent County Food Policy Council is highlighting food experiences in Kent County. Below is an interview with Camren Stott, an Anishinaabe chef and co-owner of Thirteen Moons Kitchen from Grand Rapids who works to ensure that culturally relevant food is available to Indigenous communities. Camren is also a member of the Kent County Food Policy Council.
SEED EXCHANGE IN COLOMBIA PROMOTES TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
GLOBAL VOICES
Mónica Solarte is an agronomist from the Polindara Indigenous people, who live in the municipality of Totoro, 30 kilometers from Popayán, in Cauca, southern Colombia. The Polindara Indigenous nation obtained recognition as such in 2014.
Solarte is a high school teacher and is part of a project called “Flavors and Knowledge” of the Polindara, which encourages the consumption of local foods such as arracacha tubers, sweet potatoes, and cacha beans.
For the Polindara, agroecology ensures the availability of healthy food for consumption, preserves its traditional production systems and ensures the conservation of biological diversity through its orchards.
COROMANDEL IWI TAKE BACK THE REINS TO PROTECT THE FOREST FROM KAURI DIEBACK DISEASE.
NEWSHUB by Kethaki Masilemani
Two-hundred years later, among the few trees that were spared, Ngāti Hei found kauri dieback - and this time they're taking the lead in conservation of the land.
But while the Hukarahi Block belongs to Ngāti Hei, it borders farmland and private properties and is frequented by hunters and hikers.
Project manager Joseph Kelsall insists "we have a common enemy in Kauri dieback and we need to get together to make a plan to restrict the movements within this area".
Food as Medicine Project Centers Community Needs with Additional $500k Secured for Produce Prescription Program in Upper Manhattan and Bronx.
Together, we are reframing Food as Medicine from a community perspective rather than solely from the perspectives of clinicians, hospitals, or insurance companies in deciding what healthy means for our community,” says Dennis Derryck, Co-founder and Co-Executive Director of Corbin Hill Food Project.
“We cannot continue the status quo of treating people as only patients or consumers. Through our program, we’re attempting a new model that centers equitable access and allows communities to have a voice and make decisions regarding food programs that support their health and wellbeing,” says Derryck.
HIGHER LEVELS OF BIODIVERSITY APPEAR TO REDUCE EXTINCTION RISK IN BIRDS
University of Michigan Jim Erickson.
A new University of Michigan study has found that higher levels of biodiversity—the enormous variety of life on Earth and the species, traits and evolutionary history they represent—appear to reduce extinction risk in birds.
PROJECT BOOSTS BIODIVERSITY AND PROFITS IN SPANISH OLIVE GROVES
FOOD TANK by Morgane Batkai
The world’s largest project on olive groves finds that adopting nature-positive farming practices increases local biodiversity and profits for farmers. The project was partly funded by Europe’s LIFE Programme, Europe’s leading funding institution for environment and climate action, and coordinated by the non-profit organization SEO Birdlife.
IWI-LED CONSERVATION GROUP BEGIN RAUKUMARA RANGE PROJECT
RNZ by Matai O'Conner
In 2020, years of determination to heal the Raukūmara Ranges culminated in the funding announcement that $34 million was being given to Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui in partnership with the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai to restore the mauri of the forest.
The Raukūmara Pae Maunga Restoration Project has employed an interim general manager, Jade King-Hazel, who along with others have been working on getting their operational planning of the project completed, now they are in the stage to deliver on those plans.
BIODIVERSITY MATTERS TO EVERYONE SO LETS PROTECT IT
ESRI by Dawn Wright
It is essential that we all care about biodiversity. As Dr. Healy Hamilton, chief scientist of NatureServe, pointed out in her Keynote Address during the Esri Science Symposium at this year’s Esri User Conference, diversity of life is the foundation of our ecological, cultural, economic, and spiritual well-being. It has everything to do with the food we eat: 15 crop plants feed 90 percent of the world’s population, yet 400,000 plant species are known to have edible parts, Hamilton noted. It has everything to do with the medicines we take: 40 percent of drugs come directly from the biodiversity in creatures such as amphibians, sea cucumbers, and bats, she said.
There's no Spirit left in a Twinkie: Expanding my view on Indigenous Food
“There’s no spirit left in a Twinkie,” Linda Black Elk, an ethnobotanist from Catawba First Nation, joked.
We often forget the relationship we have with food but many Natives, myself included, understand the statement “no spirit left.” Call it soul, nutrients or energy, there’s no spirit left in processed foods that restrict any natural interaction with pollinators and animals.
Nor is there spirit in foods genetically modified to look “perfect” instead of focusing on planting a healthier seed diversity
JEFF WARD ON DRIVING CHANGE FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WITH TECHNOLOGY
THE GLOBE & MAIL by KARL MOORE AND WÁHIAKATSTE DIOME-DEER.
Jeff Ward, who is Ojibwe and Métis, is the founder and chief executive officer of Animikii, an Indigenous technology company that creates digital products and provides website and software development services. In 2003, he left Silicon Valley to found the business, whose aim is to empower Indigenous-focused organizations and leverage technology as a force for cultural, economic and social impact.
MEASURING SUCCESS: THE PATH TO REAL CONSERVATION GAINS.
YALE NEWS by Bill Hathaway
The last decade has seen important but insufficient progress in protecting areas that are home to endangered species worldwide, conservation leaders say. As governments prepare to discuss new conservation goals at the 2022 U.N. Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, Yale’s Walter Jetz and colleagues argue that key scientific advances in measuring conservation success can support better progress in the coming decade.
Writing in a recent issue of the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, they make the case that novel ways to integrate global data can improve national efforts to estimate the numbers and locations of endangered species and prevent extinctions.
NEW STUDY HIGHLIGHTS TRADITIONAL FOODS AS FOUNDATIONAL TO THE HEALTH & WELLBEING OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.
FOODTANK by Amylark Lorwood.
A recent study from the Assembly of First Nations, the University of Ottawa, and the Université de Montréal finds that traditional food is a foundation of First Nations peoples’ health and well-being. Unfortunately, First Nations experience four times the rate of food insecurity as the non-Indigenous population, as well as disproportionate levels of nutrition-related diseases.
2021
September 29th, 2021
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In Costa Rica’s Talamanca region, Indigenous Bribri women are championing sustainable agroforestry practices in a tradition that stretches back for millennia.
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Known as fincas integrales, it’s a system that mimics the diversity and productivity of the forest: timber trees provide shade for fruit trees, which in turn shelter medicinal plants, amid all of which livestock and even wildlife thrive.
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One of the few matrilineal societies in the world, the Bribri women are taking back their leadership after decades of decline and social problems in the community.
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Talamanca is also home to vast monoculture plantations of crops like bananas, a completely different farming system that relies on the heavy use of pesticides — a practice that the Bribri women say destroys the land.

August 4th, 2021
Sammy Gensaw, 26, grew up paddling redwood canoes on the Klamath River and driving the winding mountain roads of California’s North Coast. Since he was 10, Gensaw has been advocating for his people – and the food provided by the river and its valley – at government meetings and with nonprofit groups.
Giving Indigenous communities the means to feed their families is a responsibility Gensaw wants to take on, starting with giving people access to healthful food choices.
See here

May 2021
The jewels of America’s landscape should belong to America’s original peoples.
By David Treuer
Read here

10 July 2021
“In this critical phase of life on our planet, a new paradigm of economic and demographic growth is only possible if the Earth’s ecology is preserved and enhanced,” says Davide Bollati, Davines Group Owner & Chair. “With the aim of tackling this gigantic task, Davines Group has been doing its part throughout the years with humility and enthusiasm for the cause. Partnering now with Rodale Institute, a true kindred spirit and dynamic pioneer of this regenerative vision, is a collaborative way to take greater steps on our journey to making the world a more beautiful place through beauty, ethics and sustainability. We hope our partnership will not only positively impact our product development and supply chain, but also serve as a catalyst for change that will animate sustainability studies and regenerative organic farming practices in Italy, Europe and beyond.”
See here

9 July 2021
Scientists from South Africa and the United States are launching a campaign to map marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species and ecosystems in one of Earth’s biodiversity hotspots: the Greater Cape Floristic Region at the southwestern edge of South Africa.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will fly planes over the area for six weeks in 2023 to measure the height and structure of vegetation and collect ultraviolet, visual, thermal, and other imagery across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In addition, teams on the ground will observe locations of particular interest, log plants and, possibly, animals they detect.
Using this data, the team will map the region’s biodiversity, provide estimates of species’ distribution and abundance, and the boundaries of ecosystems, and research how biodiversity impacts the physical environment and vice versa. In other words, the campaign will help scientists understand the structure, function and composition of ecosystems in the study area.
See here

16 June 2021
Most conversations about food tend to travel along a horizontal plane, spanning the distance from farm to table. But in continuing the work toward a more just food system, we also must travel vertically — deep into the soil. We need to talk about seeds and, in doing so, some of us need to do less talking and more listening.
Shiloh Maples is affiliated with the Ojibwe and Odawa tribes as part of the larger Anishinaabe community. She is based in Southeast Michigan and acts as Upper Midwest regional coordinator for the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network, a national program organized by the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. Her work is centered on seeds as a core element of food sovereignty for Indigenous communities across the United States.
See here

10 June 2021
A colleague recently told me that climate justice is about building ties between people, their land, and their traditional, ancestral ways. In all my years of doing environmental work, this is one of most succinct ways I’ve heard to describe what climate justice means for Indigenous People and communities: Reconnecting to our land is an integral piece of addressing climate change, for both our Nations and our wider communities.
See here

Jade Begay
6 June 2021
The People’s Summit is composed primarily of movements of landless peasants, agricultural workers, fisherfolk, indigenous people, rural women and youth—or small food producers who produce 70% of the world’s food, yet remain among the world’s poorest and food insecure.
“The issue of landlessness and land grabbing is not in the agenda of the UNFSS. Nowhere in its so-called Action Tracks do discussions highlight critical trends such as on land concentration and reconcentration in the hands of big agribusiness firms and their network of local landlords and compradors, nor on the massive displacement of rural communities to give way to big private investments and large development projects,” said Chennaiah Poguri, chairperson of the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC).
See here

Scoop
1 June 2021
"We argue that Indigenous Māori frameworks offer powerful ways of thinking about how we protect the Antarctic, by focusing on responsibilities rather than rights, including the responsibilities we have to future generations," she says.
Antarctica is unlike any other place on Earth -- it is remote, there are no permanent human settlements, and no one nation has sovereignty.
See here

University of Otago
24 May 2021
Director of the Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative (FSI), Matte Wilson, weaves together Lakota tradition and modern models to form award-winning ideas about regenerative farming on the Sioux Rosebud Reservation in south-central South Dakota.
Today, high rates of food insecurity, unemployment and diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are common among many Native American tribes including the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (Burnt Thigh Lakota Nation). As such, organizations are working to help reestablish the economy.
Wilson explains that food insecurity on various reservations is common with the destruction of the buffalo economy. (The Sioux historically refer to bison as buffalo.) The Lakota/Dakota/Nakota nations, which are all part of the Great Sioux Nation, traditionally followed and hunted buffalo herds and harvested plants along the way.
Read here

Everlyn Red Lodge
6 May 2021
Vanishing insects, soil without earthworms, dying coral reefs: biodiversity is clearly on the decline. Two years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published an alarming report with a clear message: we must turn the tide before ecosystems collapse. The future of humanity is hanging by a thread. Biodiversity forms the basis for our existence, providing us with food, clean drinking water, climate adaptation, and a buffer against disease. This realisation is the driving force behind the mission that Liesje Mommer, Professor of Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, has formulated for Wageningen University & Research (WUR): to reverse the decreasing biodiversity curve. She wants to connect all WUR initiatives, research studies and researchers working on biodiversity. Her motto: we are better together.
Read here on Landscape News

Landscape News Editor
4 May 2021
An urban farmer, seed keeper, and member of the Tlingit Nation, Kirsten Kirby-Shoote is uplifting Indigenous food sovereignty
Read here on Eater

By Brenna Houck
25 April 2021
School of Architecture Indigenous Scholars named inaugural residents at Center for Architecture Lab
“Our theme for the Center for Architecture Lab residency is ‘Indigenous Futurism,’” Gallegos said. “We will be exploring narratives of the future for Indigenous communities and architectural sovereignty guided by the lenses of technology, alternative worlds, science fiction and studies of temporality.”
See here

Marisol Carty
22 April 2021
Ancient Indigenous forest gardens promote a healthy ecosystem
A new study by historical ecologists finds that Indigenous-managed forests -- cared for as 'forest gardens' -- contain more biologically and functionally diverse species than surrounding conifer-dominated forests and create important habitat for animals and pollinators.
Read here

Simon Fraser University
17 April 2021
How to lead a community pantry in your barangay
Do you want to start a community pantry in your barangay?
What started out as a lone initiative in Maginhawa created ripples across the country as several barangays put up their own community pantry or “bodegang bayan” to help Filipinos badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. (READ: ‘Pagod na ako sa inaction’: How a community pantry rose to fill gaps in gov’t response)
The woman behind the initiative, Ana Patricia Non, set up a bamboo cart with free grocery goods along the popular Maginhawa Street in UP Village on Wednesday, April 14.
See here

Rapper.com
31 March 2021
Game-changing soil research set to drive new era of carbon farming
Currently, the focus is on soil research. Specifically, using regenerative practices to restore degraded soils and increase soil carbon. Examples include various applications of multispecies cover crops, effects of pesticides on soil microbial diversity, integrating biochar into regenerative agriculture practices and building soil carbon through regenerative practices.
“In order to have impact, these projects have been designed as pilots to build capacity in different bioregions across the country. Our multi-species cover cropping will be triangulated across three states of Australia,” said Ms Gordon.
Read full story here

Education
Education
28 March 2021
Tribal Broadband as a Cyber Superhighway to Sovereignty
“Small planning grants and proof of concept models were able to work and show [tribal networks are] a viable solution that could bring in more money later,” says Hannah Trostle, the author of the ILSR report. “It’s feasible, and it’s possible.” ILSR has counted nearly four dozen tribes in what’s considered the United States with their own internet networks.
Read full story here

VALERIE VANDE PANNE
Native News Online
10 March 2021
Accelerating the Regenerative Revolution: The Nature Conservancy Invests in Emerging Agri-Tech Firms to Speed Progress Against Ambitious Soil Health Goals
By establishing portfolio of emerging companies targeting improved soil health outcomes, TNC aims to prime the pump for sustainable innovation across investment sectors
See here

The Nature Conservancy
CSRWire
8 March 2021
Empower women – Organic movement opens doors
AS the recovery from COVID-19 in the Pacific gains momentum, agriculture and food systems are central to its success.
The organic movement in Fiji and region-wide has continued to grow, even during this still lingering calamity.
Now is the time to support organics in agriculture, and the movement cannot play a strong role in COVID recovery without recognising one of its central driving forces – women.
Read here

Jamie Kemsey
Fiji Times
7 March 2021
Giving farmers a bigger say in tackling biodiversity and climate change
Farming for Nature is a national initiative that highlights the positive role that farmers play in looking after nature on their land. It aims to share their practical insights through a range of short films, podcasts, webinars, and farm walks.
These give them a louder voice in the debate as to how action can be taken at farm level to tackle biodiversity and climate crises in Ireland.
Read more here

Ray Ryan
Irish Examiner
3 March 2021
5 facts you might not know about why forest biodiversity matters
The Earth’s forests are some of the richest and most biodiverse habitats we have.
Not only do they serve as important carbon sinks, but up to 350 million people living in or near them rely on their ecosystems for a range of basic needs, from food and shelter, to energy and medicine.
Read here

Sean Fleming
World Economic Forum
27 February 2021
The Preservation of Culture Begins With a Seed
Mitchell, 28, who was a board member at the Food Project in Boston before going to work at Greensgrow Farm in Philadelphia, told Sierra, “When I started farming, it felt very healing to me. It was a way of doing some ancestral trauma healing work, and it felt very important to me that my agricultural practice was related to this.”
Eventually, Mitchell searched for ways to deepen her agricultural practice and knowledge. In 2016, she attended the Northeast Organic Farming Association conference, and while there she couldn’t help but notice that she was one of the few people of color. Looking to connect with farmers of color, she struck up a conversation with a Black elder and asked what his needs were. He told her: high-quality seeds that are culturally appropriate and easily accessible to Black farmers and gardeners
Read full story here

Aaron Mok
25 February 2021
Belowground biodiversity in motion: Global change alters microbial life in soils - and thereby its ecological functions
Soil microorganisms play a critical role in the survival of life-sustaining ecosystems and, consequently, human well-being. Global assessments continue to provide strong evidence that humans are causing unprecedented biodiversity losses. However, existing information is strongly biased towards selected groups of vertebrates and plants, while much less is known about potential shifts in belowground communities.
Read full story here

EurekAlert!
15 February 2021
Mapping Mycelium: Sowing Stories of Resistance
In nature, everything works together and there is deep collaboration from all beings to survive. Moss, lichen, fungi, trees and roots are all connected to each other and create life and possibility beyond language, time and generation. The roots of the forest floor share knowledge and guidance in the movement for change and liberation.
Read full story here

Angel Harris
The Daily Barometer
12 February 2021
Neglected indigenous trees solve malnutrition and land degradation
The benefits are sometimes ignored with tropical tree-sourced foods clustered as “lost, underutilized or neglected” because they are overlooked by governments and development agencies. But hundreds of millions depend upon them, and they have huge potential to contribute significantly to the availability of fruit and vegetables.
Read full story here

World Agroforestry
World Agroforestry
11 February 2021
New study reveals biodiversity important at regional scales
New research shows that biodiversity is important not just at the traditional scale of short-term plot experiments--in which ecologists monitor the health of a single meadow, forest grove, or pond after manipulating its species counts--but when measured over decades and across regional landscapes as well. The findings can help guide conservation planning and enhance efforts to make human communities more sustainable.
Read full story here

Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
EurekAlert
7 February 2021
Restoring the balance of nature and reversing food insecurity starts with land reform
The seed for food sovereignty has been firmly planted on South African soil. It is this seed which must now grow into a stronger, bolder, impactful network that can take food sovereignty to the next level.
Read full story here

Mazibuko Jara
Maverick Citizen