AUGUST 9, THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES...

Dear İsmail,

Greetings from Baltimore!

Tomorrow, August 9, is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. The day is dedicated to celebrating the world’s indigenous cultures and promoting the ongoing need to protect their rights to their ways of life. This year, Food Tank is spotlighting organizations around the world that are supporting indigenous communities’ efforts to live freely, nutritiously, and sustainably.

The world’s indigenous populations are incredibly diverse and represent some of the world’s oldest societies, but many now live as politically marginalized minorities in their own countries. More than 4,000 of the world’s estimated 6,700 languages are spoken by indigenous peoples, according to the United Nations, and many native communities around the world are home to unique knowledge systems and cultural practices that emphasize a connection with the land and its natural resources. However, both historical and ongoing colonial practices and resource exploitation have threatened indigenous groups’ abilities to maintain ties to their traditional lands, crops and foodways, languages, and cultural practices.

Food Tank is highlighting 17 initiatives around the globe that are working at the local level to protect traditional agriculture, promote indigenous food sovereignty, and share strategies across borders: African Biodiversity Network, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, the Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development, Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact, the Christensen Fund, the Cultural Conservancy, Dream of Wild Health, the European Coordination Via Campesina, First Nations Development Institute, Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, the Muonde Trust, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Seeds of Native Health, Soils, Food and Healthy Communities, Traditional Native American Farmers Association and White Earth Land Recovery Project.

How is your community supporting the rights of indigenous groups and sustainable ways of taking care of the land? Please email me at danielle@foodtank.com to share with us!

Sincerely,

Danielle Nierenberg