600 International Delegates at Indigenous Terra Madre 2015, Including US Tribes and Communities

Representatives of US tribes and communities will contribute to the event by sharing their knowledge and experiences

A large delegation of representatives of indigenous communities from the Slow Food Terra Madre network and beyond will be participating in Indigenous Terra Madre (ITM 2015), which will take place from November 3 to 7, 2015 in Shillong (Meghalaya, India). The event is the result of a collaboration between Slow Food, the Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty (Indigenous Partnership) and the North East Slow Food and Agrobiodiversity Society (NESFAS).

International representatives will be coming to the event from five continents, from 14 African countries, 17 Asian countries, 8 European countries, 12 American countries and 7 Oceanian countries.

Representatives from several communities from the United States will be attending:

– the Intertribal Native community (San Francisco Bay Area). This community consists of Tribal Nations from the United States, Canada and Mexico who, due to relocation, live in an urban environment. This community faces unique challenges in addressing the disparate traditions, understandings and world views originating from the many communities represented from across Native North America. They also work closely with organic farming communities, local colleges and community centers, including the Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden in Marin, California; the Native American Health Center in San Francisco; and the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland, CA, among others.

– the Colorado Plateau Inter Tribal Gatherings – Grand Canyon Trust. Provides direction to the work of the Native America Program at the Grand Canyon Trust to mitigate on-going climate change impacts on farming knowledge, food systems, economy and culture. It creates a traditional intertribal network of knowledge holders around watershed preservation and restoration, low-water farming, seed preservation, food making, gathering and locally derived and owned economies.

– the Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture (Kykotsmovi village, in northern Arizona on the Hopi Indian Reservation). A community group established in 2004 which initiates hands-on learning projects and trainings and offers workshops that support Hopi youth and community to develop the skills and practical experience needed to promote a more ecological and healthy Hopi community. They accomplish their goals and visions with the support of their villages, communities, families and youth in ways that honor the cultural ways and practices of their people. Their mission is to create community-based solutions in order to pass knowledge on to future generations and rebuild culturally sustainable and healthy communities.

– the Navajo-Churro Sheep Presidia. The Navajo-Churro Sheep was brought by the Spaniards to Mexico in 1540. 50 years later, it had already spread overland to New Mexico. Over four hundred years, this multi-purpose breed adapted well to the arid plateaus and canyons of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, living in a desert-like area while becoming central to the cultural life of the Navajo. The breed has risked extinction two times. The first instance occurred in 1863 when the Navajo were declared enemies of the United States. Later, in the 1890’s and again in the 1930s, government stock reduction programs nearly eradicated the breed. A number of grassroots organizations have joined forces to revive the pastoral livelihoods, traditional textile arts, and culinary skills associated with the Churro, and to create a market for its unique products.

Representatives of several groups and organizations from the United States will also attend the event, including the International Indian Treaty Council – IITC (an organization of indigenous peoples from North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, working for the sovereignty and self determination of indigenous peoples and the recognition and protection of indigenous rights, treaties, traditional cultures and sacred lands), the Hopi Food Co-op and the Natwani Coalition (working to strengthen the local food system and traditional farming and agricultural methods), the Taos County Economic Development Corp in New Mexico (a non-profit that supports agrigulture based opportunities through a community kitchen, mobile slaughterhouse, crop production, and educatiion), the Piki Tesuque Association (which works with youth and people already farming, developing educational programs in New Mexico, Arizona, Canada and Central America), the Traditional Native American Farmers Association – TNAFA (whose membership is drawn mostly from “family-scale” native agriculture, both rural and urban), the OIDAG project (which teaches how to harvest traditional wild foods from the desert), REDOIL (which protects the ways of life of Alaskan peoples, for example by campaigning against harmful oil drilling) and the Diné Community Advocacy Alliance Denisa (globally recognized for several laws, the first of their kind in a food desert: Elimination of Tax on Healthy Foods, the Unhealthy Foods Tax and the Healthy Diné Nation Act of 2014, and a tax revenue allocation for Community Wellness Projects).

You can find the program of the event here: http://bit.ly/1LWZaxh

Indigenous Terra Madre 2015 gratefully acknowledges funding support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), The Christensen Fund and the Government of Meghalaya. Indigenous Terra Madre 2015 is also thankful for the contributions made by Tamalpais Trust, Swift Foundation, AgroEcology Fund, Bread for the World and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 

Terra Madre is a worldwide network, launched by Slow Food in 2004, which unites small-scale producers from 163 countries involved in the sustainable production of food. Among these, to date the Indigenous Terra Madre Network comprises 372 indigenous food communities, 41 indigenous Presidia projects and 308 indigenous Ark of Taste products.  For more information: http://localhost/slowfood/international/149/indigenous-terra-madre-network

Discover the stories of Indigenous Peoples from around the world on Slow Food website in the ‘Indigenous Voices’ section! http://localhost/slowfood/international/food-for-thought/slow-themes/260987

For further information, please contact the Slow Food International Press Office:

Paola Nano, +39 329 8321285 [email protected] 

Ajay Nayak, +91-9820535501 [email protected]

Slow Food involves over a million of people dedicated to and passionate about good, clean and fair food. This includes chefs, youth, activists, farmers, fishers, experts and academics in over 158 countries; a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide (known as convivia), contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize; and over 2,500 Terra Madre food communities who practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.