The Slow Food USA Blog

Slow Food at UN Indigenous Meeting

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Slow Food President Carlo Petrini will address the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) today, during the half-day session on the right to food and food sovereignty. His invitation to join the New York meeting at the UN headquarters, as a valued “friend and supporter of Indigenous Peoples”, marks the first time in the ten-year history of the Forum that an external guest has been invited to take the floor.

Petrini will be joined in the discussion by UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, and representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization and Indigenous and governmental groups. Previously the Forum was only open to Indigenous, governmental or UN representatives.

“The economic, environmental and financial crises and the health and obesity problems afflicting modern society are calling us to return to our roots and sustainable food systems that support the earth’s vitality,” says Petrini. “Indigenous peoples are the stewards of these practices and traditions that have evolved over the centuries. They have never abandoned mother earth and it is to them that we must turn to in order to build new paradigms for our future.”

Slow Food has been working with Indigenous communities for many years through its Foundation for Biodiversity projects and Terra Madre network, which brings together farmers, fishers, breeders, artisans, students, cooks and experts from all around the world. In 2011 Slow Food organized the first Indigenous Terra Madre meeting in Jokkmokk, Sweden. A second edition is planned for India in 2014.

Petrini’s invitation to speak came through Slow Food’s role as one of the partners in the Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty. The Partnership, founded in 2010 and lead by Mr. Phrang Roy, is a network of Indigenous communities and organizations committed to defining their own food and agricultural practices that sustain agrobiodiversity, assisted by scientists and policy researchers who value participatory agricultural research approaches.

Click here to read Petrini’s full speech.

Click here for more information on the current session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.