This is a emerging campaign of Indigenous Environmental Network.

"Right To Food and Food Security"

From the Indigenous Environmental Network’s 12th Annual Protecting Mother Earth Conference “What We Do Now, Touches the Next Seven Generations”
Penticton Indian Band Okanagan Nation Territories, Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, August 2-5, 2001

Nearly 700 Indigenous peoples, including youth, from Canada, United States, Mexico and some from Central America and South America gathered on the traditional lands of the Penticton Indian Band in Okanagan Territory in what is known as British Columbia, Canada. Indigenous organizations, communities and representatives of tribes and bands came together to work on our commitment to take responsibility to protect Mother Earth, the health of our Indigenous communities and the biodiversity or Circle of Life. This gathering was hosted by the Penticton Indian Band of the Okanagan Nation and the En’okwin Centre.

Primary issues whereby statements were developed were: Right to Food and Food Security; Energy; and Water. Within these discussions were educational workshops on issues of toxic and radioactive contamination from agricultural, military and industrial activities; mining and mineral extraction; the need for sustainable forest ecosystems; climate change as a result of energy policies that depend on fossil fuel production; risk assessment policies that don’t protect Indigenous lands and resources; and environmental health. Within the conference, participants wove into these issues concerns about the impacts on how economic globalization, regional, bilateral and global trading mechanisms and western forms of development have not been sustainable. Participants consistently expressed concerns that national-state governmental policies either were absent or not effective towards protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples, protection of treaty territories, land, air and water, biodiversity, food and sacred sites.

These impacts have been disruptive to the ability of Indigenous peoples to protect our traditional territories, maintain or develop sustainable economic systems and to practice our traditional gathering, hunting and fishing cultures. This disruption has severely affected the ability of Indigenous communities to maintain sustainable food and economic security systems that have been developed and refined for millennia. Indigenous peoples – from the North to the South - historically and currently are experiencing poverty, economic dependency from federalism and industrial development, experiencing the symptoms of colonization - like internalized oppression – malnourishment and hunger. It was stressed that language is the foundation of Indigenous identity both to the natural world and to each other. When the connection to healthy and sustainable ecosystems is disturbed by lost of habitat, biodiversity and traditional foods, this affects the ability to pass on language that is closely linked to our environment, our foods and our relationship to the sacredness of our Mother Earth.

An all-day plenary was held during this gathering entitled, “Sustainable Agriculture, Traditional Food Systems and the Right to Food.” The International Indian Treaty Council assisted in the planning and coordination of this plenary. This document reflects the voices, concerns and inspirations of those Indigenous participants present both at this plenary and other meetings and workshops throughout the conference.

Statements of Fact

1. The right to food is recognized as a basic human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition.

2. For many millennia, the Indigenous peoples have developed and refined traditional sustainable agriculture, maintained hunting, fishing, and gathering practices, developed animal husbandry, all based on Indigenous and local knowledge handed down through the generations. These practices have enabled our Indigenous communities to achieve sustainability and food security - to adequately address hunger and nutrition - providing sufficient food year after year despite fluctuations in weather patterns and natural disturbances. By adhering to these practices, our Indigenous communities have been able to retain economic independence and self-sufficiency, and ensure that the diversity of plant and animal species remains high.

3. .Over 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity is found within Indigenous peoples’ lands and territories. Indigenous peoples represent approximately 350 million individuals in the world and make up approximately 90% of the world’s cultural diversity. We use our highly specialized, traditional knowledge to care for and conserve the interconnected web or “Circle of Life” known as “biodiversity.”

4. Over millennia, Indigenous peoples have become physically and metabolically accustomed to the foods found, gathered and cultivated in local areas and the animals we have traditionally hunted, fished, and raised. Food is the main medicine, essential to community and individual health. Our bodies are made of our food and the land that provides it. Many of our spiritual practices are centered on our traditional foods, and we have a profound and deeply ingrained spiritual and cultural relationship with our lands and territories that has been well documented. Some Indigenous tribal cultures derive their family clan or kinship identification from certain food groups and animals.

5. Government policies have allowed natural resource extraction and development activities that have historically destroyed and currently threaten subsistence foods, traditional and modern small-scale agricultural practices and other food systems in North America, the Americas and all over the world, depriving Indigenous peoples of their basic human right to food security. Governmental policies and development activities often put Indigenous and local communities into a state of poverty, malnourishment and hunger. To mention only a few types of activities and their results:

   • Industrial toxic and radioactive releases now pollute both land and water, accumulating in the fish, traditional crops, commercial food supply, animals, and soil that are interrelated and essential for survival.

   • Mining operations cause the displacement of communities, destruction of natural habitat, disruption of sacred sites, and cause severe water pollution with deadly toxins, water depletion from surface, subsurface and aquifers, as well as the diversion of water away from our communities.

   • Oil drilling and related activities fragment the landscape, leading to increased colonization, development, and deforestation, along with pollution of land and water and irreparable damage to fragile ecosystems.

   • Clear-cutting, other intensive logging methods, and trade liberalization of forest products destroy the forest habitat of animals and fish, cause soil erosion, thermal pollution, and pollute water with both sediment and herbicides.

   • Industrial agriculture and large-scale commercial animal production and processing facilities degrade soils, contaminate the air and water, threaten native seed stocks, disrupt historical, cultural and sacred areas and displace traditional agricultural and food security practices.

   • Large hydro-electric projects flood the lands that sustain Indigenous peoples’ food security, disrupt and destroy subsistence-based cultural practices, and forcibly displace entire communities.

   • Drug trafficking and armed conflict displace Indigenous communities. The responses of domestic and foreign governments to political violence and illegal economic activity, such as the massive fumigation of croplands and forests as part of “Plan Colombia,” further threaten Indigenous agricultural and other food security practices.

   • Genetically modified organisms and seeds pose a serious threat to the native seed stocks and plants carefully cultivated by Indigenous agriculturalists for millennia, as in the recent genetic contamination of several varieties of native maize in Mexico, the center of origin and diversity for maize; in the meantime, the corporations and universities that produce these modified seeds are attempting to deprive Indigenous peoples of their intellectual property rights to traditionally cultivated seed strains.

6. Increasing dependence on non-traditional processed commercial foods of a consumer-oriented society is damaging the health of Indigenous peoples. Diet-related maladies such as obesity and diabetes are elevated in Indigenous communities with diabetes rates in some communities as high as 85 percent. Thyroid diseases, immune system disorders and cancers are also rampant. In industrialized countries such as the United States, virtually all food products are contaminated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs). While POPs residue levels in individual food items are small, when viewed in the context of daily amounts of food consumption, the contamination found is at or near levels of concern according to health-based standards set by US federal agencies.

7. Developing fetuses and children are especially vulnerable to problems caused by exposure to POPs. Indigenous peoples are exposed both to contaminated foods from commercially-processed, traditional and subsistence foods, raising concerns of disproportionate exposures to contaminated subsistence foods such as, but not limited to fish and animals that are higher up in the food chain. Indigenous peoples from the arctic regions to the tropical and commercial agricultural regions, where industry, mining and agricultural chemicals are discharged, are found to experience higher health risks and toxic exposure, as compared to dominant society.

8. Government agencies and corporations have not responded sufficiently and responsibly to the massive natural resource development, cleanup and mitigation of natural resource damage and environmental problems on Indigenous lands. On the other hand, these same governments and corporations often respond quickly and more thoroughly when even minor toxic spills and exposures threaten non-Indigenous institutions and communities.

1. For many millennia and on every continent, Indigenous peoples have created successful and durable frameworks for sustainability based on ceremony, ritual and traditional cultural practices. These practices function like highly regulated legal systems, based on natural and spiritual laws, and they ensure long-term conservation and sustainability through traditional management, control and monitoring systems. Long-tenured and place-based traditional knowledge of the environment is valuable, and has been proven to be valid and effective. This knowledge should not be compromised by over-reliance on relatively recent and narrowly defined western scientific methods and standards.

2. Access to and protection of traditional lands and water rights, the continuation of traditional practices, and conservation of seed stocks are prerequisites to food security and the eradication of hunger. Traditional Indigenous food production relies on cooperative, collective harvesting and distribution, ensuring that everyone receives an equitable share and that surpluses are given to those most in need. Maintaining economic autonomy is essential to maintaining Indigenous solidarity.

3. The threats to the survival of traditional practices, and in turn to the survival of Indigenous peoples, are common to communities all around the world. Imposed disruption of food and traditional economic systems, established cycles of agriculture, food gathering, hunting, and fishing, is a form of continued colonization that damages the attitudes, and eventually the cultural knowledge, of Indigenous peoples. Hunger and food insecurity are unfortunate companions to poverty and undeveloped economies. Solidarity among Indigenous communities in resistance to these threats is essential.

4. This colonization can be subtle, as in the case of organic farming standards that require changes in sustainable agricultural methods that have been practiced by Indigenous peoples for millennia. It can also be overt and fundamentally aimed at the displacement of traditional Indigenous peoples from their territories through destruction of self-sufficiency and economic autonomy. This in turn facilitates resource extraction and industrial agriculture. Either form of colonization is worthy of resistance.

5. Historically, development activities have been based upon a western model to raise gross domestic product at the expense of recognition of basic human rights.

6. Climate change and global warming by greenhouse gases (CO2) have been found to negatively impact food security within Indigenous lands. Oil, gas and coal increases the greenhouse gases. The combination of climate change and environmental degradation has: created conditions that have spread infectious disease; altered the balance of predators and prey; disrupted the ecological balance effecting the biodiversity and loss of species; destroyed forests and marine ecosystems; caused frequent and violent storms, hurricanes and drought; caused destruction of fisheries, rising sea levels threatening the survival of small island states and many other effects.

7. Money cannot fully compensate for debilitating illnesses, death, loss of traditional lands, degraded water quality, threatened long-term food security, or diminished economic autonomy. Therefore, precautionary principles and the prevention of harm should be the cornerstones for agricultural or any other type of development that will affect Indigenous peoples.

8. The policies of economic globalization, carried out by financial and trade institutions and agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), other global institutions as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) all stress food production for export rather than for local consumption. Under these trade regimes food is neither produced nor distributed equitably. Indigenous and local communities and farmers, who once nourished themselves from local sustainable food systems, are forced from their lands, either by forced-choice or no choice, due to privatization of their lands or development of large-scale agribusiness or natural resource extraction. Indigenous peoples and local farmers are forced to migrate to cities to compete for low-wage jobs, resulting in putting themselves and their families in conditions of poverty, malnourishment and hunger.

1. Governments must unconditionally support the adoption by the United Nations of the current United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples.

2. Government and industry must recognize that Indigenous peoples’ food related traditional knowledge and practices are valid and valuable to food security, yet they must not implement policies that violate Indigenous peoples’ rights to maintain their traditional knowledge, practices, seeds and other food related genetic resources.

3. Governments should support, rather than discourage or infringe upon, Indigenous peoples’ own methods and institutions for the registration, protection, management and continuation of traditional knowledge, practices and food related genetic resources.

4. Governments must take effective steps to ensure that Indigenous peoples can freely access their lands and territories, and protect the biological regions and habitats in which their traditional knowledge and foods are based.

5. Governments and multinationals must, under international human rights standards, consult with Indigenous peoples in all matters that may affect them, including those that will affect their subsistence, right to food and food security. These consultations must be carried out in “good faith,” meaning that there is no fraud, manipulation, duress nor guarantee that agreement will be reached on the specific project or measure. Good faith consultations also require that the Indigenous peoples involved:
   

   • Give free and informed consent to conduct the consultations;
   • Be provided the means and capacity to fully participate in them; and
   • Can exercise both their local and/or traditional decision-making processes, including the direct participation of their spiritual and ceremonial authorities and the traditional practitioners of subsistence and cultural ways in the consultation process and the expression of consent for the particular project or measure.
     

6. Industrial, natural resource, agricultural development and the application of technology in Indigenous communities must not threaten the communities’ economic autonomy or long-term, traditionally-based food security, and must therefore respect Indigenous peoples self determination, rights to land, water and other productive resources, as well as the right of a community to provide for itself in accordance with their millennial traditional knowledge.

7. International mechanisms must be developed to support technology transfer, capacity building and financial mechanisms to Indigenous communities to address poverty, malnourishment, hunger and other food security issues related to building sustainable development initiatives that embrace traditional knowledge. Developing sustainable food systems can meet our need for food and expanded economic development.

8. Governments must expeditiously sign and ratify the Stockholm POPs Convention. Governments and their heads of state and environment ministers around the world must ratify the POPs treaty and three other treaties: the Rotterdam Convention on prior informed consent for trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides; the Basel Convention and its 1995 ban on the export of hazardous wastes from OECD to non-OECD countries; and the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention on ocean dumping.

9. In order to protect human health, native seeds and other food related genetic resources, there should be an immediate moratorium on the development, cultivation and use of genetically modified seeds, plants, fish and other organisms.

10. Governments and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) must take rigorous steps and immediate and effective measures to stop CO2 emissions in the sites of origin. There must be a moratorium of the expansion and exploration of new sites of oil, natural gas and coal development in and near Indigenous lands as a step towards eliminating fossil fuels as a primary energy source. The promotion of clean renewable energy.

11. A moratorium on bilateral and multilateral loans, and on national credits and subsidies by the World Bank, IMF and other national and international financial mechanisms for natural resource development, logging and deforestation, hydrocarbon extraction projects, fossil fuel energy generating projects, nuclear power, mega-scale hydro electric projects, mining and other developments, until a national assessment and inventory is conducted on the social, economic and cultural impacts of these developments on Indigenous peoples. This moratorium must also be applied to the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP’s), which heavily influence the economic and social policies of debtor governments, hence impacting the poverty and food security status of Indigenous peoples.

12. The cancellation of the internal debt of countries of the South, which results in pressure for unsustainable natural resource developments and energy extraction.

13. Governments, industry and multi-lateral institutions should adopt and abide by the precautionary principle in all decisions, recognizing that each decision will have impacts on the future generations of all Peoples.

We, representatives and traditional authorities of Indigenous Peoples, Nations, and organizations from 28 countries, gathered from all regions of the world, including farmers, hunters, gatherers, fishers, herders, and pastoralists, met in Panajachel, Solol , at Lake Atitl n, Guatemala, on April 17-19, 2001, with the following objectives:

1. To learn about the hardships faced by Indigenous Peoples in food-related matters.

2. To define common elements among Indigenous Peoples: To propose them to the States so that the States will implement the Right to Food in accordance with the aspirations of Indigenous Peoples; and, To strengthen ties of cooperation among Indigenous Peoples.

3. To formulate a strategy based on the vision of Indigenous Peoples, with the objective of making proposals to the States and to the international community in order to overcome hardships in matters of Food Security and Food Sovereignty.

We extend our deep appreciation to the Indigenous Peoples of Guatemala, particularly the Maya Kaqchikel People for their hospitality and generosity in hosting the various delegations attending this consultation.

We are aware that in Guatemala, a situation exists of misery, extreme poverty, and death by starvation, day by day, of men, women, and children. This is reflected in the report from the First Indigenous Peoples' National Conference on the Right to Food, held on April 5, 2002, in Guatemala City, which includes the following facts: that in a period of 2 weeks 41 persons died of starvation; that in 44% of Guatemala's territory, people are living in extreme poverty and at high risk of death from starvation; the following Departments of Guatemala are listed in order of their degree of extreme poverty: San Marcos 86.66%, Totonicap n 85.62%, Quich‚ 86.66%, Huehuetenango 77.85%, Alta Verapaz 76.40%, Solol 76.36%, Jalapa 72.59%, Jutiapa 63.88%; Santa Rosa 62.07%, and Quetzaltenango 60.67%.

We find the above-described situation to be troubling and, indeed, deplorable as it reflects the reality of many Indigenous Peoples worldwide, and a risk exists that many others could face the same problem.

We recognize that as Indigenous Peoples, we face a higher risk of suffering the consequences of Food Insecurity. We underscore, for example, that the World Bank in its study on "Indigenous Peoples and Poverty," identifies our Peoples as the poorest of the poor.

The diverse Indigenous Peoples participating in this International Consultation have exchanged points of view, experiences and realities, and are alarmed by the growing food insecurity, starvation and malnutrition, which is a collective reality faced by our Peoples.

DECLARATION:

IN AGREEMENT that the content of the Right to Food of Indigenous Peoples is a collective right based on our special spiritual relationship with Mother Earth, our lands and territories, environment, and natural resources that provide our traditional nutrition; underscoring that the means of subsistence of Indigenous Peoples nourishes our cultures, languages, social life, worldview, and especially our relationship with Mother Earth; emphasizing that the denial of the Right to Food for Indigenous Peoples not only denies us our physical survival, but also denies us our social organization, our cultures, traditions, languages, spirituality, sovereignty, and total identity; it is a denial of our collective indigenous existence,

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that the right to development is a collective right of Peoples as well as of individuals, and that the Right to Food forms a part of the development process, creating conditions for the enjoyment of all human rights, fundamental freedoms and well-being,

REMINDED that the Plan of Action and the Declaration of the World Food Summit (1996) stated that Food Security means "the access of all people to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life,"

REMINDED that Food Sovereignty is the right of Peoples to define their own policies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution, and consumption of food, with respect for their own cultures and their own systems of managing natural resources and rural areas, and is considered to be a precondition for Food Security,

CONSIDERING that Article 5 of the Declaration on the Right to Development (1986) states that "the refusal to recognize the fundamental right of Peoples to self-determination," as a fundamental injustice against which the States should take resolute steps,

KEEPING IN MIND that Article 1 in Common of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recognizes that all peoples, by virtue of the right to Self-Determination, may establish and implement their own economic, social, and cultural development, and their own development strategies, based on their own vision, and that "in no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence,"

RECOGNIZING that for Indigenous Peoples, the rights to land, water, and territory, as well as the right to self-determination, are essential for the full realization of our Food Security and Food Sovereignty,

NOTING that the States parties to the First World Food Summit, in its Declaration and Plan of Action, Commitment I, Objective 1.1 (d) made a commitment to recognize and support Indigenous Peoples and their communities in their pursuit of economic and social development, with full respect for their identity, traditions, forms of social organization and cultural values; also noting that the States parties made a commitment to reduce by one half the total number of human beings suffering from hunger and malnutrition by the year 2015, we regret that for Indigenous Peoples hunger and malnutrition have not been sufficiently reduced, and that suffering from starvation and malnutrition is increasing,

Having consulted and analyzed the situation faced by Indigenous Peoples from various parts of the world with respect to Food Security, Food Sovereignty and other aspects related to the life and the development of Indigenous Peoples, we identified the following obstacles to our Food Security and Food Sovereignty:

1. The implementation and domination of globalization and free trade, which act without limits nor morality in the theft of our lands, territories, and other resources necessary for our Food Security and Food Sovereignty;

2. The imposition of industrial models by the governments, particularly in the form of industrialized mono-agriculture, that causes an erosion of genetic diversity and the resulting loss of our seeds, species and breeds of animals. This only impoverishes our lands, generating a growing emigration of members of our communities to urban areas in search of employment that does not exist. In addition, the adoption of alien market systems imposes foods on us that do not nourish, but instead cause diseases and problems of all sorts for our health and problems in the physical development of our children;

3. The extension of intellectual property rights in favor of multinational corporations that has increased bio-piracy and the illicit appropriation of our biological diversity and traditional knowledge; and the introduction of genetically altered food, which is causing the loss of our traditional foods, of our health, of our relationship with Mother Earth, of our traditional plants and medicines, and of our very cultures;

4. The growing imposition of the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers that poison Mother Earth, the communities that work The Earth, and the food resources on which Indigenous Peoples depend worldwide, affecting food production and hence nutrition and health, and increasing morbidity and mortality rates, in particular for our women and children;

5. The imposition of unsustainable projects by governments and private companies in our territories without consultation or prior informed consent, and without taking into account the rights and values of the Indigenous Peoples affected;

6. The policies and demands of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and their structural adjustment programs;

7. Militarization and repression in Indigenous territories, in particular Plan Colombia and the fumigation of indigenous crops that is now expanding as policy into other countries of the region;

8. National policies that impose inadequate and exclusionary models and practices, which in turn result in the loss of our lands, territories and collective indigenous identity, generating increased food insecurity;

On the international level:

1. TO CALL for the immediate adoption of the original text of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, currently being discussed at the United Nations.

2. TO CALL on all States to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.

3. TO CALL upon States to ratify and implement ILO Convention 169, despite its limitations, as a step towards the full recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

4. TO RECOMMEND to the World Food Summit: five years later, to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to the Pan-American Seed Seminar, and to other upcoming conferences on genetically modified organisms, that full recognition must be given to the rights of Indigenous Peoples to Food Security and Food Sovereignty, and that the obstacles limiting access to the necessary resources for our existence as Peoples must be eliminated.

5. TO RECOMMEND that the World Food Summit: 5 Years Later, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the States parties insist that international trade and financing entities recognize, respect, and observe human, economic, social, and cultural rights, particularly the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

6. TO RECOMMEND that the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the States parties prioritize as fundamental the Rights to Food, Health, and Education, from the perspective of the values and worldviews of the Indigenous Peoples, in the development process.

7. TO RECOMMEND that the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):

   1. Support the campaigns carried out by Indigenous Peoples to inform our communities regarding our Right to Food, our Right to Development, and our Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political Rights;

   2. Support our own systems and networks designed to improve the dissemination of the results of our research and existing information on the impacts of toxics, chemicals, genetic engineering, etc.;

   3. Regularly inform Indigenous Peoples' organizations and traditional authorities involved in the issue of food in all countries, utilizing the media that are most accessible to all the communities in appropriate languages.

8. TO RECOMMEND that the FAO establish an open-ended working group so that Indigenous Peoples may consult in the development and implementation of policies that affect Food Security and Food Sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples.

9. TO DEMAND the elimination of development policies imposed by States that run counter to the life and to the philosophy, worldviews, principles, and inherent rights of the collectivities of Indigenous Peoples in the different regions of the world.

10. TO DEMAND that water not be privatized, as it is a sacred element for Indigenous Peoples, essential to our agriculture and to the maintenance of our Food Security and Food Sovereignty.

11. TO DEMAND an end to the policies of theft and usurpation of our lands, territories and natural resources, which are necessary for the enjoyment of our right to adequate nutrition. We also demand an end to the accelerated destruction of the environment.

12. TO DEMAND an end to the appropriation of Indigenous Peoples' knowledge, practices, and innovations as well as the appropriation of our genetic resources. We demand furthermore, a prohibition against the patenting of all forms of life and a prohibition against perverse technologies such as "Terminator" technology.

13. TO DEMAND that governments and multinational corporations inform Indigenous Peoples, in a full, truthful and comprehensible manner, and in the appropriate languages, regarding the production, use, transport, and exportation of pollutants that affect the food systems, environment and health of Indigenous Peoples.

14. TO DEMAND that the governments prohibit the production and application of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and other substances considered dangerous for human health, particularly those that are already banned in other countries.

15. TO DEMAND the full participation of Indigenous Peoples in the development of mechanisms for equitable land distribution, land tenure, and control over the natural resources necessary for our Food Security and Food Sovereignty, without putting at risk the ownership of land and other resources held by Indigenous Peoples.

16. TO DEMAND that the laws, institutions and public policies of the States recognize and support Indigenous Peoples' systems in agricultural production, fishing, hunting, gathering, herding, pastoral practices (herders), as well as our own economic and political practices.

17. TO DEMAND that the protection of traditional knowledge be carried out in accordance with the worldviews, values, needs and traditional legal systems of Indigenous Peoples.

18. TO DEMAND respect for the spirituality and traditional religions of Indigenous Peoples as an essential part of the development and exercise of our rights, particularly the ceremonial practices related to our knowledge regarding crops, production, Food Security and Food Sovereignty.

On a local/community level:

1. To revitalize the Worldviews of Indigenous Peoples.

2. To initiate a process of de-colonization within our communities, which includes culturally relevant education.

3. To strengthen our traditional food production systems, and family and community economies.

4. To provide families and communities with information regarding the benefits of consuming traditional foods.

5. To provide information regarding the health risks associated with consuming alien or non-traditional foods, including foods produced with chemicals and genetically modified food products.

1. To create networks for communication, information, capacity building, and coordination among Indigenous Peoples regarding Food Security and Food Sovereignty.

2. To strengthen cooperation and solidarity on national and regional levels to fortify political, cultural, social, and economic ties and unity among Indigenous Peoples and Nations.

3. To create networks of solidarity among producers and consumers of traditional products.

4. To pursue constructive ties with Civil Society.

5. To create our own development programs in order to achieve Self Determination for our peoples and avoid the dependencies imposed by international financial institutions such as the IDB, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Bank, among others.

6. To promote autonomous Indigenous processes directed toward the development of systems for the protection of the practice of our knowledge and innovations that reflect our values, priorities, needs, and worldviews.

7. To make the issues of Food Security and Food Sovereignty known at national and international levels through nationally and regionally organized and representative processes, so as to address these issues based on Indigenous Peoples own forms of thinking, feeling, and acting.

8. To disseminate the results of this consultation and the Declaration of Atitl n at the World Summits, and to other international, national and regional agencies and mechanisms, as well as to our own communities, organizations, Indigenous Peoples and to Civil Society.

9. To develop an Indigenous Peoples' Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Food Security and Food Sovereignty.

The participants in this Consultation REQUEST that the International Indian Treaty Council, IITC, establish and coordinate a mechanism for the dissemination of information and other aspects of follow-up for the recommendations and decisions of this Consultation.

WE REQUEST THAT the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues accept this Declaration and propose to the World Summits and agencies of the United Nations System that they incorporate it into their respective plans of action and policies.

Iximulew, job' Imox, Oxi' Kej1
Panajachel, Solol , Guatemala, April 19, 2002.

(NOTE)

Nosotros, los representantes y autoridades de Pueblos, Naciones y organizaciones de los Pueblos Indígenas provenientes de 28 países de todas las regiones del mundo y diversos sectores de los mismos, como agricultores, cazadores, recolectores, pescadores, de pastoreo y otros, nos hemos reunido en Panajachel, Sololá, alrededor del Lago de Atitlán, en Guatemala, con el objetivo de:

1. Conocer las dificultades que enfrentan los Pueblos Indígenas en materia alimentaria.

2. Definir elementos comunes entre los Pueblos Indígenas:

• Plantear ante los Estados para hacer cumplir el Derecho a la Alimentación conforme a las aspiraciones de dichos Pueblos; y,
• Fortalecer enlaces de cooperación entre los Pueblos Indígenas.

3. Formular una estrategia desde la visión de los Pueblos Indígenas, con el fin de hacer propuestas a los Estados y a la comunidad internacional para superar las dificultades encontradas en Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria.

Agradecemos a los Pueblos Indígenas de Guatemala, en particular, al Pueblo Maya Kaqchikel por su hospitalidad y generosidad de albergar a las diferentes delegaciones presentes en este Cónclave.

Habiendo conocido que en Guatemala existe una situación de miseria, pobreza extrema, además de los muertos por hambre que día a día sufren niños, hombres y mujeres, realidad que se refleja en la memoria del Primer Encuentro Nacional Indigena sobre Seguridad Alimentaria realizada el 5 de abril del año 2002, en la ciudad de Guatemala, que presenta algunos datos como los siguientes: que en un período de 2 semanas murieron 41 personas por hambre; el 44% del territorio nacional se considera de miserable y de alto riesgo de morir por hambruna; apareciendo en orden de extrema pobreza los siguientes departamentos: San Marcos 86.66%, Totonicapán 85.62%, Quiché 86.66%, Huehuetenango 77.85%, Alta Verapaz 76.40%, Sololá 76.36%, Jalapa 72.59%, Jutiapa 63.88%; Santa Rosa 62.07% y Quetzaltenango 60.67%.

La situación descrita anteriormente nos preocupa y la deploramos ya que refleja la realidad de muchos de los Pueblos Indígenas a nivel mundial y el riesgo que muchos otros puedan padecer el mismo problema.

Reconocemos que como Pueblos Indígenas, estamos en mayor riesgo de sufrir las consecuencias de la Inseguridad Alimentaria. Subrayamos, por ejemplo, que el Banco Mundial en su estudio sobre "Pueblos Indígenas y Pobreza," identifican a nuestros Pueblos como los más pobres entre los pobres.

Los diversos Pueblos Indígenas participantes en esta Consulta Internacional hemos intercambiado puntos de vista, experencias y realidades. Alarmados de la creciente inseguridad alimentaria, hambruna y desnutrición lo que es una realidad colectiva de nuestros pueblos,

DECLARAMOS:

ACORDAMOS que el contenido del derecho a la alimentación de los Pueblos Indígenas es colectivo y basado en nuestra relación especial espiritual con la Madre Tierra, nuestras tierras y territorios, medio ambiente y recursos naturales que proveen nuestra alimentación tradicional. Subrayando que las medidas de subsistencia de los Pueblos Indígenas nutren nuestras culturas, idiomas, vida social, cosmovisión y especialmente nuestra relación con la Madre Tierra. Enfatizando que la negativa del derecho a la alimentación de los Pueblos Indígenas es la negativa, no solo de nuestra sobrevivencia física, sino también la negativa de nuestra organización social, nuestras culturas, tradiciones, idiomas, espiritualidad, soberanía e identidad total. Es la negativa de nuestra existencia colectiva indígena.

TOMAMOS EN CUENTA que el derecho al desarrollo es un derecho colectivo de pueblos así como de individuos, y que el derecho a la alimentación forma parte del proceso de desarrollo con lo cual se crean las condiciones para el goce de todos los derechos humanos, las libertades fundamentales y el bienestar.

RECORDAMOS que el Plan de Acción y la Declaración de la Cumbre Mundial sobre la Alimentación (1996) declaró que "la seguridad alimentaria significa el acceso para todas las personas a alimentos suficientes, sanos y nutritivos para satisfacer sus necesidades de dieta y preferencias alimentarias para vivir una vida activa y saludable."

RECORDAMOS que la Soberanía Alimentaria es el derecho de los Pueblos de definir sus propias políticas y estrategias para la producción, distribución y consumo sustentable de alimentos, respetando sus propias culturas y sus propios sistemas de manejo de recursos naturales y áreas rurales. La Soberanía Alimentaria se considera como una precondición de la Seguridad Alimentaria.

CONSIDERAMOS que el artículo 5 de la Declaración sobre el Derecho al Desarrollo (1986) define como una injusticia fundamental contra el cual los Estados deben tomar medidas enérgicas "la negativa a reconocer el derecho fundamental de los Pueblos a la libre determinación."

TENEMOS EN CUENTA que el Artículo 1 en Común del Pacto Internacional sobre Derechos Civiles y Políticos, así como el Pacto Internacional sobre Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales reconocen que todos los Pueblos en virtud del derecho a la Libre Determinación, pueden establecer e implementar su propio desarrollo económico, social y cultural, y sus propias estrategias al desarrollo, en base a su propia visión. Además, "en ningún caso podrá privarse a un Pueblo de sus propias medidas de subsistencia."

RECONOCEMOS que para los Pueblos Indígenas los derechos a la tierra, agua y territorio, igual como el derecho a la libre determinación, son imprescindibles para la plena realización de nuestra Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria.

SEÑALAMOS que los Estados partes de la Primera Cumbre Mundial sobre la Alimentación, en su Declaración y Plan de Acción, Compromiso I, Objetivo 1.1 (d) se comprometen a reconocer y apoyar a los Pueblos Indígenas y sus comunidades en la búsqueda de su desarrollo económico y social con pleno respeto de su identidad, tradiciones, formas de organización social y valores culturales. También notamos que los Estados partes se comprometieron a reducir a la mitad el número total de seres humanos que sufren hambre y desnutrición hacia el año 2015. Lamentamos que estas situaciones no se han reducido suficientemente, y que para los Pueblos Indígenas ha ido en crecimiento el sufrimiento de la hambruna y desnutrición.

Habiendo consultado y analizado la situación que viven los Pueblos Indígenas de diversas partes del mundo en la situación de Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria y otros aspectos relacionados con la vida y el desarrollo de dichos pueblos, se identificaron los siguientes obstáculos a nuestra Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria:

OBSTÁCULOS A NUESTRA SEGURIDAD Y SOBERANÍA ALIMENTARIA:

1. La implementación y dominación de la globalización y libre comercio, que actúa sin límite ni moral en el despojo de nuestras tierras, territorios y otros recursos necesarios para nuestra Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria.

2. La imposición de los modelos industriales por parte de los gobiernos, particularmente en la agricultura industrializada de monocultivos que causan la erosión de la diversidad genética y la consecuente pérdida de nuestras semillas, especies y razas de animales que solo empobrecen nuestras tierras, generando la emigración creciente de miembros de nuestras comunidades a las urbes en busca de trabajo que no existe, y la adopción de modelos ajenos de mercados que nos imponen alimentos que no nos nutren, sino que nos causan enfermedades y todo tipo de problemas de salud y desarrollo físico de nuestros niños.

3. La extensión de los derechos de propiedad intelectual a favor de las corporaciones transnacionales ha incrementado la biopiratería y la apropiación ilícita de nuestra diversidad biológica y conocimientos tradicionales, así como la introducción de transgénicos que nos están causando la pérdida de nuestros alimentos tradicionales, de nuestra salud, de nuestra relación con la Madre Tierra, plantas y medicinas tradicionales y de nuestras propias culturas.

4. La imposición creciente del uso de pesticidas y abonos químicos que envenenan a la Madre Tierra, las comunidades que la trabajan y los recursos de alimentación del que dependen los Pueblos Indígenas en todas partes del mundo, afecta la producción alimentaria y por ende la nutrición y la salud, la cual incide en la morbilidad y mortalidad, en particular de nuestras mujeres y niños.

5. La imposición de proyectos estatales no sustentables y de empresas privadas que se llevan a cabo en nuestros territorios sin consulta ni consentimiento previo, y que no toman en cuenta los derechos y valores de los pueblos indígenas afectados.

6. Las políticas y exigencias de los organismos financieros internacionales tales como el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), el Banco Mundial (BM), y el Banco Inter-Americano de Desarrollo (BID), y sus programas de reajuste estructural.

7. La militarización y represión en territorios indígenas, en particular el Plan Colombia y la fumigación de cultivos indígenas que se está expandiendo como política en otros países de la región.

8. Las políticas nacionales que imponen modelos y prácticas que resultan ser inadecuadas y excluyentes. Estos modelos y prácticas resultan en la pérdida de nuestras tierras y territorios, así como de nuestra identidad colectiva Indígena, generando más inseguridad alimentaria.

Por lo anterior, RESOLVEMOS:

A nivel internacional:

1. HACER UN LLAMADO a la adopción inmediata del Proyecto Declaración sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en su texto original que se discute en Naciones Unidas.

2. HACER UN LLAMADO a todos los Estados para la ratificación del Convenio sobre la Eliminación de Tóxicos Orgánicos Persistentes y los Protocolos de Kyoto sobre Cambio Climático.

3. HACER UN LLAMADO que los gobiernos ratifiquen e implementen el Convenio 169 de la OIT, a pesar de sus límites, como un paso hacia el reconocimiento pleno de los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas.

4. RECOMENDAR a la Cumbre Mundial sobre Alimentación: 5 Años Después, a la Cumbre Mundial sobre el Desarrollo Sostenible, y a la Reunión Panamericana de Semillas y Seminario Mundial de Transgénicos, el pleno reconocimiento de los derechos a la Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria de los Pueblos Indígenas, y la eliminación de los obstáculos que limitan el acceso a los recursos necesarios para nuestra existencia como Pueblos.

5. RECOMENDAR que la Cumbre Mundial sobre Alimentación: 5 Años Después, la Cumbre Mundial sobre el Desarrollo Sostenible, y los Estados partes, insistan ante las instancias internacionales de comercio y financiamiento que reconozcan, respeten y cumplan con los derechos humanos, económicos, sociales y culturales, particularmente con los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas.

6. RECOMENDAR que la Cumbre Mundial sobre el Desarrollo Sostenible y los Estados partes prioricen como fundamental el derecho a la alimentación, la salud y la educación desde el punto de vista de los valores y cosmovisión de los Pueblos Indígenas, en el proceso de desarrollo.

7. RECOMENDAR que la Comisión sobre Desarrollo Sostenible de las Naciones Unidas y la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentacion (FAO):

• a. Apoyen a las campañas elaboradas por los Pueblos Indígenas para informar a nuestras comunidades sobre nuestros Derechos a la Alimentación, al Desarrollo y nuestros Derechos Sociales, Culturales, Económicos y Políticos;
• b. Apoyen a nuestros propios sistemas y redes diseñados para mejorar la diseminación de los resultados de nuestras investigaciones, y de información existente sobre impactos de los tóxicos, químicos, manipulación genética, etc.
• c. Informen períodicamente a las organizaciones y autoridades indígenas involucradas en el tema alimentario en todos los países, utilizando los medios más accesibles a todas las comunidades, aplicando los idiomas apropiados.

8. RECOMENDAR que la FAO establezca un grupo de trabajo abierto para que los Pueblos Indígenas puedan consultar la elaboración e implementación de políticas que afecten la Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria de los mismos.

9. EXIGIR la eliminación de las políticas de desarrollo impuestas por los Estados en contra de la vida, filosofía, cosmovisión, principios y derechos inherentes a las colectividades de los Pueblos Indígenas en las diferentes regiones del mundo.

10. EXIGIR la no privatización del agua, el cual es un elemento sagrado para los Pueblos Indígenas, esencial en la agricultura y para mantener nuestra Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria.

11. EXIGIR el cese de las políticas de despojo y usurpación de nuestras tierras y territorios, así como de nuestros recursos naturales, necesarios para el goce de nuestro derecho a una adecuada alimentación. Además exigimos detener la destrucción acelerada del medio ambiente.

12. EXIGIR el cese de apropiación de los conocimientos, prácticas y sistemas de innovación de los Pueblos Indígenas y de los recursos genéticos asociados, además exigimos la prohibición de los patentes sobre toda forma de vida y de tecnologías perversas como el "Terminador."

13. EXIGIR que los gobiernos y corporaciones transnacionales informen verídicamente a los Pueblos Indígenas, de forma comprensivo en sus idiomas apropiados, sobre la producción, uso, transporte y exportación de contaminantes que afectan a los sistemas alimentarios, medio ambientales y salud de los Pueblos Indígenas.

14. EXIGIR que los gobiernos prohiban la producción y aplicación de pesticidas, abonos químicos, y otras substancias consideradas peligrosas para la salud humana, particularmente los que ya están prohibidas en otros países.

15. EXIGIR la participación plena de los Pueblos Indígenas en el desarrollo de mecanismos para la distribución y tenencia equitativa de la tierra y control de los recursos naturales necesarios para nuestra Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria, sin poner en riesgo la pérdida de la tenencia de la tierra y otros recursos de los Pueblos Indígenas.

16. EXIGIR que las legislaciones, instituciones y políticas públicas de los Estados reconozcan y apoyen los sistemas de los Pueblos Indígenas, como los de producción agrícola, pesca, caza, recolección, prácticas de pastoreo y crianza de animales, al igual que nuestras propias prácticas económicas y políticas.

17. EXIGIR que la protección de los conocimientos tradicionales se haga de acuerdo a la cosmovisión, valores y necesidades de los Pueblos Indígenas y que consideren nuestras leyes consuetudinarios.

18. EXIGIRr el respeto a la espiritualidad y la religión tradicional de los Pueblos Indígenas, como parte esencial para el desarrollo y ejercicio de nuestros derechos, particularmente la ritualidad que tiene relación con los conocimientos sobre los cultivos, producción, Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria.

NOS COMPROMETEMOS:

A nivel local/comunitario:

1. Revitalizar las Cosmovisiónes de los Pueblos Indígenas;

2. Iniciar un proceso de descolonización a lo interno de nuestras comunidades incluyendo la educación con pertinencia cultural;

3. Fortalecer los sistemas tradicionales de producción de nuestros alimentos y la economía familiar y comunitaria;

4. Proveer a las familias y comunidades información sobre el beneficio del consumo de los alimentos tradicionales;

5. Proveer información sobre los riesgos a la salud de consumir alimentos ajenos o no tradicionales, incluso los producidos con químicos y los alimentos transgénicos.

A Nivel Nacional y Regional:

1. Crear redes de comunicación, información, capacitación y coordinación entre nuestros Pueblos Indígenas sobre la Soberanía y Seguridad Alimentaria;

2. Fortalecer la cooperación y solidaridad a nivel nacional y regional, para reivindicar los lazos políticos, culturales, sociales y económicos, y la unidad entre los Pueblos y Naciones Indígenas;

3. Crear redes de solidaridad entre productores y consumidores de productos tradicionales;

4. Buscar enlaces constructivos con la sociedad civil;

5. Elaborar programas de desarrollo propios para alcanzar la Libre Determinación de nuestros pueblos y evitar dependencias impuestas por las agencias financieras internacionales como: BID, USAID, BM, entre otros;

6. Promover procesos indígenas autónomos dirigidos al desarrollo de sistemas de protección de los conocimientos prácticos y sistemas de innovación que reflejen sus valores, prioridades, necesidades y cosmovisiones;

7. Nacionalizar e internacionalizar la problemática de la Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria, en forma organizada y representativa a nivel nacional y regional para su tratamiento desde su propia forma de pensar, sentir y actuar de los Pueblos Indígenas;

8. Difundir los resultados de esta consulta y la Declaración de Atitlán en las Cumbres Mundiales, otras instancias y mecanismos internacionales, nacionales y regionales. También hacerlo en nuestras comunidades, organizaciones, Pueblos Indígenas y a la Sociedad Civil;

9. Desarrollar un Plan de Acción Global de los Pueblos Indígenas sobre Seguridad y Soberanía Alimentaria.

POR ULTIMO:

Los participantes en esta Consulta SOLICITAMOS que el Consejo Internacional de Tratados Indios, CITI, establezca y coordine un mecanismo para la diseminación de información y otros aspectos de seguimiento a las recomendaciones y decisiones de este Cónclave.

SOLICITAMOS al Foro Permanente sobre Asuntos Indígenas, que acepte y proponga esta declaración ante las Cumbres Mundiales e instancias del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas para que sean incorporadas en los planes de acción y políticas respectivas.

Iximulew, job' Imox, Oxi' Kej¹
Panajachel, Sololá, Guatemala, 19 de abril de 2002.

¹ Ixim Ulew en el idioma Maya Kaqchikel significa Tierra Sólida, Tierra granulada, la Tierra de la Selvas y de los árboles tipo maíz. Job' en Idioma K'iche significa cinco; Imox, es un día del calendario Sagrado Maya. Este día rige la cualidad de inestabilidad, sorpresa, locura, creación entre la emoción.

EXTERNAL LINKS:

• Food and Agricultural Orgaization of the United Nations [ http://www.fao.org/ ] was founded in 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the condition of rural populations.

  Today, FAO is one of the largest specialized agencies in the United Nations system and the lead agency for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development. An intergovernmental organization, FAO has 183 member countries plus one member organization, the European Community.
   [ ] []  [ Español] [ Français ]

• The World Food Summit: [ http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsummit/ ] five years later. 10 to 13 June 2002 in Rome. "By 2005, over half the world’s people will live in cities. Supplying them with safe and affordable food will strain the food supply and distribution chain to the breaking point. The challenge is greatest in the developing world’s cities, where urban poverty rates often exceed 50 percent. This interview with Olivio Argenti, FAO urban food security specialist, highlights some of the issues to be faced"

• Tema: la Seguridad Alimentaria y los Pueblos Indígenas. Declaración de la Red Ambiental Indígena Sobre el Derecho a la Comida y la Seguridad Alimentaria Encuentro Anual Número 12 de la Red Ambiental Indígena, dedicada a la Protección de la Madre Tierra “Lo que hacemos ahora afectará a las próximas siete generaciones” Territorios de la Banda Indígena Penticton de la Nación Okanagan, Penticton, Columbia Británica, Canadá 2 a 5 de agosto del 2001.
  
  
• Topic: Water and Indigenous Peoples Indigenous Environmental Network Statement On the endorsement and adoption of the Indigenous Declaration on Water

NOTE

Dear friends,

ATITLAN DECLARATION ... We are in the process of getting the Declaration translated into French for some of the Indigenous participants from Africa, and for our Innu brothers and sisters and others in Quebec, Canada.

The International Indian Treaty Council worked together with 8 other Indigenous organizations based in Guatemala to coordinate the Consultation. Through support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Development Program (UNDP) and others, we were fortunate to be able to bring 125 participants from 28 countries to Panajachel, on the north shore of Lake Atitlan in Solola, Guatemala so that we all could share regional perspectives and concerns, and come to agreement on constructive proposals for addressing the issues of Food Security and Food Sovereignty.

PLEASE HELP US DISTRIBUTE THE ATITLAN DECLARATION AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE through your listserves and/or websites, and by forwarding it to your contacts. We apologize for any duplicates you might receive.

Good wishes,

Carol Kalafatic
IITC