Carlos Andres Gallegos-Riofrío & Amaya Carrasco-Torrontegui

Gallegos-Riofrío: PhD, Gund Postdoctoral Fellow, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, The University of Vermont.
Carrasco-Torrontegui: PhD Student, Food Systems, Gund Institute for the Environment, The University of Vermont.

To transition our global community into lifeways in harmony with Mother Earth, the Great Food Transformation called by the EAT-Lancet Commission, change must happen inclusively and pluralistically. This change must meaningfully involve the 3.4 billion people living in rural areas globally, and more specifically, the 500 million people who identify as indigenous. Indigenous people are among the most vulnerable to climate change and are disproportionally among the extreme poor and chronically malnourished. However, many indigenous people have shaped resilient biocultural enclaves that have long ensured critical ecological functions while providing themselves and their communities with healthy diets. We present four case studies of present-day communities that are keepers of systems of knowledge, a deep embeddedness to Mother Earth, and ancestral technologies with the potential to uphold sustainable agri-food systems and to promote climate change resilience. This talk offers an illustration on how indigenous civilizations could offer alternative pathways to heal Mother Earth and co-build a sustainable future.

This event is part of Global Health Week.