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100,000 nomadic Indigenous people can\u2019t find food in the same places as before<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Arctic biodiversity is the basis for Arctic food systems and the livelihood of Indigenous populations in ten countries. But, today, Arctic environments are experiencing climate and environmental changes four times faster than any other place in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retreating sea ice and permafrost thawing impact pasture conditions and routes for livestock<\/strong><\/a> and over 100,000 nomadic Indigenous people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Changing routes make their journeys more complex: \u201cIndigenous communities are being dragged away from their berries patches,\u201d Stephan Schott, a professor in natural resource management at Carleton University, shares as an example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Food security of these communities becomes more difficult to sustain as they cannot rely on food resources along their paths like in previous years, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But human-caused climate change does not happen in a vacuum. Booming Arctic tourism, increased S\u00e1mi land use, and overfishing disrupt further Arctic food systems. It also threatens the passing of culture onto younger generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in 2014, the world\u2019s top climate scientists, under the IPCC<\/strong><\/a>, named protecting grazing land as the most important adaptive strategy for reindeer herders. But S\u00e1mi communities\u2019 pastures in Northern Europe are seized as rare minerals are abundant<\/strong><\/a> and the construction of mines to extract them can help fasten the green transition. Renewable energy parks have been built on S\u00e1mi land in Norway and Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside all this, Schott believes some communities are losing the ability and knowledge to slaughter, hunt, butcher, gather, and conserve food in traditional ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs S\u00e1mi youth, it\u2019s hard to preserve some traditions also due to exploitation of resources like salmon,\u201d says Julius Mihkkal Lindi, a young S\u00e1mi working in the Arctic<\/strong><\/a> and Environmental Unit of the Saami Council. He remembers the first salmon he caught, but nowadays wild salmon fishing is off-limits for Indigenous communities in Canada, Norway and Alaska as the government ban is intended to replenish fish stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Food security<\/strong><\/a> is essential for the survival of these communities – and the right to food sovereignty is a recent innovation in international law, with the United Nations\u2019 recognition and adoption in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Convincing policymakers to protect Indigenous people\u2019s culture and environment had to be done in a particular way and this is why reindeer herders adopted food diplomacy strategies: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you work with food, you work with all the things that are critical for us as Indigenous peoples. It’s about both physical and mental health and animal welfare. It’s about our economy, our security, identity and language,\u201d says Anders Oskal, executive director of the International Centre for Reindeer<\/strong><\/a> Husbandry (ICRH).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Arctic Council is the only political organisation that has permanent Indigenous people representatives. In 2018, they harnessed the power of their food and made the first food diplomacy attempt: an Indigenous people\u2019s cookbook co-created by 50 Indigenous youth groups. \u2018Eallu<\/a>\u2019<\/strong> won the prize for Best Cookbook at that year\u2019s Gourmand awards, mainstreaming the knowledge of their food cultures and traditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nomad Indigenous Food Lab spun off in late 2020. The ICRH came up with the concept and made it mountable so they could bring it to various political arenas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The strategy was simple: feeding decision makers with what could soon be lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Young S\u00e1mi chefs fed Norwegian politicians with the food they love and cherish, as they sat around the fireplace during a top Norwegian political event in 2023. The nomadic kitchen was also transported and rebuilt inside the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) during its World Food Forum in Rome<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe response is enormous because people in the modern world are no longer used to having discussions around the fire. It is the arena where we have our most important conversations. It feels different, and it’s something people remember,\u201d Oskal says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Centre for Reindeer Husbandry believes that the recognition of Indigenous knowledge by FAO was strengthened by the presence of their nomadic kitchen – but, they say, more work and convincing needs to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Indigenous people’s mantra is \u2018to take only what you need from nature and use everything of what you get\u2019 – an increasingly popular mantra in gourmet restaurants and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur concept has the potential to get people to understand more about our food systems and how one might think about true sustainability,\u201d says Oskal. Putting Indigenous people\u2019s knowledge and food systems on the agenda is not easy. But it is vital if they are to have a liveable future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To navigate the climate crisis – that they are not responsible for – Nomadic people believe they have to strengthen their communities so as to have a voice at the table: \u201cThe goal is to help younger Indigenous peoples realise the importance of our food systems,\u201d says Oskal. \u201cWe need to engage our youth to take charge themselves to become the leaders of their future, and empower them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image.jpeg\")
What can food diplomacy do for Indigenous communities?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Nomad Indigenous Food Lab: Feeding top European politicians<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Strengthening Indigenous communities from the inside<\/h2>\n\n\n\n