Old Ways, New Ways—Scaling Up from Customary Use of Plant Products to Commercial Harvest Taking a Multifunctional, Landscape Approach (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Advanced Research, 2020
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Global International Journal of Innovative Research, 2023
This journal article employs an environmental anthropological lens to investigate the intricate equilibrium between ecological sustainability and cultural traditions within the context of traditional agriculture. Traditional agricultural practices have often proven to be highly sustainable, as they incorporate indigenous knowledge, community dynamics, and cultural values in the management of natural resources. This research explores the interplay between traditional agricultural systems, biodiversity conservation, and the preservation of cultural heritage. Using a multidisciplinary approach that combines ethnographic fieldwork, ecological assessments, and cultural studies, we delve into the ways in which traditional agricultural practices contribute to maintaining ecological balance and cultural continuity. The article highlights the importance of indigenous knowledge, sustainable land use practices, and the cultural significance of crop diversity, seed saving, and community-based natural resource management. Our findings reveal that traditional agriculture is not merely a means of subsistence but a holistic approach to life, deeply rooted in cultural values and respect for the environment. It provides insights into the resilience of traditional systems in the face of contemporary environmental challenges.
This document was commissioned by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, for use by Global Alliance members and partners to stimulate discussion about critical issues related to food systems transformation and to help guide collective action. The Global Alliance has chosen to make it available to the broader community to contribute to the discussion about sustainable food systems transformation. It constitutes the work of independent authors; any views expressed in this document do not necessarily represent the views of the Global Alliance and any of its members nor the views or policies of the FAO.
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Gaia Education (GE)-an international NGO with headquarters in Scotland-has been pioneering communitybased educational approaches to sustainable design and development. Founded concurrently with the launching of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD) 2005-2014, GE has been developing unique curricula and pedagogy drawn from the precedent of the educational experiences of eco-village models around the globe. With a 10-year track record in forty-three countries on five continents, GE programmes are conducted in settings ranging from tribal and traditional communities to intentional eco-communities, from urban slums to universities and R&D centers. GE educational programmes equip students of all ages and cultural backgrounds with the appropriate knowledge, skills, and critical thinking tools necessary to design a society which uses energy and resources with greater efficiency, distributes wealth equitably, centers autonomy within local communities, and makes quality of life, rather than openended economic growth, the focus of future thinking. Learners become change agents capable of playing active roles in transitioning their existing communities and neighbourhoods to sustainable and regenerative practices, lifestyles and infrastructures. The starting point for this paper is concern about the impactful effects of industrial food systems, based on large-scale, energy and resource-intensive, agribusiness enterprises operating at a global scale. In this context the paper introduces and analyses a series of regional Project-Based learning initiatives taking place in the Global South, developed within the framework of UN Sustainable Development Goals that address the standard three dimensions of sustainabilityenvironment, society, and economy-with culture added as a unifying fourth dimension. These capacity building projects conducted with partners in Bangladesh, Senegal, India and Sicily support communities to transition from the inputintensive agriculture introduced by forces of globalisation to locally-sourced, agroecological food production systems featuring the revival of indigenous knowledge and cultural traditions. In this process, regenerative whole systems design practices developed in the North are introduced to villagers in the South to complement and augment indigenous knowledge and cultural traditions in an effort to achieve food sovereignty and ameliorate the damage done to ecosystems by climate change. The GE model engages local communities in the spirit of participatory action research, working together to find low energy, low cost, creative and innovative solutions to local problems. The GE model uses a holistic, non-reductionist approach to education, weaving together social, ecological, economic, and cultural dynamics to produce a living synthesis that can result in long-term ecosystem and community health and well-being. The paper concludes by examining how GE programmes create learning environments for villagers in climate-vulnerable regions that foster meaningful, actionable knowledge. This knowledge promotes food sovereignty through the sustainable potential of community-based, locally-sourced food production systems, featuring the linkages of social, ecological, and cultural dynamics.
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This paper investigates how non-industrial agrarian traditions and practices are reworked and recontextualized in a contemporary context. Explorative in its nature, the paper uses in depth interviews with practitioners in eastern Sweden, several of whom are engaged in work to keep practices of the past alive, to discuss how the concept of revitalization can bear on sustainability. Traditional practices are revived as an alternative to industrialized agriculture, and as having a bearing on resilient cultivation systems as well as social relations. They are seen as means of increasing food security and reversing the negative biodiversity development caused by increased monoculture. We understand tradition as a process of negotiation and adaptation to the present, where revivals to some extent necessarily change the traditions that they attempt to revive. Tradition is thus a dynamic concept, always made in the present, never fixed but constantly evolving. In the challenges created by c...
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Fruit and vegetable consumption is recommended in numerous food-based dietary guidelines and forms a key recommendation in many international statements related to healthy diets. There are thousands of fruit and vegetable species from which to choose, but despite this abundance from nature, populations in most countries neither produce nor consume the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables. There is enormous potential to better incorporate the wealth of diverse fruit and vegetable species and varieties into food systems. Known and preserved by indigenous communities, these hidden food treasures can foster collaborative research and learning. This perspective from the Task Force on Traditional and Indigenous Food Systems and Nutrition of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) highlights 5 key actions that can be taken by individuals, communities, and nations to reshape dialogue about traditional and indigenous fruits and vegetables to benefit people and pl...