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Addressee: World Food Programme
Full Text
The Permanent Forum urges the World Food Programme to respect the habitual diet of indigenous peoples and to avoid the introduction of foreign foods of low nutritional quality in indigenous peoples’ communities. Furthermore, the Permanent Forum urges the World Food Programme to ensure that its methods of intervention are sensitive to indigenous peoples’ social fabric and respectful of their perceptions of the humanitarian-development nexus.
Responses
WFP undertook a regional assessment covering five countries in the Latin American region. One of the findings that emerged from the report is a high consumption of highly processed foods in the diet of the Indigenous peoples’ communities that were surveyed. In addition, attention was also raised on the importance of culturally appropriate foods in school-based programming. The findings of the report are being shared within the Regional Bureau’s programme divisions for awareness raising and responses. Regarding data, WFP has undertaken multiple evidence-based assessments in the last two years and has collected data among some Indigenous peoples’ communities on food security, livelihoods, and nutrition through both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This information can complement efforts to collect, and analyse, statistical information. WFP is eager to work with the IASG’s newly formed task group to address the development of indicators vis-à-vis the System- Wide Action Plan (SWAP).
As noted above through various concrete examples, WFP has been working, in a wide range of different countries and contexts, on assessments that gather data on Indigenous issues, and that identify the drivers of food insecurity. It uses that information to inform its strategies moving forward. Advocacy and awareness raising at the corporate level have also been key factors in addressing these gaps. Moreover, the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau has identified work with Indigenous peoples as a priority area for the region. This is enabling greater attention to Indigenous peoples’ knowledge systems, their role in identifying and using neglected but nutrient rich foods, and their practices in climate change adaptation and early warning.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 21 (2022)
Area of Work
