Cultivating what is ours: Local agro-food heritage as a development strategy in the Peruvian Andes

<p>The Peruvian Andes has long been portrayed as a space of poverty and marginalisation, but more recently Andean places have been reinterpreted as reservoirs of valuable patrimonio agroalimentario (agro-food heritage). Amidst global interest in food provenance and Peru’s gastronomic ‘boom’, Andean people and places have connected with different networks that value the geographical, ecological and social origins of food. This thesis explores the meaning of these changes by combining a discourse genealogy with local case studies. I first trace the emergence of interconnecting discourses of territorial development with identity and local agro-food heritage in Latin America. I explore how these discourses bring together diverse actors and agendas through arguments that collective action to revalue local agro-food heritage can offer equitable economic gains while conserving biocultural diversity, a theoretical dynamic that I term the ‘virtuous circle of products with identity.’ These promises frame in-depth case studies of Cabanaconde and Tuti, two rural localities in the southern Peruvian Andes where a range of development initiatives based on local agro-food heritage were undertaken from around the mid-2000s. The case studies combine evaluation of the economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts of the initiatives, with ethnographic perspectives that look at them through the lens of local livelihoods. The partial successes and multiple setbacks of the initiatives highlight the tensions between economic impact, social equity and biocultural diversity while underlining the limitations of existing markets to value the rich connections between place and food in the Andes. Nevertheless, by highlighting local agency in engaging selectively with these initiatives, I conclude that their overall legacy has been largely positive. I suggest that connections being made between place, food and development can provide material and discursive support for diverse territorial economies, defined as the locally specific ways people in the Andes pursue their aspirations while retaining what they value about place, farming and food.</p>

Cultivating what is ours: Local agro-food heritage as a development strategy in the Peruvian Andes

<p>The Peruvian Andes has long been portrayed as a space of poverty and marginalisation, but more recently Andean places have been reinterpreted as reservoirs of valuable patrimonio agroalimentario (agro-food heritage). Amidst global interest in food provenance and Peru’s gastronomic ‘boom’, Andean people and places have connected with different networks that value the geographical, ecological and social origins of food. This thesis explores the meaning of these changes by combining a discourse genealogy with local case studies. I first trace the emergence of interconnecting discourses of territorial development with identity and local agro-food heritage in Latin America. I explore how these discourses bring together diverse actors and agendas through arguments that collective action to revalue local agro-food heritage can offer equitable economic gains while conserving biocultural diversity, a theoretical dynamic that I term the ‘virtuous circle of products with identity.’ These promises frame in-depth case studies of Cabanaconde and Tuti, two rural localities in the southern Peruvian Andes where a range of development initiatives based on local agro-food heritage were undertaken from around the mid-2000s. The case studies combine evaluation of the economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts of the initiatives, with ethnographic perspectives that look at them through the lens of local livelihoods. The partial successes and multiple setbacks of the initiatives highlight the tensions between economic impact, social equity and biocultural diversity while underlining the limitations of existing markets to value the rich connections between place and food in the Andes. Nevertheless, by highlighting local agency in engaging selectively with these initiatives, I conclude that their overall legacy has been largely positive. I suggest that connections being made between place, food and development can provide material and discursive support for diverse territorial economies, defined as the locally specific ways people in the Andes pursue their aspirations while retaining what they value about place, farming and food.</p>

Biolinguistic Diversity Index of India

Harmon and Loh calculated the 'Index of Biocultural Diversity' (IBCD) at the global-level (they calculated the index for each country and then compared them). However the problem with their methodology was that it could not be used for smaller areas or intra-country calculation of index. So it required some modification. In this paper I have calculated the IBLD (Index of Biolinguistic Diversity) of India using a similar methodology. However I have introduced some modifications. Instead of taking the politically divided states as the reference point for comparison, I have taken the eco-regions of India as the reference point. I have also calculated the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between the ranks of the eco-regions on the basis of biodiversity and linguistic diversity so as to see whether these are correlated at the intra-country level (in India, in particular). The conclusions are not exactly at par with the expectations but still the correlation is established.

Biocultural Diversity for Food System Transformation Under Global Environmental Change

Biocultural diversity is central to the nutrition, resilience, and adaptive capacity of Indigenous and traditional peoples, who collectively maintain the longest ongoing human experiences with the provision of food under environmental change. In the form of crops and livestock and associated knowledge on their cultivation and use, food-related biocultural diversity likewise underpins global food security. As food system transformation is increasingly recognized as an urgent priority, we argue that food security, sustainability, resilience, and adaptive capacity can be furthered through greater emphasis on conservation, use, and celebration of food-related biocultural diversity. We provide examples from the Parque de la Papa, Peru, a “food biocultural diversity neighborhood” which through advocacy and partnerships based around its diversity, has both enhanced local communities and contributed to food security at a much larger scale. We outline collaborative actions which we believe are important to up- and out-scale food biocultural diversity neighborhood successes. Further research and knowledge sharing are critical to better document, understand, track, and communicate the value, functions, and state of biocultural diversity in food systems. Expanded training and capacity development opportunities are important to enable the interchange of experiences and visions on food, health, sustainability and resilience, climate adaptation, equity and justice, and livelihood generation with others facing similar challenges. Finally, strengthened networking across food biocultural diversity neighborhoods is essential to their persistence and growth as they increasingly engage with local, national, and international organizations, based on shared interests and on their own terms, across five continents.

The alpine rural landscape as a cultural reserve: the case study of Teglio in Valtellina

This research examines a portion of the Italian alpine landscape in order to find a comprehension mode and a strategic proposal to safeguard this rural heritage. The area is located in Valtellina, in the municipality of Teglio (Sondrio, Italy), between 700 and 1200 m a.s.l. Typical characteristic of the local landscape conformation is fragmentation, which determines a rapidly changing chequerboard depending on the rotation of seasons and cultivation. The landscape alternates wooded and cultivated areas. Cultivations mainly concern rye, buckwheat, corn, barley, alpine wheat, chestnuts and small orchards and have a wide agrobiodiversity and especially a historical and cultural value. The cultivation of buckwheat, for example nustran arrived in the valley in the XVII century and Teglio is the place where it persists more. The genotypes present are in part already classified, in part under study. The vernine crop alternated to buckwheat is mainly rye, arrived in the valley since the XV century. The local varieties formed over time are a resource of genotypes adapted to high altitude agricultural environments, they have important nutraceutical properties and they are closely associated with the local culture. The aim was to verify the persistence of traditional crops in the area, together with the cultural value of the traditional rural system, in order to analyse the feasibility of a strategy for the preservation of biocultural diversity. The research has shown how, despite the dynamics of depopulation and abandonment of agricultural fields, there is still in the area a sufficient permanence of cultural practices and social uses that can be a solid starting point for a sustainable development of the territory that focuses on agricultural and cultural biodiversity.

Educating for Biocultural Diversity and Sustainable Development in First Years of Schooling: An Analysis of Documents From the Portuguese Educational System

Educating for sustainable development can encompass different perspectives and possibilities that enable the achievement of the goals of (more) sustainable development, as predicted by the United Nations for 2030. This type of education also involves a humanist and citizenship education, which can prepare children, youth, and adults to face current and future challenges, local and global, as actors in building a better future. We believe, however, that for education to bear fruit, it is important that children, from the first years of schooling (primary education), can be in contact with different perspectives, people, ways of learning, and worldviews, locally contextualized and relevant, with strong links to the natural and social environment involving their communities, such as education must value linguistic and cultural diversity, without forgetting biodiversity and the influences they exert on the education of individuals. Thus, looking at an education that encompasses the relationships among linguistic, cultural (stories, celebrations, heritage, artefacts, relationships, and behaviors between people, etc.), and biological diversity, the present study aimed to understand how biocultural diversity is present in the main normative-legal documents that govern education for the first years of schooling in the Portuguese educational system and, above all, if its existence is considered in education for sustainable development. For this study, seven guiding documents of the Portuguese educational system, and primary education in particular (education that includes the interval from the 1st to the 4th year and the average age-groups of 5–10 years of age), were analyzed, and the results show a gap regarding the presence of biocultural diversity, which points to an incomplete perspective of education for sustainable development, forgetting languages, cultures, and individuals.

Facilitating Multifunctional Green Infrastructure Planning in Washington, DC through a Tableau Interface

Multifunctional urban green infrastructure (UGI) can regulate stormwater, mitigate heat islands, conserve biodiversity and biocultural diversity, and produce food, among other functions. Equitable governance of UGI requires new tools for sharing pertinent information. Our goal was to develop a public-access geographic information system (GIS) that can be used for comprehensive UGI planning in Washington, DC (the District) and to create an e-tool for UGI in the form of Tableau dashboards. The dashboards allow stakeholders to identify (1) existing UGI and (2) potential areas for new UGI including urban agriculture (UA). They also allow users to manipulate the data and identify priority locations for equitable UGI development by applying population vulnerability indices and other filters. We demonstrate use of the dashboards through scenarios focusing on UA in the District, which currently has 150 ha of existing UGI in the form of documented projects and an additional 3012 ha potentially suitable for UGI development. A total of 2792 ha is potentially suitable for UA, with 58% of that area in Wards 5, 7, and 8, which are largely food deserts and whose residents are primarily Black and experience the greatest inequities. Our work can serve as a model for similar digital tools in other locales using Tableau and other platforms.

Cross-Cultural Ethnobotanical Assembly as a New Tool for Understanding Medicinal and Culinary Values–The Genus Lycium as A Case Study

Ethnobotanical knowledge is indispensable for the conservation of global biological integrity, and could provide irreplaceable clues for bioprospecting aiming at new food crops and medicines. This biocultural diversity requires a comprehensive documentation of such intellectual knowledge at local levels. However, without systematically capturing the data, those regional records are fragmented and can hardly be used. In this study, we develop a framework to assemble the cross-cultural ethnobotanical knowledge at a genus level, including capturing the species’ diversity and their cultural importance, integrating their traditional uses, and revealing the intercultural relationship of ethnobotanical data quantitatively. Using such a cross-cultural ethnobotanical assembly, the medicinal and culinary values of the genus Lycium are evaluated. Simultaneously, the analysis highlights the problems and options for a systematic cross-cultural ethnobotanical knowledge assembly. The framework used here could generate baseline data relevant for conservation and sustainable use of plant diversity as well as for bioprospecting within targeting taxa.

“If there’s no dill, the taste isn’t right!” A comparison of food plant knowledge between Polish and German descendants in the context of an imagined culinary community in Brazil

Food is a cultural marker investigated by several fields of knowledge. The ecological approach to food plants used in human societies can give us insights into food biodiversity and its connection to cultural identity. In our work, we investigate plant knowledge as part of an imagined culinary community among Polish and German descendants in Santa Catarina, Brazil. We interviewed Polish and German descendants and used an ecological analytical approach to discuss patterns of known plants mediated by culture. One hundred years after immigration, we found that ethnic food-centered memories remain. Polish and German descendants share most resources cited, while the difference between plants’ use lies in the ethnic memories and food preparation. There is a tendency to acculturate ingredients and tastes by immigrants descendants, using native species to recreate dishes. This scenario, which joins native plants’ knowledge and ethnic memories, provides an excellent opportunity to maintain local biocultural diversity in urbanized environments.