Preface   Indigenous and local peoples throughout the world have from time immemorial been sustainably interacting with nature to maintain their life support systems. This process has resulted in long-term accumulation of rich biocultural diversity. Many indigenous and long-resident communities, including those living in fragile and stressful environments, have developed adaptive practices, sustainable regimes, and location-specific traditional food systems that maintain the biocultural diversity of their ecosystems. Today this diversity is considered an essential component in maintaining the earth’s life-sustaining processes. However, global environmental and societal change is threatening this biocultural capital. Unprecedented changes in social-ecological systems due to anthropogenic and climatic factors have raised concerns over the sustainability of the food systems of many indigenous and local communities and, ultimately, of their cultures and the ecosystems they inhabit. Scholars, policymakers and governments of many countries have started to recognize the impacts of biocultural loss on indigenous and local peoples’ food systems, their health and well-being, and even their own identities. Today, many location specific food production systems and sustainable natural resources practices of indigenous and local communities are overlooked in mainstream society, although there is a growing appreciation of the value of such knowledge and resources in sustainable development. Extensive work with some of these communities, documenting their knowledge, cultures and institutions relating to conservation and adaptation, especially linked to their food systems, has shown some pathways that might enable societies to mitigate and adapt to global change. The diversity of social-ecological systems and biocultural resources – sustained by indigenous and local communities through their foods, medicines and diverse practices – provides many opportunities for adaptation, and indigenous knowledge has demonstrated extensive potential for generating insights valuable for global conservation science and policy. This integration offers opportunities for reciprocal learning and co-production of knowledge between different stakeholders (indigenous peoples, scientists, civil society) with potential multiple outcomes (promoting conservation, ecosystem services, food behaviours and cultural identity of indigenous and local communities) in order to support overall food security, conservation and sustainability. There is an urgent need to consider these precious resources of knowledge systems in indigenous and native communities, and to promote effective partnerships. Traditional knowledge related to food, nutrition, materials and medicines of indigenous and local communities has developed from centuries of experience, experimentation and observation. It has been orally transmitted from generation to generation, and adapted to local situations. This knowledge tends to be collectively owned, and transmitted through stories, songs, proverbs, cultural values and beliefs, community laws and institutions, and local languages. Many indigenous and local peoples, who are among the most knowledgeable in relation to plants and environments, live in areas where the majority of the world’s plant genetic resources are found. The overlap is not surprising, given the practices of cultivation and sustainable use of biological diversity by these peoples over thousands of years. Furthermore, the adaptive approaches and rich ecological ethics of indigenous and local communities to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity go far beyond their role as natural resource managers. Their wisdom, skills and techniques provide valuable information to the global community and serve as models for biodiversity policy development.

Abstract Indigenous Peoples of northwestern North America have utilized several hundred local plant species, as well as some algae, lichens and fungi, in their traditional diets. Many of these are also used in traditional healing, and some have potentially harmful or poisonous properties that must be taken into account in harvesting and preparation. Other species, known primarily for their medicinal use, also have noted toxicity if used improperly or without constraints. In this study, a total of 375 traditional food and medicine plants, fungi, lichen and algal species, as well as those species reported to be toxic by indigenous knowledge holders, were surveyed across 12 First Nations groups, each with distinct languages, for overlaps across the categories of food, medicine and toxic species. A complex of species use and avoidance emerged, modulated by processing, dosage, and other factors, with significant numbers of food species with reported healing properties, food species also used as medicine, and both food and medicinal species known to be harmful or toxic under some circumstances. Even most of those species considered extremely poisonous have been taken internally as medicines in some way by some groups.

Abstract Scholars have long been interested in the effects of markets on the diet of native populations because of diet’s direct impacts on health. Exposure and assimilation into a market economy result in shifts in modes of subsistence and decision-making about food consumption. But the clear direction of influence is often elusive. Increased market integration predicts expanded access to goods and services that may improve household and individual diet. At the same time, greater involvement in market trade can shift economic priorities away from secure subsistence production toward the lure of material gain and novel items. Here, we analyze the effects of integration into the market economy on household diet using data from a panel study of two villages of Tsimane’, an indigenous group of lowland Bolivia. Because the Tsimane’ have been undergoing varying degrees of integration into the market economy, they provide an ideal population among which to examine the relation between markets and dietary change.

Abstract For 99% of our time on Earth, humans have been hunter-gatherers, intricately connected to and reliant upon our local lands and waters for food, materials, medicines and shelter. In this time we have evolved a unique and in-depth knowledge base, termed local ecological knowledge or ecoliteracy, which has been essential to sustaining human and ecosystem health over thousands of years. However with livelihood diversification towards non-resource dependent strategies, the emergence of local markets as a consequence of globalisation, and global patterns of economic development, our collective local knowledge is now being lost. With the loss of local livelihoods and knowledge comes a departure from traditional food systems as hunters, fishers, and gatherers and cultivators lose the skills needed to locate, collect, preserve, prepare, consume and manage indigenous foods. Traditional food systems have provided nutritional health and food security for indigenous and marginalised communities for generations, and play a critical role in cultural continuity, social systems and ecosystem biodiversity.

Abstract With categories including food, building materials, medicinal plants and resins, non-wood forest products are the economically important face of biodiversity. Using non-wood forest products to generate income and alleviate poverty requires different approaches to their special characteristics. Among the features that distinguish non-wood forest products from other goods are the unpredictability of the quantities available, the lack of control of collectors over their growth conditions, and the difficulty of ensuring that the products can be placed on the market efficiently. In developed countries such as Finland, with under-harvesting of non-wood forest products, getting an economic benefit from these involves the seasonal migration of collectors. The latter is illustrated by the case of Thai in a working visit to Finland, to pick the often underutilized wild berry harvest in Lapland. The majority of the workers are from farming backgrounds, but there is a weak positive correlation between their non-wood forest product activity in Thailand and berry picking in Finland.

Abstract Traditional communities the world over have been using a variety of indigenous biological resources in farming and life support systems. They are direct stakeholders in the in situ conservation and sustainable management of diverse plant species on their farms and in their home gardens. Location specific needs and ecosystem diversity plays a decisive role in maintaining biocultural resources. The present paper, based on six different case studies, describes the practices of traditional and innovative farmers in conservation of indigenous biodiversity. How farmers explore, domesticate and manage wild plant resources to sustain their livelihoods is the main theme of this study. It represents an explorative and qualitative study, carried out with diverse communities living in central India, Indo-Gangetic plains and mountainous ecosystems of Arunachal Pradesh. The study is based on 7 years of collaborative and participatory research with local and native communities. Data was generated using a combination of conventional (personal interviews with open-ended questions and informal interaction) and participatory methods.

Abstract This study was aimed to document the Dawro people’s ethnobotanical knowledge, identify Non-Cultivated Food Plants (NCFPs) and associated challenges to their consumption. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, market survey and field observations were conducted to gather the ethnobotanical data. The study documented a total of 47 non-cultivated food plant species belonging to 44 genera and 34 families. Shrubs (36.7%) and herbs (32. 7%) make up the highest proportion of these plants. The two most frequently used parts were fruits (62%) and leaves (18.4%).Over 70% of the species analyzed have additional uses, primarily for medicine, construction, and firewood. Most (68%) of the recorded species are consumed fresh without further processing and they are mainly fruits. The study found that non-cultivated food plants play a vital role to the Dawro people during food shortages.

Abstract Cultural knowledge on food and beverages is as old as human civilization. However, the traditional knowledge related to food habits and ecosystem conservation has been found to be unique in each cultural and ethnic group across the world. From time immemorial, the Nyishi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh has developed an unique set of traditional knowledge that allows the better utilization of food bioresources of their natural surrounding to sustain their livelihood. Historically, such knowledge was transmited through customary laws, folklore, and oral literature. Literature studies have revealed the lack of scientific investigation on ethnobiology of traditional food bioresources used by the Nyishi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. Hence, in the present investigation, an attempt has been made to unveil the hidden age-old cultural food and beverage knowledge practised among the Nyishi of Papum Pare and Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. A total of 63 plant and 41 animal species have been reported during field survey in 4 circles covering a total of 12 different localities which includes rural, semi-urbans and urban type ecosystem in the 2 selected districts.

Abstract Leafy vegetables have largely been portrayed as fulfilling an important nutritional supplement in local people’s diets, as a safety net function to rural households during periods when agricultural production is low and as a food supplement for the poverty stricken. In this paper we present evidence to show that the consumption of wild leafy vegetables (pot-herbs) represents more then just an important source of nutrition and/or a safety net function for poor households, but that they also fulfil an important cultural function for both poor and wealthy Xhosa speaking people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. We show that the consumption of food needs to be studied as a bio-cultural phenomenon which includes both nutritional and anthropological understanding.

Abstract It’s relatively frequent to hear about the customary consumption and commercialization of wild and cultivated mushrooms in European, North American and Asian tempered zones. In contrast, such a phenomenon has been widely unrecognized in Mesoamerican lowlands. The scarce interest for leading ethnomicological studies in these zones may be caused by a preconception according to which peoples inhabiting them do not use macroscopic fungi. Yet, archaeological evidence shows a relation between fungi and Mayan peoples existed during pre-Hispanic times.

Abstract Oolichan (Thaleichthys pacificus), a small anadromous smelt also known as “savior fish”, were a necessity of life for Pacific Northwest Coastal and adjacent interior indigenous peoples, as they were the first fish to return to the rivers after winter and produced not only tasty flesh but also a nutritious oil, or “grease.” A focus of the traditional oolichan culture is the Nass River of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The valleys and mountains surrounding the Nass River are the traditional homelands of the Nisga’a people, whose technological innovations including implements, buildings, and landscape structures facilitated fishing, production, and preservation of oolichan, as well as salmon. Over thousands of years, the Nisga’a developed plant-based technologies for use in the oolichan fishery and for preparation trade of rendered oolichan “grease”. In turn, structures and implements associated with the oolichan fishery facilitated knowledge exchange across generations, since the oolichan processing areas and fishing camps were the places where elders conveyed their cultural and ecological knowledge to younger people. Structures fashioned from plants helped people to recall the stories, traditions,

Abstract The Saanich (Coast Salish) are an Indigenous people of southern Vancouver Island on the southwest coast of Canada who for many centuries have relied heavily on anadromous Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) as a major food source. Over time, Saanich fishers have become experts on many aspects of these salmon, including knowledge of the different species, their life cycles, feeding ecology, migration routes, and population dynamics. Much of this knowledge is centered at Saanich Inlet and Goldstream River, a major salmon spawning stream flowing into this inlet. Some Saanich and other Coast Salish people still fish for salmon at Goldstream using traditional gaff hooks and spears, but they have also adopted more modern gear in recent times. Pacific coho (O. kisutch) and chum (O. keta) salmon stocks in particular have fluctuated over the decades, evidently due to impacts of commercial fishing, pollution from oil leakage and domestic sewage in Saanich Inlet.

Abstract Ladakh, comprising of Leh and Kargil district is truly described as a high altitude cold-arid desert region of J&K state, India, where local people grow barley (Hordeum vulgare) and prepare various food products out of it. The roasted barley flour, locally known as tsampa is one of them, which goes as ingredients in a variety of local dishes and beverages. It is eaten either in raw or in cooked form and the traditional method of tsampa preparation is through the Ran-tak (traditional water mill), for which efforts have been made to describe it in detail. Like other parts of the world, this remote area in the trans-Himalaya has also witnessed exchange with the outside industrial world which has brought with it many changes (both desirable and undesirable) and the traditional foods were also not left behind. One major cause for decline in the traditional tsampa preparation has been the availability of cheap subsidized produce from the lowland India, on the other hand the increase in information exchange with the outside world has also helped local people to realize the need and importance to conserve their own locally grown crops and integrate into the mainstream fooding system. However, tsampa prepared using the traditional method is still being preferred by the local inhabitants

Abstract Mahua (Madhuca spp.) is an important tree in India, with high socio-economic, environmental and spiritual values. We carried out this study among the local communities of Azamgarh district (eastern Uttar Pradesh) and with the Gond and Baiga tribes from Raisen and Dindori districts, Madhya Pradesh. Among the five mahua species found in Indian subcontinent, Madhuca latifolia is widely distributed in the north and central plains, the focal area of our study. Mahua has been vital to the survival of these communities, particularly the Gond and Baiga tribes, from the time immemorial. It has been a major source of food energy in the form of sugar, seed oil and alcohol. As well, different parts of the tree are used as ethnomedicine. The tribal people’s high regard for mahua is reflected by its sustainable and regulated use. In this study, we present an in-depth analysis of conservation, management and sustainable use of mahua, and also suggest its role in socio-economic adaptation, with particular reference to climate change.