30 March 2016: A Tajikistan workshop with indigenous mountain farmers from 10 countries endorsed the ‘Tuggoz Declaration on Climate Change and Mountain Indigenous Peoples,’ which calls for protecting indigenous farming systems and landscapes through the legal recognition of Biocultural Heritage Territories. The declaration calls for indigenous peoples’ rights to land, natural resources; for traditional knowledge to be fully respected in all mitigation and adaptation policies and programmes; and for the full and effective implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

The workshop brought together members of the International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples (INMIP), from communities from Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Peru, Taiwan, Tajikistan and Thailand, to exchange seeds and share coping strategies in the face of climate challenges. A “walking workshop” methodology was applied, which encouraged participants, many of them farmers, to exchange knowledge while walking through the landscape of the host community, with various points of interest sparking discussion of common challenges and strategies. The farmers concluded that the establishment of community-managed landscapes, also known as Biocultural Heritage Territories, will be important for adaptation, food security and the maintenance of traditional knowledge, ecosystem services, and indigenous culture and spiritual values.

All community representatives at the meeting reported changes in climate and weather patterns, including higher incidences of extreme weather. They highlighted coping strategies such as planting different crop varieties together to reduce risk, and the use of local crop varieties already adapted to drought and pests. Participants noted the importance of traditional knowledge in improving ecosystem health to enhance productivity and minimize risk. They also expressed concern about how traditional knowledge could be sustained and passed on to younger generations, as young people are migrating to cities and no longer farming. They discussed developing traditional knowledge-based income opportunities for youth, and networking among communities to share traditional knowledge.

The workshop, billed as a learning exchange, took place in September 2015 and was organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the ANDES association, in partnership with the Aga Khan Foundation and the Stockholm Resilience Centre. It was the second time such a workshop has been organized. The workshop report, released in March 2016, concludes, inter alia, that indigenous, local and scientific knowledge systems can contribute equally valid knowledge for the purposes of assessments, research, decision-making and reporting processes.

Mountains are included in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets under SDG 6 (ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all) and SDG 15 (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss). [Mountain Partnership Press Release] [Climate Change and Biocultural Adaptation in Mountain Communities]