Indigenous food in danger of vanishing

Biodiversity under threat as communities adopt Western diet

ROME: The rich diversity of food in indigenous communities across the world is threatened by the spread of Western eating habits through globalisation, a United Nations (UN) agency has said in a new book.

LOCAL FARE The Karen community of Sanephong in Thailand, near the Myanmar border, has 661 inhabitants. They have a choice of 387 species of food, including vegetables and fruit such as wax gourd, jackfruit and tree ear, as well as wildlife such as the painted bullfrog and bush-tailed porcupine. The Mand village on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei is home to 26 local varieties of bananas, including the utin llap, which contains huge amounts of beta carotene. The Inuits around Baffin Bay in Canada's frozen north eat 79 different types of wildlife, including caribou and ringed seal. The Maasai tribe in Kenya has access to 35 different species of herbs, leafy vegetables and wild fruits.

About three-quarters of the genetic diversity once found in agricultural crops has been lost over the last century, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in the book, titled Indigenous People's Food Systems.

'This book shows the wealth of knowledge in indigenous communities, in diverse ecosystems, and the richness of their food resources,' said FAO senior nutrition officer Barbara Burlingame.

While ethnic communities in far-flung parts of the world can pick from a wide range of fruits and vegetables, Western industrialised nations rely heavily on four commercial crops - wheat, rice, corn and soya, the FAO said.

Traditional foods frequently contain very high levels of micro-nutrients that are good for the body.

For example, in Mand, a hamlet on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei, one of the 26 local varieties of bananas contains huge amounts of beta carotene and is more effective in combating Vitamin-A deficiencies than any pharmaceutical supplement.

But even in places like Mand, where only 27 per cent of 500 villagers now get dietary energy from traditional food, the introduction of processed foods is causing health problems, the book's researchers found.

'The shift away from traditional food resources to commercial, convenience foods is often accompanied by an increase in diet-related disorders like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure,' Ms Burlingame said.

Globalisation also threatens treasure troves that the researchers found in other communities such as the Karens in Thailand, near the Myanmar border, the FAO said.

Karens can choose from 387 food species, with 208 species of vegetables and 62 different kinds of fruit, including wax gourd, jackfruit and tree ear.

Kenya's Maasai tribes enjoy 35 different species of herbs, leafy vegetables and wild fruits, while the Inuit of Baffin Bay in Canada's north eat 79 different wildlife foods including caribou meat and ringed seal, the book found.

Ms Burlingame said preserving such resources is crucial, not only for the indigenous groups concerned, but also to maintain the biodiversity of food worldwide.

She said the first step is to better understand the nutritional importance of these foods. Indigenous peoples take pride in their food knowing how unique and beneficial it can be, she said.

The next step, she said, is to take advantage of global markets so that indigenous foods and medicinal plants found in some of these remote regions can be distributed more widely.

The book, released on Tuesday, was co-published by the Centre for Indigenous People's Nutrition and Environment at McGill University in Montreal.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE