Implementation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Biocentric Restoration Project and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Unit 2021- 2022

FAO NESFAS

Land is one of the most exploited parts of the earth’s resources. Over the years the use of land has changed. From traditional use, the world has moved on to rapid commercialization, thereby compromising the quantity and quality of land. To address this pressing need for improving land usage and its restoration, NESFAS implemented the Indigenous Peoples’ Biocentric Restoration Project in Meghalaya. The objective of this initiative lies in restoring land in Indigenous Peoples’ territories through the recovery of Indigenous Peoples’ ancestral knowledge, territorial management and Indigenous People’s values and relations with the territory. Active in four countries, namely Ecuador, India, Peru and Thailand, the initiative which is supported by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO), centres its activities around the territory along with all the species and living things that inhabit it, irrespective of its use to mankind, to guarantee protection and respect of Mother Earth. Its focus is on the importance of local biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and its revival. Five communities in East Khasi Hills i.e. Dewlieh, Nongwah, Umsawwar, Ladmawphlang and Nongtraw, are leading this initiative.