Protecting the Sacred in Corn | Seed Sovereignty Documents | Berenice Sánchez Intervention on the Protection of Indigenous Agroecosystems presented to the UNPFII-2018 | 1 of 2

Berenice Sánchez

Photos by permission of Alianza Milpa

Moderator’s Note: We are posting the first of
two new documents recently presented to the 17th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
(UNPFII) which convened 16-27 April 2018 at United Nations Headquarters in New
York City. The theme focused on “Indigenous peoples’ collective rights to
lands, territories and resources.” The first intervention was delivered in person
during session by Berenice Sánchez, an indigenous Nahua-Hña Hñu (Otomi) woman
from the state of Mexico, Mexico, who works to defend the rights of indigenous
peoples. She has participated in, presented, and organized tens of conferences,
as well as national, regional, and international workshops.

The intervention
focuses on the strategies the UN should adopt to more effectively and
proactively protect and promote traditional indigenous agroecosystems that have
emerged over millennia in the major centers of origin and diversification of
crops like maize, beans, squash, chile, and many more. One major point of this
first statement is how

Our traditional food systems are not only models to combat
hunger and poverty, but also a way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
since they are closely linked to our territorial rights, to our caring for water
and seeds, to the transmission of our traditional knowledges, and cannot be
separated from our right to Self-Determination.

The
original was presented in Spanish and we follow this with our own translation
into English.

Intervención
sobre estrategias para la protección y el resurgimiento de los agroecosistemas
indígenas

Berenice Sánchez por Alianza Milpa, Asociación Andes, Land is Life,
Instituto Acequia, Agricultores Indígenas de Maíz.

Gracias Señor presidente

Los pueblos indigenas milenariamente hemos
desarrollado sistemas alimentarios basados en la comprensión y respeto de los
ciclos de bioregulación de la vida en el planeta, acumulando y transmitiendo
así conocimientos y practicas que han sido claves en la conservación de los
ecosistemas de nuestros territorios. Nos
concebimos guardianes de las semillas que hemos heredado de nuestros ancestros
y cuyo cultivo, mejoramiento y adaptación a diferentes pisos ecológicos han
conformado los centros de origen y rutas de diversificación de alimentos que no
solo han nutrido nuestros cuerpos; si no que también
constituyen nuestro Buen Vivir.  Los
sistemas de conservación y aprovechamiento de la diversidad biológica de
nuestros territorios vuelven tangible nuestra responsabilidad sagrada de
mantener el equilibrio de los ciclos que hacen posible la existencia de todo
ser vivo. Generación tras generación hemos asumido el compromiso de proteger,
resguardar y transmitir las instrucciones originales para preservar no solo la
vida del ser humano sobre la fas de la Tierra sino la Vida misma de Nuestra
Madre Tierra. Si en verdad existe un interés
genuino en cambiar el aparentemente irremediable destino al que esta siendo
conducido el planeta, deberemos entonces aprender de las
formas de vida de los pueblos indigenas del mundo.

Nuestros sistemas
alimentarios tradicionales constituyen no solo modelos para combatir el hambre
y la pobreza, si no una forma de alcanzar los
Objetivos de desarrollo Sostenible, pues se encuentran estrechamente vinculados a nuestros derechos
territoriales, a la crianza del agua y de las semillas, a la transmisión de nuestros
conocimientos tradicionales y no pueden separarse de nuestro derecho a la Libre
Determinación. Sin embargo el sistema de desarrollo economico
impulsado desde la colonización ha acumulado riqueza y capitales financieros a
partir del despojo y expoliación de nuestros territorios, avanzando sobre cada
elemento de la vida, cosificando y mercantilizando todo lo que yace y subyace
en nuestros territorios, empobreciéndonos y
violentando nuestros derechos sistemáticamente.
La globalizacion avasalla nuestros territorios imponiendo sus proyectos de muerte que acaban con bosques y
selvas y que avanzan sobre desiertos y mares, criminalizando, encarcelando,
asesinando o desapareciendo a quienes se atreven a defender la Vida.

La
agricultura industrial, con sus semillas manipuladas genéticamente
o listas para el clima y pesticidas de síntesis química
ejemplifica las fallas estructurales de este sistema económico ha derivado en una crisis alimentaria global
en la que el 70% de tierras cultivables
que se encuentra bajo
este modelo de producción solo alimenta a un 30% de la humanidad. No obstante, los sistemas alimentarios tradicionales
pese a controlar tan solo el 30% de las tierras cultivadas han demostrado su
capacidad de alimentar al 70%
de la humanidad en el planeta manteniendo en
equilibrio los ecosistemas.
Asi, podemos afirmar que cuando hay sistemas agroalimentarios tradicionales
sanos no existe hambre ni pobreza.

Nosotros nos presentamos como Pueblos Indigenas
del Maiz, semilla sagrada que no solo alimenta nuestros cuerpos, sino que es base de nuestra identidad,
cultura, cosmovision, espiritualidad y soberanía alimentaria. En la continuidad de su cultivo
se garantiza el mantenimiento de la diversidad  asociada que incluye especies silvestres y
cultivadas adaptadas a
diferentes condiciones climáticas y de suelos, sin que en su obtención haya sido
involucrada la modificación genética.

RECOMENDACIONES

En este sentido, sugerimos
respetuosamente que es fundamental que el Foro Permanente promueva la creación
de un marco interagencial en el Sistema de las Naciones Unidas que asuma
verdaderamente los
compromisos de conservación de la biodiversidad establecidos en el CDB, asi
como los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, a través del
reconocimiento y respeto de los
pueblos indigenas como sujetos de derechos colectivos y
actores clave en la configuración de políticas sobre la conservación de la biodiversidad, los ecosistemas y recursos
ambientales.

Recomendamos,
asimismo que catalice la creación de un fondo dedicado a fortalecer y reconstituir los sistemas
agroalimentarios tradicionales garantizando la participación plena y efectiva
de los pueblos indigenas en su diseño, operatividad, evaluación y monitoreo. Este fondo
deberá entre
otros impulsar y promover la crianza del agua y semillas nativas,
prevenir la contaminacion con semillas transgenicas, remediar la salud de los
pueblos indigenas contaminados con pesticidas y prevenir la erosion genética

Finalmente,
señor presidente, sostenemos que si no se actua con responsabilidad y se toma conciencia del daño
planetario que ha causado el modelo de desarrollo actual y se siguen perpetuando las mismas dinámicas de acumulación de riqueza argumentando la
generación de trabajos decentes para los pobres, nuestra vida en el Planeta tal
como la conocemos continuara siendo destruida acercándonos vertiginosamente a un punto de no
retorno.

English Translation by Devon G. Peña:

Intervention on
Strategies for Protection and Resurgence of Indigenous Agroecosystems

Berenice Sánchez for Alianza Milpa, Asociación Andes, Land is Life, Instituto Acequia, Agricultores Indígenas de Maíz.

Thank
you Mr. President

The
indigenous peoples over millennia have developed food systems based on
understanding and respecting the bioregulation cycles of life on the planet,
accumulating and transmitting knowledge and practices that have been key in the
conservation of the ecosystems of our territories. We think of ourselves as
guardians of the seeds that we inherited from our ancestors and whose
cultivation, improvement and adaptation to different ecological levels have
made up the centers of origin and diversification routes of food that have not
only nourished our bodies; they also constitute our Good Living. The systems of
conservation and exploitation of the biological diversity of our territories
make tangible our sacred responsibility to maintain the balance of the cycles
that make possible the existence of every living being. Generation after
generation we have assumed the commitment to protect and transmit the original
instructions to preserve not only the life of the human being on the face of
the Earth but the very Life of Our Mother Earth. If in truth there is a genuine
interest in changing the seemingly irremediable destiny to which the planet is
being driven, we must then learn from the ways of life of the indigenous
peoples of the world.

Our
traditional food systems are not only models to combat hunger and poverty, but
also a way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, since they are closely
linked to our territorial rights, our caring for water and our raising of seeds,
and the transmission of our traditional knowledge and cannot be separated from
our right to Self-Determination. However, the system of economic development
driven since the colonization has accumulated wealth and financial capital from
the dispossession and plundering of our territories, advancing on each element
of life, reifying and commodifying everything that lays upon and underlies our territories,
impoverishing and violating our rights systematically. Globalization advocates overwhelm
our territories by imposing death projects that end our forests and jungles and
that advance over deserts and seas, criminalizing, imprisoning, assassinating
or disappearing those who dare to defend Life.

Industrial
agriculture, with its genetically engineered seeds, or ready for the weather
and chemical synthesis pesticides, exemplifies the structural failures of this
economic system has resulted in a global food crisis in which 70% of arable
land is under a model of production only feeds 30% of humanity. However,
traditional food systems, despite controlling only 30% of cultivated land, have
demonstrated their ability to feed 70% of humanity on the planet while
maintaining ecosystems in balance. Thus, we can affirm that when there are
healthy traditional agri-food systems there is neither hunger nor poverty.

We
present ourselves as Indigenous Peoples of Maize, a sacred seed that not only
feeds our bodies, but is the basis of our identity, culture, cosmovision,
spirituality and food sovereignty. In the continuity of its cultivation is guaranteed
the maintenance of the associated diversity that includes wild and cultivated
species adapted to different climatic and soil conditions, without genetic modification
being involved in obtaining these goals.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In
this regard, we respectfully suggest that it is essential that the Permanent
Forum promote the creation of an interagency framework in the United Nations system
that truly assumes the biodiversity conservation commitments established in the
CBD, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals, through the recognition and
respect of indigenous peoples as subjects of collective rights and key actors
in the configuration of policies on the conservation of biodiversity,
ecosystems, and environmental resources.

We
also recommend that it catalyze the creation of a fund dedicated to
strengthening and reconstituting traditional agri-food systems, guaranteeing
the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in their design,
operation, evaluation, and monitoring. This fund must promote and promote the
raising of native water and seeds, prevent contamination with transgenic seeds,
remediate the health of indigenous peoples contaminated with pesticides, and
prevent genetic erosion.

Finally,
Mr. President, we maintain that if we do not act responsibly and become aware
of the planetary damage caused by the current development model and continue to
perpetuate the same dynamics of accumulation of wealth, arguing this will lead
the false idea of the generation of decent jobs for the poor, our Life on the
Planet as we know it will continue to be destroyed, approaching us
vertiginously to a point of no return.