Friday, August 9th was designated as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in December of 1994 by the UN General Assembly resolution 49/214. The specific date was chosen to commemorate the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Indigenous peoples occupy or use approximately 22% of global land area and represent an estimated 7,000 languages and 5,000 different cultures, yet share common problems related to marginalization, extreme poverty, and the protection of their rights. These issues impact the estimated 476 million Indigenous Peoples living across 90 countries.

Despite these challenges, Indigenous Peoples have retained distinct social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics including ways of relating to the environment. Within research on agriculture and food systems, there has been increased interest in Indigenous knowledge systems in particular, with the recognition that deeply connected place-based relationships with the land produce unique forms of knowledge that should be documented and valued.