The Indigenous World 2026: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Indigenous Peoples

Written on 22 April 2026. Posted in Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Indigenous Peoples

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the UN that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and malnutrition. Founded in 1945, its goal is to achieve food security for all. With 194 Members (193 countries and the European Union), FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide. Its normative work is highly relevant in all matters related to land, food, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and genetic resources.

FAO’s work on Indigenous Peoples’ issues is guided by the 2010 FAO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the content of which is based on international legal instruments such as the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

In 2014, FAO created an Indigenous Peoples Unit (PSUI) as the focal point for its work with Indigenous Peoples within the Organization.^[1] One of the main priorities of PSUI’s joint work with Indigenous Peoples has been to progressively incorporate Indigenous Peoples’ views into the normative work of FAO, particularly through ministerial technical committees, FAO Governing Bodies, and UN conventions.

PSUI holds the Secretariat of the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food and Knowledge Systems (Global-Hub), an innovative think tank launched in 2020 that brings together Indigenous and non-indigenous experts, valuing Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge on an equal footing with academic knowledge to generate evidence for policy-making on sustainable food systems.

FAO additionally hosts the Secretariat of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the foremost international and intergovernmental platform on food security and nutrition. Reformed in 2009, the CFS is intended to be an inclusive, multi-stakeholder platform integrating representatives from governments, UN agencies, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, financial and research institutions, philanthropic foundations, and the private sector. The CFS reports to the UN General Assembly via the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the FAO Conference. The CFS policy discussion process is grounded in scientific, evidence-based reviews prepared by an independent High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN). The CFS is jointly supported by the three Rome-based Agencies – FAO, IFAD and the World Food Programme – which provide core funding, technical expertise, and jointly constitute the CFS Secretariat.

The relevance of the CFS to advance policy-making on FAO’s mandate cannot be overemphasized. The CFS formulates and endorses policy recommendations and provides guidance across a broad range of food security and nutrition issues. For example, in 2012 the CFS endorsed the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.

This article is part of the 40^th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2026 in full here

2025 was a crucial year in FAO’s work with Indigenous Peoples, with two key normative processes unfolding: the review of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management in order to incorporate the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous Peoples; and the preparation of a High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) report on the promotion of Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems. Both processes are the result of joint work by the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit (PSUI) and Indigenous leaders and follow recommendations from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) to FAO, thereby ensuring coordination and coherence at different levels. While 2025 was a fundamental year for these processes, work had been ongoing for several years, as is often the case for normative processes involving different actors and FAO Members.

Besides these long normative discussions with FAO Members that include Indigenous Peoples’ voices and views, 2025 also saw stronger FAO engagement with Indigenous Peoples to work jointly on Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems; Indigenous Peoples Biocentric Restoration; FPIC; collective rights, climate action and biodiversity. Across normative processes, policy spaces, territorial field work and the promotion of Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems, FAO has deepened a relationship that is grounded in rights, dialogue and mutual learning. As global crises of climate, biodiversity loss and food insecurity intersect, the experiences and worldviews of Indigenous Peoples offer pathways towards more equitable and resilient futures.

2025 will always be remembered as the year in which Indigenous elders brought HOPE to FAO during the 80^th anniversary of the Organization.

FPIC and the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management (ICCPM)

At its 21^st Session in 2022, the UNPFII requested FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) to amend the ICCPM to take into account the FPIC of Indigenous Peoples.^[2] In 2023, FAO created a joint working group with WHO, with the collaboration and support of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Chair of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), and the Chair of UNPFII, marking the start of the review process of this Code of Conduct.^[3] In 2025, the perspectives and concerns of Indigenous Peoples were collected through an online questionnaire designed specifically for Indigenous Peoples^[4] and were reflected in the proposed ICCPM amendment that will be discussed by FAO Members at the upcoming 30^th Session of the FAO Technical Committee on Agriculture (COAG) in 2026.^[5]

FAO’s work to ensure that FPIC is guaranteed in pesticides management is an important step in expanding the inclusion of FPIC in normative processes. The objective of this amendment, as requested by the UNPFII, is to ensure that pesticide governance frameworks explicitly recognize Indigenous Peoples’ rights to self-determination, FPIC, and their collective and customary rights over lands, territories and resources. The amendment of the Code of Conduct to include Indigenous Peoples’ rights represents a critical step toward preventing harm, reducing conflict and ensuring that global standards respect Indigenous Peoples as rights and knowledge holders and custodians of biodiversity.^[6]

As per UNDRIP and the 2010 FAO policy on Indigenous Peoples, FAO remains committed to supporting the implementation of FPIC across projects, processes and discussions affecting Indigenous Peoples’ lives. FPIC was made compulsory within FAO in 2015 when the PSUI amended the FAO project cycle, the Programme Review Committee and FAO’s Environmental and Social Standards (ESS8), which inform FAO’s global portfolio of projects.^[7]

Preparation of the HLPE-FSN report on Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices

Thanks to joint work by the Global-Hub and the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems,^[8] and the leadership of seven FAO Members, together with the UNPFII and Indigenous leaders, the CFS made a significant achievement at its 51^st plenary session in 2023. Adopting its four-year Programme of Work (MYPoW 2024–2027),^[9] it included a proposal on Indigenous Peoples food systems, and a request to the HLPE-FSN to prepare a report on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems”.

This HLPE-FSN report will be presented at the 54^th CFS plenary session in October 2026. This is a critical opportunity for Indigenous Peoples, following their repeated requests to have FAO Members discuss Indigenous Peoples’ issues in plenary sessions. Additionally, in 2027, the CFS will, for the first time, host a dedicated stream of policy discussions on Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems. FAO Members, academia, Indigenous Peoples, the private sector, the UN and civil society will be able to make comments and share their views. This, too, is an important step forward, and it will be vital to ensure the full participation of Indigenous Peoples in these policy discussions affecting their lives.

The HOPE Room and the FAO Museum (MuNe)

A major milestone in 2025 was the inauguration of a new FAO Museum (MuNe) at FAO headquarters on World Food Day. Dedicated to food and agriculture, the Museum includes a HOPE Room at its heart. The HOPE Room was co-created over several months by the PSUI and an Advisory Group of Indigenous Peoples to ensure that Indigenous Peoples would have a space to tell their stories in their own terms and with their own voices. Elders from the Advisory Group named the space “HOPE”, symbolizing what Indigenous Peoples bring to contemporary food systems, biodiversity stewardship and collective futures.^[10]

The HOPE Room deliberately combines state-of-the-art digital technology with living cultural artefacts to showcase Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems as dynamic, innovative and adaptive.^[11] The exhibition is organized into seven stations – one for each Indigenous socio-cultural region – displaying objects, stories and video installations that reflect territorial relationships, food practices, spirituality and governance. The seven stations converge into a spiritual centre, called the spiritual heart of the HOPE Room, symbolizing the elements of unity for the millions of Indigenous Peoples in the world.

The HOPE Room was inaugurated by the Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Group together with Chief Deskaheh of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, who visited FAO for the first time and had a bilateral meeting with the FAO Director-General – 102 years after his predecessor was denied the right to speak at the League of Nations in Geneva.^[12] This was an historical moment for FAO on the occasion of its 80^th Anniversary.

The Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food and Knowledge Systems: thirteen ongoing drafting committees

As part of its efforts to promote Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems as essential for sustainable food systems transformation, in October 2025, FAO hosted the third in-person meeting of the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food and Knowledge Systems in Rome, convening some 150 participants from more than 50 organizations and 23 research institutions. The meeting advanced multiple collaborative research processes and resulted in four new drafting committees addressing emerging policy-relevant themes, including: Indigenous Peoples and social protection; carbon markets; conservation policies; and labelling and certification.^[13] This added to the nine other ongoing drafting committees of the Global-Hub, focusing on: Indigenous Peoples’ food security; ocean and freshwater-based food systems; impacts of ultra-processed foods; food composition; food systems of Indigenous hunter-gatherers; co-creation of knowledge and ethical research engagement with Indigenous Peoples; notions of poverty; importance of mobility, nomadism, transhumance and collective rights for biodiversity; and contributions to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and Indigenous Peoples’ biocentric restoration.

The Global-Hub works to compile evidence on the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems in order to support upcoming policy discussions at the CFS and other technical committees. It has been working on the institutional recognition of the uniqueness and importance of Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems within global food governance processes for several years. In 2025, the Global-Hub provided technical support and consolidated evidence to inform preparations for the first-ever HLPE-FSN report dedicated to Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems, to be released in 2026.

Collective rights, territories and governance of natural resources

In 2025, FAO continued to emphasize that Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights to their territories, lands, waters and resources are fundamental for the continuity of their food and knowledge systems and for biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. FAO’s work under this pillar has addressed collective rights not as abstract principles but as living territorial management and governance systems that sustain food security, cultural integrity and peace. FAO’s work has consistently reinforced the fact that the erosion of collective rights increases conflict risks while their recognition contributes to stability, environmental sustainability and social cohesion.

A key area of work in 2025 focused on Indigenous Peoples’ mobility, land use and territorial governance.^[14] FAO and the Global-Hub contributed to advancing evidence on the role of mobility, nomadism and transhumance in sustaining biodiversity and resilient food and knowledge systems. These perspectives challenge static and exclusionary land-use models and call for governance frameworks that recognize Indigenous Peoples’ territorial practices.^[15] This work is fundamental in relation to the 2026 UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.

FAO also strengthened its engagement on Indigenous Peoples’ stewardship of forests, fire-dependent ecosystems, and aquatic territories. In 2025, FAO advanced work on Indigenous Peoples’ fire management practices, highlighting their role in reducing wildfire risks, protecting biodiversity and sustaining food systems. These practices, rooted in collective governance and intergenerational knowledge, are increasingly recognized as relevant for climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction.^[16] FAO’s Fire Hub, which has more than 20 advisors from States and Indigenous Peoples, offers an avenue of work for approaching fire management in a multifaceted way.

Engagement in biodiversity governance and CBD processes: the Global Programme on Indigenous Peoples’ Biocentric Restoration

FAO’s engagement in biodiversity governance in 2025 was closely linked to its work on Indigenous Peoples’ rights. The Organization continued to actively participate in processes under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with a particular focus on Indigenous Peoples’ rights, FPIC and territorial governance.

Following the adoption of the new Programme of Work on Article 8(j) at the 16^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) in 2024, FAO participated in the resumed COP16.2 negotiations in 2025 and, later in the year, in the first meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Article 8(j) (SB8J). These processes marked an important institutional advancement in the recognition of Indigenous Peoples within the CBD architecture.

FAO further consolidated the Global Programme on Indigenous Peoples’ Biocentric Restoration in 2025, a venture that has been co-developed with Indigenous Peoples’ organizations since 2018. This places Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems, cosmogonies, and territorial governance at the centre of ecosystem restoration. As part of the UN Decade of Ecosystems Restoration, Indigenous Peoples’ biocentric restoration seeks to “recover the lost memory of the territories”, restoring living relationships between peoples, lands, waters and biodiversity.

Throughout 2025, the Programme was implemented in seven countries – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Ecuador and Peru – through partnerships with Indigenous Peoples’ organizations such as Centro CINDES, Coletivo Jupago Kreká, ONIC, Asociacion de Mujeres Cabecares de Kabata Konana, Ekta Parishad, and INBAR. In the specific case of Brazil, a tripartite agreement with the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) and its National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) enabled national scaling of the programme.

FAO has started to incorporate a new component on Indigenous Peoples’ fire management into the Indigenous Biocentric restoration programme.^[17]

This chapter was written by Pablo Innecken Zuñiga, Yon Fernandez de Larrinoa, Anne Brunel, Susana Gomez, FAO Indigenous Peoples’ Unit and Madeleine Taylor, FAO. Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This article is part of the 40^th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2026 in full here

Notes and references

^[1] FAO. “FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit (PSUI).” https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/who-we-are/indigenous-peoples-unit/en

^[2] UNPFII. “Report on the twenty-first session (25 April–6 May 2022).” https://docs.un.org/en/E/2022/43

^[3] FAO. “Advancing in pesticide management and Indigenous Peoples: Progress since COAG29.” 24 February 2025: https://www.fao.org/pest-and-pesticide-management/news/detail/en/c/1733850/

^[4] FAO. “Indigenous Peoples’ Questionnaire on Pesticides and the Right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) has been officially launched.” 18 June 2025. https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/news/detail/indigenous-peoples--questionnaire-on-pesticides-and-the-right-to-free--prior-and-informed-consent-(fpic)-has-been-officially-launched/en

^[5] FAO. Updating the FAO/WHO International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management. Doc.

COAG/2024/19, June 2024. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/409ca93f-d0db-408d-84cc-847d1392588e/content

^[6]  FAO. “Submission on the Implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in Business-Related Contexts.” https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/cfi-subm/free-prior-informed-consent/subm-indigenous-free-prior-un-enti-13-fao.pdf

^[7] FAO. “Free, prior and informed consent.” https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/pillars-of-work/free--prior-and-informed-consent/en

^[8] On the Coalition of Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems, see The Indigenous World 2024.

^[9] CFS. “Multi-Year Programme of Work (MYPoW) for the period 2024–2027.” https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/cfs/Docs2324/MYPoW_24-27/MYPoW_2024-2027_Rev.pdf

^[10] FAO. “We support HOPE.” 18 July 2025. https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/news/detail/we-support-hope/en

^[11] FAO. “HOPE - The Indigenous Peoples' Room at FAO MuNe.” https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/hope/en

^[12] FAO. “October 2025, a milestone for FAO's strategic alliance with Indigenous Peoples.” 5 November 2025. https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/news/detail/october-2025--a-milestone-for-fao-strategic-alliance-with-indigenous-peoples/en

^[13] FAO. “Third in-person meeting of the Global Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food and Knowledge Systems.” 11 November 2025. https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/fao-videos/detail/third-session-of-the-global-hub-on-indigenous-peoples'-food-and-knowledge-systems/en

^[14] FAO. “Mobility matters: The Global-Hub side-event at the 24th Session of the UNPFII.” 22 April 2025. https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/news/detail/mobility-matters/en

^[15] FAO. “Governance of natural resources and collective rights.” https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/pillars-of-work/governance-of-natural-resources-and-collective-rights/en

^[16] FAO. “Understanding Fire as a Necessary Tool: Indigenous Peoples’ Fire Management Practices for ecosystem stewardship and risk-reduction of mega wildfires.” 20 June 2025. https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/news/detail/understanding-fire-as-a-necessary-tool/en

^[17] FAO. “Restoring the Planet, Reviving Knowledge: The Indigenous Peoples’ Biocentric Restoration Global Programme.” 6 June 2025. https://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/news/detail/restoring-the-planet--reviving-knowledge-biocentric/en

Tags: Global governance