People | Cultural Diversity

Investing in local products and bringing this diversity back into our diets is one of the most important challenges that we have today.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. 2018 (1)

Source: https://www.quora.com/What-is-cultural-revitalization

Introduction to the problem and scale

• Cultural diversity is indispensable for poverty reduction and the achievement of sustainable development.
• Biodiversity and cultural diversity are linked, as both support our life and well-being and nurture our beliefs.
• Culture and food diversity are established over generations and grounded in what can be grown, reared, or caught. They are linked to food production, diet, cooking traditions and how and when we eat food.
• As urbanisation increases, so more people are shifting away from traditional diets rich in vegetables, whole grains and other plant-based foods towards a more homogenised – or western diet
• The Western diet, which is characterised by highly processed foods, added sugars, fats and animal-based foods, competes directly with traditional diets around the world. This ‘nutrition transition’ is spreading globally to many low and middle-income countries and bears heavily on our health (2)
• “The scale of rural transformation in recent decades has been unprecedented: millions of people have abandoned their ancestral lands and migrated to urban areas, often impoverishing cultural identity, abandoning traditional knowledge, and permanently altering landscapes.” (3)
• Locally diverse food production systems are under threat and, with them, the accompanying local knowledge, culture and skills of the food producers. (4)

Link to intensive animal farming

• The intensive production of animals for food is a cornerstone of the Western diet and agricultural system that have spread globally and impacted the consumption of traditional diets.
• As a result of industrial farming and the increased uptake of a western diet, we have lost our connection to the cultural diversity of food and the local knowledge that it entails. Food is now seen as just a commodity. (5)
• Currently, 75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species. (6)
• Of 7,745 local breeds of livestock, 26% are classified at risk of extinction. (7)
• Of the 6,000 plant species that have been cultivated for food, nine account for 66% of total crop production. (8)
• Rice, maize, and wheat contribute nearly 60% of the calories and proteins obtained by humans from plants. (9)
• “A wide range of genetic variation is needed for crop breeding to help species adapt to changing environmental conditions, including new pests and diseases”. (10)
• “Overreliance on too few varieties and species is leaving the food system unnecessarily exposed to shocks and stresses” Biodiversity International (11)
• A third of the worlds’ land surface is used for agriculture and livestock. The growing intensification of food production “has disturbed cultural landscapes, sustained over thousands of years”. (12)