The UN Food and Agriculture Organization authorized the establishment of the Committee on World Food Security which in turn asked it High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to undertake a year-long study on climate change and food security. The Panel will seek to identify effective food security strategies to reduce the adverse affects of climate change on the availability of food and nutrition among the most vulnerable regions and populations. The Center for World Indigenous Studies makes several recommendations for the focus of this High Level Panel of Experts study on food security...
"The only way to protect and preserve wild plants and animals is to leave them in the care of indigenous communities that have cultures directly connected to the continuity of those things," (quoting Rudolph Ryser) This approach ensures biodiversity while maximizing effective strategies for responding to the adverse effects of climate change. Implementing this approach ...
Current Research
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July 01, 2011
CWIS Food Security, FAO and the UNNWP
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January 01, 2007
Oolichan Crisis 2007
The Oolichan fish once flourished along the Pacific Northwest from Alaska to British Columbia and as far south as Northern California. Their disappearance from our coastal streams during the last fifteen years has become an important topic among First Nations in Canada.
After each winter the Oolichan fish were the first to come up river. -
January 01, 2007
The Taiwan Democracy Project (2007-2008)
Seeks to empower the constructive formation of democratic institutions for the Paiwan, Taroko and Tsao Taiwanese indigenous tribes by conducting a comparative participatory action study of the institutions of Taiwanese tribal self-government to support the employment of democratic values and institutions and the conduct of government-to-government relations with the Taiwan (R.O.C.) government as part of a new partnership. The comparison of Taiwanese tribes with Canadian tribes (involved in a similar self-government process) will provide a contrasting view of tribal self-government to illustrate the meaning of democratic institutions in a tribal context. -
January 01, 2004
The American Indian Elder Caregiver Health Study (2004-2007)
Designed to address health disparities of American Indians. Health disparities are "differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States." Funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine the study addresses the two often neglected areas of research in Indian Country: The increased health mortality and morbidity of people who care for elders, and the use of a culturally congruent traditional (indigenous) therapy as a treatment method.
» Click here to view or download the © Caregiver Study poster presented at the American Massage Therapy Association Research Conference (Sep. 2005) in pdf format. -
January 01, 2003
The Pacific Northwest Oolichan Oil Project
An ongoing CWIS project in which the nutritional and cultural value of the Oolichan (herring fish) is explored. Oolichan oil has, for untold centuries, been one of the most valuable commodities of a vigorous northeastern Pacific coast trade.
Coming soon to our Media Center: The CWIS production of The Oolichan Grease Trail Documentary. Grease Trails tells the little known story of the Oolichan fish and its relation to the Native people of the Northwest. All along the Northwest Coast of America, Native tribes developed their diverse traditions around the harvesting, processing and distribution of this small but important fish. For thousands of years, the Oolichan was central to the culture of Northwest Coastal tribes. Grease Trails brings the audience on a journey into an older world, crowded with spirits and supernatural beings like Txamsen, the giant, Natmuqcin, and the Transformers, Xexa:ls and into the lives of the descendants ... -
January 01, 2003
The Fourth World Atlas Project
An continuing research effort coordinated by Dr. Richard A. Griggs. The project focuses on the documentation of the social, economic, political and territorial characteristics of the worlds surviving original nations. In cooperation with researchers in the Department of Geography at the University of California - Berkeley and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Queensland, and contributors of individual nations, CWIS is building a detailed database and maps depicting Fourth World Nations.
» Click here to be directed to the FWAP site to receive more information and/or purchase one of our Fourth World Maps.