Slow Food
Indigenous Peoples' Asia Pacific Network

This platform hopes to enable Indigenous Peoples in the Asia Pacific to

• Become aware of the existence of this network and the activities and initiatives of the people who gather here.
• Become aware of the traditional food culture of their own communities and the importance of preserving and passing on the richness of this culture.
• Find hints for tasty and fun ideas and friends to work together to solve the problems of each community through food.

One of the main objectives of this event is to learn about the diversity and similarity of the situations we face by learning about the situations and efforts of other countries and regions, and to let people know that none of us is alone.

Why don’t you join our network and learn, support, and collaborate with Indigenous Peoples from all over the Asia Pacific, putting food as the center?
If you have any questions, such as “I would like to do something similar in my area, so I would like to hear more about it,” or “I have something I would like to do, but I don’t know where to start,” please feel free to contact us. We are always happy to help.

If you are not an Indigenous person but would like to get involved and collaborate with Indigenous Peoples’ activities and initiatives as allies, we would like to express our gratitude to you and sincerely ask you to deeply understand the situations and challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples, listen to their words, and respect their sovereignty.
We are deeply grateful for your understanding.

　The Slow Food Indigenous Peoples Network is a global network of Indigenous communities, partners, and organizations. It was established as one of many Slow Food networks with the goals of "bringing the voices of Indigenous Peoples defending biodiversity to the wider world," elevating Indigenous perspectives in discussions about food and culture, formalizing Indigenous involvement in the movement and its initiatives, and building regional and international networks.

"To protect biodiversity is to protect cultural diversity" is our guiding principle at Slow Food. We think that Indigenous Peoples' Rights to manage our own lands, cultivate our own food, raise livestock, hunt, fish, and gather based on our own needs and decisions are critical to preserving our livelihoods and the richness of our native animal and plant species.

Among the Slow Food networks, the Indigenous Peoples' Network is especially important in terms of biodiversity protection. Rich biological diversity is claimed to have been preserved by the Indigenous Peoples' "way of living in harmony with nature, with an awareness of not exhausting nature's blessings, and of passing on resources to the next generation and grandchildren." However, globalization and modernization have had an impact on our way of life, making it impossible to maintain natural habitats. The monoculture, deforestation, resort and city development promoted by governments and multinational businesses is rapidly eroding the natural environment that we have so meticulously cultivated and protected. Additionally, this is impacting biodiversity and accelerating climate change. Thus, defending Indigenous Peoples' food and livelihoods is directly tied to biodiversity conservation.