Members of the SIANI Expert Group on Wild Foods, Biodiversity and Livelihood held an introductory discussion last June 30 via Zoom video conferencing.

Madhu Ramnath, the main speaker, introduced wild foods as the centerpiece of the expert group’s initiatives. As a botanist and anthropologist, he has spent years studying first-hand the relation of wild foods with the knowledge, practices and health systems of indigenous peoples.

In his presentation, Ramnath discussed key challenges and issues revolving around wild foods. Ramnath also presented a few stories that he has gathered from the field that demonstrate the value of traditional knowledge in indigenous communities.

Dr. Ramon Razal then lead the collaborative discussion session and fielded questions from the participants. Ramnath and Razal are co-authors of the book Wild Tastes in Asia: Coming Home to the Forest for Food recently published by NTFP-EP.

This introductory discussion is the first of a four-part series on wild foods, biodiversity and livelihood which will run from June to September 2020. In these sessions, the expert group and its dialogue partners convene to level off on the definition of wild foods, beginning with a discussion on the context and pressing issues that surround wild foods today.

For this discusison, Ramnath and Razal were joined by the rest of the expert group members and dialogue partners from SIANI, SSNC, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Institute for Social Ecological Research, Last Forest Enterprises, Tenure Facility, ICCA Consortium, Southern Institute of Ecology, PASD Thailand, Cambodia Indigenous Women Working Group, the NTFP Exchange Programme and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

Click here to download the written summary of the presentation and discussion

Click here to watch the full recording of Madhu Ramnath’s presentation on wild foods