Participants arrive for 14th ISE congress

Forty-seven participants from 10 different countries have arrived Bhutan to participates in the Mountain Communities Initiatives of the International Society of Ethnobiology Congress.

The idea of the Mountain Communities Initiatives was borne during the last ISE Congress in Montpellier, France— to create an opportunity for exchange among indigenous mountain communities about the defense of traditional food and agriculture systems in a context of climate change and other ecological and socio-political pressures.

The Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environment under the Department of Forests and Park Services (Ministry of Agriculture and Forests), in partnership with the International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE), is hosting the 14th ISE Congress in Lamai Gompa, Bumthang, Bhutan.

All the participants for the Mountain Communities Initiatives will be hosted by the indigenous Monpa communities of Jangbee, Trongsa and Ura, Bumthang. During their stay with those communities, they will have an informal exchange of experiences, culture, knowledge, wisdom and food.

Some of the central themes for this program are:

• the different challenges (climatic and otherwise) communities face to the integrity of their food systems and the ways in which they may respond, collectively and collaboratively;
• the cultural and political dimensions of these food systems and the role they play in shaping community organization; and
• the feasibility of organising international community-to-community seed exchanges

During the Congress session the farmers participating in the Mountain Communities Initiatives will share their findings with the wider Congress audience.