Key lessons from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ farming systems: insights from a global review

Indigenous and traditional farming systems, used and practised by the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), over millennia, offer viable, secure, and diverse solutions to many problems caused by the modern agricultural systems, such as soil and water pollution with excessive input of chemicals, water usage, and heavy dependence on a few crop varieties globally, leading to severe environmental consequences. We reviewed 49 studies from various regions, encompassing a range of geographic areas, from mountainous to arid agro-ecological systems, and highlight the diverse farming techniques applied by the IPLCs. The key attributes of IPLCs’ farming systems include their diverse, holistic, and intertwined nature of land, water and people, which integrates site-specific local knowledge, cultural values, rituals, and social festivals—offering multiple benefits for both human and ecosystem health. However, due to non-monetary nature of many such benefits, their true value largely remains underestimated or ignored. Only 24 out of 49 reviewed studies highlighted the economic value of these systems, which was limited to the monetary value of produce while omitting a significant non-monetary component. We suggest applying a TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) agri-food systems approach, accounting for natural, social, human, and produced capitals, to inform policy decision-makers so that IPLC farming systems are appropriately supported in the future. In addition, these systems are often grounded in community settings, with local governance and fine-scale local knowledge (as revealed in all studies), and they can deliver community-led initiatives, social cohesion, and effective local solutions to environmental problems, such as biodiversity loss and soil degradation. However, due to colonization, industrialization, agricultural expansion, and market pressures, these farming systems are facing serious challenges. This paper highlights the ecological, social and economic importance of IPLCs’ farming systems—suggesting the need for governments to revive, promote and support them to ensure food security, the health and nutritional well-being of people, and the health of natural systems for the present and future generations. Learning IPLC’ agroecological, socio-cultural, and sustainability principles can help update modern agricultural systems.