Indigenous food experts from the Pacific gather in Whangārei

Eight Northlanders are among a group of Pacific people discussing ways of protecting indigenous food sources and passing that knowledge to youth.

A powhiri was held in Whangārei yesterday for 51 indigenous people from Northland, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji, Hawaii, Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Micronesia, Kiribati and Australia.

A five-day Pacific regional workshop at the Kura Te Kapehu Whetu on Herekino St is being held by the Montreal-based Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) in partnership with He Puna Marama Trust and Te Kopu.

John Scott, of SCBD, said the purpose of the workshop was to build upon and promote traditional knowledge on how to save plants and animals as important food sources.

 “We are losing natural resources through a number of ways including climate change which means humanity is increasingly reliant on a few plants and animals to feed them.

“One of the messages coming through from the participants is that we should be looking at traditional diet which is much more diverse,” Scott said.

Source and More Info: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=12055705

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