Enhancing Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Community Health Through the Karuk Agroecosystem Resilience Initiative: We Are Caring for It: xúus nu’éethti

Abstract

Indigenous communities in the United States experience some of the highest rates of food insecurity and diet-related diseases despite an abundance of food assistance programs and other public health interventions. New approaches that center Indigenous perspectives and solutions are emerging and urgently needed to better understand and address these challenges. This Practice Note shares lessons learned from ongoing collaboration between the Karuk Tribe and University of California, Berkeley researchers and other partners to assess and enhance food sovereignty among Tribes and Tribal communities in the Klamath River Basin. Through two participatory research and extension projects, we demonstrate the importance of centering Indigenous knowledge to strengthen research findings and identify more culturally appropriate solutions to community identified food access, health, and ecosystem challenges. Key findings suggest that approaches to food sovereignty and community health must emanate from the community, be approached holistically, reflect community values and priorities, and center Indigenous land stewardship.

Food Systems, Food Sovereignty, and Health: Conference Shares Linkages to Support Indigenous Community Health

“…An Indigenous food sovereignty and health framework broadens the understanding of health to incorporate the health of the environment (Ka’ula et al, 2023; Maunakea et al, 2023; Sowerwine et al, 2023). Such an approach responds to conference participants’ calls for better approaches to the health disparities Indigenous communities’ face.…”

Food Sovereignty as a Path to Health Equity for Indigenous Communities: Introduction to the Focus Issue

“…The initiative is developing a conference style gathering on the topics of traditional foods, food sovereignty, diet, and health with presenters from across Alaska. Sowerwine et al (2023) focus on the environmental aspects of food sovereignty. Conceptualized by The Karuk Tribe-University of California Berkeley Collaborative, The Karuk Agroecosystem Resilience Initiative: xúus nu'éethti-we are caring for it-sought to respond to community-identified environmental barriers to food sovereignty and cultural resource access, such as environmental degradation, declining health of ecosystems and availability of gathered, fished, and hunted foods, and climate change impacts from prolonged drought and shifting weather patterns.…”