CONSERVATION AUTOCHTONE DES SEMENCES : UNE PRATIQUE DE L’ALIMENTATION CULTURELLE ET DE L’ADAPTATION AUX CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES

The document examines how Indigenous seed keepers in Canada adapt ancestral and new seed varieties to changing climatic conditions to ensure food sovereignty. It highlights that these efforts are severely hindered by the legacy of colonialism—including land dispossession and the disruption of intergenerational knowledge transfer—and by a lack of culturally appropriate, multi-year funding. The report further argues that Canadian federal climate and agricultural strategies, such as the National Adaptation Strategy and the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy, largely erase Indigenous leadership and fail to recognize seed conservation as a critical climate action.

• Indigenous seed conservation is a vital tool for climate adaptation, allowing seed keepers to develop more resilient crops by selecting varieties that thrive in specific regional conditions affected by climate change.
• Climate change and colonialism act as dual pressures that threaten Indigenous food sovereignty; climate factors disrupt growing seasons and cultural knowledge of planting cycles, while colonialism has historically caused land dispossession and the criminalization of food practices.
• There is an urgent need to revitalize the transmission of seed knowledge, as colonization interrupted this process, leaving a small number of 'seed knowledge holders' or 'seed elders' to support a larger group of emerging seed keepers who lack necessary skills.
• Current government and philanthropic funding models are described as paternalistic and prescriptive, often favoring short-term, non-renewable grants that are incompatible with the multi-year nature of seed adaptation and the needs of non-profit Indigenous initiatives.
• Canadian federal policies, including the 2023 National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) and the 2020 National Biodiversity Strategy, largely ignore the importance of food crop seed biodiversity and the role of Indigenous leadership in seed adaptation.
• The Sustainable Agriculture Strategy (SAS) from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is criticized for lacking adequate Indigenous participation and for focusing on commercial yields and market-driven outcomes rather than cultural values.

APA

Canadian Climate Institute (2024). CONSERVATION AUTOCHTONE DES SEMENCES : UNE PRATIQUE DE L’ALIMENTATION CULTURELLE ET DE L’ADAPTATION AUX CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES. https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/souverainete-alimentaire-climatique-autochtone/

Chicago

Canadian Climate Institute. CONSERVATION AUTOCHTONE DES SEMENCES : UNE PRATIQUE DE L’ALIMENTATION CULTURELLE ET DE L’ADAPTATION AUX CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES. 2024. https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/souverainete-alimentaire-climatique-autochtone/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Canadian Climate Institute |title=CONSERVATION AUTOCHTONE DES SEMENCES : UNE PRATIQUE DE L’ALIMENTATION CULTURELLE ET DE L’ADAPTATION AUX CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES |date=17 June 2024 |url=https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/souverainete-alimentaire-climatique-autochtone/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canadianclimateinstitute2024conservation, author = {{Canadian Climate Institute}}, title = {{CONSERVATION AUTOCHTONE DES SEMENCES : UNE PRATIQUE DE L’ALIMENTATION CULTURELLE ET DE L’ADAPTATION AUX CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://institutclimatique.ca/publications/souverainete-alimentaire-climatique-autochtone/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }