Research project
The Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON): Understanding and responding to complex climate-health emergencies
- Start date: 1 April 2025
- End date: 31 March 2028
- Value: £454,093.36
- Partners and collaborators: University of Warwick, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
- Primary investigator: Professor James D. Ford
- External co-investigators: Carol Zavaleta-Cortijo, Keith Hyams, Joana Bezerra
- Postgraduate students: Ingrid Arotoma-Rojas
Our overarching goal is to document, understand, and monitor the factors affecting the creation, evolution, and impact of CCHEs among Indigenous communities in the global South, examining the interaction between climatic and non-climatic stresses, and co-generating knowledge and capacity to build resilience in health and food systems and support pilot interventions.
We will work with the Observatories we have established in the global South, working in 6 countries, and partnering with 12 Indigenous groups living in 30 communities: Asháninka and Shawi (Peru); Batwa (Uganda); Coastal-Vedda (Sri Lanka); Mapuche (Argentina); Yukarés and Tacana (Bolivia) and Paniya, Kattunayakan and Kurichiya (India).
While focusing on CCHEs in their broadest sense and thus covering a diversity of health risks specific to each location, across the study regions an in-depth focus will be directed to the intersection between climate-related hazards (e.g. wildfires, flooding, storms, drought) and food and nutrition sovereignty and security.
These regions are experiencing wide-ranging food system shifts due to social, economic, and political transitions rooted in colonization and globalization, which are exacerbated by climate and environmental change. In all regions, the acts of harvesting, preparing, sharing, and consuming traditional foods are foundational to cultural values.
Impact
Our theory of change focuses on co-generating knowledge and strengthening capacity to inform policy development and support interventions to build resilience and reduce vulnerability to complex climate-health emergences (CCHEs), creating networks that promote Indigenous issues as priorities for action.
To support this goal, we will work with 3 types of partners. Core partners have informed proposal development and will be involved across the study to ensure that the work is rooted in Indigenous knowledge and respects social norms, cultures, and decision-making processes. Core partners include the community and policy observers, and listed team members, and will be supported to act as agents of change through capacity strengthening activities; project outputs will be targeted to assist with their decision-making; and in-country researchers will work with core partners to develop pilot interventions and support community and regional leadership on health and food system planning. Strategic partners capture government ministries, health facilities, and Indigenous NGOs where we seek to raise the profile of Indigenous health and food systems preparedness for climate change emergencies, build networks for cross-sectoral dialogue, and communicate good practices and policy insights. Supporting partners will help mobilize insights to inform national and global policy processes around preparing and responding to climate risks on indigenous health and food security, examining scalable insights.
Output: outreach activities to deliver impact. FAO and PAHO will support in-country dialogues to involve policy stakeholders from across sectors to elevate discussion on national policies for emergency preparedness.FAO, PAHO and WHO will provide support to develop a mentorship program with a focus on early career scientists that self-identify as Indigenous. Our commitment to working with different partners and disseminating the results in multiple formats is another facet of our engaged approach.