The process of collaboratively planning and producing videos can bring people together to record and celebrate cultural food practices, strengthen traditional knowledge of the environment, and build strategies for a sustainable and resilient future. This article describes three recent examples of participatory video projects that aimed to stimulate food sovereignty - from Meghalaya (India), Gamo Highlands (Ethiopia) and Chiang Mai (Thailand).
A short film of voices from India, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia, giving their answers to the question 'What is your vision of a sustainable world?'
Fifty members of the Khasi village in Nongtraw, Meghalaya, North West India, made a video with the support of InsightShare and KSO, a local indigenous organizationas part of the project for the Indigenous Partnership for Food Sovereignty and Agrobiodiversity. The video was presented at the Terra Madre meeting in Sweden (June 17th-19th 2011) by the commuity members themselves.
'Lives of the Forest' was created by indigenous activists from across the Asia Pacific region exploring the likely impacts of the UN's REDD programme on indigenous resources and lifestyles. It was created during a participatory video facilitator training in Ifugao (Philippines) by representatives of 15 distinct indigenous communities from 8 different countries.
In this article Stephen Hancock gives an extensive and inspiring description of the PV process, drawing from his personal experiences, working alongside Nick Lunch on a PV project in India. Through his detailed description of the whole process, it becomes clear how the PV method helped them to facilitate a genuine and participative communication loop by providing the local illitarate farmers and nomads with a tool to express their concerns related to environmental change and bringing them their face to face with scientists and NGO staff.
This European Commission funded project aimed to identify the key research requirements for natural resource management to support existing policies for sustainable integrated mountain development in the Karakoram-Hindu Kush-Himalayan (KHKH) region.
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