Indicators of food security
Available data show that Indigenous Peoples continue to be disproportionately represented amongst the world's food insecure and hungry populations. At the same time, the lack of disaggregated data on Indigenous Peoples worldwide remains a serious challenge for assessing their food insecurity and malnutrition.
One method that can help to fill the gap of information on Indigenous Peoples’ food security is the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). This method consists of eight questions that can be tailored to each Indigenous Peoples’ community. It is a user-friendly tool that allows Indigenous Peoples’ leaders to assess the state of food insecurity in their communities. Furthermore, it provides countries with actionable and disaggregated data that can be used for better policy designs. PSUI are working with FAO technical divisions to support the further rollout of FIES across key locations.
Food security is not only related to the quantity of food available in a given period, but also relates to questions of quality, food access, safety, environment, and cultural appropriateness. This is particularly true for Indigenous Peoples. Interventions to assess and address their food insecurity must consider these more holistic notions of food insecurity and their underlying drivers, which include lack of secure access to lands, territories, and natural resources.