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Protecting our maíz civilizations: autonomy, reparations, and restorative justice Text of Strategy Brief  |   Protecting Maize Biocultural Diversity  |   17th Session UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)   La Morenita-La Mujer Grande, Xilonen, Santa Xilonen La Madre del Maiz Moderator's Note: We are pleased to share this strategy brief prepared for the  17th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)  in April 2018. The brief was the collaborative work product of dozens of meetings and gatherings over the past 5 years involving indigenous corn farmers, seed savers, and landrace progenitors. The Acequia Institute,  Asociación Andes,  Alianza Milpa, and allied indigenous maize farmers were involved in the preparation and presentation of the brief. There are three major strategic recommendations: (1) a UN fund for biosafety protection and in situ/in vivo conservation of maize landr...

Land race chimeras from Acequia Institute Seed Library. Crosses in 2015 included Hopi blue flint,  Zuni red flint,  and our local white flint Maíz de concho (Zea mays clibanus).  Photo by Devon G. Peña. Centers of Origin and Diversification of Maíz in the Río Arriba LINKING SOIL, SEED, AND FOOD  IN THE SURVIVAL OF HERITAGE CUISINES Moderator’s Note: This newly revised and edited essay was originally prepared by invitation of the editors, from a tip by Loretta Sandoval, as a contribution to the May 2016 special issue of The Green Fire Times on “Saving New Mexico’s Rare Seeds”. For the on-line version of the essay go to Deep Seeds and First Foods . For the full content of the special issue (Vol 8, No. 5), go to Green Fire Times . I wish to thank Seth Rothman and his colleagues at GFT for convening the authors of the special issue and the opportunity to educate food justice and slow food advocates in New Mexico about the acequia farmers of Colorado’s San Luis Valley a...