PRESS RELEASE: Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA) and Slow Food meets in Vanuatu The community of Lelepa is hosting this week two very important and interrelated meetings pertaining to common issues within the Melanesian region. These meetings – the Melanesian Indigenous Land Defense Alliance (MILDA) Meeting and the Preparatory Meeting for the Melanesian Region toward the upcoming 2015 2nd Indigenous Terra Madre in Northeast India – has brought together knowledge and experiences from Solomon Islands, Bougainville, West Papua, Maluku, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu under the theme “Inseparable – The Land, Food, and People of Melanesia”. The four-day meeting commenced on Monday 10th March 2014 on the island of Lelepa and was officially opened by the Minister of Lands for the Republic of Vanuatu, Hon. Ralph Regenvanu, a founding member of MILDA who also presented on the new land laws on the first day. The meeting was organized with a view to strengthen ties through shared Melanesian values and discussions on ways to promote traditions and culture through agriculture, land and food practices. The first two days of the meeting have been dedicated to MILDA issues. The meeting heard presentations highlighting infringements on indigenous land rights as well as abuses to marine resources in the region and discussed progressive actions towards protecting these vital and life sustaining resources. MILDA, established in 2009, strives to bring indigenous Melanesians together for the purpose of organizing a response to the persistent pressure for registration and leasing of customary land. The last regional meeting of MILDA was in June 2010 in Mele Village. The second half of the meeting will be dedicated to preparations for the 2nd Indigenous Terra Madre to be held in Northeast India in 2015. The meeting will hear from several promoters and practitioners of the Slow Food movement in the region and make decisions on what the Melanesian people will showcase at the upcoming international meeting. Slow Food, an international movement founded in 1986, strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. The people of Lelepa are now hosting approximately 50 of the regions most outspoken proponents for the protection of indigenous knowledge and resources. Funding for this meeting was made possible with generous contributions from The Christensen Fund and Oxfam International.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 20:55:21 +0000
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