On the occasion of the “21st Inuit Studies Conference“, hosted by the Université du Québec à Montréal from the 3rd to 6th of October 2019, the Italian Cultural Institute is pleased to present, as part of the section “Food 4“, the conference by Valentina De Gregorio, “The Inuit: from the challenges of climate change to the resilience of an indigenous food system“. The “Inuit Studies Conference (ISC)” is an international and multidisciplinary event, which attracts scholars from all over the world. The ISC is at the same time the most renowned academic event dedicated to the people and the Inuit territories, also enriched by a program of cultural and artistic events aimed at non-specialist audiences.
Sunday, October 6th 2019, 2.15pm
Université du Québec à Montreal
Sherbrooke Pavillon
200 rue Sherbrooke West, Montreal
Conference in English
Temperature rise is severely threating the survival of indigenous populations. This is true all over the world, especially in the Arctic region. There, the high increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas emissions combined with the rise of sea levels are not part of a relatively recent story, but rather phenomena steadily caused by man’s overexploitation of natural resources, including oil and gas extraction projects, commercial fishing activities as well as the systematic deforestation of large parts of the Great Northern Forest by the paper industry. What previously was part of Earth’s elements, over the years has become a commodity, with devastating effects on those pristine territories which Arctic indigenous people, particularly Inuit, had lived in and had carefully nurtured. Food insecurity, contaminations and loss of livelihood are concrete risks faced by Inuit native communities in their daily life. Someone takes refuge in urban settlements within their country, thus leaving huge rural territories in the hands of local and global myopic policies. Someone else decides to stay, making climate-resilient solutions a reality. By exploring the current situation of the race for the Arctic, in terms of available resources and geopolitical sphere of influence, Valentina will focus on the impacts Arctic climate conditions have on the survival of indigenous Inuit people, contributing towards shedding light on the role indigenous traditional food system have in offering new, alternative and efficient solutions to poverty and misery in Arctic and Sub-Arctic rural areas.
Valentina De Gregorio, after a French and Italian Law Bachelor’s Degree, joined the Master of Research in Food, Law and Finance of the International University College (Turin), while contributing to the researching activities of the Milan Center for Food Law and Policy on exploitation of migrant labor in Italian and European agriculture. The connection between food and human rights led her to cooperate with the Civil Society Mechanism for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security within the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, Rome), exploring the root causes and consequences of rural-urban displacement worldwide, including the Arctic region. In 2018, Slow Food International welcomed her. Since then, she has been taking care of projects and initiatives aimed at promoting interaction between human diversities through good, fair and clean food. Her relevant publications incude the following: G. Parola, M.P. “Inclusion, Coexistence and Resilience: Key Lessons Learned from Indigenous Law and Methodology”. Foreword by Paulo de Bessa Antunes, Rio de Janeiro 2019; T. Ferrando, V. De Gregorio, S. Lorenzini e L. Mahillon, “The Right to Food in Italy Between Present and Future (August 2018)”.