Videos
People and Plants produces videos on a wide range of topics, and for a variety of purposes, including:
Bringing The Voices of Local Groups Into Policy-Making
Conserving Endangered Traditional Food Systems
Technical Information and Policy Advice
Participatory Video and Grassroots Exchange
People and Plants International has created a YouTube Channel to share the videos produced through our different programs. From recipe videos to basket making, and case studies exploring the environmental, social, and political dimensions of traditional management systems, our YouTube Channel will continue to grow and showcase PPI's video work, produced in collaboration with local organizations and media teams from around the world.
Click here to explore and share the channel.
Ethical video and filmmaking
People and Plants and Voices for BioJustice develop and follow Video Ethics Guidelines as part of our broader work on ethics in research, project design and implementation. Video Ethics Guidelines include steps necessary to receive prior informed consent, acknowledgement of participants, use of material, and other aspects of ethical video production.
Recipes from the Interweave of People and Place
In 2022, People and Plants International, through the Traditional Foodways Program, produced a recipe video series that documents and celebrates delicious and healthy traditional cuisines interwoven with the forests and environments from which they grow. The series provides a glimpse into the layers of knowledge that go into a recipe – the wisdom of generations and innovations of individual cooks, farmers, hunters, and gatherers. We also explore the traditional management systems that produce these nutritious, diverse, and seasonal foods and ingredients, as well as the threats to these environments and cultural practices.
We invite you to watch the overview video presenting the series, and the collection of recipe videos featuring dishes from The Philippines, Ecuador, Cameroon, Mexico and Indonesia. Learn more.
Bringing The Voices of Local Groups Into Policy-Making
People and Plants collaborates with the University of Cape Town and others on the Voices for BioJustice Program. As part of this program, we produce simple, catchy videos that bring local groups’ views and experiences to policy makers. We also train local collaborators in filmmaking techniques, and coordinate a global network.
In a series of videos we explore issues of ABS and Scope in more depth with a range of individuals. We invite you to watch the Voices for BioJustice ABS and Scope videos here.
Conserving Endangered Traditional Food Systems
People and Plants also collaborates with partners around the world to produce videos on Traditional Foodways that illustrate the links between cultural and biological diversity, and share the extraordinary traditions and practices of indigenous peoples and local communities, and our work to conserve and support these endangered food systems.
Tortillas: from the corn to the table.
Cesilia Xillohuo. Tequila, Veracruz, Mexico.
The Milpa system: contribution from Mesoamérica to the world.
Xavier Martínez Esponda - CEMDA, AC. Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
Milpa in a changing world.
Arcelia Apale Palacios. Tequila, Veracruz, Mexico.
The importance of Milpa in the Nahua region of the Sierra de Zongolica.
Fortunata Panzo Panzo. Duraznotla, Veracruz, Mexico.
Profiting from honey bees on Danau Sentarum National Park, Indonesia
Makanan Dari Hutan-Festival Makanan Tradisional, Indonesia
Tengkawang oil production in Kalimantan, Indonesia
TRADITIONAL MEZCAL PRODUCTION
People and Plants, through the Traditional Foodways and Voices for BioJustice programs, has produced a series of videos documenting the environmental, social, and political dimensions of Mezcal production and commercialization in Mexico. To watch a short overview video that explores these issues, and a series of interviews with community members, producers, researchers, and others, please click here.
Oliverio Perez Facio, harvesting a specimen of wild ‘maguey alto’ (Agave Inaequidens). Morelia, Michoacán. (Photo: Gabriela Alvarez)
Technical Information and Policy Advice
Policy Videos provide information and guidance on complex and technical policy topics, including advances in science and technology, and relationships between conservation and the commercial use of biodiversity.
Forest Management Videos provide demonstrations of practical scientific or management techniques, or case studies on management practices.
Making a dendrometer band for community forest inventories using locally sourced materials (2005). Dendrometer bands are a useful tool for measuring tree growth rates. This short instructional video shows how to make a dendrometer band using locally available, cheap materials, as an alternative to commercially-made bands which are both expensive and out of the reach of most Mexican farmers
El cuidado de los árboles maderables en la Sierra de Zongolica (Management of timber forest resources in Sierra de Zongolica), Mexico (2013). This video is aimed at farmers from the higher elevation forests of the Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico, who for a number of years have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to cultivate and manage trees for timber within their agricultural plots. Available in Nahuatl and Spanish, the video covers general and technical aspects relating to managing timber trees effectively in order to produce high-grade timber for local use and sale.
La importancia de los montes y plantaciones forestales en la Sierra de Zongolica (The importance of forests and family-owned timber plantations in the Sierra de Zongolica), Veracruz, Mexico (2013). Filmed and edited by indigenous graduates this DVD captures some of the experiences of small holders managing their forest resources in the lower and higher elevation forests, offering general and technical advice.
Participatory Video and Grassroots Exchange
A number of videos are produced with indigenous people, farmers, community-based organizations, indigenous universities, and others, facilitating the exchange of ideas, or addressing issues relating to local forest management, conservation, and cultural diversity.
Ixtlamachilistli tlen masewaltlatokallistli Duraznotla, Tehuipango, Sierra de Zongolica (2013). Filmed and edited by Fortunata Panzo, a Nahua graduate from the indigenous university UVI, this video provides an inside portrait of the traditional knowledge of the Nahua from the Sierra de Zongolica. It is part of a social revitalization process that seeks to strengthen local agroforest-based food and production systems for social and environmental well-being.
Cafetales bajo sombra (Shade-grown coffee agroforestry), Pahuatlán, Puebla (2012). This video was made by students from the Secondary School of Xolotl in the community of Xolotla (Pahuatlán, Puebla). It documents and reflects on the social, cultural, economic, and ecological importance of shade-grown coffee forest groves (cafetales).
Conociendo el Territorio (Knowing the territory), Sierra Norte de Puebla (2015). This video shows the journey made by the students of the Xolotl High School when recognizing and revalidating their territory, in which they learned about the natural resources and traditional knowledge of their Naguas communities, settled in the Sierra Norte de Puebla.
Exchange between Nahua students and farmers from Puebla and Veracruz. In August 2012, students from Xolotl high school in the community of Xolotla in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, visited Zincalco, a community in the Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz. The two Nahua groups produce shade-grown coffee, and they exchanged stories and information about traditions that surround its cultivation, including music and dances.
IKI Colands Kapuas Hulu Indonesia
Addressing Challenges through Landscape Approaches in Kapuas Hulu. This video is about activities related to NTFP development facilitation, including forest honey (Apis dorsata) and tengkawang or illipe nuts (Shorea sp.) in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.
ARCHIVE
Between 1992 and 2004, and as part of its partnership with UNESCO, WWF-UK and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, People and Plants produced seven videos demonstrating different aspects of practical methodologies in applied ethnoecology:
People, Gorillas and Forests: Ethnobotanical Methods and Multiple-use Management in Uganda. A.B. Cunningham (1997); VHS video, 27 minutes.
Saving the Wooden Rhino: Ethnobotanical Methods and Kenya’s Woodcarving Industry. A.B. Cunningham (2001); VHS video, 25 minutes.
Carvers, Conservation and Consumers. A.B. Cunningham (2001); VHS video, 11 minutes.
Carving a Future: 10 Lessons for Sustainable Woodcarving Enterprises. Camera, script and direction: Tony Cunningham; Editing: Gary Burke, Production Function; Music: Mpingi Drummers; Narration: Michael Loney, 2001, VHS video, 24 minutes.
Medicinal Plants in the Hidden Land of Dolpo: Working with Himalayan Healers at Shey Phoksundo National Park. Camera, script and direction: Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas (2001); VHS video, 26 minutes.
People and Plants in Practice. Scripted and edited: Tony Cunningham; Filmed: Tony Cunningham, Yildiz Aumeeruddy and Gary Martin, 2001, VHS video, 25 minutes.
Tree Skin: Methods for Studying People's Use of Bark. Camera, script and direction: Tony Cunningham; Editing: Nic Zimmermann & Pippa Hetherington, 2003, VHS Video, 26 minutes.