LOCAL FOODS COOPERATION

We’re so excited to join our friends and fellow cooperators at the conference tomorrow. Learn more about how the Cooperative Maine Business Alliance brings us together.

April 7, 2026 by Rebecca Harvey, executive editor of Co-op News. Original.

As part of a movement with a long collective legacy, co-operatives have accumulated a cultural heritage that tells the story of how co-operation has contributed to sustainable livelihoods, community resilience, social justice, and cultural identity. In 2025, as part of the International Year of Cooperatives, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) began work to establish the ICA Cooperative Cultural Heritage List and platform, which celebrates places and traditions that embody the legacy, idea and practice of co-operation.

Cooperative Cultural Heritage (CCH) encompasses both tangible elements (such as sites, institutions, museums and legacy enterprises) and intangible traditions (including elements of local practice and traditions that safeguard co-operative values, practices, and governance systems). The CCH initiative aims to systematically identify, document, and safeguard these elements, and last year, launched culturalheritage.coop to curate and share this knowledge. 

This year, the CCH working group appointed Thiago Schmidt, chair of Brazilian co-operative financial institution Sicredi Pioneira, as its new chair for the 2026-2027 term, emphasising the need to consolidate achievements while expanding global outreach. “The aim is to evolve the initiative into a permanent ICA programme, supported by a multi-annual work plan and strengthened policy advocacy at national and international levels,” he said. 

The initiative builds on the inscription of the idea and practice of organising shared interests into co-operatives in the intangible cultural heritage list of Unesco in 2016.

“The co-operative idea is part of the cultural heritage of humanity,” says Santosh Kumar, the ICA director of legislation who is coordinating the CCH global secretariat with India, Brazil and the ICA global office.

Kumar adds that while it is important to celebrate the scale and achievements of the world’s largest co-op businesses, there is also a need to acknowledge the movement’s origins. 

Related: Co-ops and cultural heritage: Mondiacult 2022

“The largest co-ops we celebrate today were once ideas born in fields, on kitchen tables, in pubs, in common spaces where folk gathered and dared to dream and then deliver on those dreams. The Erasmus University of Rotterdam has started teaching the history of co-operatives, because tomorrow’s business leaders need to know that everything is possible, so long as the stakeholders collaborate and co-operate.”

The wealth of co-operatives isn’t just measured in economic might, Kumar believes, but also in “the value co-ops bring to their communities – and beyond, through national and international co-operation”.

Recognition of the intangible side… continue reading.

To find out more, explore the CCH map and submit a nomination, visit culturalheritage.coop

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2026 Wild & Scenic Film Festival
Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust invites you to the 9th annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival on Tour at Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta, Maine!

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival inspires environmental activism and a love for nature–through film. Wild & Scenic shares an urgent call to action, encouraging its audiences to learn more about what they can do to save our threatened planet. The films focus on environmental topics: the beauty and awe of the natural world, wilderness, adventure, wildlife, and the people advocating for our planet all over the world. Purchase tickets here.