Another Giant Leap: Can the solutions for climate change help us fix poverty too?

The Conference of Parties (COP21) has just been recently concluded in Paris, France. The new text promises to further search for solutions to fight climate change that would definitely impact our impoverished fellows. The rise of industrial agricultural systems has brought high yield crops to feed the world but has also imparted significantly to global warming. Starting at 17:00 of the video produced by Aljazeera, Agroecology is being considered by our partners in Burkina Faso, as a sustainable solution in feeding the world without contributing to the rise of temperatures globally.

Celebrating seeds

This film is produced by MELCA, Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Development Fund Norway, African Biodiversity Network, the Gaia Foundation

Brazil launches the Agroecology Plan

Brazil launches the Agroecology Plan and Organic Production. It was announced by the President Dilma Rousseff the 17 October, during the Second National Conference on Sustainable Rural Development, in Brasilia. The Plan aims to coordinate policies and actions for an environmental-friendly agriculture and the organic food production, with an initial investment of 8.8 billion allocated to 125 initiatives all over the country.

This is the result of an intense dialogue between the government and civil society representatives gathered in the national committee that was established by presidential decree in 2012 in order to develop the Plan.

Just one day prior to the announcement, the Ministry of Agriculture, in Brasilia was occupied by the protest of the Brazilian farmers demanding “global action on food sovereignty” as part of World Food Day celebrations.
Although civil society proposals have not been fully included in the final version of the document, there is a general consensus on the fact that the Plan marks an historic moment, an important step foward in the direction of a more sustainable peasant agriculture, especially in a country such as Brazil where the agribusiness model still keeps on maintining a great influence on government policies, due to its economic importance.

Terre brûlée – voix de la nouvelle frontière de la colonisation

En Afrique, plus de 24 millions d’hectares de terre cultivable sont dans les mains de sociétés multinationales. Il s’agit d’un vrai danger pour la souveraineté alimentaire du continent. En Congo, la superficie de terres accaparées est de 500.000 hectares. Beaucoup des communautés rurales ont perdu leurs terrains.

« Avant les exploitations du pétrole, ici, nous n’avaient pas relevé d’anomalie “ ; « Nous avaient beaucoup de poissons et des légumes » « Mais, aujourd’hui la manioc est devenue rare », expliquent des petits producteurs congolaisesdans le documentaire «Terre brûlée – voix de la nouvelle frontière de la colonisation» produit par Terra Nuova dans le cadre de la campagne EuropAfrique.

Le vidéo, qui vise à mettre en évidence le problème de l’accaparement des terres, s’interroge sur quelles sont les conséquences et les impacts de ce phénomène en Congo au niveau du droit à l’alimentation. Surtout, ce documentaire veut mettre l’accent sur ce que la société civile et les organisations paysannes africaines sont en train d’essayer de faire pour l’éradiquer.

«Terre brûlée – voix de la nouvelle frontière de la colonisation» est realisé par Danilo Licciardello et Simone Ciani.

Terre brûlée – voix de la nouvelle frontière de la colonisation from EuropAfrica on Vimeo.

Videos from the workshopTime To Act for a Radical Change

ANA (Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia) has made available online videos of the interventions of several key speakers at the International workshop “Time to Act for Radical Changes” held in Rio de Janeiro, in June 2012, in connection with the Rio+20 Conference. We provide below links to a selection of the available videos; to see the full list, please click here
Pat Mooney – primeira fala from AGROECOLOGIA on Vimeo.