Pathway to resilience: hands and hearts for peasant livelihoods and fair relations between humans and nature

Abstract

Peasants and rural communities are on the front lines of most climate catastrophes taking place nowadays worldwide; at the same time, we have been the ones taking care of our common planet over generations. This article begins with a brief overview of the current situation of land use in the world today and links it to climate issues. It then describes some of the solutions to climate threats being negotiated between national governments and the private sector. It then highlights solutions that communities are already implementing and concludes with the reasons why systemic change is needed in order to achieve agrarian and climate justice.

Keywords:

• Agrarian justice
• food systems
• livelihoods
• climate justice

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Analía Penchaszadeh and Lyda Fernanda Forero Torres for commenting on the very first version of this article, and Patrick Mulvany who provided helpful feedback to the latest version. I express my especial thanks to Alberto Alonso-Fradejas and Christina Schiavoni who accompanied and supported this peasant author through the process of putting together a paper for an academic journal.

Notes

1. LVC, “Nous sommes venus du Sud, du Nord, de l’Est et de l’Ouest.” December, 2015. https://viacampesina.org/fr/nous-sommes-venus-du-sud-du-nord-de-l-est-et-de-l-ouest/ (author’s translation).

2. The Climate Citizen’s Summit was part of the events organised by the Coalition Climate 21 (CC21) simultaneously to the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was taking place in Paris between 30 November and 11 December 2015. The CC21 was a broad coalition of civil society’s organisations.

3. LVC’s delegation was composed of peasants from the following places: Austria, Bangladesh, Basque Country, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Palestine, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK and Zimbabwe.

4. The Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite, which attacks the honey bees. The mite reproduces itself in a honey bee colony, generating diseases to the bees and weakening the hives. The Varroa comes originally from Asia, but can be found nowadays almost everywhere in the world. The treatments against the mites are very invasive to the bees as well.

5. McIntyre, B., H. Herren, J. Wakhungu, and R. Watson, Agriculture at a Crossroads: International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development Global Report. Washington, DC: IAASTD, 2009.

6. Zukunftsstiftung Landwirtschaft, Wege aus der Hungerkrise – Die Erkenntnisse des Weltagrarberichtes und seine Vorschläge für eine Landwirtschaft von morgen. December, 2013, 1 (author’s translation). http://www.weltagrarbericht.de/downloads/Wege_aus_der_Hungerkrise_2.4MB.pdf

7. etc group, “With Climate Chaos … Who Will Feed Us? The Industrial Food Chain/the Peasant Food Web”. September, 2013, 3–4. www.etcgroup.org/files/030913_ETC_WhoWillFeed_AnnotatedPoster_0.pdf

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. GRAIN, “Food and Climate Change: The Forgotten Link.” In GRAIN, Hobbling, Henk, ed., The Great Climate Robbery, 2016, 4–7.

11. Ibid., 12.

12. Ibid., 38.

13. LVC, “COP21: The Curtain Falls on a Masquerade.” December, 2015. https://viacampesina.org/en/cop21-the-curtain-falls-on-a-masquerade/.

14. Christian Adams from the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP) in Tramel, Salena, “Land and Ocean Grabs Not the Solution to Climate Change.” World Post, February 18, 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/salena-tramel/land-and-ocean-grabs-not-_b_9261814.html.

15. Carbon Trade Watch, Protecting Carbon to Destroy Forests: Land Enclosures and REDD+. April 2013, 22.

16. LVC, “Climate: Real Problem, False Solutions. No. 4: Climate-Smart Agriculture.” December, 2015. https://viacampesina.org/en/climate-real-problem-false-solutions-no-4-climate-smart-agriculture/.

17. The acronym REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries, and forest conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

18. Carbon Trade Watch, Protecting Carbon to Destroy Forests, 3.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid., 23.

21. LVC, “COP21.”

22. Ibid.

23. Zukunftstiftung Landwirtschaft, Wege aus der Hungerkrise, 1 (author’s translation).

24. Interview with Isabel Vilalba on 26 November 2014, in Oporto (free translation by the author).

25. It Takes Roots, “We are Mother Earth’s Red Line – Frontline Communities Lead the Climate Justice Fight beyond the Paris Agreement.” Oakland: April, 2016, 20.

26. Interview with Jean-Baptiste Chavannes on 22 November 2014 in Oporto. Mr Chavannes is leader of the Mouvement Paysan de Papaye in Haiti, which is a member organisation of LVC (free translation by the author).