By Lucas Guaraldo*
Support for family farmers and celebration of the sector’s importance in tackling the climate crisis were the highlights of the first day of the “International Forum on Family Farming and Traditional Communities” during COP30, November 13-17 in Belém. The event seeks to find ways to boost the sector and protect farmers from climate change and funding difficulties.
The forum was organized by IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), in partnership with the Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability and the Secretariat for Family Farming of the State of Pará. Partners included Hydro, Fetagri (Federation of Agricultural Workers), Fetraf (National Federation of Brazilian Family Farm Workers), CNS (National Council of Extractivist Populations), Adepará (Pará Agricultural Defense Agency), Emater (Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company) and Malungu.
“The COP of truth takes place here. Family farming has the solution for the planet’s climate. This has to be clearly stated and highlighted. Family farming brings food, and that must always be said, but it also brings conservation, forest protection and water. While the whole world suffers from droughts, food shortages and difficulties in production and distribution, family farming has to be seen as the cradle of solutions to these problems,” celebrates André Guimarães, executive director of IPAM and Special Envoy of the COP30 Presidency for Civil Society.
Sustainable practices in the countryside, such as the implementation of agroforestry systems, extraction of forest products and production according to the natural flows of the forest, and recurring practices in family farming were pointed out as solutions for reconciling production and conservation on a large scale. These practices are also fundamental for climate adaptation in the countryside, creating landscapes that are more resilient to the extreme effects of climate change.
“There are 14 panels presenting initiatives from different countries and continents, led by family farmers and traditional communities. We want to show how small producers and collectives can contribute to the debate on climate transition, food production and food security in the Global South,” said Lucimar Souza, Director of Territorial Development at IPAM and one of the organizers of the event.
The forum’s opening panel also discussed the creation of support and financing systems that are capable of keeping the local population living in the forest and protecting ecosystem services while guaranteeing quality of life. For Paulo Teixeira, Brazil’s Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Farming, support for the Amazonian population cannot be seen as an agenda separate from conservation of the biome, pointing out that challenges in income distribution and social development are the roots of problems such as deforestation and mining.
“When we think about the environment, we have to think about the 30 million Brazilians who live in the Amazon. We can’t have a vision of preservation that doesn’t think about people’s development. This equation doesn’t work. If you only look after one side and not the other, deforestation becomes routine,” he explains.
For Cássio Pereira, Pará’s Secretary for Family Farming, the social element of the fight against deforestation and the protection of family farming are essential and must go hand in hand.
“We are capable of leading the Amazon and the planet in the right direction. We know the difficulties, but it’s these family farmers who produce food for Brazil. It’s the quilombolas, the communities that protect the forest. These are the actors, the essential social element, for us to talk about how to keep the forest standing and generate wealth,” she said
Violence in the countryside was also raised by the participants as one of the causes of land abandonment. With the growth of environmental crimes in the Amazon, small landowners and traditional communities suffer from threats and land grabbing, which creates risks for residents and prevents the protection of native vegetation.
“You can’t keep the forest standing with the people who live in it lying down. We have the challenge of holding our COP and making the world aware of the reality of the countryside, the difficulty of getting funding and dealing with climate change,” said Francisco Carvalho, coordinator of Fetraf in Pará.
IPAM journalist, lucas.itaborahy@ipam.org.br*