As mothers, carers, farmers/farm workers, land and human rights’ defenders, women do most of the work of feeding (starting with breastfeeding) and protecting families and communities, the soil and the environment. For doing this fundamental caring work of society, unwaged and low-waged, we are impoverished and denied basic rights, including to the land we work. Organising in self-help groups, women in Andhra Pradesh, India, are leading a massive community movement of natural farmers who regenerate…

This is one of three sessions today in which you will have the opportunity to hear directly from young people around the world about the challenges they face in regards to toxic contamination, climate change, access to land and the lack of effective leadership. In this session, we will hear from three young people who are involved in farming, climate activism and community action in Kenya and Uganda. 

Did you know that in some countries EU farmers are criminalised for using and exchanging their seeds? And that the EU is opening the doors to new GMOs? Did you know that a group of NGOs - including the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) - has launched a petition against this opening, and that farmers can bring their governments to court in case of violation of the current GMO regulation?

We will try to answer…

While agroecology has been much discussed at ORFC over the years, this event will take stock of the evolving impacts of the food price crisis on food security and build understanding of the root causes of global food insecurity. It will showcase innovative responses to the food price crisis that mitigate immediate impacts and kick-start longer-term transformation of food systems through agroecology. It will also build awareness of the opportunities to cut reliance on energy…

This is one of three sessions today in which you will have the opportunity to hear directly from young people around the world about the challenges they face in regards to toxic contamination, climate change, access to land and the lack of effective leadership. In this session, we will hear from a young farmer from an indigenous community in Kerala, India and from a teenager from Pakistan who is studying and teaching agroecology, health and…

The session will be composed of women leaders drawn from the PELUM Association network in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Eswatini (Swaziland). The speakers will share more about the challenges they face in their active involvement in agriculture and in leadership in various agriculture-related discourses. The aim of the session is to create awareness and to call for concerted and deliberate efforts to support women farmers and women leaders.

Farmland is a powerful object and an object of power. All who eat and breathe benefit from land to produce food, to maintain living ecosystems, to store carbon. Yet increasingly few people own and control farmland. What are we doing to ensure land serves more than private interests? How can we build concerted efforts to preserve and care for it? In this session, we will present initiatives that take collective responsibility for farmland and that…

Slash and burn is a real issue in the tropical rainforests as farmers look for fertile land. With the climate and ecological emergency, it is urgent we find real solutions to prevent rainforest destruction and biodiversity loss as well as supporting local people. Using the agroforestry system of inga alley cropping is producing amazing results. Regenerating soil by planting inga edulis in alleys and leaving the biomass to break down is showing an astounding increase…

Water enables livelihoods. Without water there is no farming or life. An increasing water crisis has magnified vulnerabilities in Africa, disrupting economies, creating conflicts, inducing distress migration into densely populated urban areas and increasing extreme poverty levels. 

Understanding and increasing the critical role of local communities in groundwater recharge and management in alleviating these challenges is more urgent than ever.

Stimulating water literacy and mutual learning among local communities, the Water School Africa, in cooperation…