Experiencing the Sanctity of Life: Overcoming the crisis with care for nature and the environment
Experiencing the Sanctity of Life: Overcoming the crisis with care for nature and the environment
"In fact my dream is more like a programme", Miranda apologises. "I want land reform. That is the solution to several key issues in Brazil: the concentration of land in the hands of a small minority, the need to reinforce food production for the domestic market, and the fragile food sovereignty situation." Miranda says that the latter refers to the farmers' right to work the land in a sustainable manner and that the farmers themselves should decide how they wish to do this. "Land reform must respect regional and cultural differences. The indigenous people who live close to the Amazon River farm their land in a way that is different from those who live in one of the hundreds of quilombos in Brazil. They have a different culture and they face unique problems." The quilombos were originally places where escaped slaves secretly settled. They still live there today in small communities of cooperative farmers. "They are bound by their marginal place in society. They lead a hard life."
What could these disadvantaged communities of small farmers and indigenous people gain from land reform? "To begin with, they would receive technical and financial assistance from the government. Today, this assistance goes almost exclusively to large-scale agribusinesses. This means that government technicians and agronomists should assist these small farmers in helping satisfy their wishes. Small farmers don't want to or cannot, for example, use genetically manipulated seed because that would make them fully dependent on a handful of large companies. They don't have the money to be constantly applying pesticides. And since they have little money, they are less credit-worthy to the banks. They don't have much use for large agricultural machinery." Miranda believes that assisting these smallholders would require Brazil to modify its present agricultural policies. Policymakers currently focus mainly on exporting bulk commodities such as soybeans, coffee, and citrus fruits.
As a result of land reform measures, we see the emergence of stable and peaceful rural communities that produce food for their own regions. Moema Miranda refers to this in the context of philosopher-theologian, Ivan Illich's concept of conviviality. In simple terms, this means "living together". But Illich adds political meaning to this term. For him it meant self-determination, which is contrary to current industrial production methods. Illich believed that the way in which Western economies shape their economies is in direct conflict with this right to self-determination by robbing peasant communities of their vital skills and knowledge. Farmers thus become dependent and grow ever poorer.
Spiritual connection
Miranda: "For me, conviviality means that there is an autonomous and creative interaction amongst people, and a responsible interaction with their surroundings. It is also a critique of the belief in progress, of the idea that we can solve every problem through technology and boundless growth." Miranda, who describes herself as a devout Christian, discusses the ideas of Francis of Assisi: "He talks about the feeling of being one with the environment, with the universe, instead of being superior to other people. Imagine people no longer living in constant fear and the uncertainty that they may lose their land, people no longer fearing that the construction of a large dam will destroy their farmlands and their entire livelihoods, and wondering whether they will be able to feed their children and send them to school. In this scenario, people may begin gaining a spiritual connection to the sanctity of life. If the tensions in Brazilian society were to subside, we would all live happier lives. Not in the sense of more, more, more, but in the sense of a good life."
Farming communities that function well can produce food for local markets. "Thus, the production and transportation lines grow shorter. Today we observe the strange situation that Brazil, for example, has concentrated its dairy production mainly in the South. Milk for the rest of the country must be transported thousands of kilometres. If you produce milk and other agricultural products on a regional level, you could feed the metropolises of Rio and São Paulo with produce grown in the immediate area. This would certainly help lower food prices as a result of the much lower transportation costs, while farmers would end up earning more. If these regions were to develop, living there would become a more attractive option; people would not feel compelled to move to the cities and this would take away part of the burden placed on these urban centres."
Land reform has been a serious topic for a long time in Brazil. The concentration of farmland in the hands of a very small minority is a source of many conflicts in Brazil. Almost half of Brazil's farms are less than 10 hectares and that is not even enough to make a decent living. This is currently the dominant scenario for some 3 million peasant families. Further estimates show that there are some 4.8 million landless peasant families in Brazil. This means that almost 8 million peasant families cannot, or can barely, make ends meet.
At the other end of the spectrum are the large-scale agribusinesses that often control over 1,000 hectares of farmland where they almost always produce cash crops for export such as soybeans, citrus fruits, coffee, and cocoa. They represent less than 1 percent of the total number of farmers but control 45 percent of the total farmland. This skewed distribution of farmland leads to considerable social tensions. Another factor that leads to increased conflict in rural areas is that 20 percent of Brazil lacks any kind of official land titles. This means that anyone can claim this land, which, in practice, usually means people who do not hesitate to use violence end up claiming the land.
Mega-Farms
In large parts of Brazil, violence is the norm. Farmland is increasingly being allocated for monocrops such as soybeans. Small peasant communities without the legal deeds to the land often have to vacate their land and make way for various industrial mega-farming companies. The threatened communities eventually organise and some end up taking radical measures and resist the corporate land grab, which often ends to violence. But, for all their efforts, it usually means the farmers are left holding the short end of the stick. Miranda: "This struggle for land is not new; it is part of the history of the colonisation of our country. If we can solve the completely skewed land ownership issue, and thus eliminate the source of the violence, the entire country would benefit."
Land reform used to be a high priority for the Brazilian Labour Party (PT), although it never really grabbed the bull by the horns, despite the fact that the president has been a member of the same party for ten years by now. Miranda, a former member of the PT, is disappointed. "I will absolutely not minimise the accomplishments of the past ten years. Thanks to, for example, the bolsa familiar, an allowance for households that send their children to school, poverty has been drastically reduced. The indigent have become poor, the poor have joined the middle class. But the rich keep getting richer."
Miranda has her doubts about Brazil's economic miracle. She regrets that the market economy has not been thoroughly reformed over the past 10 years of the PT being in power. And any chances of this occurring remain minimal. "Brazil is euphoric. Many more people can consume, which is mainly the result of the fantastic world market prices that our main export products - mining and agricultural products - command. This is mainly thanks to China. The President says: 'There are still poor people in Brazil, we have to do something about this, we have to grow.' Criticism is difficult amongst all this euphoria. 'Our turn has finally come', is the predominant feeling among many people, 'we also want a car, a house, our holidays. Stop bothering us with your environmental horror stories'." Miranda is convince that this increase in wealth glosses over the fact that the gap between the rich and the poor remains profound and basically unchanged. "We are still among the most economically unequal countries in the world. Addressing inequality should be at the core of everything that the political sector does."
Power Generation
Miranda also dreams of a completely different type of energy. "Presently, our energy needs are met by mega-projects: huge hydroelectric power plants such as Itaipú, Belo Monte, and Tucuruí. The negative impact of the necessary dams - with large parcels of land being flooded and expropriations affecting sometimes tens of thousands of people - comes at the expense of Brazil's neighbours, because many of these dams are built along Brazil's borders. The immediate region around the dams seldom receives any benefits from the energy generated that goes to big cities such as Rio and São Paulo and to large energy-consuming projects such as the mines. We have to end this situation. And we have to get rid of nuclear energy, which is once again being discussed as an option. We must opt for small-scale projects and the notion of local power generation."
In Europe, important social issues such as poverty and unsatisfactory health services for large parts of the population were addressed only after they started to affect the wealthier segments of society. That is how sewers, clean drinking water, toilets, minimum wages, and unemployment benefits came in to being. Miranda: "This is not how things happen here. Our government puts its faith mainly in economic growth, based on the idea that everyone will then earn more. My question is how long this model will work. How long will China grow and how long will it need our agricultural products and minerals? Petroleum has now been found off the coast of Brazil. What are the risks involved if we become an oil-revenue-dependent country? The socialist parties have never been overly concerned with nature and the environment. On the contrary, they believe that the full exploitation of production is a necessary phase in the transition towards socialism. The environment and sustainability are therefore put on standby. In my dream, concern for the environment and nature is precisely the way to overcome the current crisis. In other words, it is not something we will only do after all the rest has been fixed."
Decolonisation of the mind Moema Miranda (1960) grew up in Rio de Janeiro. "My father was an engineer and a communist, my mother a Catholic." Her childhood was marked by the military dictatorship in Brazil that lasted until 1985. "You could be arrested for the smallest things. My father was neither an activist nor a militant, but we lived with the constant worry of what might happen next." In the mid-seventies, a strong social movement arose in Brazil with representatives from the church (liberation theology), the unions, intellectuals, and grassroots organisations, followed by the abertura (openness), a time during which political refugees were allowed to return to the country and political prisoners were released. "An amazing and exciting time. I joined a small organisation and began to teach at a school in one of the Rio slums while I was going to the university." In 1992, Miranda began working for Ibase, the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses, which was established by intellectuals who had returned from exile. Ibase was one of the initiators of the World Social Forum (Porto Alegre 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005). "Those forums have been important in the establishment of South-South contacts. Until that time, we always had more contacts with Europe than with other countries in Latin America and Africa. Our mindset was always framed by the language and concepts of Spain and Portugal, the colonisers of our continent. The new South-South contacts have contributed to what we call the 'decolonisation of the mind'." |
Read more about this subject
-
News / 19 May 2022
Response to government’s letter to parliament on implementation of the Glasgow Declaration
Both ENDS and 95 other organisations* today sent a letter to State Secretary for Finance Marnix van Rij and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liesje Schreinemacher calling on them to implement the Glasgow Declaration in full. In this agreement, which the Netherlands and 33 other countries signed at the Glasgow climate conference, the signatory countries pledge to stop all public funding for fossil projects by the end of 2022.
-
Event / 18 May 2022, 10:45 - 12:15
UNCCD-COP15: Monitoring Tree Cover and Enhancing Decision Making Tools Across Africa’s Great Green Wall
Join us for an open space for a reflection and exchange on a new dataset, developed by WRI, to monitor regreening efforts, and its applications in the Sahel.
In the drylands of Africa, land degradation threatens the livelihoods of millions of people. Fortunately, there are promising initiatives emerging all over the continent that are turning the tide. Throughout the Sahel, for example, vast tracts of land along the Great Green Wall have been restored by local communities. They have nurtured the plants that spontaneously spring from the soil, protecting young sprouts from cattle and other hazards.
-
Event / 16 May 2022, 13:00 - 15:00
UNCCD-COP15: How funders can best support agroecological initiatives by local communities in drylands
Join our dialogue on how to set up more and better financial mechanisms that can support agroecological initiatives of local communities living in drylands.
The land degradation neutrality (LDN) response hierarchy of Avoid > Reduce > Reverse land degradation is an overarching principle for LDN implementation, which guides people in planning interventions to achieve LDN. The hierarchy articulates which interventions should be prioritised based on their potential to maximise the conservation of land-based natural capital, recognising that avoiding or reducing land degradation is generally more cost-effective than efforts to reverse past degradation. As value for money is highest in the Avoiding and in Reducing Land Degradation response, a smart way to spend money is to support sustainable land management approaches like agroecology that work with nature, not against it.
-
Event / 16 May 2022, 13:00 - 15:00
UNCCD-COP15: Community Initiatives to Disseminate Agroforestry and Agroecology
Join our event, providing space for an interactive discussion among COP15 participants on multi-actor collaboration and the financing of community-based restoration
-
Letter / 15 May 2022
Both ENDS Comments and recommendations on the Bank Group’s Environmental and Social Policy of the AfDB Integrated Safeguards System
This letter by Both ENDS to the African Development Bank is a comment written in reaction to a draft version published by the Bank of its Environmental and Social Policy as part of a formal public consultation held by the Bank. This comment was sent to the bank along a joint submission letter with other CSOs, and specifically responds to the overarching Policy.
The bank's flexible requirements for clients and national standards for risky projects dilute safeguards. Project approval should be predicated on specific and binding targets for compliance and reflect input from communities involved.
-
Letter / 15 May 2022
Joint Submission of comments and recommendations to the Public Consultation on AfDB Integrated Safeguards System
Together with 29 other CSO's, we've submitted our comments and recommendations in the Public Consultation on the AfDB Integrated Safeguards System. These include that the Bank should prioritize community-led development and human rights-based approaches; protect natural resources and tackles environmental and climate crises; raise the bar on access to information, transparency and accountability; facilitate participatory processes in policies, programmes and projects; and end inequality, poverty, and the cutback and privatization of vital services.
-
News / 10 May 2022
Lobbying for local and sustainable practices during the UNCCD summit
From May 9 to 20, the 15th Conference of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (UNCCD COP15) will take place in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire. Governments, policymakers, civil society organisations and scientists from countries all over the world will discuss the problems around drought, land degradation and desertification that are increasing. Colleagues Nathalie van Haren and Stefan Schüller will be there, as will a large number of representatives of organisations with which Both ENDS has been working together for decades. But what is the purpose of the meeting, what is discussed and why is it important to be present? We asked Nathalie and Stefan.
-
News / 29 April 2022
In Memoriam: Khadija Catherine Razavi (CENESTA)
Both ENDS mourns the death of Khadija Catherine Razavi, founder of CENESTA – Centre for Sustainable Development and Environment in Iran.
-
Event / 26 April 2022, 10:00 - 11:30
How can civil society actors ensure inclusivity in their land governance work with communities?
Both ENDS and the Land Portal Foundation invite you to the first webinar in the Whose Land? - Inclusive Pathways to Land Governance series, which aims to provide a platform for stakeholders engaged in land governance to exchange on the importance of inclusivity and meaningful participation of all relevant actors in both formal and informal land governance processes.
-
Dossier
Make Innovations work for all: reframing Intellectual Property Rights
It sounds so logical: patents and other intellectual property rights protect investments in innovations, allowing more innovations to be made from which the whole world can benefit. Such as new medicines or drought-resistant crops. But in practice, these property rights often have the opposite effect, hindering access to innovations for those who need them the most.
-
News / 25 April 2022
Call for sign-on: No to UPOV in Indonesia
The European Union (EU) continues to demand that countries of the South introduce plant variety protection rights according to UPOV 91 in free trade agreements. This is happening in the ongoing negotiations of the EU with Indonesia, trying to take away Indonesia's flexibility to implement a law that suits its own needs and priorities. We therefore call to sign our letters on this subject to the European Commission and the Indonesian government.
-
Letter / 22 April 2022
Letter to State Secretary Heijnen about the MTCS certificate
Both ENDS, also on behalf of FERN, NCIV and Milieudefensie, sent a letter to Vivianne Heijnen, the State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, about the MTCS certificate. In practice, this Malaysian timber certificate appears to tolerate the violation of indigenous land rights and intimidation of indigenous organisations. The Netherlands should therefore suspend the approval of MTCS in its purchasing policy, among other things.
-
News / 15 April 2022
IDB stops funding for two controversial dams in Guatemala: ground-breaking decision
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has taken a unique decision to withdraw from the construction of two controversial dams in Ixquisis, Guatemala. Both ENDS has supported our partner AIDA for many years in its fight against the dams. Tamara Mohr and Pieter Jansen explain why this decision is so exceptional.
-
Publication / 12 April 2022
-
News / 31 March 2022
Well-deserved recognition for small grants funds!
We are exited about the news that Ms MacKenzie Scott decided to entrust substantial funding to a wide range of small grants funds from Both ENDS' partner networks*. These small grants funds are unique as they are set up and led by people, often activists themselves, from the country or region in which the fund is based. Most mainstream conventional funders admit they have difficulties reaching community based organisations and grassroots groups themselves. Small grants funds know better than anyone how to reach local communities, who to support and what kind of financial as well as non-financial support is most needed. Thus, they bridge a wide funding gap. Both ENDS applauds this recognition of the important role of these funds in the funding landscape. We hope this encourages more funders to join!
-
Event / 25 March 2022, 16:00 - 17:30
NGO CSW66 Forum Event: Feminist Action for Climate Justice
What does feminist climate action look like and what does it lead to? Join us to hear from grassroots activists who will share their lived experiences and recommendations for equitable, just, and sustainable strategies to tackle the most pressing issue of our time. Global Greengrants Fund and the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) will formally launch our joint campaign commitment to support these frontline climate solutions alongside the UN Women Generation Equality Forum’s Feminist Action for Climate Justice Action Coalition. Register today to learn how to mobilize more and better support for feminist climate action.
Register here!
-
News / 22 March 2022
World Water Day: just climate solutions already exist
These past weeks we have been joined the #WeWomenAreWater campaign to put the spotlights on just climate solutions of and for women, girls, trans, intersex and non-binary people around the world. The campaign started on International Women's Day (March 8th) and ends today, on World Water Day. Just climate solutions already exist but these initiatives are grossly underfunded, and the people implementing them are also those most impacted by climate change and climate-related water scarcity. Therefore, we would like to highlight, especially today on World Water Day, some of these solutions below. And we also have a special message from the colleagues at Both ENDS working on inclusive water governance.
-
News / 18 March 2022
International Forests Day: the importance of forests for livelihoods and a healthy environment
Today is International Day of Forests. An ever more important day, as the amount of forest and forested area's on this globe is shrinking at a fast pace. One the main causes is our ever increasing demand for products such as soy and palm oil from area's that have been deforested for their cultivation. The current proposed EU-deforestation law to prevent this, is not strict enough and does not include the protection of other crucial natural areas such as grasslands, savannas and swamps, as well as the human rights of the millions of people living in these area's. During these past few weeks we therefore participated in the campaign #Together4Forests, calling on citizens to send a letter to their own responsible ministers. The campaign paid off: almost 54,000 letters were sent to European ministers across the European Union, demanding a strict forest law that guarantees the import of only deforestation-free products in Europe.
To celebrate this International Day of Forests, we would like to emphasise the great value of forests and other natural areas, directly or indirectly, for the livelihoods of at least 2 billion people. Below, we selected some examples that show how, throughout the world, local communities use many different ways to collect and produce food and other natural products in a sustainable way, while protecting and restoring the forests and forested area's they are so dependent upon.
-
Event / 15 March 2022, 11:00 - 12:30
CSW66 Side Event: Feminist solutions for the environmental and climate crisis
Join us at the 66st UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) for a critical conversation about the intersections of climate, gender and sustainable development. Land defenders and gender rights advocates will join ministry representatives from Sweden, Chile and the Netherlands in a discussion about feminist leadership in protecting land, promoting climate solutions and supporting truly sustainable development strategies. In this session, we aim to explore how governments and feminist climate movements can best work together to tackle the root causes of the climate crisis.
Register here!
-
Press release / 7 March 2022
New report: investment in agroecology necessary for healthy global food system
A recent study by Profundo for Both ENDS and Oxfam Novib shows that investment in agroecology is necessary for a sustainable and inclusive global food system. Today, some 768 million – one in ten – people suffer from hunger or a severe shortage of food on a daily basis. Conflict, economic stagnation caused by the Corona epidemic, and the climate crisis present an immediate threat to the production of and access to sufficient nutritious food. Agroecology, a form of agriculture that places small-scale farmers, the natural environment and short supply chains at the centre of food production, makes communities in developing countries more resilient and helps them combat hunger. The study concludes however that major donors, including the Netherlands, are so far providing insufficient support for agroecology.