26 Proyectos Regenerativos en América Latina

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Por Alexandra Groome | Traducion por Ercilia Sahores

En mayo de 2016, más de 50 personas provenientes de diferentes partes de México participaron en la sesión de entrenamiento de “Regrarians” en la Sierra Gorda de Querétaro, México. La sesión de 10 días de entrenamiento fue impartida por Darren Doherty, un campesino que continúa la tradición familiar de cinco generaciones, en la región de Bendigo, desarrollador, autor y entrenador. Doherty ha estado involucrado en el diseño y desarrollo de cerca de 2000 proyectos en seis continentes, en unos 50 países.

Tuve la suerte de representar a Regeneración Internacional en esta sesión de entrenamiento, que se enfocó en métodos prácticos para regenerar, restaurar, rehabilitar, reavivar y reiniciar paisajes.

La reunión congregó a un grupo de gente muy diversa, incluyendo practicantes de permacultura que producen alimentos en zonas urbanas de la Ciudad de México, rancheros que trabajan con ganado para restaurar grandes extensiones de tierras desertificadas en Chihuahua, consultores que usan el método keyline,  gaviones, trincheras y bermas para regenerar cuencas, y campesinos de pequeña escala que utilizan los principios de la permacultura.

¿De qué se trata? La agricultura Regenerativa requiere de una combinación de soluciones a pequeña y gran escala abarcando una amplia variedad de prácticas y enfoques. No existe una fórmula única que pueda aplicarse a todos los casos. Sin embargo, todo uso de suelo y agricultura regenerativa tienen una cosa en común: están orientadas hacia restaurar la salud del suelo y mejorar la tierra de manera de crear, en última instancia, paisajes productivos con economías y comunidades sanas.

Terminada la sesión de entrenamiento, compilamos en esta lista 26 iniciativas regenerativas en América Latina.

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Alexandra Groome es Coordinadora de Campañas & Eventos para Regeneración Internacional, un proyecto de la Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos.

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26 Regeneration Initiatives in Latin America

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In May (2016), over 50 people from across Mexico participated in a Regrarians training session in Sierra Gorda de Querétaro, México. The 10-day training session was led by Darren Doherty, a fifth-generation Bendigo region farmer, developer, author and trainer. Doherty has been involved in the design and development of nearly 2000 projects across six continents, in close to 50 countries.

I was fortunate to represent Regeneration International (RI) in this training session, which focused on practical methods for regenerating, restoring, rehabilitating, rekindling and rebooting landscapes.

The meeting brought together a diverse group of people, including permaculture practitioners who produce food in urban Mexico City,  ranchers working with cattle to restore vast expanses of desertified land in Chihuahua, consultants using keyline design as well as gabions, trincheras and berms to regenerate watersheds and small-scale farmers employing permaculture principles.

The key take away? Regenerative agriculture requires a combination of small-scale and large-scale solutions encompassing  a wide variety of practices and approaches. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. But all regenerative land use and agriculture solutions have one thing in common: They are geared toward restoring soil health and improving land in ways that ultimately lead to to productive landscapes and healthy communities and economies.

Following the training session, we compiled this list of 26 regeneration initiatives in Latin America.

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Alexandra Groome is Campaign & Events Coordinator for Regeneration International, a project of the Organic Consumers Association.

Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs): A Benefit for, or the Betrayal of, SADC’s Small-Scale Farmers?

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This paper reviews the farm input subsidy programmes (FISPs) within countries belonging to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), to ascertain whether input subsidies have benefited small-scale farmers, have increased food security at the household and national levels, and have improved the incomes of small-scale farmers.

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U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Underlines Importance to Include Agriculture in COP22

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Rabat – U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Jonathan Pershing underlined, Thursday in Rabat, the importance of taking agriculture into account during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22)’s debates.

“It is necessary to work on how agriculture will be dealt with during the COP22”, Pershing told the press after a meeting with Moroccan Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Aziz Akhannouch, noting that the agriculture and forest sector contribute to greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30%.

The meeting was an occasion to discuss and recommend concrete measures and solutions, notably carbon capture and storage and good agricultural practices meant to preserve the soil, he added.

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The Chemistry of Bumper Crops [Excerpt]

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Author: Judith D. Schwartz

Excerpted from Water in Plain Sight: Hope For A Thirsty World by Judith D. Schwartz, with permission from St. Martin’s Press. Copyright 2016.

When it comes to irrigation, water is not simply water.

This is dogma to John Kempf, an Ohio farmer who has made a career of improving crop health and agriculture yields. In 2006, Kempf founded the company Advancing Eco Agriculture, a consulting service for farmers that provides testing and analysis of crop specimens and recommends various plant nutrition treatments to improve crop yields.

The sources of water used for crops—be it well, river or reservoir—vary as to the mineral salts that they carry. The degree to which salts are present in water is referred to as “hardness,” generally described in terms of grains per gallon. (“Salt” in this context is not what you’d sprinkle on scrambled eggs, but the combination of elements with a positive charge [cation] and negative charge [anion].) Kempf says that poor water quality, specifically water with high levels of calcium carbonate (lime), is a problem not often acknowledged in public discussions of agriculture—but one that affects crop production and, ironically, leads to a higher use of water.

“The level of minerals affects not only plants’ ability to absorb water, but also how the plant can absorb nutrition,” says Kempf. “Hard water requires more energy, and therefore nutrition, to break it down. When water quality is poor, more water is required.” Farms do regularly test for water quality, and he says that when a potential client’s water source has more than five grains per gallon he recommends that it be treated.

“When farms irrigate with poor-quality water there are multiple effects,” he says. “It ties up all the nutrients that have been applied in the form of fertilizers. It significantly suppresses soil biology. And what often happens is that sodium and calcium bicarbonates accumulate in the soil profile. This leads to salinity.”

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El Tribunal Internacional Monsanto Invita a Monsanto a Participar en el Tribunal Ciudadano: La carta enviada vía correo certificado fue declinada

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[ English | Español ]

PARA PUBLICACIÓN IMMEDIATA

26 de julio de 2016

Contacto:

E.E.U.U: Katherine Paul, katherine@organicconsumers.org, 207-653-3090

Países Bajos: Tjerk Dalhuisen,, tjerk@monsanto-tribunal.org, +31614699126

México, América Latina: Ercilia Sahores, ercilia@regenerationinternational.org, 52 55 6257 7901

La Haya, Países Bajos —El Tribunal Internacional Monsanto ha invitado oficialmente a Monsanto a participar del tribunal ciudadano que tendrá lugar en La Haya, Países Bajos, el 15 y 16 de octubre. La carta, enviada por correo certificado desde Amsterdam, fue declinada.

“No nos sorprende que el Sr. Grant declinara recibir la carta”, afirmó Vandana Shiva, integrante del comité organizativo del Tribunal. “Monsanto tiene una larga historia de esconder el daño, el dolor y el sufrimiento causados por sus productos en la salud humana y el medio ambiente. De la misma manera en que Monsanto esconde los ingredientes OGM a través de leyes que niegan el derecho al etiquetado de productos transgénicos en los Estados Unidos, se está escondiendo del juicio de la gente. Esto no significa que no los vayamos a llevar a juicio”.

En la carta, dirigida a Hugh Grant, Presidente y Director Ejecutivo General de Monsanto, dos de los jueces del Tribunal Internacional Monsanto escribieron:

“La Fundación (Stichting) Monsanto Tribunal cree que es de suma importancia que Monsanto cuente con todas las oportunidades posibles para presentar su postura ante el Tribunal, de modo de asegurar que el Tribunal cuente con la mayor cantidad de información posible a la hora de brindar una evaluación”.

Se ha dado a Monsanto hasta el 1 de octubre de 2016 para enviar un breve informe por escrito y/o una respuesta a la invitación efectuada por el Tribunal para enviar representantes legales a La Haya.

Antecedentes de los jueces y abogados del Tribunal Alemán

Inglés

Francés

Más sobre el Tribunal Internacional Monsanto

El Tribunal Internacional Monsanto es una iniciativa de la sociedad civil para que Monsanto se responsabilice por violaciones a derechos humanos, crímenes contra la humanidad y ecocidio. Prestigiosos jueces escucharán testimonios de víctimas y brindarán una opinión consultiva siguiendo los procedimientos de la Corte Penal Internacional de Justicia. Una asamblea popular paralela brindará el espacio para que los movimientos sociales puedan congregarse y planear el futuro que queremos. El Tribunal y la Asamblea Popular se llevarán a cabo entre el 14 y el 16 de octubre de 2016 en La Haya, Países Bajos.

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Study Finds Indigenous Land Management Highly Effective in Combating Climate Change

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Author: David Kaimowitz

This article originally appeared at Equals Change, the staff blog of the Ford Foundation. The author is the director of sustainable development at the Ford Foundation.

The first time I heard about Charlie Taylor was the day he died. A friend rang to say that ranchers had attacked a group of Mayangna Indians in a forest near Musawas in Nicaragua, killing one of the Indians and injuring several others. Charlie—a 40-year old father of seven who farmed locally and panned for gold in nearby rivers—was the one who died.

On April 23, 2013, Charlie was part of a group of villagers who went to investigate after hearing that ranchers were chopping down forests to clear land for pasture, in territory managed by the Mayangna. It turned out to be true: When Charlie confronted the intruders and asked what they were doing on his peoples’ land, they started shooting. Charlie was hit and died a few hours later.

Since Charlie’s death, I have thought a lot about him and talked to people who knew him. What made him risk his life to defend the forest? What could I possibly say to his destitute widow, Ricalina Devis? Why are so many indigenous and community leaders being killed protecting rainforests? And how might I explain the urgency of this situation to urban friends and colleagues, who live in heated homes with running water, whose food and drugs come from stores? What do they have in common with the many millions of people who still depend directly on nature for sustenance, fuel, and medicine?

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