Agroecology Fund

In a decision released late Friday afternoon, a USMCA dispute panel ruled against Mexico’s policy banning GM white corn for human consumption. The decision ignored substantial scientific evidence on health and environmental risks, sidestepped threats to Indigenous Rights, and inappropriately anticipated economic harm to U.S. corn exporters when no harm has occurred. Civil society groups in Mexico, the U.S. & Canada, including IATP, condemned the ruling.  “The USMCA was hailed as a new kind of trade agreement, taking some steps forward on issues like labor rights and investment. This dispute shows how far we still need to go. Mexico has every right to try to transform its food system to better feed its people and enhance rural livelihoods and biodiversity. The U.S. was wrong to challenge that initiative, and the panel is wrong to back them up.” - Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP's Director of Trade & International Strategies Read our full press release here: https://lnkd.in/gFHZZRYk

Seeding the Movement to Reimagine Agriculture As 2024 winds down and we reflect on the year, one thing is clear: Our diverse and committed Agroecology Fund community gathered, collaborated, listened and learned together in wide and generous ways. In a moment that requires all of these things, we are grateful beyond measure to be in this work together. An agroecological future requires extraordinary collaboration—joining our efforts to deepen funding to grassroots #agroecology movements around the globe. Thank you for your incredible work this year. We look forward to some rest in the coming weeks and then to resuming collaboration with each and every one of you in the new year. If you would like to support the Agroecology Fund’s work with an individual end of year donation, it would be greatly appreciated. Your generous support contributes to helping grassroots agroecology movements around the world improve food sovereignty and food security while protecting rights and livelihoods of smallholders and Indigenous Peoples. With gratitude, The Agroecology Fund https://lnkd.in/gMTDbrDY

According to Global Alliance for the Future of Food, despite public finance for climate change adaptation and mitigation nearly doubling to $640 billion between 2017 and 2022, the percentage of investments allocated to the agrifood sector decreased from 3% to 2.5% (totalling $16.3 billion). And this dropped to just 1.5% (or $9.1 billion) for sustainable food system interventions. Read the full report which underscores the urgent need to significantly boost #climatefinance for #sustainable #foodsystems and calls attention to the need for funding to reach communities. ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eGP-far7

🗣️ Strengthening Climate Resilience by Scaling Up Agroecology: Collaborative Research and Advocacy to Advance Food Systems Transformation 📣 The Agroecology Fund is thrilled to announce the first IPA-Global initiative round of grants (IPA = “Investigación Participativa en Agroecología” or Participatory Research on Agroecology), aimed at strengthening advocacy and participatory research for resilient food systems. This new grant cycle, “Strengthening #ClimateResilience by Scaling Up #Agroecology: Collaborative Research and Advocacy to Advance Food Systems Transformation,” focuses on empowering civil society organizations and social movements to champion agroecology as a key #climate solution. Thanks to the Waverley Street Foundation’s funding, 22 grants, with awards of up to $190,000 USD, will support collaborative initiatives for up to 24 months on four continents. Additional grants will be made next year and in subsequent years. Learn more about this initiative, including the list of new grantees from across the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Africa ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gXNFpUY9

Enjoy this informative video from grantee partner Asociación ANDES that highlights their work deepening food sovereignty and #climate resilience through Indigenous, community-led research and practice in Peru.

In 2007, the first Nyéléni Forum took place in Mali, bringing together social movements for #food sovereignty from all over the world. Now, it's time for new mobilization within and beyond the food sovereignty movement. We must build our response at both global and local levels, and tighten alliances with climate justice, antiracism, health, labour, feminist, and social and solidarity economy movements and organisations. Systemic transformation is now or never. 🌍 In 2025, the Nyéléni Global Forum, will be held in India. This will be the space for strategy and organization and to kick off this new phase of the food sovereignty movement. 👉 Read more and join here: https://lnkd.in/d97m82T8

VIDEO and BRIEF on Bilim available now ! https://bilim.network/ Bilim is a community of #Agroecology organizations from Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia region (#ECAregion). In this video we introduce Bilim and show how this alliance is strenghtening agroecology organizations in the ECA region. While it highlights only part of Bilim organizations' diverse initiatives, it showcases the community’s mission to support rural areas, preserve biodiversity, and empower grassroots organizations, many of which are women-led. By exchanging knowledge and sharing best practices, the Bilim community strengthens the efforts to advance agroecology in the region. From #seedexchanges to #agroecologyschools, Bilim fosters trust and collaboration among diverse actors, strengthening connections across the agroecology landscape. This Video has been developed as part of the Agroecology Fund / Stats4SD "Grassroots Evidence for Agroecology” project, in 2024. https://lnkd.in/dcWSCcWe Check also the Brief on Bilim chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://lnkd.in/dhJQdDzu In collaboration with: Gulmaira Baymakova, Lili Balogh, Maria Anisimova, Mariam Devnosadze, Arca Atay, Barahona-Zamora, Romina De Angelis, Caroline Ledant, Colin Anderson, Gabriela Bucini, Rozeta Gradeci, Tea Chitadze, Reid Parsons, and others. Thank you to Daniel Bori for the video development.

The National Coalition of Natural Farming (NCNF)  is working  in coordination with the Gujarat Natural Farming Science University(ICAR) and the Government of India to scale up Agroecology in several states of India. NCNF was created in 2020 as a platform between multiple stakeholders to develop knowledge and capacities to territorialize agriculture in India. In 2022, the Indian government started the Natural Agriculture Mission  (NMNF) in which NCNF included the Center for Bio-inputs (BRC). Since 2023, 300 Bioinput Centers have been installed, facilitating access and promoting sustainable and healthy food systems. These centers produce and sell bio-inputs needed for the country’s agroecological transition. Last week in Cuba, at the International Seminar on Agroecology in National and Local Policies, Pramel Kumar Gupta from NCNF joined us to share more about how local policies in India support a transition to agroecology.

Fantastic coverage from Mongabay of Agroecology Fund grantee partner The Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN)—the first wholly Karen Indigenous organization to address social and environmental problems that the people of Kawthoolei have faced over many decades—and the official launch of Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park. “Launching the park was an announcement of our rights over the lands and natural resources that we have cared for for generations with our customary laws, governance and administration,” said Saw Thaw Tu Htoo, one of the founders of the park’s committee and the secretary of Taw-Oo district. Covering an area of 575,450 hectares (1,421,967 acres) and 318 villages, the park includes 28 kaws (ancestral customary lands), four community forests, seven watersheds, six reserved forests and one wildlife sanctuary. It is just north of the Salween Peace Park, an award-winning Karen-led protected area of similar size, and is situated in one of the most biodiverse areas of the Asia-Pacific. Full story: https://lnkd.in/gaZ4HTa7

🔦 Grantee Spotlight 🔦 Empowerment, Community-Connection and Self-Reliance: Women Farmers Transition to Agroecology in India Agroecology Fund grantee partner, the Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM) and a key network to which it belongs, the Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM, Forum for Women Farmers’ Rights), support women—primarily single women with little or no access to land, and sugarcane workers—to transition to #agroecology. This work emphasizes the strengthening of #localfood and agricultural systems with the use of local seed varieties, no chemical inputs and drawing on women’s knowledge. Since its inception in 1991, SOPPECOM has worked at the intersection of water and rural livelihoods. Since 2015 they have been advocating for #womenslandrights and their status in rural Maharashtra, with an emphasis on women from #farmersuicide households. This collaborative effort set out to challenge both existing social structures (caste, patriarchy, ethnicity) and the corporate-controlled chemical intensive agrarian paradigm. To document these efforts, SOPPECOM and MAKAAM interviewed some of the women participants to share first hand their experiences and knowledge. In Women Farmers Lead the Way, the six part video series below, you’ll hear from a ‘lower caste’ or Dalit woman from Beed who shared her sense of pride when upper caste women asked her about her farm and requested seeds from her; a farm widow who saw respect in the eyes of her father-in-law who once scorned her and blamed her for his son’s suicide; a husband who derided the agroecology model but now respects his wife and joins her in her endeavor; and an Indigenous woman who became so convinced about the potential of agroecology that she increased the area of farming with this approach from half an acre to 12 acres, and then influenced others to do the same. Read about this powerful, inspiring work and watch all six videos to hear the impacts it has had on individual women and what that means for scaling agroecology in the region. ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gqR8n63d