Image
COP27 and the People's Food Summit.
Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Web Site

Regenerative Newsletter - Dec 2022

 Support Our Work ♡ Donate Today 

View In Browser

 

 

 

Leer en español en línea

Jump to:  Featured Articles | Events Calendar


Video: Our time at #COP27

Last month, COP27 ended with an agreement for a “Loss and Damage” fund without any plans or consensus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In other words, this means very little progress on climate action and achieving net-zero emissions which has been urged by the UNFCCC to avoid the catastrophic tipping points of a +1.5C warmer planet.

Despite these circumstances, Regeneration International sent a small and dedicated delegation to #COP27, where it joined forces with friends and partners such as AFSA, @IPES-Food, @IFOAM - Organics International, @sekeminitiative, @ONAMIAP and the @4p1000 Initiative to advocate for and present concrete examples of how agroecology, regenerative agriculture and indigenous agrobiodiversity (preserving traditional seeds) can reverse global warming and nourish communities.

The management of soils, their organic matter, and their capacity to build back ecological stability, including sequestering carbon, must be in every negotiation and commitment as it is the best hope we have for a livable planet.

Watch the Video...
 

 
 
 

Women Voices from Global South Discussing Food Sovereignty and Climate Change at COP27

 

During COP27, a group of women from Abya Yala raised their firm and deep voices to speak up about food sovereignty in regions that are so different and yet alike as America and Africa. The talk was organized by Regeneration International and OMANIAP.

At the Green area of the climate summit in the Tutankhamun auditory, the powerful female voices pondered about the impact of climate change in the lives of women and their communities, the consequences for food sovereignty and the importance of ancestral science and knowledge, demanding public policies to guarantee their rights, territories, water, biodiversity, seeds and preserve their traditional foods.

Mercedes López, Vía Organica’s Director in Mexico City, started the discussion in the panel speaking about the need for communities to choose the concept of food sovereignty over food security (used by FAO). Food sovereignty is more comprehensive and prioritizes food, ancestral seeds, territories, and water for the people. It is the people who have the option to choose healthy, local and nutritious food and the right to protect themselves from poor quality agricultural imports foreign to their traditional diet. López insisted on the importance of the participation of communities in agricultural policy; prioritizing and acknowledging farmers’ voices.

Continue reading here...

 
 
 
 



Interviews from COP27

Our team also had the chance to interview some important figures in our movement, you can watch them by clicking on the links below.


:::::::::::::::

Interview with Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM Organics International at COP27

Meet our dear friend Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM - Organics International, promoting agroecology and regenerative organic food systems
as a way to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Interview with AFSA's Bridget Mugambe at COP27

RI’s Africa Coordinator Precious Phiri and Bridget Mugambe of AFSA (Alliance of Food Sovereignty in Africa) and gain insight into Africa's most prominent civil society and their actions to regenerate the climate emergency through agroecology.

Interview with Uganda Parliament Member Kayaa Christine Nakimwero at COP27

Watch our interview with Kayaa Christine Nakimwero, a member of Parliament in Uganda who is campaigning for seed sovereignty to ensure climate resiliency and food security in Africa.

 

People’s Food Summit 2022

Regeneration International, in conjunction with our partners, held a world wide “People’s Food Summit” again this year.

It was our second food summit — a major 24-hour streaming World Food Day event, featuring speakers from every region on the planet.

It was a successful year, with over 700,000 people from all regions of the world tuning in to watch and listen to discussion panels.

This year’s virtual summit started in Oceania and moved westwards through the time zones of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Each region was self-organized, and they selected discussion themes and issues according to regional priorities.

RI worked organized the event in conjunction with many partners partners — Organic Consumers Association, The Global Alliance for Organic Districts, IFOAM Asia, Navdanya, the International Network of Eco Regions, Savory Hub Africa, Via Organica, AFSA, The League of Organic Municipalities and Cities and BERAS.

Watch some featured highlights from the event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKM1QgOsb4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ6XTF0qWJQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD-PwofrhhM
 


 
The Distorted Lies About Sri Lanka’s Organic Pathway

Recently there have been a series of articles stating that Sri Lanka’s economic chaos was caused by the government forcing the country to go organic.

These articles’ familiar false narratives, untruths, and language style show that they were written spin doctors from a PR company employed by pesticide/big agriculture cartels. They were cut and pasted by poor-quality journalists who did not fact-check.

The narrative was that the government forced farmers to become organic by banning chemical fertilizers.  This caused crop failures and food shortages which caused the riots, causing economic chaos.

This is a distortion of the truth by falsely connecting the dots. The economic chaos was not caused by the country going organic, as it hadn’t gone organic. The government was only planning to do so in the future.

Sri Lanka’s Economic Troubles

Sri Lanka was in severe economic trouble due to the build-up of financial debt caused by a combination of factors that began with the crippling financial drain, infrastructure damage, and social disruption of the decades-long civil war.  The crisis was exacerbated in April 2019 due to church suicide bombings destroying the international based tourism industry, which was a significant provider of foreign currency for the country.  The value of its currency fell and made it more expensive for industry and the government to import essential goods such as fuel.

Click to Learn More



Regenerating Seed and Food Culture in Africa


Production of culturally appropriate food, that is healthy, nutritious, and abundant is slowly but surely making its sound known across the African continent. This is mainly due to a wonderful collective of country, regional, and pan African movement building towards influencing systems and policy.

For the longest time, the narrative of food and agriculture in Africa has been degraded, with African seeds being labeled as tired, ways of farming as backwards, and a chain of narratives that include Africa being poor and needing “new technologies”.

However, farmers are putting their best foot forward in changing the trajectory by using natural, local and biologically regenerative practices to grow food and nourish their families. Most industrial agriculture approaches that are mostly linked with the green revolution in Africa are proving to lead to more hunger and crop failures in the face of unreliable weather patterns due to the climate crises.

Small holder farmer organisations are focusing on building soil health, as a way of creating resiliency, and sustenance for the communities. I am sharing some photos of a seed fair we recently had here in the communities of Hwange National park in Zimbabwe. These farmers live in one of the most difficult landscapes, with about 350-400 ml of rainfall on a good year, a long dry and hostile season which makes it hard for them to grow crops for longer periods. The Seed fair was a celebration of seed, food, culture and indigenous wisdom on seed preservation. It was attended by representatives from 6 villages, the Chief and different leaders.

Learn more



The Onslaught of Genetic Engineering 2.0

Over the past 30 years OCA and our allies across the world have fought hard against gene-spliced GMO foods and crops and the toxic pesticides and chemicals that always accompany them, exposing their dangers, limiting their market share, and in some countries bringing about mandatory bans (Mexico) and/or labeling and safety-testing (USA and Europe).

But now Bill Gates, the gene-engineers, the World Economic Forum, and the Davos “Great Reset” technocrats and authoritarians, the folks who anticipated and profited off of COVID and the lockdowns, have a bold new plan to shove down our throats: get rid of animal agriculture, ranching, and small farms entirely. Make lab-engineered fake meat, fake milk, and fake cheese the new normal. Pretend they’re not genetically engineered and therefore they don’t have to be properly safety-tested and labeled. Divide and conquer vegans and carnivores, urban consumers and rural communities.  Drive into bankruptcy and off the land the billion ranchers, small farmers, and herdsmen/women around the world, who depend on raising animals and livestock for their survival.

Learn More

Manjimup Farmer Jake Ryan Recognised at Australian Farmer of the Year Awards
 
Jake Ryan sums up his approach to farming in a couple of sentences as he looks over a crop of cabbage on his family farm in Manjimup.

“The environment probably isn’t in the best shape right now,” Mr Ryan, 27, said.

“What we’re trying to do is show that you can farm in a way that’s going to improve that ecosystem and, I suppose, the natural environment.”

He was one of the first growers in WA to adopt several regenerative practices, including strip tillage, diverse pasture species mixes and strip grazing.

For example, he said there were between six and eight types of seeds in his multi-species mixes, which were planted at different times of the year to keep the ground covered and improve soil health.

Learn More
 

Essential Reading

 

Regenerative Agriculture 101: Everything You Need to Know

Regenerative farmers and ranchers build a stronger connection with the land through observation and understanding of what it has to give, as well as its limits. This allows them to adjust their practices when necessary to create a balanced, sustainable relationship. Here's all you need to know about Regenerative Agriculture.

Regenerative Agriculture Is Anything but “Just Business”

Having attended the first Regenerative Food System Investment Forum in 2019, one thing was clear during this year’s event – capital holders are spending less time asking why they should deploy capital in the space and focusing more on how and where they should deploy capital. Although this momentum is powerful and inspiring to witness, the road to financing more regenerative agriculture is not without its potholes.

Why King Arthur Sees Regenerative Agriculture As a Collective CPG Effort

King Arthur is targeting the emissions generated in its supply chain — 100% of the flour in its bags will be milled from regeneratively grown wheat, and its facilities will use 100% renewable electricity.

Regenerative Agriculture – Let Nature Work for You

Mike Bretz of North Liberty started the journey toward regenerative agriculture three years ago. Bretz Farms is practicing 100% no-till. They grow 120 acres of non-GMO corn; 120 acres of soybeans; 120 acres of oats, wheat or rye; and 80 acres of pasture and hay with a multi-species cover crop between the rotations. They also have a 60-head cow/calf herd in a grass-fed operation.

Why African Groups Want Agroecology at Centre of Cop27 Climate Adaptation Talks

African groups believe that with more than 200 million people undernourished every year in Africa and given the harmful effects of industrial agriculture coupled with slow progress towards food security attributed to climate change, there is a need to change course and adopt a more sus-tainable farming system.

Renaming Regenerative Agriculture Could Open Doors

Should the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ be changed to encourage more growers to adopt the practices encompassed within the emerging industry? This was the topic that was debated by speakers during the University of Western Australia Public Policy Institute’s recent webinar, Sustainable food systems: food production & security in a changing climate.

Interview with Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM Organics International ar COP27

Meet our dear friend Karen Mapusua, President of IFOAM - Organics International, promoting agroecology and regenerative organic food systems as a way to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Check these videos from our partners from 'Learning from Nature':

How to Build Healthy Soil - Eco-logically
 
Legumes, compost, and other organic and biological inputs are unquestionably better for our soil (and budget) than commercial fertilisers. But wouldn't it be better to be less reliant on inputs altogether?

How to Drought-Proof Your Farm - Eco-logically

The remarkably straightforward way to drought-proof your farm.

How to Drought-Proof Using Trees - Learning from Nature

Trees, when combined with good grazing management practices, improve pastures, supply extra forage and fodder, and help drought-proof grazing land.

 

Support Our Work

 


Regeneration International relies heavily on individual donors to fund our work around the world. Please consider contributing today.

Support our Work  ♡  Donate Today
 

Upcoming Events

 

 

01/1 - Regenerative Living Vacation
01/10 - 2023 National No-Tillage Conference
01/11 - Webinar – Soil Health to Go! with Moon Valley Farm
01/12 - A Time to Grow – Regenerative Agriculture for People and the Planet
01/13 - Ciclo de talleres de permacultura y agricultura regenerativa en la Solana de Cristal
01/16 - Growing with Integrity: Better Soil = Better Life
01/16 - Soilcraft Regenerative Agriculture Conference
01/18 - Webinar – The Agroforestry Symposium
01/23 - No Till on the Plains Conference

 

 *Click here to view full events calendar and submit your own

 

 

En Español

 
 

Lea el boletín de RI en español aqui

www.regenerationinternational.org

Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Web Site

Regeneration International is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to building a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, policymakers and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revitalize local economies; regenerate soil fertility and water-retention capacity; nurture biodiversity; and restore climate stability by reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time drawing down excess atmospheric carbon and sequestering it in the soil.

This email was sent to 
Click Here to Unsubscribe