America (general)

 

**This article is based on a conversation between Winnie Overbeek, the international coordinator of the World Rainforest Movement, and GRAIN on September 2014, which was published by GRAIN at “Planet palm oil”. The information has been updated for this article.

  As the UN climate negotiations in December approach, there's only one major intergovernmental initiative on climate and agriculture, and it is controlled by the world's largest fertiliser companies. The Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture, launched in 2014 at the UN Summit on Climate Change in New York, is the result of several years of efforts by the fertiliser lobby to block meaningful action on agriculture and climate change.

  The climate talks in Paris in December this year are viewed as a last chance for the world’s governments to commit to binding targets that might halt our march towards climate chaos. But in the countdown to Paris, many of these same governments have signed or are pushing a raft of ambitious trade and investment deals that would pre-empt measures needed to deal with climate change.

Since 2004, through the International ‘Redmanglar’ (Mangrove Network) - which brings together communities, organizations, academics, scientists and activists concerned with the defense of the mangrove forests - every 26th of July mangroves are celebrated by recalling their importance as a source of life, protection and support for coastal towns and communities, and their identity as a territory, traditions and cultures associated to them.

Conceived in 2012 by a group of individuals, organisations and networks, the “Yes to Life, No to Mining” movement is committed to take action against the increasingly devastating impact of the mining industry. They seek to connect communities saying NO to mining across the planet in order to collaborate through solidarity and support one another to stand firm. Through the website, they share useful materials and provide a space through which they share stories of resistance, success and struggle.