La production d’huile de palme est séculaire au Bénin et elle s’est toujours faite surtout par des méthodes artisanales. Ce sont précisément les femmes qui fabriquent l’huile de palme pour la consommation locale. Or, au nom de la « modernisation de la production », le rôle des femmes se voit aujourd’hui menacé.
Bulletin articles
Apesar da grande campanha ideológica das elites brasileiras em busca de apresentar o agronegócio como uma agricultura moderna, as contradições deste modelo de produção agrícola são difíceis de esconder.
A comunidade quilombola de São Domingos, tradicionalmente instalada no norte do Espírito Santo, viveu um momento histórico nos dias 26 e 27 de junho. Nesta ocasião, formou-se um grande coletivo solidário a fim de trazer de volta a agrobiodiversidade à terra reconquistada, após anos de uso da área como monocultura de eucalipto de uma empresa privada transnacional.
Honduras, que fue uno de los principales productores de granos básicos de Centroamérica, ha pasado a producir la mitad de sus necesidades. 2,8 millones de hondureños del área rural viven con un nivel de ingreso inferior a la línea de pobreza. Este grupo representa más del 75 por ciento de la población rural y más del 70 por ciento de los pobres de todo el país.
Africa is fast becoming the Promised Land for emerging powers –as in the cases of Brazil, China and India- trying to outcompete the old colonial powers in the scramble for the riches of this continent. At the same time other comparatively less powerful countries –such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, South Korea, Finland and others- are grabbing whatever they can –farmland, forests, carbon markets, cheap labour- in the spaces left unoccupied by the former.
Several weeks have passed since the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, convened by Bolivian President Evo Morales. But in these times of fast-moving and disposable news, we should make an effort to ensure that the crucial significance of this meeting is not simply tossed on the junk news heap.
For many years now the world expansion of the pulp and paper business has been increasingly covering millions of hectares of land with large scale monoculture tree plantations. Mainly disguised as “forests” these “green deserts” have encroached on vast territories and rich ecosystems mostly in the global South.
Mangrove forests are vital for healthy coastal ecosystems in many regions of the world. They support an immense variety of sea life in intricate food webs associated directly with the mangrove trees themselves.
We received a message from the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS) expressing that the article ‘Brazil: Juma REDD test case in the Amazon’, published on the WRM bulletin, presents various inaccuracies. However, FAS's “clarifications”, posed as a question and answer game, do not clarify much. On the contrary, they basically serve to strengthen what the WRM article said.
Most Baka, Bagyeli and Bakola, recognised as “people of the forest,” still rely on hunting and gathering to secure their livelihoods, and even though some also cultivate annual crops, the majority still rely on the forests. For them, the forest is their ancestral home, their reliable grocery, the root of their existence, and their customary right (seeWRM Bulletin Nº 87).
Corría el año 1998 cuando los Pueblos Ancestrales del Ecosistema Manglar del Ecuador decidieron unir sus esfuerzos en una gran campaña denominada “¿Y si se Acaba el Manglar?” en la isla de Muisne, ubicada en la provincia de Esmeraldas en la costa norte del Ecuador, donde más del 85% de sus manglares se convirtieron en menos de 30 años en piscinas para la cría en cautiverio de camarón.
Si vemos un mapa de la cobertura forestal de la república de Guatemala, podremos observar que a lo largo de la línea costera del Pacífico se encuentran de manera interrumpida y dispersa los escasos bosques de manglar. Estos han quedado como islas rodeadas de una serie de actividades que comprometen su permanencia y los beneficios que aportan a las comunidades y a la conservación.