Tag: Agricultura

In our everyday lives we do our food shopping taking into account one important factor: the price. But does this price really reflect what practices were used to produce that food, or how many tons of greenhouse gases were emitted? The value of food goes far beyond purely economic aspects; there are many social and environmental implications that depend directly on production practices. Unaware practices can have several negative effects on nature such as the emission of greenhouse gases or soil and aquifer contamination with agrochemicals. However, good agricultural practices can have significant positive impacts on natural, social and economic capital.

The event “The True Value of Food” was organised within the IUCN World Conservation Congress by the project Integration of Biodiversity in Agriculture in Mexico (IKI-IBA), together with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and UN Environment. This virtual panel discussed those intangible aspects of food production that have an important impact and value, and are not often taken into account. Through an interactive game about the case of a brewery, the audience was invited to evaluate the environmental and social consequences of various decisions in order to raise awareness about their value.

The event was complemented with a panel discussion with actors from both the private and public sectors of Mexico and Brazil on the integration of biodiversity in agriculture. The dialogue was quite enriching since two different perceptions regarding the management of agriculture and their positive and innovative projects or experiences were presented. The need to take advantage of these differences to cooperate between the public and private sectors was emphasised, with each individual participating from their area of ​​expertise. This event demonstrated the importance of support between different sectors to achieve a greater environmental, social and economic impact through the improvement of agricultural practices.

More information in this link.

The Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity initiated the process of developing a Post-2020 Global Framework for Biodiversity, as another step towards achieving the 2050 Vision of “Living in Harmony with Nature”.

 

This Global Framework and Vision 2050 must now face the new reality in which COVID-19 has placed us, and that is why the Integration of Biodiversity (Mainstreaming) in the productive sectors has acquired even greater relevance for the CBD. The concepts and messages that are currently heard everywhere, such as Build Back Better and Green Recovery, among others, have made us think about what we are doing within our own projects.

 

In the case of the IKI-IBA project, we have identified several actions and routes, which we have been promoting within our pilot projects. They include: maintaining and recovering the capacity of soils to produce food, through conservation agriculture; recovering the percentage of organic matter, its water retention capacity and increased fertility; as well as the promotion of good practices in the selection, storage and exchange of seeds and the management of pests with methods that do not involve agrochemicals – as is the case of bats and the rice borer moth. All of these are actions that allow producers to be more resilient, because a healthy soil, and a good variety and quality of seeds –as well as with the ecosystem services surrounding the crops– allows them to generate a better economy in their production, as well as higher quality products.

 

These are the examples that allow us to have a dialogue of trust and work together with SADER colleagues and they are key to promoting the integration of biodiversity to become a fundamental component in decision-making processes and in the design of programs in this sector.

In recent years, the Mexican agricultural sector has made significant progress in its legal and programmatic framework for a transformation towards a more sustainable agrifood system. Likewise, there have been important intersectoral coordination efforts framed mainly within the National Biodiversity Strategy of Mexico (ENBioMex) and its 2016-2030 Action Plan, as well as in Strategies for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in the States (ECUSBEs), derived from this important planning instrument. Some state governments have given a decisive boost to this intersectoral vision to achieve sustainable and biodiversity-friendly agricultural production, establishing local programs and concrete actions that provide solutions to specific problems in each state, while potentially serving as an example to other entities.

In order to make visible the relevance of intersectoral dialogue in the search for opportunities to implement good practices that favor biodiversity in primary productive sectors, ensure their resilience and share the lessons learned, the IKI IBA Project organized a series of Seminars for the Exchange of Experiences between State Authorities on Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity.

The first seminar talked about The Integration of Biodiversity in the Agricultural Sector and took place on June 17, 2020, with the participation of representatives from the agricultural and environmental sectors in the states of Jalisco, Yucatán, and Guanajuato. The second was held on July 8, with the states of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Hidalgo participating in the topic Agroecology as a Path to Food Self-sufficiency and the Conservation of Biodiversity; while the third, held on July 21 with the topic Pollination, its Importance in the Health of Ecosystems and Food Production, involved the states of Quintana Roo, Querétaro and Mexico City.

All seminars were broadcast live via Facebook Live on the IKI IBA Project page, which allowed a wide audience, reaching more than 100 participants, and the exchange of questions and answers with the different panelists. Each seminar contained an interesting dialogue promoted between the sectors and the states, highlighting the role of state governments in promoting the agendas of sustainability and integration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in agrifood production.

You can consult the videos of the presentations, as well as photos, here.

Traditional knowledge about the observation of the natural environment is deeply entrenched in the Mayan communities of the Yucatan Peninsula. These ancestral observations inform the decisions of communities in southern Yucatan about the annual agricultural cycle, in a process called Xook K’iin (“the day count”). Throughout January, farmers take note of climate conditions and types of insects and birds, and they observe their behavior; according to parameters passed down through generations, they can decide if it will rain soon, if the season will be abundant, and how long it will last. This allows them to decide how much to sow and what kind of seeds to use.

On February 19th, the 2020 Xook K’iin workshop from the Chacsinkín region took place, where representatives from 6 communities met up to share observations, discussing implications and deciding what will happen in the region during this current agricultural cycle. Men and women participated in the discussion process, filling in an observations grid at their worktables, which was then presented at the plenary session in the Mayan language.

Like many regional meetings, the Xook K’iin workshop ended with a ceremony to thank the ancestors for helping them to produce accurate observations and make good decisions.

The IKI IBA project was invited this year to observe the Xook K’iin as part of a collaboration led by the Guardianes de las Semillas (Guardians of the Seeds) in the south of the Yucatan, an organization dedicated to conserving the cultural and biodiversity values of the Mayan cornfields in the region.