COP17: family farming gains space in the debate on desertification; In Sertão de PE, practices reconcile production and soil recovery

COP17: family experience in the Sertão of PE shows how family farming can help in the fight against desertification Personal Archive Family farming and practices of coexistence with the Semi-Arid are among the themes present in the debates on desertification accompanied by the report during COP17. At the Brazil Pavilion, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, discussions held throughout the conference address the conservation of biomes, the recovery of degraded areas and the role of communities that live and produce in dry land territories. In the Sertão of Pernambuco, a family of farmers shows how these practices can be part of the daily life of a property, reconciling food production, soil recovery and income generation. In the COP17 program, one of the panels held at the Brazil Pavilion was “Invisible biomes, essential solutions: Cerrado and Caatinga in combating desertification”. The discussion, mediated by Ingrid Silveira, representative of Rede Cerrado, brought to the debate the reality of the Cerrado and the Caatinga, two biomes that are fundamental to the ecological and water balance of South America and that suffer from a historical and systematic process of invisibilization, both on the national scene and in international arenas. Another panel attended during the COP17 program dealt with “Forest Management and Restoration in Dry Lands: Proposals to Mitigate and Reverse Land Degradation in Latin America”. The discussion addressed proposals related to the management and restoration of dry land areas, a topic that is also related to experiences developed by farmers in the Brazilian Semiarid region. (Reporter Diana Silva traveled to the event at the invitation of Instituto ClimaInfo) In Ouricuri, in the Sertão of Pernambuco, Guilherme Delmondes' family changed the way they work the land through contact with organizations, exchanges and training processes focused on agroecology and coexistence with the Semiarid region. The experience brings together water storage and reuse technologies, as well as soil conservation and recovery techniques. The property is in a region with rainfall of around 500 millimeters per year, according to Guilherme. According to him, previous generations of the family worked with the opening of new areas for cultivation, removing vegetation and without management practices aimed at soil conservation. As time passed, productivity began to decline. In Sertão de PE, family recovers soil and expands production with agroecology Personal archive “Our property started to become unproductive and this was the reality for many farmers within the community.” The family's experience is in line with one of the discussions attended during COP17: the role of local communities and family farming in the preservation and recovery of territories. Present at the conference in Ulaanbaatar, Luis Almeida, coordinator of social projects at IRPAA and the ASA Combating Desertification Working Group, highlights the importance of the knowledge accumulated by these groups and the environmental preservation and restoration practices developed by them. According to Luis, during COP17 the relevance of traditional territories in combating land degradation has been discussed, with attention to the experiences of traditional peoples and communities and family and peasant farming. For him, recognizing this work is also necessary to create financing paths that ensure resources and public policies reach local communities, especially in dry forests, such as the Caatinga. “By combining technology with traditional knowledge, we promote a more harmonious relationship with the environment.” The change in Guilherme's property began around 2010, when the family began to participate in exchanges and training promoted by organizations that work with coexistence with the Semiarid region. From this process, practices such as contour lines, intercropped planting, agroforestry systems, crop rotation, use of biofertilizers and composting were incorporated. The practices adopted on the property are also close to strategies for coexistence with the Semiarid region mentioned by Luis during COP17. Among them are the implementation of cisterns, adequate soil management, agroecology and production systems adapted to the region's climatic characteristics. Technologies were also adopted to improve the use of water. One of them is the flood cistern, with a capacity to store 52 thousand liters. The family also uses Bioágua, a system that allows the treatment and reuse of water from domestic activities, and a biodigester that uses animal manure to produce gas. Water use technologies help with production in the field Personal file During the conference, Luis also highlighted that access to water can contribute to the development of food production and the nutritional security of communities. Water availability, according to him, allows the creation of sustainable production cycles, with practices such as the reuse of wastewater in agriculture, the production of seedlings, the management of extractivism and conscious grazing. According to Guilherme, the changes made it possible to recover areas that had been degraded and, at the same time, expand production. Currently, the property produces corn, beans, sesame, peanuts, vegetables and fruits, as well as milk and meat. For him, there was an increase in both the quantity and diversity of food produced. “We have the environmental gain completely linked to the gain, so to speak, productive, income generation, food for the family and also for commercialization.” The results are also seen in the soil and landscape. Guilherme states that, over the years, there has been an improvement in the fertility and productivity of the areas. He also reports the return of birds and wild animals that had not been seen for